tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/tamil-852/articlesTamil – The Conversation2022-09-14T18:23:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1896952022-09-14T18:23:20Z2022-09-14T18:23:20ZLeena Manimekalai’s documentary ‘Kaali’ challenges Hindutva nationalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483387/original/file-20220908-9232-kzuqe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=124%2C292%2C3104%2C1901&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A painting of the goddess Kali by Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma. The film Kaali by Leena Manimekalai has drawn controversy for the way it depicts the goddess. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation, Bengaluru)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the summer, Toronto-based Indian filmmaker Leena Manimekalai uploaded a poster on Twitter of her upcoming documentary <em>Kaali</em>. The image showed the Hindu goddess smoking a cigarette and holding a rainbow flag among other accoutrements.</p>
<p>Predictably, it received widespread backlash from the <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/hindutva-and-the-question-of-who-owns-india">Hindutva</a> community in India for “<a href="https://theprint.in/features/kaali-poster-complaint-filed-against-leena-manimekalai-for-hurting-religious-sentiments-director-clarifies/1024267/">hurting religious sentiments</a>.” But the popularly dubbed “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/twitter-erupts-after-goddess-kali-shown-smoking-in-documentary-poster-director-leena-manimekalai-trends/articleshow/92646337.cms?from=mdr">poster row</a>” challenges us to consider disturbing political questions that Manimekalai’s work has persistently probed.</p>
<h2>Scandal and Censorship</h2>
<p>Following the social media outrage, leaders of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party <a href="https://theprint.in/politics/bjp-leader-files-police-complaint-against-kaali-producer-leena-manimekalai-for-hurting-sentiments-of-hindus/1024842/">filed a complaint</a> against Manimekalai with police in Delhi. Groups opposed to the documentary soon joined the bandwagon by <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/-kaali-controversy-bajrang-dal-bjp-workers-in-bihar-burn-effigies-of-leena-manimekalai-for-hurting-sentiments--news-207703">burning Manimekalai’s effigy</a> and issuing <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/kaali-hindu-goddess-leena-manimekalai/index.html">death threats</a>. </p>
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<p><em>Kaali</em> was one of the 18 short projects in <a href="https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/under-the-tent">Under the Tent</a>, a program produced by Toronto Metropolitan University to promote cinema from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. <a href="https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/events/2022/07/under-the-tent-launch/">In a statement</a>, the university said it removed the film from the program because it felt that it caused unnecessary offense to the religious sentiment of many people in Canada and elsewhere.</p>
<p>In her documentary, Manimekalai walks the streets of Toronto at night donning the image of Kali from Tamil and Telegu village folklore. The performance depicts the rebellious spirit that possesses people, eats meat, smokes marijuana, drinks liquor, urinates publicly and dances in a disruptive show.</p>
<p>She places Kali in the “<a href="https://thewire.in/film/leena-manimekalai-kaali-tribal-goddess">land of immigrants to understand settler colonialism</a>.” Using the goddess figure to tackle politically controversial topics is a recurring feature of Manimekalai’s work that irks conservative factions.</p>
<p>The fluid iconography of Kali and the anxieties it poses for ruling power are not new. <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=1QOWRn_i1kcC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=risley+chromolithograph+of+Kaali&source=bl&ots=9vRXobq9a2&sig=ACfU3U0SjXGlAoGc1Ssjgsnwx8B42COSxA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4gMff1Pv5AhURKH0KHbVgDZsQ6AF6BAglEAM#v=onepage&q=risley%20chromolithograph%20of%20Kaali&f=false">Anthropologist Christopher Pinney</a> notes how the British colonial administrator Herbert Hope Risley anxiously censored an 1880s chromolithograph of Kali because some of the faces in Kali’s garland of severed heads resembled Europeans. As India marks its 75th year of independence, Kali’s threatening presence persists with a different array of entrenched anxieties for the ruling elite beyond a cigarette and an LGBTIQ+ flag. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An image of Kali holing a bloodied blade in her hands. She stands above a body wearing heads around her neck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483099/original/file-20220906-4642-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">This image of Kali appeared in various versions till as late as the 1920s. This image attained iconic status in part because of its wide distribution and use to advertise cigarettes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)</span></span>
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<p>By imbibing the deity’s pagan form, Manimekalai participates in the Indigenous tradition of being possessed by goddesses or spirits. Her performance critically revisits issues of LGBTIQ+ rights, refugee crises, genocidal history and Hindutva politics that she has engaged with in her earlier films. </p>
<h2>Interpreting Kali</h2>
<p>In the short documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6278278/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6"><em>Goddesses</em></a>, Manimekalai follows the daily lives of three Dalit women battling systemic caste and gender violence. One of the women, Lakshmi, works as a professional mourner in funerals — headily dancing, singing and chest-thumping to drummers’ beats. Krishnaveni is indispensable for the local police as she buries unclaimed corpses with an acquired deftness. Sethuraki goes deep into the sea to fish with bare hands, tackling adverse weather conditions. </p>
<p>Manimekalai focuses on the strength of these unapologetic, vocal characters who exercise agency through their work. They shout slurs, smoke and drink, help aged people and have a self-assertive bearing. In the final scene of <em>Goddesses</em>, the spirit of Kali possesses Lakshmi, who dances and rolls in the dust unheeded in a macabre trance. </p>
<p>Her recent feature, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8530836/?ref_=tt_mv_close"><em>Maadathy</em></a>, deals with the subversive power of local deities worshipped by subaltern communities across India. The film follows a young Dalit girl from the “unseeable” Puthirai Vannar caste who becomes immortalized as their local deity, Maadathy. In Tamil folk tradition, individuals who have struggled and fought against injustice get immortalized as these local Indigenous deities. They embody the spirit of justice.</p>
<p>Dealing with refugee crises and ethnic cleansing, Manimekalai’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3281094/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>White Van Stories</em></a> follows seven women who have lost relatives during enforced disappearances in post-war Sri Lanka. The interviews record their trauma and daily uncertainties as they try to live their lives.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Leena Manimekalai talks about her film White Van Stories in an interview.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In her docudrama, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683488/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><em>Sengadal</em></a>, Manimekalai situates herself within the narrative to reflect on her shooting experiences in a conflict zone as a woman filmmaker. The film addresses the predicament of Dhanushkodi refugee fishermen caught between the border of India and Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>Throughout all these cinematic contexts, Manimekalai speaks to forms of women’s resistance with pagan renditions of the goddess. She positions them as countercultural avatars intersecting the boundaries of class, caste, gender, race and nationality. </p>
<p>The controversy over the poster of <em>Kaali</em> is hard to assess in isolation. Given the political nature of goddesses in Manimekalai’s oeuvre, her upcoming documentary questions the moral boundaries of Hindutva nationalism and its totalitarian politics. The scandalous concern is perhaps not just the cigarette in the poster but the discomforting issues it ignites. </p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published Sept. 14, 2022. The updated story states that Toronto Metropolitan University removed the film from its Under the Tent program.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Santasil Mallik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Leena Manimekalai’s film Kaali has drawn controversy and criticism, but like her other films, it highlights the inequalities and discrimination many continue to face.Santasil Mallik, PhD Candidate, Media Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1836212022-05-27T05:57:36Z2022-05-27T05:57:36ZThe ‘Biloela family’ are going home – but what will Labor do with thousands of other asylum seekers in limbo in Australia?<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-20/no-place-like-home-for-biloela-asylum-seeker-family/100450688">long-running case</a> of the “Biloela family” has taken a step forward, after the new Labor government confirmed they would be allowed to return home to Queensland.</p>
<p>Interim home affairs minister Jim Chalmers said on Friday the Nadesalingam family (also known as the Murugappan family) can finally go <a href="https://www.hometobilo.com/">home to Biloela</a> on bridging visas. </p>
<p>But their final immigration status is still outstanding. It’s yet to be seen if the immigration minister will choose to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-one-man-with-god-like-powers-decides-if-novak-djokovic-can-stay-or-go-174773">exercise their discretion</a> to grant them permanent visas.</p>
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<p>So what are the other main policies we can expect from the newly elected government affecting thousands more asylum seekers and refugees in Australia? </p>
<h2>Biloela family’s long struggle to go home</h2>
<p>Tamil asylum seekers Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam (Priya) and Nadesalingam (Nades) Murugappan arrived in Australia seeking asylum by boat. Nades arrived in 2012 and Priya in 2013.</p>
<p>The couple met in the Australian community, married and had two children. The family lived in the town of Biloela, Queensland, where Nades worked in the local abattoir and Priya volunteered in the community.</p>
<p>In March 2018 the family were taken to Melbourne and put into into detention in after the parents’ refugee claims were refused by the government. The youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, never had the opportunity to have her refugee claims assessed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-biloela-tamil-family-deportation-case-highlights-the-failures-of-our-refugee-system-123685">How the Biloela Tamil family deportation case highlights the failures of our refugee system</a>
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<p>In August 2019 a last minute injunction saw the family’s attempted removal back to Sri Lanka stopped mid-flight, and they were taken to detention on Christmas Island where they stayed for almost two years.</p>
<p>In June 2021 three-year-old Tharnicaa <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-young-child-is-evacuated-from-detention-could-this-see-the-biloela-tamil-family-go-free-162289">was medically evacuated</a> to Perth after contracting pneumonia and sepsis. </p>
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<p>The family of four have since been living in Perth in community detention. This means they’re able to live in the community but have limited rights. For example, parents Priya and Nades can’t work, and the family haven’t been able to return back to Queensland due to conditions placed on their community release by the former immigration minister.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.hometobilo.com/">high-profile community campaign</a> led to an election commitment from both Kristina Kenneally, then shadow minister for home affairs, and then opposition leader Anthony Albanese to grant visas and allow the family to return to Biloela.</p>
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<h2>What now for asylum policy more broadly?</h2>
<p><strong>Temporary protection visas and fast track assessment</strong></p>
<p>People like the Nadesalingam family are part of a larger group of <a href="https://www.asyluminsight.com/the-legacy-caseload#:%7E:text=The%20term%20'legacy%20caseload'%20refers,boat%20before%201%20January%202014.">around 30,000 people</a> seeking asylum who arrived in Australia by boat between August 2012 and December 2013, known as the “legacy caseload”. People who were found to be refugees (<a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ima-legacy-caseload-april-2022.pdf">approximately 19,000</a>) were only granted temporary visas, which doesn’t allow them to settle permanently in Australia or sponsor close family members who are overseas. </p>
<p>Labor’s policy is to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/scott-morrison-makes-asylum-seeker-policy-new-battlefield-in-election-campaign/wklaekuvn">abolish temporary protection visas</a> and to grant permanent visas to those who’ve been found to be refugees. </p>
<p>Labor has also agreed to getting rid of the fast track system that was used to process cases from the legacy caseload, due to concerns around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-biloela-tamil-family-deportation-case-highlights-the-failures-of-our-refugee-system-123685">fairness of this system</a>, particularly for those who have been refused, like the Nadesalingam family.</p>
<p>However, Labor has no stated policy on what will happen for other people in the same situation as the Nadesalingams who have remained in Australia for the last 10 years. </p>
<p><strong>Interception, turnbacks and offshore processing</strong></p>
<p>The ALP’s policy is to maintain the previous policy of Operation Sovereign Borders, which includes the interception and turn back of people seeking asylum who come to Australia by boat.</p>
<p>A boat intercepted by Australian Border Force on the day of the election has already been turned back to Sri Lanka on the direction of Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, after “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-24/labor-turns-back-election-day-asylum-seeker-boat-arrival/101095322">thorough screening</a>” of each persons’ protection status. </p>
<p>The ALP will also continue the previous government’s policy of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/19/factcheck-is-labors-policy-on-asylum-seekers-and-refugees-any-different-to-the-coalitions">offshore processing</a>.</p>
<p>There are still around <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/our-letter-to-prime-minister-anthony-albanese/">1,400 people</a> who were sent to Nauru and Papua New Guinea in 2013 awaiting resolution of their cases. Some are eligible to be resettled in the United States and New Zealand. The ALP’s policy is to continue to seek resettlement in other countries and not allow them to settle in Australia.</p>
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<p><strong>Immigration detention</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/6-australias-immigration-detention-policy-and-practice">Australian law</a> provides for the mandatory detention of anyone who doesn’t have a visa. Once detained, it isn’t possible to seek review by an independent body or court. People are kept in detention until they are granted a visa or leave the country. Historically both <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/AsylumPolicies">Labor and the Coalition</a> have kept the same policy. </p>
<p>Australia’s immigration detention policy is among the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/detention-policies/">harshest in the world</a>. People can be detained for several years without a resolution of their case. This is especially true for people who cannot be returned to their country for fear of persecution or who cannot be sent anywhere because they’re stateless.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/futile-and-cruel-plan-to-charge-fees-for-immigration-detention-has-no-redeeming-features-183035">'Futile and cruel': plan to charge fees for immigration detention has no redeeming features</a>
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<p>As of <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-28-february-2022.pdf">February 2022</a> the average time spent in detention was 689 days. Some people have been in immigration detention for <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/what-we-have-learnt-from-the-responses-to-2021-22-additional-senate-estimates-questions-on-notice/">over 10 years</a>. </p>
<p>Labor’s policy platform <a href="https://alp.org.au/media/2594/2021-alp-national-platform-final-endorsed-platform.pdf">states</a> it will operate a “humane and risk based immigration detention policy”, and agrees that “detention that is indefinite or otherwise arbitrary is not acceptable and the length and conditions of detention […] will be subject to regular review”.</p>
<p>But without a commitment to legislative change to allow courts to review decisions to detain, the current practice seems unlikely to change. </p>
<p><strong>Expansion of the refugee and humanitarian program</strong></p>
<p>Labor’s policy is to increase Australia’s annual humanitarian intake from 13,750 to 27,000 per year.</p>
<p>It has also pledged to progressively increase the community sponsored refugee program from 1,500 to 5,000 per year. This program enables individuals, families, community networks and businesses to help sponsor refugees to resettle into Australia, allowing for even more refugee places.</p>
<p>While these policies are a welcome increase, refugee organisations in Australia are hopeful there can be more, particularly in view of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2022/5/628a389e4/unhcr-ukraine-other-conflicts-push-forcibly-displaced-total-100-million.html">announcement</a> this week that the global number of forcibly displaced people has reached the staggering milestone of 100 million people.</p>
<p>The Greens and the teal independents have <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-Election-Policy-Comparison.pdf">voiced concerns</a> over Labor’s policy regarding Operation Sovereign Borders, detention and the refugee and humanitarian program. It will be interesting to see whether they can influence any change.</p>
<p>And there’s no doubt any changes Labor makes to refugee policy will be an area the opposition will be keen to exploit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p>Beyond allowing one family to go ‘home to Bilo’, what else we can expect the new Labor government will do about thousands more asylum seekers and refugees?Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1586752021-05-06T15:30:19Z2021-05-06T15:30:19ZThis Mother’s Day, pay attention to racialized women leading resistance movements, like Tamil mothers<p>On Mother’s Day in 2009, over 2,000 Tamil protesters stepped onto Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway, chanting “no more genocide,” <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tamil-protesters-end-blockade-on-major-toronto-highway-1.829118">blocking every lane of the highway</a>, bringing traffic to a standstill.</p>
<p>These protests were in response to an atrocity that took place near the end of the <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/">Sri Lankan civil war</a>, a war that lasted 26 years and ended with genocide. The atrocity saw <a href="https://itjpsl.com/reports/war">tens of thousands of Tamil civilians lured by the Sri Lankan government into “no fire zones”</a>, and trapped under gunfire. </p>
<p>When news broke, Toronto Tamils took to the streets to demand justice after months of peaceful protests, hunger strikes and rallies <a href="https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/tamil-diaspora-protests-toronto-against-sri-lankan-civil-war-2009-rrrr-needs-conclusion">across the city</a>. The Gardiner protest was a pivotal moment for Toronto Tamils, in terms of both <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/a-watershed-moment-how-the-2009-gardiner-shutdown-inspired-a-generation-of-tamil-leaders-1.5130342">shaping their political identity</a>, and recognizing the strength of community mobilization. </p>
<p><a href="https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/30116">Tamil women formed the front lines of this protest</a> and deliberately chose this role to de-escalate any potential conflicts between other protesters and the police. Tamil women have been active leaders and participants in resistance movements, both in Canada and Sri Lanka. This is work that has been happening for decades.</p>
<p>As an Eelam Tamil anti-racism educator and scholar-activist who has spent all her life in Toronto, my doctoral research is located within the intersections of trauma-informed migrant healing, liberation psychology and arts-based participatory action research. I am grounded in a decolonial theoretical framework and committed to <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195328998.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195328998-e-47">global feminisms</a>. </p>
<p>This Mother’s Day, I encourage you to reflect on why mainstream media doesn’t recognize racialized women-led global resistance movements as feminism. Western society’s narrow view of feminism is <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/lajur/vol1/iss1/8/">grounded in white assumptions and catered towards the privileged</a>, excluding acts of resistance by racialized mothers as feminism. </p>
<p>This article seeks to centre Tamil mothers in a feminist dialogue that otherwise would be drowned out by white noise.</p>
<h2>Headlines fuelled racism</h2>
<p>The demonstration by the Tamil community in Toronto garnered overwhelmingly racist attention and <a href="https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/etd/5a8c1376-cd15-4984-ad17-83aca2072150/etd_pdf/27a72c50e323d7f96c592b97af30830c/boyd-boatpeopleandterroriststhemediadrivenmoral.pdf">negative media coverage, labelling them as ungrateful immigrants</a>, and strategically using the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/706778/pdf">“women and children” phrase to paint a passive, patriarchal image</a> of Tamil mothers, ironically on Mother’s Day. </p>
<p>The <em>National Post</em> published phrases like: “let’s call it the Tamil traffic strategy,” and “rabid Tamils surged into roadways blocking traffic … turning from figures of sympathy into bloody nuisances, from citizens into adversaries, from freedom fighters into extortionists.” </p>
<p>And there was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_414">focus on othering</a> the Tamil community, dehumanizing their existence, delegitimizing their demonstrations and removing the agency and will of women and mothers participating in and leading these protests. </p>
<h2>Western feminism</h2>
<p>Historically, feminism has excluded racialized women. </p>
<p>When we think of <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/franchise">when women got the right to vote in Canada</a>, it tends to go back to when white women got it — in the 1920s. But it <a href="https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/voting-rights-through-time-0/brief-history-federal-voting-rights-canada">wasn’t until 1948</a> that Chinese, Japanese and South Asian women were able to vote and Indigenous women received this right <a href="https://canadianwomen.org/blog/indigenous-voting-rights/">even later, in 1960</a>. Simply put, popularized feminism is not intersectional. As feminist, and social activist <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/%7Edecaste/OISE/page2/files/HooksBlackWomen.pdf">bell hooks eloquently writes</a>: </p>
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<p>“White women who dominate feminist discourse today rarely question whether or not their perspective of women’s reality is true to the lived experiences of women as a collective group.”</p>
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<p>Global feminist movements and everyday acts of women-driven resistance by racialized mothers and women don’t get the same spotlight as mainstream western feminist campaigns. Non-western feminisms are often historically erased and remain invisible within the media.</p>
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<img alt="Women at protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398510/original/file-20210504-21-7852q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tamil women are seen occupying central Place Kelber Square in Strasbourg, France. Protesting against human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government on May 18, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tamil women and mothers fighting for their community</h2>
<p>Tamil mothers and women are the glue to our community’s solidarity, activism and resistance. </p>
<p>Eelam, the native Tamil name for the island of Sri Lanka, has the second-highest number of enforced disappearances in the world. And for the past <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/vavuniya-families-disappeared-mark-1515-days-protest">four years</a> <a href="https://pearlaction.org/tamilfod/">Families of The Disappeared</a> has been <a href="https://itjpsl.com/reports/disappear-site">fighting for truth and justice</a> and searching for their loved ones. </p>
<p>Approximately <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA3758532017ENGLISH.PDF">100,000</a>, predominantly Tamil people, have been disappeared by the state since 1983. Now 12 years since the end of the armed conflict, the whereabouts <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/02/16/sri-lanka-families-disappeared-threatened">of the disappeared are still unknown</a>. </p>
<p>Women and mother-led protests by Families of the Disappeared <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aO4lNJmCfowUZT6B5s7gBH9d3obYzNnf/view">began in 2017</a> with roadside demonstrations in Kilinochchi to <a href="https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Aa344a9a2-4325-45ae-84e7-351eb51aa8f2#pageNum=1">demand answers for the fates and locations of their loved ones</a>. <a href="https://pearlaction.org/tamilfod/">Sister protests across the island were also mobilized</a> in Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi and Maruthankerny. </p>
<p>These demonstrations are characterized <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/75095/heeding-victims-voices-the-struggle-of-tamil-families-of-the-disappeared-in-sri-lanka/">as <em>ammas</em> (mothers) and <em>ammamas</em> (grandmothers) sitting on the road, holding photos of their loved ones</a>, in all weather conditions, despite militarization and intimidation by police. At least <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/1390-days-struggle-78-parents-lost-tamil-families-demand-international-justice">78 people have died in this pursuit of truth and justice</a>. </p>
<p>And their work largely goes unrecognized. By mainstream media not identifying and highlighting these mother-led resistance movements, they are contributing to the erasure of these narratives. These powerful stories deserve to be told. This is the kind of work you should picture when you hear the word feminism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women sit holding signs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398508/original/file-20210504-21-16d4v6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tamil women sit holding placards with portraits of their missing relatives as they protest outside a railway station in Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 6, 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Marginalized women-led feminism ignored globally</h2>
<p>There are parallels between the plight faced by Tamil women and the <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf">plight of Indigenous women</a> in Canada who have spent over four decades documenting, raising awareness and demanding justice for <a href="https://theconversation.com/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-inquiry-we-must-listen-and-act-87574">missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls</a>. As a Tamil woman living in Canada, I couldn’t ignore these parallels.</p>
<p>Feminism, as it is portrayed by mainstream media, should not be reserved for privileged white women. The intergenerational struggles and resistance of racialized women and mothers living in the west, particularly of Black and Indigenous people, is often not given space.</p>
<p>This Mother’s Day, join me in searching for global stories about racialized mothers and women you haven’t heard before. Not because they didn’t happen or has less of an impact, but because they were not given the same attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vivetha Thambinathan receives funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. She is affiliated with PEARL (People for Equality and Relief in Lanka). </span></em></p>This Mother’s Day reflect on why mainstream media doesn’t recognize racialized women-led resistance movements as feminism. On the 12th anniversary of the Gardiner protest, let’s centre Tamil mothers.Vivetha Thambinathan, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1258062019-11-15T02:46:55Z2019-11-15T02:46:55ZSri Lanka election: will the country see a return to strongman politics?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301702/original/file-20191114-77331-eafllj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C1138%2C3748%2C2506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the frontrunner in Sri Lanka's presidential election, faces a lawsuit in the US for alleged extrajudicial killing and torture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/15/sri-lanka-pm-mahinda-rajapaska-resigns-in-effort-to-ease-constitutional-crisis">President Maithripala Sirisena</a> sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, a move that sparked a three-month constitutional crisis.<br>
Then came the <a href="https://theconversation.com/islamic-state-has-claimed-responsibility-for-the-sri-lanka-terror-attack-heres-what-that-means-115915">Easter bombings</a> this year that killed over 250 people, including two Australians. Sirisena <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka-parliament-blames-president-for-easter-attack-lapses">was accused in a parliamentary report</a> of “actively undermining” national security and failing to prevent the attacks.</p>
<p>A harsh crackdown on the country’s Muslim minority followed, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/04/sri-lanka-muslims-face-threats-attacks">including arbitrary arrests and detention</a>, according to human rights groups, often with state complicity. Sinhalese nationalist politicians <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/dangerous-actions-muslims-risk-sri-lanka-peace-190927110659004.html">have also been blamed</a> for injecting</p>
<blockquote>
<p>new energy into long-standing efforts to undermine the status and prosperity of the Muslim community.</p>
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<p>Sirisena, who is not seeking re-election, has not fulfilled many of the election promises he made four years ago. He ran on issues of economic reform and achieving lasting peace on the island following its long-running civil war. But today, Sri Lanka is still very much a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2146962/sri-lanka-still-divided-nation-it-marks-anniversary-wars-end">divided nation</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-is-forgiven-for-asylum-seekers-returned-to-sri-lanka-73361">Not 'all is forgiven' for asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Another Rajapaksa back in office</h2>
<p>A record 35 candidates are running for president in the upcoming election. Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the opposition party SLPP is favoured to win. </p>
<p>Gotabaya is Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-rajapaksas-sri-lanka-repression-is-a-family-affair-19675">served in his decade-long administration as defence secretary</a>. Under their watch, the government became increasingly authoritarian and <a href="http://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/sri-lanka-s-election-threatens-return-authoritarian-rule">was blamed</a> by the minority Tamils and Muslims for political violence and repression.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301701/original/file-20191114-77295-oqzgnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mahinda Rajapaksa has been tipped as a possible prime minister in his brother’s government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, among the Sinhalese majority, <a href="https://apnews.com/2ac611cb5c3641a2a706411735735ecc">Gotabaya is a national hero</a> for orchestrating the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers rebel group in 2009 and bringing an end to the 26-year-long armed conflict. </p>
<p>Gotabaya’s popularity increased significantly following the Easter Sunday terror attacks, thanks to his aggressive stance on terrorism and national security. He is viewed by many Sinhalese as a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-gotabaya-analysis/many-sri-lankans-want-a-strongman-leader-and-that-favors-gotabaya-rajapaksa-idUSKCN1V00SO">strongman</a> similar to his brother, who can guarantee their safety and produce economic growth. </p>
<p>However, Gotabaya remains deeply unpopular among the Tamil and Muslim communities, as well as some Sinhalese critics. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-has-a-history-of-conflict-but-the-recent-attacks-appear-different-115815">Sri Lanka has a history of conflict, but the recent attacks appear different</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/803408?ln=en">United Nations</a> has accused Gotabaya’s military of committing numerous abuses in the final stages of the civil war, including torture, extrajudicial killings and repeated shelling in the no-fire zone.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Gotabaya was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-politics-rajapaksa/sri-lankas-wartime-defense-chief-sued-in-u-s-over-alleged-torture-and-murder-idUSKCN1RM2FG">sued in the US</a> for authorising the extrajudicial killing of a prominent journalist and the torture of an ethnic Tamil. The lawsuit also includes <a href="https://apnews.com/eeae0ec0412b46608346119160cdf6e5">allegations of rape, torture and brutal interrogations</a> in army camps and police stations between 2008 and 2013.</p>
<p>Gotabaya has dismissed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48592714">all the allegations against him</a> as “baseless” and “politically motivated”.</p>
<p>Mahinda Rajapaksa has also <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/sri-lanka-has-nothing-to-hide-says-president-mahinda-rajapakse-20131114-2xk0i.html">repeatedly denied</a> that his government was responsible for civilian deaths during the end of the war. If elected, Gotabaya said <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/10/sri-lanka-presidential-hopeful-says-wont-honor-deal-with-un/">he would not honour an agreement</a> the government made with the UN to investigate alleged war crimes.</p>
<p>According to some UN estimates, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/10/sri-lanka-presidential-hopeful-says-wont-honor-deal-with-un/">around 100,000 people were killed</a> in the civil war, though a later UN report said 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months alone. </p>
<p>The UN has noted that only a <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/POE_Report_Full.pdf">proper investigation</a> can lead to an accurate figure for the total number of deaths.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301703/original/file-20191114-77295-1m1e425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters of Gotabaya Rajapaksa gather at an election rally in Jaffna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/families-disappeared-slam-gotabaya%E2%80%99s-disappearances-denial">nearly 1,000 days</a> now, the Tamil families of those who disappeared at the end of the civil war have staged a protest to demand the government provide information about the whereabouts of their loved ones. </p>
<p>If Gotabaya wins the election, it will do little to ease the longstanding grievances of the island’s Tamil people, let alone the escalating tensions between the Sinhalese and Muslim community. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-sri-lanka-is-sliding-into-political-turmoil-and-what-could-happen-next-106526">Explainer: Why Sri Lanka is sliding into political turmoil, and what could happen next</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>His main contender, Sajith Premadasa, is the son of another former president, Ranasinghe Premadasa (1989-93). He has been promising a <a href="https://www.newsfirst.lk/2019/10/31/sajith-premadasas-election-manifesto-unveiled-20-key-highlights/">social revolution</a> that includes everything from eliminating poverty to universal health care to tax concessions for small- and medium-sized businesses. </p>
<p>Premadasa has also promised to ramp up national security, including through the appointment of Sarath Fonseka as the head of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-politics/sri-lanka-housing-minister-vows-to-tap-wartime-army-chief-if-elected-president-idUSKBN1WP2JQ">national security</a>. </p>
<p>Fonseka was the army chief during the end of the civil war. In 2011, Mahinda Rajapaksa jailed Fonseka for suggesting that Gotabaya had ordered <a href="http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2009/12/13/%E2%80%9Cgota-ordered-them-to-be-shot%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-general-sarath-fonseka/">all Tamil Tiger leaders to be killed and not allowed to surrender</a>. Sirisena <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/23/ex-army-chief-sarath-fonseka-jailed-for-treason-made-field-marshal-in-sri-lanka">ordered him to be released</a> when he took power.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1193397589409857536"}"></div></p>
<h2>What does the election mean for Australia relations?</h2>
<p>A Gotabaya presidency is unlikely to change the <a href="https://dfat.gov.au/geo/sri-lanka/Pages/sri-lanka-country-brief.aspx">deepening relationship</a> between Australia and Sri Lanka. Labor and Coalition governments have pursued better relations with both the Rajapaksa and Sirisena governments <a href="https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2019/01/21/70-years-together-australia-and-sri-lanka-forging-stronger-relations/">following the end of the war</a>.</p>
<p>However, the cooperation between the two countries will become harder to justify if Gotabaya wins the election, given the allegations he faces of war crimes. </p>
<p>Recent years have seen a closer strategic alignment between the countries, given Sri Lanka’s pivotal position in the Indian Ocean and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html">China’s increasing presence in the region</a>.</p>
<p>Australia gave <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/maybe-australia-should-donate-warship-sri-lanka">two offshore patrol vessels to Sri Lanka in 2014</a>, and this year, <a href="https://news.navy.gov.au/en/Mar2019/IPE19/5113/Australia-and-Sri-Lanka-to-forge-stronger-ties.htm#.XczUEDIzYyk">sent 1,200 ADF personnel</a> to take part in a joint taskforce in Sri Lanka – the largest-ever defence engagement between the countries.</p>
<p>If Australia wants to continue to position itself as a leader of democratic values, it needs to play a greater role in facilitating lasting peace in Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>There is an opportunity for Australia to challenge the next president of Sri Lanka to address the real concerns facing minority groups on the island, not least because they continue to seek safety and protection in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niro Kandasamy is a volunteer for the Tamil Refugee Council. </span></em></p>Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the frontrunner in the presidential election. He was defence secretary during his brother Mahinda’s presidency when the government is accused of numerous wartime atrocities.Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239282019-09-20T08:17:39Z2019-09-20T08:17:39ZVIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the family law inquiry - and the UN climate change summit<figure>
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<p>University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring Australia from speaking at the upcoming climate change summit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Michelle Grattan discusses the government’s new family law inquiry, and Australia being banned from the speaking list at the upcoming UN climate change summit.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1236852019-09-19T05:52:09Z2019-09-19T05:52:09ZHow the Biloela Tamil family deportation case highlights the failures of our refugee system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293135/original/file-20190919-53511-mk313t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=496%2C74%2C3807%2C2348&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Biloela Tamil family will be able to remain in Australia until the asylum claim for the youngest daughter is properly assessed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Ross/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today, the Sri Lankan family who had resettled in the small town of Biloela in Queensland was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/19/biloela-tamil-family-deportation-case-asylum-seekers-expected-to-learn-fate-today">given a last-minute reprieve</a> in their fight to stay in Australia. A federal court judge ruled the family had established a prima facie case to remain in the country until a final hearing at a date yet to be determined.</p>
<p>The family of four are part of a group of asylum seekers and refugees who arrived in Australia by boat between August 2012 and January 2014. Their case highlights some of the problems with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-track-asylum-processing-risks-fairness-for-efficiency-35146">“fast-track” refugee assessment system</a> set up by the Coalition government in late 2014 to handle the flood of boat arrivals. </p>
<p>The system was intended to deny access to permanent residency for the refugees and create a faster system for processing their asylum claims. </p>
<p>In practice, however, it has been marked by prolonged delays and restrictions on the types of visas available to the refugees, contributing to their mental deterioration and despair.</p>
<p>The “fast-track assessment caseload” includes individuals, families and children who arrived by boat during that 18-month period from 2012-14. It also includes children born after their arrival, like the Biloela couple’s children, Kopica and Tharuunica. </p>
<p>It is <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ima-legacy-caseload-july-2019.pdf">estimated</a> there are currently around 31,000 individuals in this group, some of whom still remain in limbo while their status is determined by the government.</p>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission raised deep concerns around the treatment and well-being of these refugees in a <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/lives-hold-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-legacy">report</a> in July.</p>
<p>We have also conducted research into the many barriers faced by the people in the caseload in terms of their <a href="https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/4976/5493">access to legal representation and ability to understand the process</a>. We have also examined the decline in their overall <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12325">mental health and well-being</a>. </p>
<p>According to the Monash University <a href="https://arts.monash.edu/border-crossing-observatory/research-agenda/australian-border-deaths-database">Australian Border Deaths Database</a> and our own research, there have been at least 18 deaths by suspected or confirmed suicide in the caseload since June 2014.</p>
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<h2>Endless paperwork and delays</h2>
<p>Policy and legislative changes in recent years have resulted in the group of refugees in the “fast-track” caseload being subjected to different treatment compared to other asylum seekers. The reason was to further discourage people from risking the journey by boat. </p>
<p>They were barred from applying for any visas until 2015 when the then-minister for immigration, Peter Dutton, started <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/28/asylum-seeker-fast-track-processing-to-begin-with-temporary-protection-visas">inviting them</a> to apply for temporary protection visas under the new “fast track” process. </p>
<p>In 2014, the government <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22media%2Fpressrel%2F3083291%22;src1=sm1">abolished</a> most of the funding dedicated to helping boat arrivals with advice and assistance on immigration. As a result, <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2015/06/20/stalling-the-lawyers-who-aid-asylum-seekers/14347224002028">wait-lists for pro bono legal assistance at community legal centres</a> blew out to over one year. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lankan-asylum-seekers-are-being-deported-from-australia-despite-fears-of-torture-100240">Sri Lankan asylum seekers are being deported from Australia despite fears of torture</a>
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<p>Asylum seekers were then given a deadline of October 1, 2017 to lodge their protection claims, which placed huge strains on the pro bono legal community. The application process itself is incredibly complex, involving the completion of lengthy forms in English, <a href="https://www.liv.asn.au/Staying-Informed/General-News/General-News/May-2017/Help-needed-for-asylum-seeker-applications">taking at a minimum 10–15 hours to complete</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, these asylum seekers have been subjected to extended delays. Department of Home Affairs <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ima-legacy-caseload-july-2019.pdf">statistics</a> from July 2019 show that of the 31,000 in the initial “fast track” caseload, there are nearly 8,200 waiting for their cases to be dealt with. </p>
<p>This means that, in total, these asylum seekers have been waiting almost seven years for their visa applications to be processed. </p>
<h2>Trapped in visa limbo</h2>
<p>Despite these hurdles, <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ima-legacy-caseload-july-2019.pdf">approximately 70%</a> of those in the “fast-track” caseload have been found to be owed protection and provided with temporary visas to remain in Australia. </p>
<p>They are not, however, eligible for permanent protection. They are only granted either a three-year <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/temporary-protection-785">Temporary Protection Visa</a> (TPV) or a five-year <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/safe-haven-enterprise-790">Safe Haven Enterprise Visa</a> (SHEV). </p>
<p>For most, the granting of one of these visas provides no relief. Their temporary status means they cannot seek reunification with family members overseas. And because all of their visas will have to reassessed when they expire, the uncertainty surrounding their lives never fully goes away. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-dont-know-how-many-asylum-seekers-are-turned-away-at-australian-airports-111344">We don't know how many asylum seekers are turned away at Australian airports</a>
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<p>Those who have their temporary visa applications refused by the Department of Home Affairs have access to a limited merits review by the independent <a href="https://www.iaa.gov.au/">Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA)</a>. The IAA only considers new information if there are exceptional circumstances. And in <a href="https://www.iaa.gov.au/IAA/media/IAA/Statistics/IAACaseloadReport2018-19.pdf">87% of cases</a>, it affirms the decision of the Department of Home Affairs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.iaa.gov.au/IAA/media/IAA/Statistics/IAACaseloadReport2018-19.pdf">Statistics</a> show that in cases involving applicants claiming asylum from Sri Lanka, the IAA agrees with the initial visa refusal in 93% of cases.</p>
<p>The reduction in funding for legal assistance, combined with the lack of access to a robust system of review, has led the Australian Human Rights Commission to <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-07/AHRC_Lives_on_hold_2019_summary.pdf">conclude</a> that some individuals may have been refused visas despite having good claims for refugee status. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/refugee-rejection-is-more-complex-than-a-soundbite-why-tamil-family-should-stay-20190904-p52nyb.html">Others</a> have pointed to serious issues in the application process for the Biloela family, in particular the mother, Priya.</p>
<h2>Impact on mental health</h2>
<p>For those unable to work while their immigration status is in limbo, the government provides <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/srss-economic-penalty/">extremely limited financial and case management support</a>. According to a recent survey of asylum seekers, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/srss-economic-penalty/5/">nearly four in five reported</a> being at risk of homelessness or destitution if they lost this limited government support.</p>
<p>Those who remain on temporary visas for years while their fates are being determined feel deeply marginalised and disenfranchised. </p>
<p>They also face a minimum of ten years on a temporary visa without the prospect of reuniting permanently with separated family members, creating a subclass of people who likely will never feel that they “belong” in Australia or are fully settled.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-immigration-policy-harms-asylum-seekers-mental-health-8358">How immigration policy harms asylum seekers' mental health</a>
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<p>Given such concerns, and in the absence of any shift in policy, we set up a <a href="https://giving.unisa.edu.au/news/preventing-asylum-seeker-suicide/">crowdfunding campaign</a> to provide suicide prevention training for non-government and government-sector workers supporting refugees and asylum seekers. The results so far are promising. More than 400 workers across Australia have taken part in the training. </p>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission has also <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/lives-hold-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-legacy">put forth</a> its serious concerns about the robustness of the fast-track process. </p>
<p>The commission has recommended that those refused visas should be able to have their cases re-examined in a full merits review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This would provide them with a new hearing and allow for the consideration of all their claims, including any new information. </p>
<p>Until this happens, the commission further recommends that the Australian government not remove any asylum seeker who has been refused under the fast-track process. </p>
<p>Reforms to the current system for the processing and granting of visas are urgently needed. It is also critical for the government to provide adequate legal and mental health support for those in the fast track caseload. Suicide-related despair for this group is excruciating and unendurable. Lives matter irrespective of the politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter receives funding from Suicide Prevention Australia, SA Health and Overseas Services for the Survivors of Torture and Trauma. He has previously received sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p>Of the original 31,000 refugees in the ‘fast-track’ visa caseload, nearly 8,200 are yet to have their applications processed. As a result, their lives remain in limbo.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228662019-09-03T10:07:15Z2019-09-03T10:07:15ZView from The Hill: Morrison and Dutton block their ears and grit their teeth over Tamil family<p>As the federal court prepares to deal with the last ditch effort in the Sri Lankan Tamil family’s fight against deportation, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton are finding “border control” politics a lot more difficult than usual.</p>
<p>They may well boot out the family of four, that includes two small girls born here. But volleys of protest from some noisy and many (usually) quiet Australians mean while the PM and his minister might be on the high ground legally – multiple court decisions, including from the High Court, have found the family not to be refugees – they can’t avoid looking threadbare in terms of humanity.</p>
<p>If you’re Morrison, to have Alan Jones abusing you relentlessly, and citizens from a regional Queensland town disputing your case vociferously is, well, awkward.</p>
<p>Morrison and Dutton came to this argument well practiced in aggressive techniques. Dismiss and demonise your critics. Dip into history and attribute any blame you can to the Labor party. Drop to the Australian newspaper “on water” details about the latest boat arrival to suggest that allowing the family to stay would trigger an armada from Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>But unfortunately for Morrison and Dutton, Jones has a master’s degree in head kicking (which frequently gets him into trouble) and when townspeople of Biloela, where the family lived, appear on TV to press their cause it is hard to dismiss everyone who disagrees with you as the usual suspects – advocates, lefties, greenies, Callithumpians. And that’s not to mention the support the family has got from former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and the federal MP for the Biloela area Nationals Ken O'Dowd.</p>
<p>Moreover, the government has opened itself to maximum criticism by the way it has handled the family, including a dawn raid and distressing night flights, one of which took them to Christmas Island, where they are the only detainees.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-regions-can-take-more-migrants-and-refugees-with-a-little-help-121942">The regions can take more migrants and refugees, with a little help</a>
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<p>To put it bluntly, this looked like thuggish behaviour.</p>
<p>Jones went for the jugular in his Tuesday Daily Telegraph column, accusing the government of “heartlessness, inconsistency and hypocrisy”. His barbs couldn’t have been more pointed.</p>
<p>“Are Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton parents?” he asked rhetorically. and urged the family be given “ a bit of ‘au pair’ treatment” - a reference to Dutton’s controversial interventions to prevent the deportations of a couple of <a href="https://theconversation.com/peter-duttons-decisions-on-the-au-pairs-are-legal-but-there-are-other-considerations-102414">au pairs</a>.</p>
<p>Jones said the Tamil mother had witnessed her fiancé burned alive with several other men in her village who were identified as Tamil Tigers. “If your fiancé, Prime Minister and Peter Dutton, was burnt alive, would you worry too much how you got out of the joint?”</p>
<p>And Jones has no compunction in marshalling religion to the cause (despite some commentators saying Morrison’s faith should be off limits). “In an ostensibly Christian society, it might be time for a bit of practical Christianity,” Jones wrote.</p>
<p>In notable contrast to Jones, fellow 2GB shock jock Ray Hadley is raging on the other side of the argument.</p>
<p>In this age of social media, issues can easily catch fire, but even taking that into account, the Tamil family has stirred an extraordinary level of emotion. Leaving aside a huge petition appealing for a favourable decision and demonstrations in various parts of the country, it is notable that people in their town of Biloela continue to speak out so strongly, even though the family was removed from there early last year. They obviously left much more than just a passing positive impression. They had become part of the town.</p>
<p>One local told the ABC, “at the core, they’re our sort of people … Out here in the rural area we value workers … who roll up their sleeves and pitch in”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-ten-years-after-the-war-the-tamil-struggle-for-justice-continues-116758">Sri Lanka ten years after the war: the Tamil struggle for justice continues</a>
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<p>Wednesday’s court action is about whether the younger child needs to be assessed individually by the minister for refugee status. There are mixed views on how it will go, but even if it succeeded, it would only be the start of another round in the saga. The matter would go to Immigration Minister David Coleman. He would refuse the girl’s claim. That refusal would then be appealable to the federal court (but only on the grounds of the minister erring in law, not on substance grounds). The government could be in for a lot more pain, because the appeal could take a while. </p>
<p>It is indisputable that the issue of the Tamil family has raised legitimate arguments on both sides – the special circumstances of a particular family who have become valued members of a community versus the implications of setting a precedent for many other asylum seekers whose claims fail but have spent years living here.</p>
<p>It is equally indisputable that the government’s making an example of this family – because that is the bottom line of what it is doing – looks very distasteful, whether viewed from at home or abroad.</p>
<p><em>Update: The federal court has extended the injunction preventing deportation of the family until Friday. This followed the government disclosing the child’s claim for protection had in fact been examined and rejected, and Immigration Minister David Coleman had on Tuesday refused to use his ministerial discretion to allow for an application for a temporary protection visa. Justice Mordecai Bromberg has extended the hearing to allow the lawyers for the family to consider the new information from the government. Carina Ford, lawyer for the family, told reporters, “the fight is not over yet”.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Sri Lankan Tamil family from Biloela prepares to learn their fate tomorrow, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton can’t avoid looking threadbare in terms of humanity.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167582019-05-31T13:56:44Z2019-05-31T13:56:44ZSri Lanka ten years after the war: the Tamil struggle for justice continues<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277372/original/file-20190531-69067-saiq7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protests in London in 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-april-10-tamil-protesters-demonstrate-28423291?src=OG_UCvjhjgRbyFNybctMkA-1-3">Shutterstock/Daniel Gale</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tamils across the world this May marked the 10th anniversary of the end of the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11999611">civil war in Sri Lanka</a>. Not to celebrate a decade of peace, but to remember the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/14/srilanka-tamil-leaders-surrender-shot">70,000 people</a> thought to have been killed in the final months of the conflict.</p>
<p>In a final effort to defeat the armed separatist group the <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/225">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam</a> (the Tamil Tigers), the Sri Lankan state forces relentlessly shelled an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13190576">area called Mullivaikal</a> in the north-east of the country, where thousands of civilians were trapped on a strip of beach. Local and international media and observers <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-envoy-banned-in-war-without-witnesses-1609188.html">were ejected</a> from the area as the military fired indiscriminately into populated areas, some of which were officially designated as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/03/sri-lanka-slaughter-no-fire-zone">“safe zones”</a>.</p>
<p>Apart from the occasional <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/world/asia/30lanka.html">statement of concern</a>, the rest of the world largely ignored the violence of 2009, while Tamils who had fled persecution in their country watched in horror. The violence shaped the lives and <a href="https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.772774">politically motivated a generation</a> of young diaspora Tamils. </p>
<p>May 18 has become known as Tamil Genocide Day, a <a href="https://www.remembermay2009.com/">day of remembrance</a> for Tamils to collectively mourn those killed, and to protest against the lack of accountability for mass atrocity crimes. </p>
<p>The Sri Lankan state’s official story of that period is one of war heroes and terrorists – of a <a href="http://slembassyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sri-Lankan-Humanitarian-Operation-Factual-Analysis.pdf">humanitarian operation</a> to “rescue” Tamil civilians from the Tamil Tigers. But this narrative cannot hold in the face of <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-united-nations-inquiry-evidence-war-crimes-abuse">the overwhelming evidence</a> that has emerged since 2009 – of indiscriminate shelling, the targeting of hospitals, and the sexual assault and execution of surrendered Tamil Tigers. </p>
<p>Yet despite sustained efforts by Tamil groups and human rights organisations over the last decade, the international community has done very little to secure justice for those killed, bereaved, injured and displaced. </p>
<p>Weak <a href="https://www.srilankacampaign.org/another-un-human-rights-council-resolution-on-sri-lanka-an-explainer/">resolutions</a> at the United Nations Human Rights Council have urged the Sri Lankan state to bring about reconciliation and pursue accountability. But these have been met with hostility, inaction and <a href="http://world.time.com/2014/02/28/sri-lanka-president-rejects-calls-for-war-crimes-investigation/">denial</a> by the state. </p>
<p>The current president recently went as far as claiming that efforts towards accountability have weakened the state forces, making the recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/26/sri-lanka-attacks-president-says-civil-war-inquiries-left-country-vulnerable">Easter Sunday bombings</a>, which killed over 200 people, possible.</p>
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<p>My <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319563237">own work</a> on conflict memory in Sri Lanka explores how the Tamil community’s experience of the end of the war, and the time since, is one of trauma and persecution.</p>
<p>The stories being told by Tamils make it abundantly clear that violence continues. Tamil-dominated areas in Sri Lanka are now some of the most <a href="http://adayaalam.org/release-normalising-the-abnormal-the-militarisation-of-mullaitivu/">militarised</a> spaces in the world. </p>
<h2>Remembrance of crimes past</h2>
<p>Against this backdrop, remembrance and protest have a powerful role to play. The Sri Lankan state knows that memory is dangerous, that it challenges the official story, and that it strengthens struggles for justice.</p>
<p>May 18 has become a day of collective memory and a day for Tamils to demonstrate resistance and resilience. Likewise, the celebration of <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/tamil-nation-marks-maaveerar-naal-2018">Maaveerar Naal</a>, or Great Heroes’ Day, on November 27, is another date that has become embedded in Tamil culture.</p>
<p>Despite being denigrated, threatened and intimidated, people come together to light candles for the dead. There is collective power in memory practices, which are are shaping a new politics. </p>
<p>Memorialisation and resistance have a close relationship. Tamils in the north-east of Sri Lanka have shown that reclaiming the narrative of conflict and agitating for justice is bound up with memorialising the dead. </p>
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<p>Around the world in 2019, memorial events and protests were held to mark the ten years since so many were killed. In London, an <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/%E2%80%98tamils-lanka%E2%80%99-%C2%A0-showcasing-history-culture-and-politics%C2%A0">exhibition</a> on heritage and human rights took place, organised by young diaspora Tamils working with the <a href="http://ticonline.org/">Tamil Information Centre</a>. </p>
<p>A range of organisations, artists and academics contributed, offering an overview of Tamil history, art and culture, and generating a devastating picture of the impact of the war. </p>
<p>Taking resilience as its central theme, the exhibition channelled memory into connectivity and resistance, with narratives of suffering and victimhood. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn delivered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2aFGITJOs&feature=youtu.be">speech</a> calling for accountability and a sustainable peace. </p>
<p>The sense of community at the exhibition was moving and powerful. It was inter-generational and dynamic, and opened up fresh and necessary conversations on history and memory, and the consequences of the war.</p>
<p>The exhibition was held in parallel with protests and processions <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/tamils-across-world-mark-mullivaikkal-genocide">across the world</a>, including London, Toronto, Paris, and Sydney – as well as at Mullivaikal itself, the location of that terrible violence in 2009. Across the world, this annual remembrance has become a means of resistance to state violence and impunity for mass atrocity crimes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Seoighe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A decade on, the power of remembrance is key to Tamil culture.Rachel Seoighe, Lecturer in Criminology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1161352019-05-16T19:59:18Z2019-05-16T19:59:18ZRwanda and Sri Lanka: A tale of two genocides<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274801/original/file-20190516-69174-1jtoosb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C0%2C2026%2C1566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Tamil man who was paralyzed by shelling during the final weeks of the conflict in Mullivaikkal in 2009 is seen in this 2018 photo in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Priya Tharmaseelan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">genocide</a> and the 10th year since the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka. While the 1994 <a href="https://undocs.org/A/RES/58/234">Rwandan genocide</a> has become part of the world’s collective memory, the 2009 Tamil genocide has not.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/mayor-toronto-marks-may-18-tamil-genocide-remembrance-day">Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day</a> on May 18, named after the village that was the site of cataclysmic violence, is a day to remember those who died in the Sri Lankan conflict. Mullivaikkal commemoration events have been taking place around the world this month.</p>
<p>However, 10 years and a series of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24371&LangID=E">United Nations reports</a> and <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G19/065/61/PDF/G1906561.pdf?OpenElement">resolutions</a> have made little progress toward truth, accountability or reparations for the survivors of atrocity crimes in Sri Lanka. In the aftermath of the recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/world/asia/sri-lanka-easter-bombing-attacks.html">Easter Sunday bombings</a>, the spectre of ethnic violence has resurfaced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-has-a-history-of-conflict-but-the-recent-attacks-appear-different-115815">Sri Lanka has a history of conflict, but the recent attacks appear different</a>
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<p>The Rwandan genocide offers important lessons for Sri Lanka.</p>
<h2>Tutsis slaughtered</h2>
<p>An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutu were killed in just <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/4/10/5590646/rwandan-genocide-anniversary">100 days</a> in 1994. Thousands more were subjected to sexual violence and tortured in a <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/04/oped-25-years-after-rwanda-genocide-politics-of-demonization-as-dangerous-as-ever/">systematic campaign</a> by the Hutu ethnic majority.</p>
<p>Fifteen years later, another slaughter unfolded — this time in northern Sri Lanka. The protracted civil war between the national government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was coming to a catastrophic end. The goal of an independent state for the minority Tamils was slipping away.</p>
<p>Throughout the conflict, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2008/country-chapters/sri-lanka">both sides</a> failed to respect human rights and international humanitarian law. Unlawful killings and enforced disappearances carried out by the Sri Lankan security forces were <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/64000/asa370192007en.pdf">daily occurrences</a>. The LTTE was condemned for its suicide bombings and forcible recruitment of child soldiers.</p>
<p>For most of the 2000s, the LTTE was operating as a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=pjcis/proscription/submissions/sub35.pdf.">de facto state</a> in the north and east. By early 2009, military losses had gradually crushed the LTTE’s civil administration of these areas. </p>
<p>The LTTE and an estimated <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/sri-lankas-dead-and-missing-need-accounting">330,000</a> Tamil civilians were trapped in a small piece of land on the northeast coast in the Mullaithivu District. The government ordered the UN to evacuate their last few international workers from the region while international media were excluded and local journalists <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/sri-lanka-witness-war-crimes">silenced</a>.</p>
<h2>Carnage unfolded</h2>
<p>Transatlantic cellphone photos and a few video clips had begun circulating with images of the unfolding carnage. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/05/08/sri-lanka-repeated-shelling-hospitals-evidence-war-crimes">Hospitals</a> on the front lines were systematically <a href="http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/War%20Crimes%20In%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf">shelled</a>, as were food distribution lines and even Red Cross ships attempting to evacuate <a href="https://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf">the wounded</a>. </p>
<p>Within a few months, a brutal siege of the officially declared “safe zone” and the indiscriminate shelling of Tamil civilians concentrated there brought the war to an end. The Sri Lankan government celebrated its successful “humanitarian rescue operation.” In fact, it was genocide.</p>
<p>By August 2009, Britain’s Channel 4 News was broadcasting <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-execution-video-new-war-crimes-claims">gruesome footage</a> of summary executions and rape perpetrated by Sri Lankan soldiers. Dozens of surrendering Tamils, including senior Tiger political leaders and their families, had been <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger">shot dead</a> by soldiers as they walked out of the safe zone hoisting white flags.</p>
<p>In 2012, the UN Secretary General estimated <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/sri-lankas-dead-and-missing-need-accounting">that 40,000</a> civilians were killed over the final five months of the conflict. The exact number, as in many conflict situations, remains contested and is likely higher.</p>
<p>Once the conflict ended, hundreds of thousands of Tamils were interned in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/26/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-camps">squalid camps</a> in the northern Vanni region. Even today, thousands of Tamils <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/sri-lanka">remain displaced</a> in their own country.</p>
<h2>‘War without witness’</h2>
<p>If the Rwandan genocide was a genocide foretold, yet no action was ever taken by the international community, then the Tamil genocide was <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/11/04/sri_lankas_hidden_genocide.html">deliberately hidden</a> and dubbed the “<a href="https://www.journalism.co.uk/news-commentary/frances-harrison-sri-lanka-journalists-failed-to-tell-the-story-of-war-crimes/s6/a549285/">war without witness</a>.”</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.globalr2p.org/media/files/sri_lanka_press_release15april09.pdf">both cases</a>, the UN and the European Union had <a href="https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.gwu.edu/dist/b/1590/files/2018/08/Why-the-U.S.-Government-Failed-to-Anticipate-the-Rwandan-Genocide-27hp2at.pdf">direct warnings</a> but opted against <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-to-genocide/304571/">taking action</a>. The international community’s inertia <a href="https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/201-rwanda/39240.html">in Rwanda</a> and <a href="https://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/The_Internal_Review_Panel_report_on_Sri_Lanka.pdf">Sri Lanka</a> has been acknowledged as “grave failures.”</p>
<p>The establishment of an <a href="http://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/legal-library/100131_Statute_en_fr_0.pdf">international criminal tribunal</a> was an explicit attempt to grapple with Rwanda’s past. Convictions were secured <a href="http://unictr.irmct.org/en/cases/key-figures-cases">in the cases</a> of 61 “ringleaders.” A <a href="https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1241&context=bjil">groundbreaking decision</a> on sexual violence as an act of genocide was among its many rulings. Local “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/06/02/59162/?utm_term=.3a1cca04ea70">gacaca courts</a>” conducted some two million trials. A <a href="http://www.nurc.gov.rw/index.php?id=69">truth commission</a> continues efforts to promote reconciliation between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples. </p>
<p>While highly imperfect, these <a href="https://www.ictj.org/about/transitional-justice">transitional justice</a> mechanisms have generated a record of what really happened and why it happened.</p>
<p>In contrast, Sri Lanka has repeatedly reneged on pledges to investigate and prosecute war-time atrocity crimes. Abductions, torture in custody and <a href="http://www.fhr.org.za/files/5514/0015/7674/An_Unfinished_war-_Sexual_violence-YS.pdf">sexual violence</a> remain rampant amid a long history of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/sri-lanka/report-sri-lanka/">failed promises</a>.</p>
<h2>Occupied land not returned</h2>
<p>The harassment of Tamil activists as well as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48257299">targeted violence</a> against the Muslim community <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/05/sri-lanka-authorities-must-protect-muslims-against-violence/">continue</a>. Commitments to <a href="http://adayaalam.org/mapping-militarisation-in-mullaitivu/">demilitarize</a> and return occupied land are unfulfilled. Weak state structures, the lack of an independent judiciary and a <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2019/02/06/long-read-why-has-sri-lankas-transitional-justice-process-failed-to-deliver/">culture of impunity</a> remain significant <a href="https://r2pasiapacific.org/files/2479/Risk%20Assessment%20Sri%20Lanka%20September%202018%20FINAL.pdf">obstacles</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-commonwealth-must-take-action-against-sri-lankan-war-crimes-3473">Why the Commonwealth must take action against Sri Lankan war crimes</a>
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<p>As Harvard University scholar <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10589/Minow">Martha Minow</a> suggests, the relentless repetition of atrocity requires a pathway between “too much forgetting” and “too much memory,” between vengeance and forgiveness. In Sri Lanka today, memory and memorialization are radical counterpoints to official state narratives that resist accounting for the past.</p>
<p>Holocaust survivor Primo Levi once said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It happened; therefore, it can happen again… it can happen everywhere.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So long as impunity and the failure to address the root causes of atrocity crimes continue in Sri Lanka, lasting peace will remain elusive. Acknowledging the past must be a precondition to meaningful reconciliation.</p>
<p>A poem in Cheran’s anthology <a href="https://www.arcpublications.co.uk/books/cheran-in-a-time-of-burning-488"><em>In a Time of Burning</em></a> evokes the challenge of closure in the wake of mass violence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“there is neither sea nor wind</p>
<p>for us to dissolve the ashes</p>
<p>proclaim an end</p>
<p>and close our eyes.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharry Aiken is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Queen's University. She is a recipient of research and conference funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a co-researcher with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice, former president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, and past co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for International Justice. She is also an Advisory Council member of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheran Rudhramoorthy is a recipient of research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the International Development Research Centre. </span></em></p>This spring marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and the 10th year since the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka. The world knows what happened in Rwanda. What about Sri Lanka?Sharry Aiken, Associate Professor of Law, Queen's University, OntarioCheran Rudhramoorthy, Associate Professor, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158252019-04-22T20:05:10Z2019-04-22T20:05:10ZWho are Sri Lanka’s Muslims?<p>More than <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-lanka-bombings-live-attacks-latest-updates-death-toll-suicide-bombers-easter-a8880776.html">300</a> people have now been confirmed killed in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. Several sources had suggested a domestic Muslim Islamist group may have been linked to the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/sri-lanka-minister-local-group-linked-deadly-attacks-190422090142634.html">atrocity</a> – but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/asia/sri-lanka-bombing.html">Islamic State (IS)</a> has now also <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48028045">claimed responsibility</a>. </p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is spread across the country, but they make up 9.7% of the <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.lk/page.asp?page=Population%20and%20Housing">island’s population</a>. Even though most Sri Lankan Muslims are Sunni, it is a diverse community, with some following the mystical form of Islam, Sufism. Linguistically, most have Tamil as their mother tongue, often leading them to be categorised as part of the island’s Tamil minority, alongside Hindus and Christians. There are, however, Muslims who speak the majority Sinhala language. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-attacks-governments-social-media-ban-may-hide-the-truth-about-what-is-happening-115820">Sri Lanka attacks: government's social media ban may hide the truth about what is happening</a>
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<p>The origins of Sri Lanka’s Muslim community can be traced back to the historic trading routes between South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Traders from the Middle East (Arabs and Persians) developed commercial interests in southern India in the seventh century, which also spread to Sri Lanka. These Middle Eastern merchants married Tamil and Sinhalese women and settled in the east of the island around Batticaloa and Ampara.</p>
<p>The Portuguese, who started to control Sri Lanka in the 16th century, used the term “Moor” to describe the island’s Muslims (as they did other Muslim communities they encountered throughout the world). As a consequence, a local “Moorish” identity was established. In the early 20th century, some Muslims promoted this as a unique “Ceylon Moor” racial identity (the island was called Ceylon during the colonial period). They presumed an Arab heritage, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/006996679803200213?casa_token=RgM-9PFJoCYAAAAA:Md9Bvm1-PKLlm0SHYFyhlgRSUzis34s_ML9E4ys_Aa9w9oEpr7mBWt4kRa3W-4JFge31MPoFIaQ">which distinguished them from the local Tamil community</a>, which has its origins in southern India and northern Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>Muslim political leaders have continued to promote this “Moorish” identity, focusing on a collective Arab “blood connection” and pointing out that the island’s Muslims are not bound to any specific language (even though most of them speak Tamil). This is different to Muslims in Tamil Nadu, India, who see themselves as Tamils who adhere to the Islamic faith. </p>
<h2>Civil war</h2>
<p>In 1956, the so-called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Sinhala-Only-Bill">Sinhala Only Act</a> made Sinhalese the country’s official language and was considered discriminatory by Tamil-speaking groups, who started to form militant groups.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-sri-lankas-christians-115799">Who are Sri Lanka's Christians?</a>
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<p>Tensions boiled over in 1983, when Tamil attacks on the Sri Lankan army triggered Sinhalese mobs to attack Tamils during a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23402727">period known as “Black July”</a>. As many as 3,000 Tamil civilians were killed, triggering a civil war that was fought between the Sri Lankan government and a number of Tamil groups, most notably the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tamil-Tigers">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)</a>, and lasted until 2009.</p>
<p>Early in the conflict, some Tamil-speaking Muslims sided with the Tamil struggle. But that soon changed as Muslims also became a target for Tamil separatists. In one <a href="https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/1990-kattankudy-mosque-killings-reliving-bloodshed-trauma-27-years-on/">such attack in 1990</a>, around 150 people were killed by the LTTE when it raided two mosques in the town of Kattankudy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270292/original/file-20190422-1403-1pk27vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bullet holes from the Kattankudy Mosque massacre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the midst of the Tamil Tigers’ rebellion, da’wa (missionary) Islamic movements came to Sri Lanka. With this, “new” ideas of political Islam and different rules for clothing <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030127886">were brought to the country</a>. This also triggered clashes between different Muslim groups. In one 2006 incident, for example, <a href="https://www.eastwestcenter.org/system/tdf/private/ps041.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=32213">Islamic fundamentalists attacked a Sufi Mosque</a>, highlighting two developments: the Muslim community was divided in Sri Lanka and Islamic fundamentalism was emerging. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270289/original/file-20190422-28084-302jv4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Osama Bin Laden’s speeches translated into Tamil, found in a Sri Lankan Mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another conflict has has also come into focus recently. Buddhist extremists and Sinhala nationalists have also clashed with Muslims on <a href="https://theconversation.com/violent-buddhist-extremists-are-targeting-muslims-in-sri-lanka-92951">several occasions</a> in recent years, leading to the death of several Muslims. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/violent-buddhist-extremists-are-targeting-muslims-in-sri-lanka-92951">Violent Buddhist extremists are targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indeed, given that Muslims in Sri Lanka have been targeted both by Tamils and Sinhalese, why would a radical Muslim group specifically target another minority group like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-sri-lankas-christians-115799">Christians</a>? Most likely, this militant group (if it is indeed behind the attacks) is inspired by the global jihadi discourse that sees the West and Western institutions, including the Christian church, as the overarching global enemy. What the outcome for the country will be after these attacks we cannot know. But a new chapter of violence appears to have begun in Sri Lanka and old divisions may yet again escalate further.</p>
<p><em>The first paragraph of this article has been updated to include new developments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Johansson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new chapter of violence has begun in Sri Lanka and old divisions may yet again escalate further.Andreas Johansson, Director of Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/981042018-06-11T15:59:12Z2018-06-11T15:59:12ZCONIFA: how the ‘other World Cup’ is helping unrecognised nations through football<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222590/original/file-20180611-191978-zmire0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C3259%2C1871&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tibet take on Northern Cyrus in Enfield, London.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Rookwood</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The FIFA World Cup commences in Russia this week, with events on and off the pitch at the 32-team tournament set to dominate global media coverage for the next month.</p>
<p>But the World Cup is not this summer’s only festival of international football. For regions and communities that FIFA has not or will not offer membership to, CONIFA is an alternative confederation, which also organises “international” competitions. This weekend the final of the third CONIFA World Football Cup took place in England, the culmination of a ten-day tournament.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1005596004379430912"}"></div></p>
<p>Karpatalja – a Hungarian-speaking minority from western Ukraine – was <a href="http://www.conifa.org/en/2018/06/09/wfc2018-final/">crowned champions</a> on Saturday after defeating Northern Cyprus in the final on penalties at Enfield Town’s Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, one of ten venues across London to host matches. The breakaway Turkish Republic also lost the final of the European equivalent in similar circumstances on home soil last year.</p>
<p>CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Associations) was established in 2013 and fills a significant void for some of those entities FIFA neglects. The competition has been described as defiantly <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/fifa-karpatalja-wins-alternative-football-world-cup-180609215407026.html">subversive of the geopolitical norm</a>. Critics may question its relevance, yet the confederation is developing rapidly.</p>
<h2>Building bridges</h2>
<p>CONIFA professes to gather 166m people from 47 member entities, a mix of “nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports-isolated territories”. It’s a non-profit organisation that <a href="http://www.conifa.org/about-CONIFA">aims to</a> “build bridges between people, nations, minorities and isolated regions all over the world through friendship, culture and the joy of playing football”.</p>
<p>International sporting organisations typically frame their agendas and impact in these positive terms, of course. But, for a football researcher like me, such mission statements are useful as they can then be subject to scholarly scrutiny, particularly in the case of larger confederations <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2013.856590">such as FIFA</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222598/original/file-20180611-191951-11iixjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Preparing to represent Matabeleland, the western part of Zimbabwe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Rookwood</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Academics can also look at the tournaments themselves. Recent research on sporting “mega events” has looked at whether hosting a tournament does actually <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23750472.2015.1010278">promote physical activity</a>, whether it helps the host acquire soft power (or even leads to “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19406940.2016.1150868">soft disempowerment</a>”), and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2017.1332129?journalCode=gpas20">behaviour and treatment of supporters</a> during tournaments.</p>
<p>CONIFA is relatively new, and currently operates in the margins – scaled somewhere between “mega” and “minor”. Consequently, though the journalist Steve Menary has outlined the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outcasts-Lands-That-FIFA-Forgot/dp/1905449313">history of organised football for unrecognised countries</a>, recent events have not yet been subject to significant scholarly scrutiny. </p>
<p>Though academic research specifically on CONIFA is limited, two geographers at Portland State University in Oregon have looked at the Cascadia region (the US states of Oregon and Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia). Their work examines how football has mobilised a shared <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14660970.2015.1067790">regional narrative</a> either side of the Canada–US border. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1003661010748805130"}"></div></p>
<p>My own academic writing on the CONIFA tournament is in press, but a documentary I made <a href="https://vimeo.com/196444880">The other World Cup: Football Across Borders</a> was released last year and shown at the inaugural <a href="https://footballcollective.org.uk/2016/09/21/closing-film-announced-for-future-football-conference/">Football Collective conference</a>. The film culminates in the 2016 World Football Cup, hosted and won by Abkhazia, a self-declared independent territory, considered by the UN to be a part of Georgia. It examines football, statehood, identity and conflict within the fractured Georgian-Abkhazian context. Despite CONIFA’s claim and objective to “<a href="http://www.conifa.org/en/about-us/faq/">leave all politics behind</a>” therefore, its events and those involved can prove relatively political.</p>
<h2>Appeals to football romantics</h2>
<p>The 2018 CONIFA tournament was much bigger than previous editions. For the first time, it was hosted in a global metropolitan city and was supported by lucrative sponsorship from bookmakers Paddy Power. Matches were shown live on Facebook, record attendances were set, and the mainstream global media paid attention. </p>
<p>There were some governance issues, most notably the mid-competition withdrawal of Ellan Vannin (the Manx name for the Isle of Man) in a <a href="http://www.conifa.org/en/2018/06/06/conifa-statement-regarding-ellan-vannin-7-june/">dispute over an unregistered player</a>. Further political and governance challenges are likely in the future as CONIFA continues to develop and grow. But its expansion reflects and shapes the interests of the football community in this unique format of “international” football.</p>
<p>It also appeals to football romantics: for instance <a href="https://vimeo.com/273366083">Matabeleland</a> featured 60-year-old former Liverpool goalkeeper and Zimbabwe international Bruce Grobbelaar. As the behaviour of many players and supporters demonstrates however, CONIFA events also provide substantial opportunities to <a href="https://vimeo.com/273177982">shape and express collective identities</a> through football. The “other World Cup” is here to stay.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Check out the author’s short videos of <a href="https://vimeo.com/273177982">Tibet</a> and Matabeleland fans:</em></p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/273366083" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Matabeleland fans enjoy their game vs Tuvalu (video: CONIFA / Joel Rookwood)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em>More evidence-based articles about football and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/world-cup-2018-11490?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=WorldCup2018">World Cup</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-football-teams-who-sing-their-national-anthem-with-passion-are-more-likely-to-win-96765?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=WorldCup2018">Why football teams who sing their national anthem with passion are more likely to win</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-fifa-really-want-out-of-this-world-cup-97393?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=WorldCup2018">What does FIFA really want out of this World Cup?</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mohamed-salah-effect-is-real-my-research-shows-how-he-inspires-egyptian-youth-97220?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=WorldCup2018">The ‘Mohamed Salah Effect’ is real – my research shows how he inspires Egyptian youth</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Rookwood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The tournament featured teams from Tibet, North Cyprus, the Isle of Man and many more.Joel Rookwood, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/565432016-06-09T11:53:01Z2016-06-09T11:53:01ZTranslation: a bridge between languages that can foster cultural equality<p>Back in the 1990s, the football manager Dennis Wise was unfazed that some of his new players were foreigners. They would soon be able to communicate, he <a href="http://www.independent.ie/sport/words-from-the-wise-dennis-of-chelsea-that-is-26198015.html">reassured everyone</a>, since he intended to “learn them a bit of English”. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, David Cameron had the same bright idea. Writing in <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4667764.ece">The Times</a> in January, the prime minister lamented that 22% of British Muslim women speak “little or no English”. He argued that it was prohibiting their social integration and holding them back economically. These problems would be solved, he suggested, if <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-english-language-lessons-are-not-the-answer-to-radicalisation-53463">these women acquired</a> fluency in English. </p>
<p>The very fact that this fatuous idea can be solemnly propounded by prominent politicians reveals the extent to which linguistic diversity has become a conundrum in our vast, sprawling, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, post-industrial societies. </p>
<p>The ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/migrant-crisis">migration crisis</a> is unparalleled in living memory, and it painfully illustrates how large-scale population displacements can rapidly create social situations in which linguistic differences become flashpoints. The inability of migrants to speak the first language of a country to which they have travelled can arouse <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/vaughan-jones/they-dont-speak-english-language-migration-and-cohesion">suspicion and alienation</a>. These differences create divisions that can only be bridged by translating from one language to another, and from one culture to another. </p>
<p>Oddly, we hear little in the media about how translation operates in societies where there are class-based divisions or displaced communities. Some recent research has explored the role of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w9F8AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Mona+baker+war+translation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKm_KAoNbMAhWCSRoKHT6yA20Q6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=Mona%20baker%20war%20translation&f=false">translation in war zones</a>, but this has mainly emphasised the rhetoric of the political elite, rather than the day-to-day linguistic difficulties encountered by civilians caught up in the conflict. </p>
<p>This is disturbing since the power imbalances in any society are manifest in its languages. For instance, Lin Kenan has written at length about how translation could potentially help to trigger <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=c2oTx0u-aS4C&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=translation+power+hierarchy&source=bl&ots=WebXVVT-Y3&sig=zXcTtgbVvoy4KuhlNUZhSsuh4uM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7qODvoNbMAhUEBBoKHQFCB0MQ6AEINTAD#v=onepage&q=Kenan&f=false">social change in China</a>.</p>
<h2>Social justice</h2>
<p>In this age of relentless globalisation, certain groups of people are routinely disenfranchised due to gender, ethnicity, nationality and social class. In this context, it’s helpful to consider the role translation plays in all of this, and whether it can ever help to empower the disenfranchised – or only serve to increase their vulnerability. </p>
<p>The controversial translation theorist Lawrence Venuti <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Translation_Studies_Reader.html?id=4usxDBioV5UC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">has argued insistently</a> that fluent translations frequently perpetuate socio-political inequalities. In his view, translation is not an innocuous activity that facilitates communication – it can entrench inequality by bolstering the supremacy of dominant cultures.</p>
<p>Recent research has started to explore these complex issues. The translation scholar <a href="http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/26388">Israel Hephzibah</a> focuses on English translations of Tamil literature produced by members of the so-called “untouchable” Dalit communities in India. These translations inevitably destabilise the traditional caste system by conferring literary credibility on the writings of a severely marginalised group. Such cases suggest that translation can become aligned with social justice. </p>
<h2>Becoming extinct</h2>
<p>But the fraught issue of endangered languages and cultures complicates the picture. UNESCO has estimated that 50-90% of the world’s languages will have become <a href="http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas">extinct by the year 2100</a>.</p>
<p>It has been recognised for some time now that translations of indigenous texts (whether oral or written) can hasten language erosion in communities where there are few surviving native speakers. In contrast, translations into the endangered tongues can help to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6BPWHQihzw4C&pg=PA220&dq=endangered+languages+language+erosion+translation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfm6nHvdbMAhUEbBoKHV9uDEMQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=endangered%20languages%20language%20erosion%20translation&f=false">strengthen those languages</a>.</p>
<p>On the whole, we seem to care less about vanishing languages than we do about endangered species – especially cuddly ones. When the last giant panda finally goes to the great bamboo grove in the sky, there will undoubtedly be prolonged global lamentation. But the Native American Klallam language <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-klallam-death-idUSBREA1605W20140207">expired on February 4 2014</a>, when Hazel Sampson (its last speaker) died. Few news organisations felt its passing merited more than a cursory mention. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NeiM2G9eVqs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>And even some translation theorists are sceptical. Emily Apter <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_W1THL-txecC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=risks+fetishising+heritage+language+as+it+devotes+itself+to+curatorial+salvage&source=bl&ots=GM7eLCyNNA&sig=cZ_2imlt9NoSdM1Y03hb7DbXk2c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj37cKo9M_MAhUpDsAKHXawDTEQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=risks%20fetishising%20heritage%20language%20as%20it%20devotes%20itself%20to%20curatorial%20salvage&f=false">declared bluntly</a> that she has “real reservations” about mingling translation studies and linguistic ecology – the study of how languages interact with their environment. Apter is concerned that the exoticising of expressions by native-speakers and other distinctive characteristics of a language risks imposing a fixed grammar where a natural variation should instead be allowed to prevail.</p>
<p>There are many different kinds of periphery in the modern world, and life close to them can be difficult, even precarious. But languages are spoken there too. They may not be the same languages as those uttered closer to the “centre” of things, but that does not invalidate them. </p>
<p>If we can understand more fully how translation both strengthens and weakens these often disregarded tongues and cultures, then we might be forced to reconsider some of our rather simplistic presuppositions about language and society. And, fortunately, if all else fails, we can always make the world a better place by “learning” everyone a bit of English.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Tomalin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Is translating into native languages helping the disenfranchised?Marcus Tomalin, Research Associate in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138932013-05-03T04:31:00Z2013-05-03T04:31:00ZSri Lanka and human rights: Australia’s CHOGM dilemma<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23141/original/567dw5fg-1367469682.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C29%2C800%2C524&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Julia Gillard meets with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2011 CHOGM meeting: should Australia boycott the 2013 meeting in Sri Lanka over human rights concerns?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Daniel Munoz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Given its long association with the Commonwealth, it is no surprise that Sri Lanka is hosting the <a href="http://www.thecommonwealth.org/subhomepage/33247/">Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting</a> (CHOGM) in November this year. </p>
<p>These biannual meetings are normally not controversial. But in principle they do provide a forum to discuss the political problems of their members, especially those which appear to challenge understood democratic principles. In the past these discussions have been influential in the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa. </p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s record on human rights is currently the subject of international consternation after a recent <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.au/images/uploads/news/4081_sri_lanka_april2013.pdf">Amnesty International report</a> detailed widespread government-sanctioned repression against journalists, political opponents and human rights activists.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-27/carr-rules-out-sri-lanka-chogm-boycott/4654954">position</a> on a possible boycott of CHOGM is the conventional one of denying the validity of public criticisms of Commonwealth members. Australia has a strong interest in collaborating with the Sri Lankan government in the exchange of information about asylum seekers and controlling the departure of their boats from Negombo and other Sri Lankan ports. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23142/original/vv9vj4bb-1367470641.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sri Lankan soldiers in 2009, patrolling Mullaitivu in the final days of the war against the Tamil Tigers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/STR</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sri Lanka has just completed a long running civil war with the <a href="http://www.ndu.edu/press/understanding-sri-lanka.html">defeat</a> of the Tamil Tigers, a militarised body favouring secession and based on the Tamil minority which has shared Sri Lanka with the Sinhalese majority for over a thousand years.</p>
<p>Such wars cannot be conducted without suspending many democratic principles and practices, or without <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17156686">the deaths of many</a> citizens at the hands of government forces. This war ended in a massacre of uncounted numbers of Tamils at the final battle on the east coast. Warfare on this scale had not previously broken out in Sri Lanka. Independence was gained without an armed struggle, although there were serious youth revolts more recently.</p>
<p>Despite the brutal nature of civil war, most Commonwealth governments would accept that the state must be protected and maintained when attacked by insurrectionists. That is the position of the Sri Lanka government of Mahinda Rajapakse, which was returned with a large majority at the <a href="http://www.slelections.gov.lk/presidential2010/AIVOT.html">last election</a>.</p>
<p>CHOGM might normally have accepted the position that the Tamil Tigers were terrorists who had to be defeated. This appears to be the position of the Australian government. Tamils, seeking refuge in Australia following the end of the war, have often been returned to Sri Lanka for their part in the revolt or have failed to get an <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/asio-says-this-woman-is-a-threat-to-security-20130301-2fbnd.html">ASIO security clearance</a> for the same reason.</p>
<p>CHOGM members are reluctant to intervene in or speak out on the domestic affairs of other members. However, with Sri Lanka this time around this has not been the case. Canada has <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/canada-government-sri-lanka-commonwealth">led the criticism</a>, with its conservative government advocating a boycott in the face of a serious rebuke of the Rajapakse government. Canada hosts the largest number of Tamil refugees outside India and they are a significant force in Canadian politics.</p>
<p>However, Canada is not alone in criticising the Sri Lankan government. India too is less than happy. Continuing evidence of suppression of criticism and <a href="http://www.sacw.net/article4391.html">civil rights</a> come daily from Sri Lanka, and many Tamils are still interned in camps, while military forces are stationed in Tamil areas in large and aggressive numbers. Deaths of journalistic critics have become commonplace. Both the United Nations and a range of NGOs have consistently criticised the lack of a post war reconciliation and the restoration of liberal institutions.</p>
<p>The expatriate communities in Australia are divided between Sinhalese who mostly support the Sri Lankan government and Tamils who are unhappy about it. Supporters of the Rajapakse government point to an economic revival and growing economy. However growth is also marked in the armed forces, now numbering over 400,000 and located largely in Tamil areas.</p>
<p>Apart from the post-war repression - which is understandable to some extent - a more ominous development has been the growth of <a href="http://transtamils.com/sinhala-racist-party-say-srilanka-is-only-for-sinhala-buddhist-country/">Sinhala Buddhist racism</a>, often led by Buddhist monks. This has directed violence against the small Muslim community and some Christian churches. From once being a multicultural and multireligious society living in relative harmony, Sri Lanka is in danger of becoming culturally oppressive.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s long association with the Commonwealth began as a Crown Colony of the British Empire from 1802 until its independence in 1948. During that time it developed political institutions based on British principles including universal suffrage from 1931 and regular parliamentary elections. Its adherence to principles such as the rule of law and of the equality of all citizens before the law was central to its political values. </p>
<p>Thus Sri Lanka was, and is, an unquestioned member of the Commonwealth. Unlike states such as Ireland, Burma, Pakistan, Fiji or South Africa, Sri Lanka has never left this association nor been suspended from it.</p>
<p>These dramatic abuses of human rights need airing, however. Whether CHOGM is the right place to do so could mean Australian representatives are faced with a serious dilemma.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/13893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Jupp has no financial interest in the subject of this article, is not in receipt of any funding for its production, has not received any public grants for several years and is not a member of any organisation directly involved in its subject matter.</span></em></p>Given its long association with the Commonwealth, it is no surprise that Sri Lanka is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in November this year. These biannual meetings are normally…James Jupp, Adjunct Associate Professor, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/21932011-07-07T04:29:24Z2011-07-07T04:29:24ZAustralian animals or Tamil people: who do we care more about?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/2126/original/PIC_-_Tamil_Tiger.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Tamil Tiger fighter killed by Sri Lankan forces on May 14 2009</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What makes Australians morally outraged? What gets really gets our blood boiling? It would seem that Four Corners has inadvertently put this question to the test this week. </p>
<p>On Monday the 4th of July 2011 a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3257956.htm">Four Corners report</a> flooded Australian lounge rooms with horrid footage of Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (better known as the Tamil Tigers) fighters and Tamil civilians being brutalized, raped and shot by Sri Lankan state security forces. </p>
<p>Rarely are actual deaths allowed to air on television let alone to be bought or sold. Yet this footage was justified on the basis that we needed to see the truth of what has been happening behind the public face of Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>Kerry O’Brien front ended the Four Corners program with a reminder of the shocking footage shown several weeks ago of cattle slaughtered in Indonesian abattoirs and the ensuing outrage across the nation, leading to the immediate halt of live exports to Indonesia. He continued by stating that tonight Four Corners would show footage of the brutal slaughter of Tiger fighters and civilians in Sir Lanka.</p>
<p>Four days later and where is the outrage? </p>
<p>We watched as people cowered in ditches, babies screamed as shell bombs exploded, the body parts of hospital patients were scattered, and children saw their parents die in front of their eyes. Innocent Tamil civilians herded like cattle into ever decreasing “no fire zones” and slaughtered. The behaviour of the Sri Lankan Army more shocking and debased than any actions caught on camera in the Indonesian abattoirs. </p>
<p>Most surely many of us retired on Monday night feeling disturbed by the dark depths to which humanity can be lowered. Yet nothing! No public outrage, no continuing debate over what should be done, no government trading halt with Sri Lanka, no nationally driven pressure on the government to petition the UN, only silence!</p>
<p>Whatever Kerry’s intention was in making the link between the slaughter of cows and the slaughter of humans, he has highlighted an apparent discrepancy in the moral conscience of Australian’s. Why are we outraged when cows are killed inhumanly, but comparably apathetic when other humans are no less brutalized? </p>
<p>One reason may be that we feel a sense of moral responsibility for our role in exporting cattle to be slaughtered in Indonesia, but we don’t feel the same sense of responsibility for the slaughter of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Yet the Tamil people have been seeking asylum within Australia since the Sri Lankan government offensive in 2008. </p>
<p>Under the UN convention we are (morally) responsible for providing asylum to people who have a well founded fear of persecution in their home country. If such graphic footage caused us to rethink our export of cattle, why hasn’t it caused us to rethink our import of these human asylum seekers and refugees?</p>
<p>Moral reasoning is far from a rational process. It is driven by emotional reactions and those reactions are in turn driven by a largely self-serving perception of the world. It would seem that Four Corners has outed our murky moral compass.</p>
<p>Let me first discount one reason that our cows, but not the Tamil Tigers, are viewed as deserving of our protection. The Tamil Tigers are terrorists. They have used innocent humans as shields and engaged other atrocities in their push for independence and their fight against the Sri Lankan government. Our cows, presumably, have committed no such offenses. However, the Four Corners report focused on the death and destruction of innocent Tamils. That is, people who had nothing to do with any offensive, and children who had done nothing more than to be born into a civil conflict. These are the people seeking asylum in Australia.</p>
<p>A more likely reason is that our moral concern has limits, and one limiting factor is our national borders. We are morally outraged when unethical acts are committed against one of our own. Whenever there is a terrorist bombing, we are always eager to hear whether and how many Australians were affected, even though most of us share nothing more than a common national identity with these victims.</p>
<p>What is perhaps surprising is to find that our nationally determined moral concern extends to “our” cows – elevating them higher in our moral hierarchy than the Tamil people. Seeing our cows slaughtered inhumanely raises our collective blood pressure, but seeing the inhuman treatment of the Tamil people results in collective apathy and inaction.</p>
<p>No doubt issues of border protection and border control will remain firmly on the political agenda. But our emphasis on these borders not only serves to protect our resource rich and wealthy nation from “invasion”, it also appears to play a central role in the moral conscience of Australians. </p>
<p>As we focus on shoring up our nation against outside threat, we may be just as effectively restricting our capacity to extend moral concern beyond our borders. </p>
<p>No doubt the cows will be voting for tougher border protection measures in the next election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/2193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brock Bastian receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).</span></em></p>What makes Australians morally outraged? What gets really gets our blood boiling? It would seem that Four Corners has inadvertently put this question to the test this week. On Monday the 4th of July 2011…Brock Bastian, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Psychology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.