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2008-09-20 Sri Lanka

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Posted by Fred 2008-09-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Pleading for info for my no-knowledge mind -- would someone please give a short history of all of this fighting in Sri Lanka?

Such a small country for such fighting and deaths. And I can only grasp, it's got to be the terrorists against the people. How long has this been going on? Who's in charge? Are we there? Who's on who's side? Who are the "big" guys standing silently watching all that is happening?

I do so appreciate the spotlight being focused on them each day -- but I missed the Sri Lanka course at Rantburg U.

Posted by Sherry">Sherry 2008-09-20 01:48|| 2008-09-20 01:48|| Front Page Top

#2 Not that small, think of West Virginia with 15 million Hatfields and NcCoys

Posted by .5MT 2008-09-20 04:21|| www.cybernations.net]">[www.cybernations.net] 2008-09-20 04:21|| Front Page Top

#3 So far as I can tell, Sherry, the roots of the fighting in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were laid centuries ago and are ethnic / racial as well as class / economic in origin. The majority Sinhalese are related to northern Indians (IndoAryans) who asserted control there when a powerful prince was exiled and settled there with his troops and court about 500 BC.   The minority Tamils are related to the Dravidians of southern India whose subordination in India proper has long been a source of deep resentment and sometimes open armed conflict. Tamils have also been on Sri Lanka for millenia - what is now the island nation of Sri Lanka used to be connected by a narrow natural causeway to southern India, their home.

Those are the roots of the conflict, but of course it has many more modern twists and turns. For instance, some of the Tamils in Sri Lanka were brought there more recently by the British as indentured plantation workers.   After independence, part of that Tamil group returned to India proper but the rest remained on Sri Lanka ... I don't have a good read on whether there is much division between them and the Tamils whose roots go back many many centuries but looking at a map about where the plantations were, it seems likely that economic inequities are one reason for the Tamil Tigers to seek an independent and socialist state in the north/east.

Also, although Hinduism today has elements both of the original Dravidian gods/practices and those of the IndoAryans, there are differences of focus among the millions of Hindus and some of the Dravidian foci are strong among the Sri Lankans who identify as Hindu (mostly Tamils).   70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, though, especially the Sinhalese who have been Buddhist continually for many many centuries....

Maybe the closest parallel is northern Ireland, although Ireland was never the center of wealth etc. that Ceylon historically had been. Plus, while the ethnic differences between the English and the Celts have been bitter, in Sri Lanka it's not just ethnic and language but also racial differences between the indo-aryan Sinhalese and the dravidian Tamils.

Anyway, that's the impression I've pieced together. I may be missing key elements or getting things wrong, tho. Perhaps John Frum will stop by and comment from his perspective.

Posted by lotp 2008-09-20 06:59|| 2008-09-20 06:59|| Front Page Top

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