Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

Toronto has been the scene of a number of protests from the Tamil community concerning the conflict in Sri Lanka. Toronto is home to the largest Tamil population in North America, and they can mobilise impressive numbers. For weeks now, the Tamils has been staging very large and noisy protests along many of our streets, blocking traffic and interrupting the normal work-a-day life of some people. Lord knows they are disruptive, they’ve been near my building enough that even with the windows closed they are still quite noticeable. Yesterday’s protest had a reported 120,000 participants. Initially the protests were supposed to be against the deaths of innocent Tamils caught up in this long and horrible civil war. Over a short period of time it has morphed into a visible pro-LTTE movement and less about the deaths and this has me very, very worried. In the early stages of the protest the posters were predominantly about stopping the injustices and halting the killings. But there has been an insidious shift in the focus, seen very visibly yesterday with almost every protesters carrying LTTE flags and posters, not of the innocent, but of camouflaged leaders of the LTTE. The protest wasn’t about injustice, but about allowing this banned terrorist group a visible and public voice.

Normally, I support people’s rights to protest. And to a point I support their rights to be on the street letting the world know their views. There is no doubt in my mind that the Sri Lankan government has been the perpetrator of a number of atrocities and misuse of power. For that they need to be taken to task.

HOWEVER…

I am annoyed and dismayed at the attempt by the organisers of these protests to portray the Tigers as nothing more than downtrodden freedom fighters. The LTTE is listed as a terrorist organisation, not just here in Canada, but world wide and for a reason. The LTTE is not a group that they should be on the streets supporting and the Canadian public is being manipulated by the LTTE.

Human Rights Watch has published reports on the pressure the LTTE have applied to Tamil Communities in the west to fund raise. Their techniques range from taking over Temples and using them as launching points for their propoganda, extortion, threats of physical violence and slander. They do not take opposition lightly.

On March 15, 2006, a Human Rights Watch report said the Tamil Tigers were using threats and intimidation tactics to extort money from Sri Lankans living in Canada. Fundraisers, often working in pairs, knocked on the doors of Tamil families to solicit donations. They reportedly said they are “collecting for the final war against the Sri Lankan government.” The donation drive targeted Tamil families in Toronto, which is home to an estimated one-third of the 600,000 to 800,000 Tamils who live outside of Sri Lanka.

Many Tamils in Canada give money to the group freely, said Human Rights Watch director Jo Becker, but those who refuse are sometimes threatened. Fundraisers ask for donations ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, based on a family’s estimated wealth. Tamil-owned businesses are asked for much more, up to $100,000. “Tamils unable to pay say they have been told by LTTE (Tamil Tigers) fundraisers to borrow the money, make a contribution on their credit card or even re-mortgage their home,” Human Rights Watch said in a news release.
CBC News Indepth 2006

The LTTE use suicide bombers that target civilians in the blast, forcibly recruit child soldiers, prey on their own people, kidnapping, murder, torture and assassination. This week alone the LTTE kidnapped UN workers and 3 children in a bizarre attempt to coerce them into working for them. The UN also stated this week the LTTE has been stealing food meant for severely malnourished children caught up in this endless war. This is caring for their own people?

Three cease fires have been broken by the LTTE, not the Sri Lankan government. Each time they have replenished their supplies and troops they restart the fighting. They have assassinated 2 heads of state (including Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandi). The LTTE pioneered the use of suicide bombers as well as the use of women to carry out the attacks. You think Al Queda created this form of terrorism? Think again. The LTTE pioneered it’s use back in the early days of the conflict. They use the civilian population as human shields. In a tit-for-tat photo war, the Sri Lankan community could go out on the streets showing just as many maimed and murdered as the Tamil protesters have. They have attacked farm workers, buses carrying people to their jobs and home, bombed Buddhist shrines, massacred villages that don’t fall in line.

As of February 2009, UNICEF has reported the LTTE has intensified it’s recruitment of child combatants. I looked at the young Tamils on the street yesterday and thought, “How nice, your children will never be abducted to fight the war, they are safe here in Toronto”. It is easy to send your children out to protest when you know they will NEVER have to fight the war.

Selvamani, a Tamil girl living in eastern Sri Lanka was only 15 when rebel forces began pressuring her to join them. “First they sent letters, then they began visiting my house,” she said. “They told my family, `Each house has to turn over one child. If you don’t agree, we will take a child anyway.’”

Not long afterwards, in August, 2002, soldiers from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) abducted Selvamani while she was walking to class. They took her to a military training camp where she learned to use weapons, including landmines and bombs. During training, when she became too weary to continue and asked to rest, the rebels beat her.

Canadian Tamils don’t have to worry that their children will one day vanish on the way home from school and end up in a military training camp.
Human Rights Watch

Neither side in this civil war is innocent. War is never clean and tidy like a video game. But I loudly object to the LTTE’s use of Canadian streets to perpetuate their war. I find offensive the LTTE’s attempts at brainwashing the naive Canadian public into believing they are the innocent parties in the 30+ year war of attrition. It was my understanding the LTTE was a banned group here in Canada. Why are they allowed to so visibly recruit and fund raise on the streets of Toronto. Don’t fool yourselves, that is the entire aim of these protests. If members of Al Qaeda engineered such a protest there would have been hell to pay. Terrorism is terrorism, regardless of the groups name.

Stumble it!