Abstract
The war in Sri Lanka has largely been understood internationally through the framework provided by the state: a ‘terrorist problem’ rather than a war of self-defence by an aggrieved and persecuted minority. In the final phase of the war, the hegemonic framework of understanding applied to ‘Eelam war IV’ was one of a humanitarian rescue mission, necessary to liberate the Tamil population from the LTTE terrorists. This chapter examines the lexicon developed, adapted and adopted by the Sri Lankan state: a lexicon that borrowed heavily from global discourses formed by world powers and originating in international political institutions. Describing the sources, content and linear development of the conflict ‘script,’ I interrogate its effectiveness in mobilising the majority population and deterring international pressure as the violence of the ‘final war’ reached catastrophic levels. Beginning with an analysis of the construction of international discourses and their propensity for adoption and appropriation, this chapter offers a critique of the “portability” of these discourses (Khalili 2007, p. 12). The Sri Lankan example illustrates the legitimising effect of global discourses as they spread across national boundaries, largely insusceptible to the particularities of each conflict situation. Transnational discourses are available to states as narrative building blocks. In Sri Lanka, relying strategically on the lexicon popular within the ‘international community’ itself allowed the state to seek global sympathy, solidarity and the space to finish the war by using enormous violence against the Tamil people.
Bibliography
Asian Human Rights Commission. (2010). The State of Human Rights in Sri Lanka in 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2010/AHRC-SPR-010-2010.pdf.
Atugoda, S. B. (2013). A Patriot and an Illustrious Son of Sri Lanka—Lakshman Kadirgamar. Daily News—Sri Lanka (online edition). Retrieved February 4, 2017, from http://epaper.dailynews.lk/art.asp?id=2012/08/10/pg09_2&pt=p&h.
BBC. (2006). Tamil Tiger “Regret” Over Gandhi. BBC News South Asia. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5122032.stm.
Buncombe, A. (2009). British Envoy Banned in War Without Witnesses. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-envoy-banned-in-war-without-witnesses-1609188.html.
Burt, A. (2013). Letter from FCO Minister to The Independent on UK Arms Exports to Sri Lanka. Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/letter-from-fco-minister-to-the-independent-on-uk-arms-exports-to-sri-lanka.
Campaign Against the Arms Trade. (2011a). Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields Displays UK Complicity in Arms Sales. Campaign Against the Arms Trade, News. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from https://www.caat.org.uk/media/press-releases/2011-06-15.
Campaign Against the Arms Trade. (2011b). UK Export Licences to Sri Lanka. Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Campaigns. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from https://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/this-is-not-ok/arms-sales/sri-lanka.
Council of the European Union. (2006). Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union concerning listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation (9962/06). http://www.statewatch.org/terrorlists/docs/89790.pdf.
de Mel, N. (2007). Militarizing Sri Lanka: Popular Culture, Memory and Narrative in the Sri Lankan Armed Conflict. London: Sage.
Harrison, F. (2012). Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War. London: Portobello Books.
Human Rights Watch. (2006). LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora. London: Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/03/14/funding-final-war/ltte-intimidation-and-extortion-tamil-diaspora.
Human Rights Watch. (2009). Sri Lanka: Repeated Shelling of Hospitals Evidence of War Crimes. Human Rights Watch, News. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/05/08/sri-lanka-repeated-shelling-hospitals-evidence-war-crimes.
International Crisis Group. (2011). Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Harder than Ever. Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/reconciliation-sri-lanka-harder-ever.
Jayatilleka, D. (2013). The Coming Confrontation: Wigneswaran Alleges Genocide, Calls For Plebiscite. Colombo Telegraph. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-coming-confrontation-wigneswaran-alleges-genocide-calls-for-plebiscite/.
Keen, D. (2014). “The Camp” and “The Lesser Evil”: Humanitarianism in Sri Lanka. Conflict, Security & Development, 14(1), 1–31. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14678802.2013.856176.
Kennedy, D. (2004). The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Khalili, L. (2007). Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/3529/.
Kingsbury, D. (2012). Sri Lanka and the Responsibility to Protect: Politics, Ethnicity and Genocide. Abingdon: Routledge.
Kleinfeld, M. (2003). Strategic Troping in Sri Lanka: September Eleventh and the Consolidation of Political Position. Geopolitics, 8(3), 105–126. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14650040412331307732.
Krishna, S. (1999). Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka and the Question of Nationhood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lee, J. (2009). Sri Lanka Taps Qorvis. PR Weekly. http://www.prweekus.com/article/sri-lanka-taps-qorvis/1269298.
Lewis, D. (2010). The Failure of a Liberal Peace: Sri Lanka’s Counter-insurgency in Global Perspective. Conflict, Security & Development, 10(5), 647–671. Retrieved February 8, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14678802.2010.511509.
Manoharan, N. (2007). Semiotics of Terrorism: A “Symbolic” Understanding of the LTTE. Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. http://www.ipcs.org/article/terrorism-in-sri-lanka/semiotics-of-terrorism-a-symbolic-understanding-of-the-ltte-2189.html.
Marcelline, S. (2011). Thimpu and the All Party Conference (APC)—The Making of a War Trap. Nethra Review, 42–47.
Miliband, D., & Kouchner, B. (2011). The Silence of Sri Lanka. The New York Times.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2007). LTTE’s Terrorist Activity has Transgressed Our National Sovereignty—Foreign Minister Bogollagama. Ministry of Foreign Affairs News. http://www.mfa.gov.lk/index.php/media/news-archive/321-lttes-terrorist-activity-has-transgressed-our-national-sovereignty-foreign-minister-bogollagama?fontstyle=f-larger.
Nadarajah, S., & Sentas, V. (2013). The Politics of State Crime and Resistance—Self-Determination in Sri Lanka. In E. Stanley & J. McCulloch (Eds.), State Crime and Resistance (pp. 68–83). Abingdon: Routledge.
Nadarajah, S., & Sriskandarajah, D. (2005). Liberation Struggle or Terrorism? The Politics of Naming the LTTE. Third World Quarterly, 26(1), 87–100. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0143659042000322928.
Permanent People’s Tribunal. (2010). Permanent People’s Tribunal Tribunal on Sri Lanka, Dublin. http://www.internazionaleleliobasso.it.
Permanent People’s Tribunal. (2014). Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka. Bremen.
Pinto Jayawardena, K. (2007). A “Praxis” Perspective on Subverted Justice and the Breakdown of Rule of Law in Sri Lanka. In J. Joseph (Ed.), Sri Lanka’s Dysfunctional Criminal Justice System (pp. 36–62). Chai Wan: Asian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from www.ahrchk.net.
Podder, S. (2006). Challenges to Peace Negotiations: The Sri Lankan Experience. Strategic Analysis, 30(3.) Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://www.idsa.in/strategicanalysis/ChallengestoPeaceNegotiationsTheSriLankanExperience_spodder_0706.
Rajapaksa, M. (2007). Address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the “Neganahira Navodaya” – New Dawn in the East – Celebration at Independence Square, Colombo on July 19, 2007. http://www.island.lk/2007/07/20/features2.html.
Rajapaksa, M. (2010). Mahinda Chinthana: Sri Lanka: The Emerging Wonder of Asia.
Rasaratnam, M. (2016). Tamils and the Nation: India and Sri Lanka Compared. London: C. Hurst & Co.
Richmond, O. P. (2011). A Post-liberal Peace. Abingdon: Routledge.
SAARC. (1985). South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Charter. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Retrieved February 5, from http://saarc-sec.org/SAARC-Charter/5/
Sahadevan, P. (2006). Negotiating Peace with the LTTE. In P. Sahadevan & N. DeVotta (Eds.), Politics of Conflict and Peace in Sri Lanka (pp. 232–297). New Delhi: Manak Publications.
Sentas, V. (2010). The Violence of “Terrorist Organisation” Bans. Criminal Justice Matters, 82(1), 16–17. Retrieved February 18, 2017, from https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/violence-“terrorist-organisation”-bans.
Smith, K. E. (2011). The European Union and the Review of the Human Rights Council. Brussels: European Parliament Policy Department.
Sullivan, G., & Hayes, B. (2010). Blacklisted: Targeted Sanctions, Preemptive Security and Fundamental Rights. https://www.tni.org/files/eu-ecchr-blacklisted-report.pdf.
Tamilnet. (2001). Tamil Parties’ Alliance Formed to Support Liberation Struggle—TULF. Tamilnet.
The Island. (2009). Go Tell the World of Our Progress to Democracy—President to Sri Lanka Consuls. The Island.
Thiranagama, S. (2012). In My Mother’s House: Civil War in Sri Lanka. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Thiranagama, S. (2013). Claiming the State: Postwar Reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, 4(1), 93–116. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/humanity/v004/4.1.thiranagama01.html.
Tichenor, W. (2008). Sri Lanka Continues to Resist Pressure in Human Rights Council. Wikileaks—Confidential US Cable. Retrieved 5 February, from https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08GENEVA180_a.html.
United Nations. (2011). Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf.
United Nations. (2012). Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka. Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/The_Internal_Review_Panel_report_on_Sri_Lanka.pdf.
Uyangoda, J. (2007). Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Changing Dynamics. Washington, DC: East-West Center Washington.
Uyangoda, J., & De Mel, N. (2012). Reframing Democracy: Perspectives on the Cultures of Inclusion and Exclusion in Contemporary Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists Association of Sri Lanka.
Wallace, M. (2010). Confronting Wrongs, Affirming Difference: The Limits of Violence, the Power of Nonviolence, and the Case of Nonviolent Intervention in Sri Lanka. Providence, RI: Brown University.
Weber, S. (2004). “War,” “Terrorism,” and “Spectacle”: On Towers and Caves. In S. Weber (Ed.), Theatricality as Medium (pp. 326–335). Fordham University Press.
Weiss, G. (2011). The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers. London: Bodley Head.
Wickramsinghe, N. (2006). Unthinking the Terrorism–Globalization Nexus. In I. Ahmed (Ed.), Understanding Terrorism in South Asia: Beyond Statist Discourses (pp. 371–410). New Delhi: Manohar.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seoighe, R. (2017). Transnational Discourses of Terrorism, Humanitarianism and Sovereignty. In: War, Denial and Nation-Building in Sri Lanka. Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56324-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56324-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56323-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56324-4
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)