Written by: Mathusan Mahalingam
Black July has shaped us, Black July has changed us. It is impossible to read our history without understanding the significance of Black July.
As an act of rejection of the existing administrative structure of the Sri-Lankan Government which undermined, discriminated and repressed the Tamil population, the Tamil people boycotted the Sri-Lankan local elections of May 18, 1983. Through this boycott, Tamil people showed the Sri-Lankan state that they would not accept repression, and that the only viable solution for them was through national liberation. A separate civil administrative structure was the only way to ensure that Tamils rights and liberties would be protected, and ensure that Tamils would not be repressed, discriminated or subject to violence.
The success of the boycott of the elections severely angered the Sri-Lankan Government that sparked violence, and new measures. They imposed new Emergency Regulations which granted the Sri-Lankan armed forces superior powers. 600 Sri-Lankan soldiers were subsequently deployed within Jaffna, and embarked on a violent frenzy setting ablaze Tamil shops, businesses, houses, petrol stations, vehicles, looting properties and terrorizing civilians. In Vavuniya and Trincomalee, Sinhala armed forces set ablaze Tamil-owned businesses, houses, schools and temples. Civilians were also butchered and shot.
In response to these atrocities and murders of Tamil civilians, the LTTE planned retaliation in order to let the Sri-Lankan army know that state violence against Tamil civilians would not go unpunished. Their attack of a truck and jeep of Sinhala soldiers killed 13 Sinhala soldiers, and injured 2 others. In response, 60 Tamil civilians were then murdered in Tinneveli and Kantharmadam the following day.
However, the violence did not end there. The Sri-Lankan Government announced that military funerals would be held in the heart of Colombo for these 13 men. Large crowds of Sinhalese like never before gathered in Colombo for the processions. However, the funerals did not occur as promised, instead the Sri-Lankan Government claimed that there was a delay in receiving the bodies, and that they would instead hand over the bodies to the families. This left the crowd angry and restless, and eventually turned violent. Sinhalese mobs then embarked on a violent and bloody destruction of Tamil property, homes, and businesses in Colombo. For days, Tamil civilians were targeted, killed and had their property ransacked and looted. 3000 Tamils were murdered. 150,000 Tamils were left homeless and deemed refugees.
While initially, the mob violence seemed to be unplanned, in truth, if you looked harder, it was evident that this was an organized pogrom to undermine Tamil economic strength in Colombo. The rioters all had accurate information regarding the precise locations of Tamil civilian’s homes, industries and businesses. These atrocities, murders, and looting was done in plain sight of Sri-Lankan forces who did not interfere in attempting to diffuse the situation. In fact, such violence could not have been carried out without the support of the Sri-Lankan state. Even the call to gathering was an intentional guise. Even Tamil prisoners in Welikade Prison were murdered by fellow Sinhala inmates. Following the destruction, not one Sinhala political leaders offered any sympathy for the Tamils who were murdered, left homeless and reduced of their economic strength. In fact, President Jayawardane, commented that this was pogrom was actually fair retribution. He even commented to the Daily Telegraph Newspaper on July 11, 1983, “I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people now… Now we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us,” further highlighting that this was an organized event with malicious intent.
Despite the fact, the entire world condemned the Sri-Lankan state and wondered how such atrocities could take place with the support of the state. Furthermore, there were no impartial inquiries conducted to investigate the murders. The rioters and Sinhalese mobs were immune from any punishment because of the support for their actions by the Sri-Lankan state.
Black July further highlighted the need for Tamils to be administered by a separate civil administration in their traditional homelands of the north and east. There was no way a state government that intentionally inflicted violence and targeted its Tamil civilians could possibly provide leadership or protect the Tamils. Black July further illuminated that the Sri-Lankan state did not have the interests of the Tamils, and would not work to protect their rights, life, and liberty.
Pogroms like Black July are initiated in order to undermine the economic and social strength of communities, making them vulnerable and unable to fight back. In fact, these are nothing new. Communities gain a lot of their power through economic status and power, and undermining this power is a sure way of destabilizing a community.
In November of 1938, German forces initiated pogroms known as Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” Here, Jewish businesses, schools, hospitals and synagogue were burned, trashed, and looted. Jewish people were also targeted and killed. Curfews were enforced, and thousands of Jews were also arrested. We all know what followed these atrocities, the Holocaust. Genocide. Perpetrators are aware that by targeting the economic strength, you undermine the stability and power for victims to fight back against the crime of genocide.
In May 2009, the Sri-Lankan army further planned a calculated plan to exterminate Tamils. May 2009 was a time marked by genocidal onslaughts in were 120,000 Tamils were brutally massacred at the hands of the Sri-Lankan state. Other innocent victims were raped, left injured, orphaned, homeless and emotionally and mentally scarred. The intention from the beginning has always been genocide.
Did the world pledge “Never again” after the Holocaust? It’s been Never Again, Again, Again and Again.
References:
Balasingham, Anton. (2004). War and Peace: Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers. Fairmax Publishing, England.
Jones (2006). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York: Routedge.
Kallen, Evelyn. (2004). Social Inequality and Social Injustice: A Human Rights Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan
Little, David. (1994). Sri-Lanka: The Invention of Enmity. Washington: United States of PeacePress.
Ponnambalam, Satchi. (1983) Sri-Lanka: National Conflict and the Tamil Liberation Struggle. New Jersey: Zed Books
Zolberg, Aristide R., Astri Suhrke, and Sergio Aguayo. (1989). Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World. US, Oxford University Press
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