PO377 ETHNIC CONFLICT AND
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Week 2: Sri Lanka
Pop Quiz
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1.
2.
3.
4.
The conflict in Sri Lanka is between…
Muslims and Hindus
Muslims and Buddhists
Tamils and Sinhalese
Indian terrorists and the Sri Lankan state
Lecture Outline
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Overview
Pre-Colonial History
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Colonial Period
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Lead-up to independence
Post-Independence History & Entrenchment of
Nationalisms
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Competing historical narratives
Competing analyses of conflict
Sinhala state nationalism
Tamil nationalism
Civil War
Conclusion
Overview
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Population: estimated around 21 million (in 2012).
Ethnic makeup (1980s estimate): roughly 74% Sinhalese, 13% Sri
Lankan Tamil, 7.5% Muslim, 5% Indian Tamil, less than 1% other.
Sinhalese: predominantly Buddhist, small Christian minority; Tamils:
mostly Hindu, Christian minority.
Civil war 1983-2009. Tamil nationalist groups fought the state for an
independent Tamil state (Tamil Eelam) in the north and east. LTTE most
powerful group.
Possibly 90,000-110,000 people dead (20,000-40,000 in final
months); 500,000+ have left Sri Lanka; up to 1,000,000 displaced
at various points with many thousands still living in IDP camps.
Channel 4 Documentary
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Do you find the documentary and its evidence
credible?
How does watching the documentary make you
feel?
What are some implications you could draw from it
regarding the future of Sri Lanka?
Pre-Colonial History
Competing historical narratives
 Sinhalese narrative claims they were first ‘civilised’
settlers of Sri Lanka, from 5th/6th C. BC.
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Sinhalese history of SL based on Buddhist chronicle the
Mahāvamsa and its myth of Prince Vijaya; Buddha
entrusted the island to the Sinhalese people.
Sinhala nationalism claims Tamils in north and east are
descendants of Tamil-speaking Hindu ‘invaders’.
Claims SL Tamils never had autonomous political units
previously and accepted Sinhalese rule.
Pre-Colonial History (2)
Competing historical narratives
 Tamil narrative (less extreme) claims Tamils
have lived in Sri Lanka for at least 1,000 years
and have had autonomous political units.
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Tamil narrative (more extreme) claims Tamils
settled first and Sinhalese were originally
Tamils who later converted to Buddhism and
adopted the Sinhala language.
Pre-Colonial History (3)
Competing analyses of conflict
 Primordial analyses of SL conflict: Sri Lanka has
always been dominated by two exclusive and
conflictual groups, Sinhala-speaking Buddhists and
Tamil-speaking Hindus.
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Non-primordial analyses: groupings within Sri Lanka
based on language and religion have been
historically variable and intersecting social divisions.
Before 19th C. was never a perfect congruence of
‘race’, language, religion and political territory.
Current political identities have been generated by
the form and formation of the modern SL state.
Pre-Colonial History (4)
‘For long periods of time groups which would
now be characterized in terms of the SinhalaTamil divide lived more or less at peace with one
another. There were dynastic wars; but SinhalaTamil communal violence dates from after
Independence. This is not to say that there were
no differences between groups of people living
in the island: the point is simply that differences
of language, custom and religion were made into
something new by the devices of a modern state.’
(Nissan and Stirrat, 1990)
Colonial Period
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European ideas of ‘race’ that British rule brought were
significant in development of nationalism.
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British policy influenced by new racial theories, incl. notion
of ‘Aryanism’ (linguistic affinity = common ‘blood’).
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Buddhist revivalist movement from late 18th/early 19th
century: resistance to old élite and to the British. Began as
anti-imperialist but contributed to construction of SinhalaBuddhist nationalist identity.
Circa 1890 on working-class called for economic
improvements and union rights; emerging bourgeoisie
demanded political reforms, equal opps and democratic
rights from circa 1900.
Colonial Period (2)
Lead-up to independence
1)
1931 Constitution replaced communal
representation with territorial electorates;
with universal suffrage this led to Sinhalese
majority rule.
2)
3)
First general election 1931 (selfgovernment) – Sinhalese leadership
unwilling to share power with minority
ethnic groups.
New administrative division of the island
according to language.
Post-Independence History &
Entrenchment of Nationalisms
Sinhala state nationalism
1)
Citizenship Act 1948 and Indian and Pakistani
Residents (Citizenship) Act 1949.
2)
3)
4)
Language policies.
Educational policy known as ‘standardisation’
from 1970.
Official entrenchment of Buddhism and growth of
political Buddhism.
Post-Independence History &
Entrenchment of Nationalisms (2)
5)
6)
Economic alienation and exclusion from traditional
employment for Tamils.
Post-independence ‘ethnic outbidding’ very significant
(see DeVotta, 2002).
7)
‘Colonisation schemes’ from 1950s.
8)
1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act.
9)
Series of violent inter-communal (anti-Tamil) riots,
beginning 1956 and culminating in 1983.
Post-Independence History &
Entrenchment of Nationalisms (3)
Tamil nationalism
1.
Federal Party from 1950s: stood for federal
constitution with Northern and Eastern Provinces as
states of a federal union.
2.
3.
Non-violent protest campaigns met with repression;
last one in 1964.
Tamil push for secession from early 1970s; TULF
formally demanded independent state in 1976.
Post-Independence History &
Entrenchment of Nationalisms (4)
4.
5.
Small-scale Tamil guerrilla activity from early to
mid-1970s; increased militancy from late 1970s.
1983: Tamil MPs forced out of Parliament by 6th
amendment to Constitution requiring allegiance to
unitary state; Amnesty Intl report on torture by
armed forces and police; huge organised antiTamil riots in July.
Civil War
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Split betw. Tamil parliamentarians (TULF) and
militants from 1982; armed campaign increasingly
significant.
1983: beginning of civil war, rush to join Tamil
guerrilla groups.
Mid-1980s: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
aim to destroy competitors.
Civil War (2)
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‘Eelam War I’: July 1983 until 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka
Peace Accord (or 1990 collapse of it).
‘Eelam War II’: 1990-95, brief ceasefire in 1995.
‘Eelam War III’: 1995 until start of ceasefire at the
end of 2001/early 2002.
‘Eelam War IV’: Jan 2008 to May 2009.
Conclusion
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European racial categories formed the framework for
developing nationalist identities in Sri Lanka; after
independence British were replaced by Tamils as the
‘threatening other’ for Sinhalese.
Contemporary Sinhalese-Tamil conflict is partly result of
processes begun by British colonialism: unification of
country; introduction of unitary bureaucratic structure;
import of western ideas of ‘race’ and its relation to
‘nation’; impact of mass media and state education;
formalised communal political representation but then a
shift to territorial representation.
Conclusion (2)
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Contemporary conflict is also a result of postindependence political, social and economic changes that
marginalised Tamils, along with intra-Sinhalese political
competition (ethnic outbidding).
Sri Lanka can be viewed as a ‘double minority’ model.
Shift in Tamil demands from federal union to separate
state and from non-violent to violent means: lesson in
dangers of majority instituting ethnocentric unjust policies
at expense of minority, BUT catch 22 problem here.
Where to from here??
Pop Quiz
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1.
2.
3.
Sri Lanka will return to war…
Within the next five years
Within the next ten years
Not within our lifetime