A coordinated, professional propaganda war: the need of the hour for Sri Lanka
Posted on November 25th, 2012
Asada M Erpini
Epaasni and S de Silva, who had commented in Lankaweb on 25 November, have pointed out a critical and urgent need: going by what they say and also considering the views expressed by a few before that, Sri Lanka cannot afford to rest on the laurels of having defeated the most ruthless terrorist group in the world: it is only the military wing of the LTTE that was operating in Sri Lanka that bit the dust at the hands of the gallant men and women of the armed forces. The financial machinery and the international propaganda arms of the LTTE have grown from strength to strength in spite of their faƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚§ade that operated in Sri Lanka apparently ceasing to exist.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The May 2009 demise of the leadership of the military wing in the Nandikadal lagoons did not bring the atmosphere of peace which the island nation earnestly yearned for. Examples of the attempts and endeavours to undermine the Sri Lanka government, the key individuals who made the right decisions after years of vacillation by the previous leaders and the armed forces that took the terrorists head on abound.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The UN Secretary General commissioned three individuals, led by Darusman, a lawyer from Indonesia, to advise him on Sri Lankan affairs. The objectivity that one could expect of the panel members has been questioned by many a writer. Yet, the Darusman Report, a private report that saw the light of the day without ever having been sanctioned by or receiving any approval from the UN, is repeatedly gets referred to as a UN Report by the anti-Sri Lanka groups.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Just a few days back a committee headed by a former UN official, Charles Petrie, released a report that ostensibly looked at the manner in which the UN personnel performed in the final days of the LTTE-Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) war. The report refers to the grave failures of the UN. Yet, the report goes on to find fault with GOSL for waging a liberation war,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ within its own territorial boundaries, that was aimed at ridding the nation ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a terrorist group that had hijacked the lives of nearly 20 million Sri Lankans during a period of three decades. Many will conveniently go on referring to UNƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Petrie Report castigating Sri Lanka while conveniently ignoring the remit of the group or its findings of failure of the UN.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sadly, the Petrie report has been quoted by other media, such as The Washington Post on 14 November, with the sensational title, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-UN report says Sri Lanka blood bath was a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”grave failureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for world bodyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Those who have some knowledge of punctuation in English language will notice that the single quotes of The Washington Post correspondent are for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-grave failureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, and not for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-blood bathƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. So, as far as The Washington Post is concerned, it is the grave failure that is in question and the blood bath is a fact. All those who followed the final stages of the Eelam War IV know very well that there was no blood bath whatsoever: the blood bath that the Western media correspondents predicted and for which they were eagerly waiting for never materialised. Instead, the Sri Lanka armed forces prevented a blood bath through their rescue of nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians who had been pushed from the North and the North West of Sri Lanka to the North Eastern shores of the island by the LTTE. In the process the armed forces lost over 6000 of its men and women, who need not have sacrificed their lives if they cared not for blood baths.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ AI, ICG, Human Rights Watch and other such human rights propagandists never seem to get tired of condemning Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka may not be the perfect democracy that these worthies have in their imagination. At least the country has managed to rid itself of a terrorist curse and there have been no bomb explosions or massacres of civilians since May 2009. People go about their business without worrying whether they would get back home in one piece and the government has initiated unprecedented massive infrastructure developments in the North and the East. LTTE child soldiers have been returned to their parents and tens of thousands of LTTE fighting cadres have been offered alternative employment avenues that do not demand killing non-Eelam innocents.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ LTTE remnants in the West and other affluent nations have been vociferous during the past three years in condemning Sri Lanka. There are repeated stories of Tamil genocide, rape of Tamil women at holding centres and the lack of facilities for the returning refugees. A government that exists in the imagination of Tamils living outside Sri Lanka has created a virtual government, with some well known anti-Sri Lanka politicians in the Western countries and emigrants from Sri Lanka holding Cabinet posts.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The icing on the cake, as far as the anti-Sri Lanka brigades are concerned, is the team from Tamil Nadu ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” Vaiko, Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, Nedumaran ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and Sreemaran, who are ably assisted by Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s own Tamil National Alliance MPs. All that they see is the suffering of Tamils of Sri Lanka at the hands of the Sinhalese community and Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Sinhalese government: the fact that over 40% of the population of Colombo is Tamil, the demographic data of Sri Lanka indicate that 75% belongs to the Sinhala ethnic group, and the government is elected by popular vote does not have any relevance! Additionally, these hard facts never figure in the equations of these individuals and their backers, who shed bucketfuls of copious tears on behalf of the suffering Tamils ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” in Sri Lanka.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka needs to wage a propaganda war against the perpetrators of the lies that are being propagated against the country and the merchants of untruths, without any further delay. Just as it transformed a ceremonial army, which was there to parade the streets on Independence Day anniversary, to an effective fighting force, and that too to be among the best in the world, Sri Lanka has to establish a capable army for propaganda. This force has to run just as the armed forces are administered and should naturally be under the capable hands of the Secretary of Defence, whom Sri Lanka is fortunate to have.
November 25th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
SL already has a similar unit under the ministry of defence established in 2010.
They did some commendable jobs if you remember the factual report, EXCELLENT videos against Channel 4 (Lankaweb has links to all these). After that Channel 4 BS STOPPED!!!
But it takes time to develop into what CIA and Mossad has. They CONTROL the media. ALL US and Israeli local media are controlled by them PLUS many international media. We can NEVER do that. Sunday Leader, lankaenews, sundaytimes, dailymirror, colombotelegraph, etc. are at the FOREFRONT of anti-SL media but we can’t control them. Other countries DON’T Have such SPITEFUL anti-national media!!! Still there is a lot we can achieve WITH TIME. They also CONTROL the UN which we can never do.
What we should not forget is it is an ONGOING PROCESS. Tamil Homelandists will NEVER leave SL alone. They will bring new trouble. We have to fight them on one hand and on the other BE ONE STEP AHEAD OF THEM.
ELIMINATING key Tamil nationalists ESPECIALLY IN SL is MORE important than mere propaganda ALONE. As they say in PROPAGANDA WAR, actions speak LOUDER than words!!!
Who is RECHARGING the Tamil Diaspora in UK, France, etc. with Tamil Homeland BS?
TNA and ACTC politicians from SL!!!
Today MOST anti-SL conspiracies are HATCHED in SL or by people LIVING in SL with foreign money. Then they spread the world over.
This is the truth.
Add to TNA and ACTC, Kasippu Joseph who is a VERY POWERFUL LTTE propaganda tool LINKING Tamil people in SL with Tamil Madu, UK (BTF racists), NGOs and the anti-SL mafia.
No point taking diarrhea medicine if you don’t wash your hands after coming out of the toilet.
We have to “deal with” Tamil Homelandist propaganda ORIGINATING units in SL first. SILENCE them. Otherwise it creates only NOISE.
November 25th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Pro-13 amendment CJ – SB – is a HUGE LTTE propaganda tool NOW. ALL pro-LTTE maggots are creeping from the woodwork to save her!!
Tamilnet, srilankaguardian, colombotelegraph, lankaenews, BBC, etc. (LTTE propaganda tools) are ALL in a coordinated and professional (and dirty) propaganda war against SL to save their tool.
So the impeachment is PART of broader SL propaganda war against separatists. We must all support it. As pro-LTTE US attorney general BRUICE FEIN was kicked out by USA, we have to kick out SB.
We have to understand like all wars there are battles. Short term and long term. We may lose some short term battles but win the war!
November 25th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Lorenzo is spot on. Asada is quite right, the GOSL must act NOW and challenge the anti sri lanka media head on immediately after their publications. They must not let it pass without challenge. Now some of pro government contributors to Lankaweb are giving interviews to Sunday Leader as well. This is calculated Goebbels’ propaganda principles at work. Read :http://www.psywarrior.com/Goebbels.html
November 25th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
As I mentioned in the earlier comment nothing should go unanswered. Sri Lanka has the right to reply for each and every report, comment, Documentaries likes ones from CH4 ( which was answered but how effective.. Don’t know.) This task force should coordinate these efforts. Sri Lanka should have professional point men/reporters, editors working for in every major news papers, TV Networks across world. Moments notice we should be able to get some one to reply or answer anywhere in the world. Pay them, reward them handsomely for their work. Also at the UN. Question the UN all the time, Just like that scum on earth ICP . This should be full time 364/24h, on going operation.
Not only that we should not wait for separatists and terrorist backers to initiate. We should initiate. Get our side of the story, true story from 1920s or where ever that started to Nandikadal. Whole sequence, Every event that took place. A Good documentary running in all major networks will get the ball rolling. These kind of efforts will create other opinions in the world also will force terrorist backers to respond, jump up and down, pay more and more bribes. We should drag them to bankruptcy.
November 25th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
The BEST LAID PLANS of MICE and MEN often GO ASTRAY!
The late unlamented SunGod was a murderous dictatorial madman who deceived himself. The more absolute power over his vassals that he gained, the more he thought of himself as DIVINE; OMNISCIENT. Why is it that he is now being spoken of as a mere babe-in-the-woods deceived by that unrepentant demagogue Vaiko and other Racist politicians of Tamil Nadu?
The SunGod reigned as an absolute dictator only as long as the GOSL deluded itself into playing footsie with its Foreign Critic and did not marshal its human and military resources to the fullest. Once that illusive veil of friendship with Western Neo-Colonialists and India plying their Global Agenda was lifted from their eyes, the long-suffering people of Sri Lanka elected a PATRIOTIC Government with the WILL & DETERMINATION to fight the war to a FINISH as it should have been fought from the very beginning. Then the LTTE STOOD NO CHANCE OF SURVIVING; All that Sri Lankan Patriots yearned for was a leadership willing to FIGHT to the END.
For 30 long years the Sinhala people deceived themselves listening to self-serving foreigners who gave no military assistance but criticized us at every turn. That SELF-DELUSION is NO MORE …. as Sri Lanka’s future enemies will learn to their acute discomfort.
Over 150,000 Sri Lankans died at the hands of Eelamist Terrorists and their Foreign Backers. This ACID has AGAIN ETCHED into our MINDS of the LESSONS to be gleaned from the PATRIOTIC RESISTANCE of our forefathers against successive waves of foreign invaders: Sri Lanka … whenits patriotic sons and daughters gird their lions in unison … is UNCONQUERABLE!
…………..
Vaiko misled Prabhakaran: KP
By P K Balachandran – COLOMBO
NewIndianExpress.com
25th November 2012 08:45 AM
Even three days before his death and the decimation of LTTE, Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was counting on a favourable result in the 2009 elections to the Lok Sabha in Tamil Nadu to save him from the ignominy of surrender to the Sri Lankan army and an involuntary asylum in a foreign land.
Revealing this in an interview to Daily Mirror on Saturday, the then head of the International Secretariat of the LTTE, Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), said: “Tamil Nadu fellows like Vaiko and Nedumaran had given false hopes of a change in the situation (in India) after elections in mid-May, saying that the BJP will win overall and Jayalalithaa in TN.” Prabhakaran pinned his faith on Tamil Nadu and India because he did not trust the West, including the official peace broker, Norway, KP recalled in the interview.
He said that over the end of 2008 and early 2009, the international community and the co-chairs of the Tokyo peace conference, had devised a plan whereby the LTTE would lay down arms, hand over armouries to UN and negotiate a peace settlement with Colombo.
As part of the deal, Colombo would allow the top rung of the LTTE to be shifted to an Asian or African country; try the middle rung leaders but award them light sentences; and give amnesty to ordinary LTTE cadre. The US was ready to send a fleet to evacuate Prabhakaran and his colleagues. In the bargain, 3,00,000 Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire would also be saved.
But Prabhakaran, who did not want to go down in history as having compromised and surrendered, sent word to KP that if any foreign ship appeared on the Mullaitivu coast for rescuing him, it would be fired at.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:11 pm
The BEST LAID PLANS of MICE and MEN often GO ASTRAY!
The late unlamented SunGod was a murderous dictatorial madman who deceived himself. Why is it that he is now being spoken of as a mere babe-in-the-woods deceived by that unrepentant demagogue Vaiko, and other Racist politicians of Tamil Nadu? The more absolute power over his fawning vassals that he gained, the more he deluded himself into beleivinghimself as DIVINE, OMNISCIENT, capable of bending DESTINY itself to his will. In doing so, he failed to heed the fate of previous despots touched by the same madness.
The SunGod reigned as an absolute dictator only as long as the GOSL deluded itself playing footsie with its Foreign Critic, and failed to marshal its human and military resources to the fullest. Once that illusive veil of friendship with Western Neo-Colonialists plying their Global Agenda, and India pandering to Tamil Nadu politicians, was lifted from their eyes, the long-suffering people of Sri Lanka elected a PATRIOTIC Government with the WILL & DETERMINATION to fight the war to a FINISH as it should have been fought from the very beginning.
Then the LTTE STOOD NO CHANCE AT ALL OF SURVIVING. All that Sri Lankan Patriots yearned for was a leadership willing to FIGHT to the BITTER END this war to reunify our Motherland for ALL of our citizens, irrespective of community.
For 30 long years the Sinhala people deceived themselves listening to self-serving foreigners who gave no military assistance but criticized us at every turn. That SELF-DELUSION is NO MORE …. as Sri Lanka’s future enemies will learn to their acute discomfort.
Over 150,000 Sri Lankans died at the hands of Eelamist Terrorists and their Foreign Backers. This ACID has AGAIN ETCHED in our MINDS the LESSONS to be gleaned from the PATRIOTIC RESISTANCE of our forefathers against successive waves of foreign invaders: Sri Lanka … when its patriotic sons and daughters gird their loins in unison … is UNCONQUERABLE!
…………..
Vaiko misled Prabhakaran: KP
By P K Balachandran – COLOMBO
NewIndianExpress.com
25th November 2012 08:45 AM
Even three days before his death and the decimation of LTTE, Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was counting on a favourable result in the 2009 elections to the Lok Sabha in Tamil Nadu to save him from the ignominy of surrender to the Sri Lankan army and an involuntary asylum in a foreign land.
Revealing this in an interview to Daily Mirror on Saturday, the then head of the International Secretariat of the LTTE, Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), said: “Tamil Nadu fellows like Vaiko and Nedumaran had given false hopes of a change in the situation (in India) after elections in mid-May, saying that the BJP will win overall and Jayalalithaa in TN.” Prabhakaran pinned his faith on Tamil Nadu and India because he did not trust the West, including the official peace broker, Norway, KP recalled in the interview.
He said that over the end of 2008 and early 2009, the international community and the co-chairs of the Tokyo peace conference, had devised a plan whereby the LTTE would lay down arms, hand over armouries to UN and negotiate a peace settlement with Colombo.
As part of the deal, Colombo would allow the top rung of the LTTE to be shifted to an Asian or African country; try the middle rung leaders but award them light sentences; and give amnesty to ordinary LTTE cadre. The US was ready to send a fleet to evacuate Prabhakaran and his colleagues. In the bargain, 3,00,000 Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire would also be saved.
But Prabhakaran, who did not want to go down in history as having compromised and surrendered, sent word to KP that if any foreign ship appeared on the Mullaitivu coast for rescuing him, it would be fired at.