when wud the kids know, putting others down in words = small murders?

i, as a women, gave birth to them. i am their sister, mother, lover. yet, when one of them refuse to kill/scare/dominate others, they ask i.e. ‘why r u acting so pussy?’

if acting so pussy means to not to kill, hurt or put down others, i am proud to act like that. and i’ll b proud for my boys who act like dat (for not being as small murderers)

Languages are not to kill. i hate violence of any sort. because women create, they dont destroy [guns and bombs and wars = men's world].

please kiddos, if u don’t want to act so pussy [in other words, being hu'man'] don’t come to this world through pussies [how many times shud i tell you, wat a beatiful part a pussy is?!]… please, find other ways to come out. find other ways.

and… this is a pussy talking. and your words are small murders. no blood spurted. but it hurts bloody too much.

I was somewhat sceptical when the letter dropped onto my doormat in Colombo.

A summons to the fourth floor of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) headquarters.

“We’ve been asked to question you,” it said, “about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.”

A few months after the former Indian prime minister was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally, I had interviewed the man thought to be behind the murder – the leader of the Tamil Tigers, Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

I had asked him why he had Rajiv Gandhi killed, and he had denied any involvement. India did not believe him, and neither did I.

‘Sun God’

The fourth floor of CID headquarters had a bit of a reputation back then. Rumours of people falling from windows. But they were polite enough with me. We had tea and biscuits.

“Where did you meet Prabhakaran,” they wanted to know. “What was he like?”

It was a house in the Jaffna peninsula, with bodyguards as big as palm trees.
“ Prabhakaran is still a hero to many Tamils, particularly those in the diaspora, scattered around the world ”

And the man himself?

Well, rather unassuming for a leader who was feted by his followers as a “Sun God” – who inspired them to swallow cyanide to avoid capture, or to blow themselves up for the cause.

“I had a brother,” one of the policemen said to me, leaning just a little closer.
“He was also with the police, serving in the eastern province. After he surrendered, Prabhakaran had him and all his colleagues shot dead.”
“So if there’s anything else you can tell me, I’d like to find the man who killed my brother.”

It took another 18 years and tens of thousands of lives, but this week Sri Lanka did finally corner Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Reconciliation?

Exactly how he died may never be known. TV pictures released by the army showed a corpse dressed in trademark fatigues, with eyes open wide. It looked like he had been shot in the head at close range.

Ironically, the man who identified the body had been the commander of the Tamil Tigers in the eastern province, when all those policemen were killed.

Col Karuna broke with Prabhakaran in 2004, fatally weakening the rebel movement.

Now, he is the minister for national reconciliation in the Sri Lankan government. Life is sometimes strange.

And what are the chances for national reconciliation?

The Tamil community in Sri Lanka is battered and bruised. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the last few months. Hundreds of thousands are now displaced and held in government-run camps.

They have no idea who will protect them, or even who they need protection from.

But Prabhakaran’s death, and the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, presents an opportunity to break out of the stalemate of the past.

Certainly the outside world is concentrating on Sri Lanka as never before. India – where Rajiv Gandhi’s family are still in power – was never going to do that much while Prabhakaran was still alive. Now it is scrambling to push for a political solution.

It is not just about concern for the suffering of civilians just off its southern shores. Official India is also slightly spooked by the role China played in helping Sri Lanka win the civil war.

New friends

Beijing has provided huge stocks of weapons to Sri Lanka in the last few years, at the same time as it has been building a new deep water port on the island’s southern coast.

It has not gone unnoticed that China’s oil supplies from the Middle East pass through the waters of the Indian Ocean, along the sea lanes just south of Colombo.

And now that China has helped Sri Lanka defeat the Tamil Tigers, it may be looking to call in a few favours, as it slowly extends its influence across the region.

All this at a time when the Sri Lankan authorities are casting around for new friends.

They have bitterly resented Western criticism of their conduct of the war.

Suggestions that the treatment of civilians demands an investigation into possible war crimes are angrily rejected.

Those who speak out are quickly condemned, no matter who they are. A few days ago an effigy of UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband was burnt outside the British High Commission in Colombo.

“Tamil Tiger Headquarters” said the graffiti spray-painted onto the wall.

The real headquarters of the Tamil Tigers are in ruins. Sri Lanka’s northern jungles have become a wasteland – emptied of people.

Post-war challenge

The symbol of the rebel movement – a roaring Tiger on a red background, backed by two automatic rifles – dominated the north for most of the last 25 years. No longer.

And that has led to scenes of great rejoicing in the rest of the country. The fear of the bomb and the bullet, they hope, has finally been lifted.

And yet Prabhakaran is still a hero to many Tamils, particularly those in the diaspora, scattered around the world; many refuse to believe that he is really dead.

He was a man who knew how to fight a war, but had no idea how to win a peace.

Now we have to wait and see if those who defeated him are cut from a different cloth.

There is still scepticism, but there is also every chance to prove the sceptics wrong.

Tamil Tigers admit leader is dead

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have admitted for the first time that their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead.

A statement issued by the Tigers said their “incomparable leader” had “attained martyrdom” and declared a week of mourning.

A spokesman for the group also told the BBC that it would now use non-violent methods to fight for Tamils’ rights.

Sri Lanka’s army last week released pictures it said showed Prabhakaran’s body after its final offensive.

The statement from the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) said he was killed “fighting the military oppression of the Sri Lankan government” last Sunday.

The rebels had made a last stand in the north-east of the island after Sri Lankan troops cornered them in a coastal strip.

The Tigers’ defeat brought to an end their 26-year fight for a separate Tamil homeland.

The statement was signed by the defeated group’s head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan.

It said that the LTTE had declared a week of mourning for their dead leader, starting on 25 May.

The statement called on Tamils all over the world to “restrain from harmful acts to themselves or anyone else in this hour of extreme grief”.

In a telephone interview with the BBC, Mr Pathmanathan said Prabhakaran had died on 17 May but did not give details of the circumstances.

Mr Pathmanathan said the Tigers would now use non-violent methods to fight for the rights of Tamils.

“We have already announced that we have given up violence and agreed to enter a democratic process to achieve the rights for the Tamil (self) determination of our people,” he said.

Most of the Tamil Tigers senior leadership is believed to have been killed in the fighting.

Conflicting reports

Sri Lankan officials gave conflicting reports of the death of Prabhakaran.

They initially said he had been killed in an ambush by commandos as he tried to break through government lines in an ambulance.

But the army later said his body was found on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon and he had been shot in scrubland – probably during fierce fighting.

Sick child in Manik Farm displaced persons camp
Sick and injured civilians displaced by the war are crammed into camps

Tamil Tiger officials at first denied Prabhakaran’s death, insisting that he was “alive and safe”.

Sri Lankan officials have said that more than 6,200 security personnel were killed and almost 30,000 wounded in the final three years of the war. Estimates for Tamil Tiger deaths vary from 15,000 to more than 22,000.

About 275,000 Sri Lankan civilians are still displaced because of the fighting, posing a huge problem for international aid agencies.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday to see the situation for himself.

At the end of his visit a joint UN-Sri Lankan statement said that the government had pledged to investigate claims of human rights violations committed during the conflict.

But the government has rejected UN calls to allow aid agencies unhindered access to refugee camps.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said authorities had to identify any remaining rebel fighters in the camps.

Sixty years of State Terrorism in Sri Lanka

BBC journalist with the jubilant crowd in Colombo was telling us, how terrorism has now been defeated in Sri Lanka. It is a clear indication that the world still hasn’t grasped the fundamental root cause behind the civil unrest in this country.

State terrorism has always been the major problem in this tiny island. It is an ugly and arrogant monster that always keeps his head above the seas and mountains of Sri Lanka.

For more than sixty years, successive Sri Lankan governments backed by racist Sinhala extremists have been oppressing the Tamil minorities. They brutally killed thousands of innocent Tamils, burnt their properties and sent the rest in ships as refugees to the North of the country in the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties.

When Tamils asked for their rights, Sinhala extremists always responded with violence.

Pearl of the Indian ocean has now become a land of the demons

They have now killed thousands of innocent Tamils in one of the most cruel wars in the history of the mankind. They used internationally banned weapons on innocent women and children and murdered them without showing any mercy.

They kept on using the buzz words “War on Terror” and “Humanitarian Operation” to justify their atrocities. They made the people to starve for months, denied medicine from the sick the elderly and let the wounded to die in the open fields.

Innocent women and children were killed in hospitals, schools and even inside bunkers. Thousands of wounded civilians were burnt alive in the bunkers.

They brutally killed the rebels who surrendered with white flags and violated all the norms of a conventional war.

They are now busy burning and dumping the bodies of innocent Tamils.

Media and aid workers are not allowed to the war zone because the Sri Lankan forces are working day and night to hide all the evidences.

Those who did manage to leave the war zone were sent to barbed wired concentration camps. Sri Lankan forces are regularly filtering out young people from the concentration camps and taking them for questioning. Many of these children don’t return.

Young Tamil women are raped and tortured in these notorious camps. Dead bodies of the innocent Tamils are thrown outside the camps with deep wounds on their heads and necks.

Forced disappearances, random killings, rape, torture and the list goes on. Sri Lanka has become one of the worst countries in the world that telling the truth is considered as a crime and those who tell the truth are punished.

Pearl of the Indian ocean has now become a land of blood thirsty demons.

Experts of the free world have failed to see the bigger picture

Many military strategists, political analysts and terror experts in the free world have either failed to recognise the deeper issues in Sri Lanka or they have deliberately applied a methodology to cause one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of the century.

In any conflict resolution or problem solving exercise, one of the most important parts is to see a bigger picture and define the problem accurately.

What goes wrong very often is that the parties who come forward to solve an issue tend to focus on just part of the problem or they try to deal with the symptoms instead of the root cause.

It will be worse, when a party deliberately implement a wrong solution to a problem with hidden agendas.

When they do that, they don’t just fail to solve the main issue but they even end up making the real problem much bigger.

Complexities in the Sri Lankan civil war very often make even the so called wise to misinterpret the truths and make decisions against the vulnerable in the society.

A complete jigsaw puzzle that shows a crying baby can be made into a monster if half of the pieces are removed.

Instead of becoming sympathetic towards the crying baby, the jigsaw player is now confronted with a monster that is made up of half of the pieces.

Those who considered that LTTE was the only problem had failed to understand that they were missing half of the pieces in the puzzle.

Implementing solutions without understanding a problem can cost innocent lives and what has happened in Sri Lanka in the last few months is a proof for this.

Lessons from Medicine

A fever is considered as one of the body’s immune mechanisms to attempt a neutralization of a perceived threat inside the body, be it bacterial or viral. Carl Wunderlich discovered that fever is not a disease, but the body’s response to a disease.

Any sensible Physician would try to find out the root cause of the disease instead of wasting time dealing with the symptoms.

Disease in Sri Lanka is State Terrorism that has been going on for more than 60 years.

Unless the root cause is dealt with, Sri Lanka will continue to hear the voice of the oppressed louder and louder.

Mankind has already lost its sanity

When BBC and other channels in the UK gave importance to the celebrations in Colombo but failed to mention about the thousands of wounded and dying Tamils in the war zone, one has to question if the mankind has already lost its sanity.

We can’t bring peace to the trouble spots in the world with people who have heads but no hearts.

We desperately need diplomats who have the hearts for the oppressed and suffering people

Story of the Tamils

Tamils in Sri Lanka had their own nation before but it was merged with the Sinhala kingdoms during the British rule

When they left this beautiful island in 1948, it was left to function as one country. Democracy failed in Sri Lanka because the successive governments that came to power were always chosen by the majority Sinhalese.

Sinhala governments backed by the Sinhala Buddhist extremists, always tried to please the majority in order to remain in power. They came up with policies to discriminate Tamils in education, employment and other arenas. Sinhala was made the only official language and Tamils were made as second class citizens.

Tamils can be compared to the Jewish people who lived under the Nazi regimes. Even under persecution, they worked hard to make their lives better.

Sinhala governments had many times ordered their agents to kill Tamils and destroy their properties. More than two thousand Tamils lost their lives in 1983.All of them were murdered by the Sinhalese in the south of Sri Lanka. They were murdered in prisons, schools, hospitals and even in churches.

Tamil Libraries were burned to dust in order to wipe out the history of Tamils from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is no longer a safe place for the Vulnerable

Sadly, one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of the century is taking place in front of our eyes.

Response from the individuals, politicians, international organisations and heads of the states have shown to us that Sri Lanka is no longer a safe place for the victims but the wicked has a lot to rejoice for.

Saving innocent lives is one of the greatest things we can do to show to the world that we obey our conscience and we are still humans.

Thousands of wounded are still left in the killing fields of Sri Lanka. Tamils are persecuted in the concentration camps.

If we are going to wait till we get the permission from Sri Lanka, that is never going to happen. A killer who is busy dumping the bodies of the innocents is not going to invite us and show us how cruel he is.

Urgent steps should be taken to save the dying Tamils from the hands of the brutal Sri Lankan regime.

This essay was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).

Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.

Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.

For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.

Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supra-national organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”

I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days. What is the cause? Is there a way out?

It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with any degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and simple formulas.

Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life. Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society. It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two drives is, in the main, fixed by inheritance. But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of behavior. The abstract concept “society” means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is “society” which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word “society.”

It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art. This explains how it happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence his life through his own conduct, and that in this process conscious thinking and wanting can play a part.

Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through communication and through many other types of influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.

If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay. In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption.

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals.

For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call “workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.

Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the “free labor contract” for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from “pure” capitalism.

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.

From: <a href="http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einstein.php”>monthlyreview

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave the figures for the first time during an interview late on Thursday with the state-run Independent Television Network.

By comparison, in the six years and one month since the United States went to war in Iraq, nearly 4,600 U.S., British and other nations’ troops have been killed.

Sri Lanka had only given its own casualty figures erratically if at all during the final 34-month phase of the war, dubbed Eelam War IV, and stopped giving them altogether last year.

The military had said several months ago it had killed at least 15,000 Tamil Tigers in the course of fighting but has not given a final tally.

Much of the fighting over the last year took place as troops crossed tall earthen dams and moats to break through into LTTE-held areas, across an area strewn with landmines, booby traps and Tiger fighters willing to commit suicide attacks.

Overall, the United Nations this week said what had been Asia’s longest modern conflict had killed between 80,000-100,000 people since it erupted into full-scale civil war in 1983.

Unofficial and unverified U.N. tallies show 7,000 civilians were killed since January alone. Aid agencies say some 280,000 ethnic Tamils who fled the war zone are in refugee camps.

Sri Lanka’s government declared the LTTE totally defeated on Monday, and the next day said troops had wiped out its entire leadership, including founder Vellupillai Prabhakaran, in a cataclysmic final battle near the Indian Ocean island’s northeastern shores.

© Thomson Reuters 2009

It’s hard to know how people, especially Tamil people in Colombo, are really thinking. Normally Tamil people don’t give their feelings directly because you don’t know what will happen. Some might think that if they don’t celebrate they will be cornered.

It is a pathetic situation up in the north and east. Innocent people have been killed according to my knowledge. But then we don’t get proper news.

Now we have to look after people. I don’t see that just because the war is over, it is over. First of all we have to look after those displaced people. On one side we are celebrating, and on the other people are suffering in camps.

It doesn’t matter if we are Tamil or Sinhalese, we are all human. No country belongs to anybody. You live and die. Now it is time to bring a proper peace. I hope the new generation is one of positive thinkers. Then we can celebrate.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8055846.stm

Published: 2009/05/18 15:27:27 GMT

[Craigy T]
One set a footprints ina di sand
And you a grumble and a so
You tink it shoulda be two
Memba one ting mi yute
A fadda God a wi plan
So when you see one set a footprints a God a carry you

[Flexx]
Hurry up and come back was the last thing she said to her son
The day his life was taken
She didn’t know he wouldn’t come back
He died from the bullet of a gun
And now her little boy is gone

[Alex]
She said, help me
Lord help me
And she looked up to the sky
And she heard a voice reply-y-y

[Tok]
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you

[Flexx]
Another baby left homeless
Abondoned when he was two
So the streets that cares and the shopping mall was the family he knew
It’s not easy being homeless
Sometimes you have do what you have to do
And he didnt have a mom or dad to help him get through

[Alex]
He said, help me
Father help me
And he looked up to the sky
And he heard a voice reply-y-y

[Tok - chorus]
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you

[Bay C]
Based on a true story
uh-huh
keep your head up

It was early Sunday morning me get up a watch di news
Den mi hear seh a last night a seaview dem kill a yute
Den mama tell me seh har church sista Jackie-lynn
Just lose her bredda over seaview gardens
When she tell me jah jah know it mash mi up nah tell nuh lie
But you know seh man a tuggy so yuh nah guh see me cry
Everyday day and everynight she still a ask the fadda why
Her brother had to die
She hear a voice reply

[Tok - chorus x2]
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you
When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you
When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you

[Craigy T]
The lord replied when you see only one set of footprints
that I carried you
********************

the song my brother was listening to… and am drawn into.

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