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The deadly legacy of colonialism

Demons in Paradise
Regissør: Jude Ratnam
(Frankrike)

A documentary on oppressors and murders that finally ended in Sri Lanka.




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

Jude Ratnam is a film director and member of the Tamil minority community in Sri Lanka. After decades of bloody conflict, the Sinhalese majority now represents the Asian nation's administrative, political and commercial leadership.

In one of the opening scenes in Demons in Paradise Ratnam is visibly nervous when he hears his own son speak Tamil with a loud voice. 30 years earlier, his mother had taught him that he could be killed for doing such a thing, and he has seen enough since then to know how right she was. For the most part, the Buddhist Sinhalese and the Hindu Tamils ​​lived with each other for 2000 years, during periods even in the form of separate, coexisting kingdoms. Many similarities between the two ethnic groups led to an active cultural-religious exchange.

Lasting split. All this changed under British colonial rule – when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. Ratnam's documentary – which had a special screening during the recent Cannes festival – opens with black-and-white footage from this period. They show a frightened population, suppressed by the conquerors' exploitative technical and industrial superiority. The British chose to place the minority – mainly Hindu Tamils ​​- in social, commercial and administrative key positions. After the colonial rule ended and Sri Lanka declared its independence in 1948, this created a lasting split with the Sinhalese majority.

When the Sinhalese first took power, they expelled many Tamils ​​to India – which only intensified the conflicts. Accidental violence had already occurred across the country when a full-scale civil war of reckless aggression broke out in 1983. Gas bombs and torture were used, Tamil homes were searched and residents often burned alive. Man-hunting was tolerated by the order of power, and was neither stopped nor condemned by the government.

Brutal acts were provably stimulated by the government's policies and supported by the police and the military – who actively participated in the slaughter.

In response, the dream of an independent Tamil state based in the northern city of Jaffna arose, which was defended by thousands of Tamils ​​who took up arms. During the ensuing three decades of war, it is estimated that 80 to 000 people lost their lives, and another 100 became refugees in their own country.

Secret movie project. Ratnam worked for ten years under relatively risky circumstances to make this documentary, and hid his real agenda under the guise of a fictional love story. Through his uncle, he contacted former Tamil warriors who also fought in the resistance movement. Today, his uncle is one of a large number of Tamils ​​living in exile in Canada. He meets Ratnam to share his painful memories. He survived only because of the help of a Sinhalese family who hid him in his own home. The reunion with this family is one of the most emotional and touching scenes in Ratnam's film.

One night they sit around the fire with former warriors from the 16 different Tamil resistance groups, Ratnam's uncle puts words on the film's main theme. Numerous Tamil groups emerged during their struggle for independence, but ended up massacring each other in a relentless conflict over domination – each defending its own vision for the future independent state. This massacre included public executions, burning car tires around living bodies, torture with iron bars and eyes pierced with needles. Soda was occasionally served to the audience during these events.

No one defended humanity. The violent internal Tamil conflict resulted in about 30 victims – mostly civilians who were accused of virtually anything. The slaughter grew to such extreme proportions that the Tamils ​​- including Ratnam's uncle – eventually preferred to give up in the war against Sri Lanka's Sinhalese army just to put an end to this disaster.

The main question asked by the former warriors during the nightly conversation is: Where did the violence come from? Did it concern only the militants, or was it integrated into civil society? On the one hand, a person could be killed simply because someone claimed to be a member of a rival group. Not even the mentally handicapped were spared. Some people were killed because they did not want to give money or refused to give up their homes. On the other hand, it is clear that civilians never tried to stop the spiral of violence and the murderous attacks by the warriors. Not even a basic defense of humanity took place. One of the witnesses says: "There is a lot of decadence and evil in this society." Those who claimed to be "neutral" always sided with the dominant power – whether it was the Tamil Tigers, the army or the police.

Ratnam hid his real agenda and worked for ten years under risky circumstances to make the documentary. 

Does not rule out outbreaks of violence. Is it a solution not to look back, only forward? Ratnam is not convinced at all. Even now, the constant fear is obvious. To this day, Tamils ​​are still forced to deny their cultural identity – they do not even take the chance to wear their traditional costumes. An imminent new outbreak of violence cannot be ruled out.

Before dismissing the facts on the basis of moral lamentations, one must remember that a large amount of Tamil property is now in the hands of the Sinhalese. There is evidence that their brutal actions were stimulated by government policies and supported by the police and the military, who took an active part in the massacre.

Strategic assassinations. Ratnam presents a painful view of the reality of the Tamils. Tamils ​​in exile around the world demand status as victims of genocide at an international level. Ratnam shows that this is only half true.

The problem with strategic assassinations is the use of racial ideologies in favor of fairly rational commercial interests. Effective protection against organized violence can only occur when political and social measures are put in place to neutralize and destroy the profit-making of mass murder.

Dieter Wieczorek
Dieter Wieczorek
Wieczorek is a critic living in Paris.

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