No fear!
"In Sri Lanka, there is nothing scarier than being a Tamil person of influence—whether you are a teacher, a school principal, a doctor, a journalist, a politician, or a successful businessman. Ordinary Tamils have learned to keep their heads down, do exactly what their neighbors do, and not make waves." - A Western Sri Lanka expert
I have been told many times that as a sudha (white foreigner) I don't need to worry about my safety in Sri Lanka. Still, reading The Human Rights Watch studies on LTTE violence I started thinking; what if either GOSL or LTTE finds out about my blog and gets pissed off for some reason? What if my conscientious objector t-shirt (with the logo above) is misinterpreted by some over-cautious bodyguard? What if I just happen to be in the wrong place at a wrong time and turn out to be one of those civilian casualties you hear about in the news?
Many might agree that it's quite stupid to go and poke the bee-hive with a stick... Still, one day as my understanding grows stronger, I might be able to do something to help and resolve this kind of conflicts either in Sri Lanka or somewhere else. So, I won't say no to my curiosity and keep on trying to understand both sides. I might consider again when someone is pointing at me with a gun, but even in that scenario my faith in justice and doing the right thing would keep me going.
posted by Tomi Astikainen @ Friday, July 07, 2006
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