Thanks for pointing out how the Tamils’ protest is met mostly with ignorance by Western media and politicians. to me this seem not only happening in Britain, but across Europe. Overhere in Switzerland, where we have a big commnunity of Tamils, the same thing is happening. Despite ongoing protests in Geneva (UN headquarters Europe), the press is completely ignoring the issue. One may not like the LTTE at all, but the campaign of the Sinhalese government gets closer to genocide everyday.

Thanks for that. It is extraordinary how invisible this protest is, even though you can hear it all round Westminster, and have been able to for some time. Hopefully, things will pick up in a publicity sense – there are some pretty bad stories coming out now about the persecution of the Tamils and the present slaughter… takes the West ages to wake up to this sort of thing and only public outrage will do it. I note that foreign journalists are being kept out of the war zone – all the more reason to hear the protests here and around the world.

the whole event is a kind of salute to the mainstream’s collective ability to turn a blind eye to the woes of dark-skinned citizens, even when they’re screaming their heads off right in the middle of us.

This much I agree with. I went by on my motorbike the other day late evening and was surprised they were still there in such large numbers because I thought (going by the lack of media coverage) they’d gone.

But I’m not as sympathetic to the excuses given for th LTTE as the defenders of the people. The Sri Lankan govt has blatantly been killing lots of innocent people and violating human rights in the north, but the LTTE also kill lots of Tamils if the Tamils don’t support them in their long-running war against the SL govt. The LTTE are terrorists – way more ruthless and bloody than even the likes of Hamas have managed to be.

There needs to be peace – but the LTTE also need to give up their weapons once and for all.

I suspect that the mainstream is ignoring the woes of these dark-skinned people because we are all racists. We should be telling the dark-skinned perpetrators of their woes to behave themselves. And if the LTTE insist on committing terrorist attacks on other dark-skinned people, well they are dark-skinned people so it’s okay.

Or maybe it’s not racism that is keeping this out of the headlines and maybe we’re just weary of policing the world. The Left mocks the Right for clinging to our Imperial past but still believes it is up to us to sort the world out.

Sunny – agreed.

Shatterface – fair point, and I personally have big issues with one country interfering in the politics of another, but if your point about weariness is valid, why isn’t the West weary of policing Iraq? There seem to have been no end of energised policemen around for that one. The other point to make is that this group at Westminster WANTS interference from this government. I’ve reported their views and comments. If a group asks for assistance and policing, oughtn’t it at least be heard?

He’s in the eighth day of a hunger strike that he hopes will draw world attention to the plight of Tamil civilians being slaughtered by the Sri Lankan government in northern Sri Lanka – the latest awful chapter in the famously horrific 60-year-old conflict between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.

You won’t win much sympathy with that statement. The conflic isn’t between the Sinhalese and Tamils, it is between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. Many, most in fact, Tamils live outside the LTTE areas.

There is discrimination against Tamils and they tend to be poorer than the Sinhalese but don’t for one second think that the LTTE are fighting for Tamil’s everywhere. They want power for themselves and will commit unspeakable acts of terrorism to get it, the Sri Lankan government are democratically elected and can be voted out. There is a vast moral gulf between the two and it is the LTTE who are worse.

Also, most of the worlds Tamils live outside Sri Lanka so I don’t see why you use ‘Tamil’ to mean specifically Sri Lankan Tamils, who apparently speak a dialect strange to most other Tamils and are culturally very different.

Kate (5): you are arguing that we invaded Iraq so we should interfere here? I’d have thought that debacle would have put most people off international ‘intervention’. Do you belive the war in Iraq was a just cause? Because otherwise you can’t draw that analogy.

And there are any number of people crying out for our help but let’s see this lot distance themselves from terrorism first. The fact that someone is prepared to kill – or die – for their cause does not make their cause just.

And as a general debating point, dismissing people who disagree with you as racists simply gets their back up. The word has been devalued by overuse, like fascist or misogynist. A few years back these words hurt but overexposure on the Internet has drawn their poison.

Hey commanderkken,

Quite a few people at parliament square seem to be very much of the opinion that the conflict is between the Sinhalese and the Tamils – that they as Tamils, are a persecuted minority and that the LTTE formed as a response to that persecution, not as the intiating act. I agree that there are plenty of points for debate round responsibility for violence at the political level, and that the LTTE has done itself no favours with extremism and acts of terrorism – on occasion, these have even been directed against Tamils. Not everyone at the protest speaks in support of the Tigers – I have a couple of interviews to that effect that I haven’t posted on my site yet, but will do so this evening. Those who do speak in favour of the Tigers are of the opinion that reasons for the LTTE’s forming and actions are given no credence.

In response to your second point: I think it is appropriate to use the word Tamil in this
context to describe Sri Lankan Tamils. That’s how the group at parliament square is defining itself and when people there refer to Tamils around the world, they mean Sri Lankan Tamils. There are certainly Tamils living elsewhere – India and so on.

Shatterface:

You seem to think I’m arguing personally arguing for intervention. In fact, I’m arguing that the west has a rather confused view of when and why it should interfere… in Iraq, interference was all go for one reason or another. This Tamil protest, on the other hand, seems hardly to have registered on the radar. I am absolutely in a position to draw an analogy between the two, because I’m talking about behaviour and response at a political level. Of course the Iraqi experiment has been a debacle – we all knew it was going to be at the time. The government insisted, though – we can only assume because it had vested interests – ie concern about stability in that part of the world to allow continued access to oil, etc, and some weird hangup about hanging with Bush.

The interference that Tamils are requesting is that governments send a strong message via the UN for an immediate ceasefire in northern Sri Lanka. You seem to be arguing that because one misguided instance of interference backfired all offshore requests for help should subsequently be ignored.

Can’t see where I dismissed you as racist, or even used the word racist… if you point out the sentence in question, I’ll respond to you. Telling someone they’ve called you a racist if they haven’t is as unfortunate as calling someone a racist, if you get my drift. I’d also be interested in your thoughts on the reasons why such a big protest in such a sensitive part of town has gotten so little coverage. It certainly did occur to me that one of the reasons might be that the media ain’t so interested in non white people from far-off lands who haven’t got much to offer the west by way of oil or whatnot, but hey – call me a cynic.

Anyway – have just been past the square again and the protest today is huge. The whole square is filled with people, and there are police medics there – I guess they’re taking the hunger striker to hospital today, whether he’s won any sympathy or not.

Kate,

Thanks for this. I posted the statement above before I read this. I agree with a lot of what you say, but Sunny’s point above needs re-emphasizing. When you say:

“reports that the LTTE is using Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka as human shields: Paramsothy says the truth is civilians want the LTTE to shield them from government attacks – they’re using the LTTE for protection” I can categorically say that this is nonsense.

One of my colleagues was recently killed in the Vanni. His leg was blown off by a Sri Lankan army shell and he died due to lack of medical treatment. He was being held there against his will by the LTTE, which is a nasty, vicious and ruthless terrorist organisation.

There are lots of reasons for condemning the Sri Lankan government which is arresting and murdering human rights and humanitarian activists. But that criticism should be matched by condemnation of what the Tigers are doing as well.

Hi Conor,

Hi Conor,

Thanks for this.

I think the main point I’m trying to make in my post is that there hasn’t been much reporting of the protests in London and around the world, and that the people at those protests have something to say.

You’ll note that the extract you’ve chosen above is a quote from a protestor at that demonstration and her view was that the actions of the LTTE were categorically being inaccurately portrayed. Others at the protest said the same thing: still others damned all LTTE actions outright and said they wanted nothing to do with the Tigers or their publicity statements (of which the ‘we’re shielding Tamils’ line may be one). Others say the Tigers’ statements are accurate, and the Sri Lankan government is the group responsible for misleading propoganda.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind – there couldn’t be – that the Tigers are militant and extremist and have been responsible for many gruesome deaths – including those of the very people whose independence they are purportedly fighting for. The point of the article I’ve posted above (and the longer one on my site, which I’ll add to) is to offer for reading and comment a report from an event which hasn’t been much covered by other outlets. I’ve been interviewing politically-minded Tamils, so it follows that I’ve been getting pro-LTTE material – or at least, material which looks to justify the actions of the LTTE. You have reported an instance of LTTE aggression and horrible violence in answer to statement made by a protestor, which is exactly how this kind of forum should work to my mind – the comments are as much a part of a posting as the original posting itself, and statements made either in the original posting or comments should be discussed and challenged, especially in the case of the instance you’ve described above.

That said, I will continue to attend the London protest, and risk being branded as an LTTE sympathiser as a result (not that I think that’s what you’re saying), because I think something important is happening there and ought to be reported on, even if some of the statements being made some by attendees are highly unpalatable. The people at the protest are not united by support for the LTTE – they are united by support for a ceasefire in northern Sri Lanka, and humanitarian aid for the Tamils in that area. I’m sure some people I speak to will continue to voice their support for the LTTE, but they’re not the only ones there.

Dear Kate,

Good stuff. Here is how I reported the death

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/19/srilanka-international-aid-and-development

And here is how the Sri Lankan government responded

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090322_05

The problem with this conflict (as with so many) is that everyone is lying. Meanwhile hundreds of people are dying every week (some are literally starving to death because food is not getting in). Pressure needs to be put on both sides.

“The fact that the UK government, the mainstream media and even the Met (to an extent) have been able, largely, to avoid the whole event is a kind of salute to the mainstream’s collective ability to turn a blind eye to the woes of dark-skinned citizens, even when they’re screaming their heads off right in the middle of us.”

Presumably, you include yourself when you alledge racism, or are you saying you’ve been campaigning tirelessly for several years on behalf of the Sri Lankan Tamils?

I guess you’ve just seen another opportunity to hijack someone else’s cause, which gathering by the knowledgeable responses, you know very little about.

Emotional blackmail is a powerful force, especially with self-righteous lefties who are comvinced of thier moral superiority. Personally, I’m concerned with the cost to the taxpayer of treating this hunger striker. Perhaps we should make refugee expenditure reliant solely on charitable donations; that would sort the men from the hypocrites.

Cheers, Conor.

Chavvers – thier is spelled their.

Reporting on an issue isn’t hijacking it. It is simply to report it.

Conor is right when he says everyone is lying. I’ve been reporting some of the things people have said. For every person on the protest who has expressed support for LTTE, another has openly condemned it.

Anyway – I’ll keep going.

Any thoughts on the reasons why this protest has been ignored until now, while you’re there?

Tell me, how do you choose which cause you support and which ones you ignore? Do you have a spreadsheet, that allocates points for say number of deaths, colour of skin, cuteness of the dying children, etc?

…anyway, the protest seems to have got larger and broken out into the streets now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8007858.stm

and is getting more coverage.

‘Tell me, how do you choose which cause you support and which ones you ignore? Do you have a spreadsheet, that allocates points for say number of deaths, colour of skin, cuteness of the dying children, etc?’

LOL – not a bad idea.

Kate (8): you didn’t use the word ‘racist’ but you did imply that the media has ignored the protest because it involves ‘brown-skinned people’. I don’t know how else to interpret this.

Conor’s (excellent) article is far more balanced and offers practical suggestions.

The present violence started in 1983 or thereabouts when 13-14 soldiers were killed by the LTTE. This set of mass rioting in Colombo. For the first 10 years the Sri Lankan Government were very ineffective in dealing with the LTTE and many Sri Lankans were apathetic . The LTTE murdered Ghandi . It is only in the last 5-10 years have the Sri Lankan government developed any capability to deal with the LTTE. What would be the quickest way to end the violence would be for the LTTE leadership to lay down arms and go into exile. Many Tamil exiles have been funding the killing of Sri Lankans and Tamils who disagree with the LTTE. Sunny is right; the LTTE are probably the most ruthless terrorists in the World.

Sri Lanka could be a country with a good education and health care system with a good supply of food without the violence started by the LTTE.

What is needed is a cease-fire of a couple of weeks to allow civilians to get out and to persuade the LTTE leadership to surrender. They are not going to get talks or negotiations because they are now finished as a military force. They are keeping the civilians as human shields because their last hope is that international pressure may stall the army’s final offensive. LTTE supporters also say that the sacrifice of a hundred thousand innocent lives may be justfied as the ‘price for keeping alive the dream of Tamil Eelam’. That argument works better with the diaspora than in Sri Lanka itself.

The Guardian have just reported that the LTTE used three suicide bombers to attack fleeing civilians.

The situation in the camps is also a massive concern for humanitarian agencies. I was doing an assessment in Vavuniya as to whether we should be cooperating so closely with the Sri Lankan military.

Here is the Graun report:

‘The military said three suicide bombers had attacked thousands of Tamil civilians. “At least 17 civilians, including women and children, have been killed and 200 people injured from the cowardly suicide attacks,” said the military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

The fleeing civilians are likely to join the thousands of others who have been interned by the government in cramped, makeshift camps where they face overflowing drains, water shortages and the threat of disease in the sweltering, unsanitary conditions.

The government allowed a small group of international journalists into Menik Farm camp, near the town of Vavuniya, which is regarded by aid agencies as by far the best-equipped of the camps. But even here, people complain bitterly about their treatment and the lack of freedom of movement.

People are herded behind coils of razor wire strung out between sharp wooden stakes and are not allowed to leave. Rows of tents stretch as far as the eye can see.

Those who have been given shacks made of sheet metal bake in the scorching heat. Soldiers armed with automatic rifles patrol inside and outside the camps. “This is a jail,” one woman told the Guardian.

As Sri Lanka’s army pounds the zone where the last remnants of the Tamil Tigers are cornered, its government says it expects the tens of thousands of civilians still trapped alongside the rebels to start making their way to safety in the next few days.

But while it had attempted to portray the decision to place displaced civilians in the camps as a humanitarian gesture, the woman in charge at Menik Farm admitted the intention was to keep those inside shut off from the rest of the population.’

I cannot believe the difference in “progressive Left” attitudes to this conflict and the one between Israel/Hamas earlier this year. It appears this conflict is causing far greater civilian casualties than occurred in Gaza, yet here people are adopting a fairly balanced approach noticing and condemning the use of human shields by the LTTE for example.

But when its Israel causing (far less) civilian casualties we have world wide generally one-sided condemnation of the evil Zionist state from “the Left” with some people like Galloway and his crowd even giving money direct to Hamas ! Also there are none stop 24 hour anti-Israel demos and campaigns.

The Liberal Left is disgustingly hypocritical on the issue of violence in foregn lands going out of its way to condemn interventions and conflicts involving the US and its alllies and generally ignoring other conflicts where there are no easy Western targets to blame.

It appears most of you here are sensible and rational commentators – please can you explain why the “Left” is so wrong headed on these issues ?

Who’s for a protest against the protest?

Dear Charlie

1 Yes LTTE had killed 13 soldiers in 1983 but you forgot to tell , in response SL Goverment killed more than 10,000 tamils, not in north in colombo (Capital of SL)

2 Yes LTTE had killed Rajiv Kandhi because his army (Indian Peace Keeping Forces) killed more than 10,000 innocent tamil civilians

I think Srilankan Govt and Indian Govt are terrorist, not LTTE

Change the record MMN.

I have written articles about dozens of conflicts and I base my information on what I see and hear. I happen to have just come back from Sri Lanka and that is why I have written something about it. My last couple of jobs have been in Georgia and Afghanistan and so that is why I have written about them. If I had been in Gaza I would have written about that.

I do remember at the time of the Gaza conflict we did discuss producing a common statement about it which specifically separated concern about civilians from anything that could been seen as legitimising Hamas and I think that the coverage of the conflict on this site was quite reasonable and balanced.

Shatterface: ‘you didn’t use the word ‘racist’ but you did imply that the media has ignored the protest because it involves ‘brown-skinned people’. I don’t know how else to interpret this.’

Yep, that’s what I implied. In all seriousness, though – what’s an alternative reading of the lack of coverage until now? There’s been plenty of room in the mainstream for anguished discussions about Susan Boyle’s looks and voice and endless space for Dolly’s downfall, but alas – nothing on the London Tamil protests. I’d make the point too, that some of the protestors themselves wondered if the lack of interest in their issue was racially motivated – I think I’ve got a comment in the post above about people telling them to take their protest home. It may be less a question of racism that apathy. Comments on this appreciated.

You say – ‘Conor’s (excellent) article is far more balanced and offers practical suggestions’

Agreed. As I said earlier, though, when one trips off to interview one grouping, one comes back with quotes with a lean. I don’t apologise for that. The beauty of online reporting is that you post a series of views, and people respond to them. My aim was to cover the London protest accurately and I believe I’ve done that. Of course some people at that protest are passionate backers of the LTTE. Their comments may be highly aggressive and even inaccurate – but why water that down? If a new generation of LTTE supporters is evolving on the back of the current conflict, why not report that and the things they’re saying? Their statements may prove them misguided, but that in itself is a story. That doesn’t make me a sympathiser. That makes me someone who talks to people.

I note that other commentators are on this thread now arguing that the Indian and Sri Lankan governments are the terrorists, while Conor is quoting Guardian sources saying the LTTE is murdering fleeing citizens.

All views on these reports are worth reporting.

MoreMediaNonsense…

“It appears this conflict is causing far greater civilian casualties than occurred in Gaza, yet here people are adopting a fairly balanced approach noticing and condemning the use of human shields by the LTTE for example.”

Most – and, I suspect, all – contributors to these threads condemn Hamas attacks against civilians. I’m not entirely sure, but I believe that only a tiny minority of people on what could be broadly termed “the left” disagree.

“…with some people like Galloway and his crowd even giving money direct to Hamas !”

Few Galloway fans here, I suspect. I, to my embarrassment, used to rail against him a lot, but here’s the problem: he’s almost entirely irrelevant. Remonstrating with him wouldn’t even be worth Wowbagger’s time (God, I’m such a nerd).

“It appears most of you here are sensible and rational commentators – please can you explain why the “Left” is so wrong headed on these issues ?”

You’d have to be more specific.

Conor – I know you try to look at these matters with more objectivity than some.

However there is a great mass of what is identified as the Left from Galloway/STW to the SWP to Tony Benn and other Labour MPs (also some Lib Dems such as Jenny Tonge) that are obsessed with the crimes of Israel while taking very little notice as far as I can see (check sites such as Socialist Unity eg) about what is happening in Sri Lanka. Certainly it appears there is very little participation by any Leftie groups in the current Tamil protests in London while at the pro-Palestine rallies I saw stalls for every Left Wing sect you can imagine.

Such absurd one-sidedness is quite frankly bizarre to behold IMO.

My suggestion would be that much of the Left is still stuck in the SWP style anti-imperialist line ie that the important thing is to oppose capitalist imperialism above all else.and that involving oneself in pure non-Western ethnic conflicts is a side show to fighting the capitalist system.

… may I just add that I don’t necessarily take Guardian or BBC, reports, etc, as written… this is not to cast aspersions on the ones mentioned on this thread, of course, but I’d make the point that I always feel there is room for alternate views…

I’d also say that by simply not reporting on a happening or event, the press could be accused of exhibiting bias. A lot of the trade unionists I talk to, for instance, complain bitterly about the problems they have getting coverage, even though their issues are well worth a hearing.

MMN – interesting point. Haven’t seen anyone selling Socialist Worker at these protests. I did see a report on Workers’ Liberty, I think, and Indymedia UK has run a front page feature on the protests all of this week. Haven’t seen much else.

Workers Liberty is actually very critical of the behaviour of “the Left” at pro Palestinian events and gets called “Zionist” for it by the others all the time. See here :

http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2009/01/18/awl-people-aaarttacked-sheffield-anti-gaza-war-demo

I would say they are probably the only Left sect that has a halfway sensible view on these matters.

MMN: speaking from the outside (I haven’t lived in Britain for almost 10 years so don’t know who does and doesn’t go on demonstrations) I would say that there are two ‘left narratives’ about international humanitarian crisis.

One of them is the ‘anti-imperialist’ one which, as you say sees the evil hand of western imperialism behind everything. If it can’t find an obvious way of blaming the west it either ignores the issue or goes into bizarre conspiracy theory mode (eg the US invaded Afghanistan to build a pipeline across it). You might call this the ‘pre-2003 Nick Cohen approach’. As Nick himself admits his ‘hatred of Tony Blair’ was so extreme that he was quite happy to write a story about a famine in Afghanistan, with no real knowledge of whether or not it was true, because it was a way of ‘condemning the west.’

The second view is its mirror image (post-Iraq Nick Cohen). This sees western intervention as a force for liberation and so campaigns for it at every opportunity. The Fourth (Trotskyist) International is obviously not going to overthrow tyrants and dictators so they are pinning their hopes on the US marines. The liberal interventionists have invented their own narrative of international events – which often quite widely veers from reality. They have their own set of villains to condemn (many of who are quite worthy of condemnation) heroes to praise (anyone who says anything macho about military intervention no matter how unrealistc it is in a particular situation or how much potential damage it can do) and ‘traitors’ to sneer at (the UN, aid workers, diplomats, anyone who knows anything about international law, etc.).

I don’t think that the vast majority of people who regard themselves as being on the centre-left regard themselves as being in either camp because reality is just a bit more complicated than that.

For many Leftists, conflicts in far-flung lands are infinitely more appealing than the problems closer to home. It’s a natural progression for the privileged middle-classes, whose ancestors were once managing the colonies.

If I was a budding hack, I’d much prefer to be swanning round Asia, Africa and South America reporting on wars and deprivation than interviewing druggies on the local estate, particularly if someone else was paying.

Well, some of us do interview druggies on the local estate, Chavvers, and when we’ve published those interviews on this site, persons of your stamp have turned up in droves to tell us to cut out the bleeding heart stuff and that junkies are a drain on the state who deserve an evil death from knobrot, etc. You’ll note that the interviews on this post are with locals, although I’d agree that nobody else much had bothered to talk to them.

Workers Liberty underwent a rather dramatic reversal of policy on Israel/Palestine in 1986.

Its leader Sean Matgamna was previously a disciple of Gerry Healy (the rapist thug who ran the Workers Revolutionary Party, took money from Saddam Hussein and genuinely deserves to be described as a left antisemite). He subsequently joined and then left the other two main Trot groups in Britain, Militant and the SWP, before setting up on his own.

Matgamna’s group had some brief success in the student movement in the mid-1980s, where for a while they became the effective oppostion to Labour Students leadership of NUS. They ran a candidate for the presidency, Simon Pottinger, but he came third to the Labour and Liberal candidates (Trotsky was beaten by an ice-pick, Simon was beaten by an Opick went the joke at the time).

It was weird – and rather funny – watching the transformation because its members suddenly went from being really hard-line anti-Zionists to seeing signs of left antisemitism everywhere. They still retained all the finger-jabbing style though. A number of their ex-members were subsequently involved in drawing up the Euston Manifesto which was published a couple of years ago.

Contrary to what MMN says, many of us condemned Hamas for same reasons we condemn LTTE: that they are a terrorist organizatiom which also use the people they claim to represent as human shields: a war crime equal to the direct bombing of civilians itself.

And we condemn Israel for the same reason we condemn Sri Lanka: that their military response is grossly disproportunate.

And if Hamas supporters were starving themselves in London I’d say fuck them too. As suicide goes, starvation has little collatoral damage.

OK Conor, again it comes down to who and what “the Left “is.

I mention large numbers of self describing Leftists whose attitudes are definitely of the “anti-imperialist” narrative and you say well I’m not like that and neither are most on the Left.. But who does the BBC (say) get on to represent the Left on programmes, Alan Milburn or Tony Benn ? You really can’t say, oh yes there is that lot but they’re really not important.

Personally I would say all on the Liberal Left should make more clearly the point that the anti-imperialist “Left” is persona non-grata. There is a clear and important ideological gap between the anti-imperialist narrative that only sees “human rights” as an opportunity for berating the West and the ideas of genuine progressive universalists.

Shatterface – at the Trafalgar Sq pro-Palestine demo I went to there was only one person carrying a banner that was anti-Hamas as well as anti-IDF and that was Peter Tatchell.

Only a very small number of the so-called Left who went on those demos dared to criticise Hamas and some of those who did were abused (see my AWL link above).

Its a disgraceful and disgusting situation and will not go away by people saying oh well that’s not me and anyway there’s only a few of them. Almost all of the more supposedly “Left Wing” Labour MP’s support the likes of STWC and many of them speak at marches organised by the SWP and Respect.

No, I mentioned two different types of left – both of whom have their origins in the Trotskyist movement and said that I was not like either of them.

The basic distinction between the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ left is fairly well understood: one lot believe in parliamentary democracy and a mixed economy, for example. But there are also always going to be issues where our views may coincide. I would have marched against the invasion of Iraq even if the demonstration was being organised by the SWP. I would also have gone on the demonstration against Israel’s incursion into Gaza, but would certainly never have gone anywhere near anyone chanting ‘we are all Hamas’

Equally I would oppose calls for an ‘academic boycott of Israel’, even though that would objectively place me on the same side as people who I would disagree with on many other issues. I supported the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan and have also written many articles calling for a strengthing of the UN/AU force in Darfur.

I can imagine that there would be many contributors to this site who would agree with me on some of the above, but not on everything. That is the point about the mainstream liberal left – we don’t have a ‘party line’ because we are not trying to cram our vision of the world into a set of ideological prejudices.

“I would also have gone on the demonstration against Israel’s incursion into Gaza, but would certainly never have gone anywhere near anyone chanting ‘we are all Hamas’”

I bet you wouldn’t go on an pro-Palestinian rally organized by the BNP though would you ? And don’t say they wouldn’t organise one ever as they might well if they thought kicking up anti-Semitism gave them an advantage.

This is what I mean – you still have some affiliation with the anti-imperialist Left however much you agree their narrative is wholly objectionable. I just don’t understand it.

I don’t think that I have been on a demonstration of any sort in the last 10 years – although, as I said, I would have gone on the two above that I mentioned. Like Kate I might have gone to this Tamil demo that is going on in London right now – although it sounds like it is being organised by LTTE fellow-travellers and I have a huge contempt for the LTTE.

I can certainly imagine going on all sorts of demonstrations organised by people I diagree with in general (Trots, Tories, Liberals, Greens, etc.) because I agreed with them on the specific issue about which we were demonstrating.

Is your argument that Hamas or Hizbollah were the ‘real organisers’ of these demonstrations that you object to or are you saying that there is a direct political equivalence between the SWP and the BNP? (ie you think that there is a clear ideological link between British Trotskyism and an historical event equivalent in magnitude to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany)?

and that British Trotskiysm incites hatred towards people because of their ethnic backgrounds and that large numbers of Trots have been convicted of carrying out racial assaults . . . . .

Come on Conor, the extreme Left is linked ideologically to many hideous historical crimes that occurred under Communism never mind its current absurd embrace of Islamism and the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah.

I remember last year seeing some idiots marching at a May Day parade with a banner of Stalin, that was a march that included eg trade unionists and no one did anything.

So yes I do see the likes of the SWP as being as bad as the BNP, no question and I think the Left in this country will never get anywhere until it clearly breaks with the extremists.

“and that British Trotskiysm incites hatred towards people because of their ethnic backgrounds and that large numbers of Trots have been convicted of carrying out racial assaults . .”

The far Lefts support for the likes of Hezbollah is indicative of anti-Semitism to many Jews while its dalliance with Islamists who would have gays murdered is pretty unpleasant as well wouldn’t you say ?

Presumably not bad enough for you to stop going on a demo with them though.

I’m surprised you don’t know how the Condemn-A-Thon works, Conor.

You’re not supposed to offer context or urge a sense of proportion; nor are you allowed to point out logical inconsistencies in the points being put to you. All of these are, at best, indicitive of suspicious, hypocritical and probably racist views.

All that is required from you is a series of short, definitive condemnations of a couple of named figures, and a few paragraphs assailing a non-specific “liberal left” for sucking up to teh fascizm.

At that point, you’ll get a pat on the head and MMN will vanish in a puff of self-righteous vindication.

Continuing to argue the point is pretty pointless, however. I’d estimate you’ve got about three more posts from MMN before he starts

a) accusing you of shirking your responsibility for Robert Mugabe and the South African murder rate, followed by

b) a short period in which he pretends that he doesn’t understand what you’re saying, and ending with

c) MMN declaring that you will just have to agree to disagree on what an evil racist hypocrite you are.

Hi Rodent.

Have you got anything to say on the issues we’re discussing here re the Tamil protest and selective interest in human rights on the far Left ?

Or are you just here “to play the man” and mystify everyone with references to old discussions on other blogs ?

Well I think that we can cut to the chase then. Much as it pains me to ever say anything nice about Trots, I don’t think that they are as bad as Nazis and I think that the scale and magnitude of the Holocaust makes it an historical event of almost unique significance. It is largely because of the legacy of the Holocaust that I think that the left should defend Israel’s right to exist, incidentally, but that is a post for another day.

OK Conor – lets just “agree to disagree” – is that OK ? 🙂

BTW I really don’t think you’re “an evil racist hypocrite ” – honest.

BTW also and totally OT have you ever written about Morales and Bolivia ?

Have you got anything to say on the issues we’re discussing here re the Tamil protest and selective interest in human rights on the far Left ?

but it doesn’t look like you’re here to discuss the protests – only to point how evil and nasty and racist all lefties are. A bit like chavscum , but then we learned to ignore him after a while.

Yeah that’s right Sunny, don’t bother arguing the point either.

If you want to ignore the throroughly nasty fellow travellers you hook up with when you go on supposed “Left Wing” marches with Hamas sympathisers that’s fine but don’t try to pretend it isn’t an issue. You used to acknowledge that from what I remember.

Evening all,

Things appear to have headed in a new direction since I last took a look at this thread, but I wanted to post another comment for Conor.

I’ve just been down to the protest again, Conor, at least partly because I wanted to put the points you’d made about your experiences in Sri Lanka to some of the students I quoted in this post.

I take the point that you feel these protests may largely be the work of LTTE sympathisers when you say:

‘Like Kate I might have gone to this Tamil demo that is going on in London right now – although it sounds like it is being organised by LTTE fellow-travellers and I have a huge contempt for the LTTE’

but I still believe that the thoughts of protest attendees warrant recording and publication – not least because I increasingly feel they point to a growing politicising and organising of young Tamils in this part of the world. That is an important story in my view.

I couldn’t find Janani Paramsothy, who I quoted above – she is usually by Subramaniyam’s marquee, but the guys there said they weren’t sure where she’d gone for the moment (Subramaniyam was still there on the mattress – the police hadn’t removed him after all).

I did speak for a long time to a young woman called Abirami Rajmanoharan, who was handling press inquiries (I said I’d send her the link to this article – hopefully, she’ll see your article links and get into the comments as well).

She had not read your article, but said she was very much of the view that the LTTE were freedom fighters, rather than terrorists, and spoke in support of Paramsothy’s remarks about the LTTE protecting citizens, rather than using them as human shields. She also said that it was her view that because journalists were not permitted to enter the exclusion zone, it was impossible for the Guardian, or anyone, to prove or disprove any claim, and she reiterated a much-stated view here that the LTTE was very often on the receiving end of biased press.

I report these remarks not as a challenge to the incidents you’ve reported, but because I think there’s something interesting happening at this end and the sort of quotes I’ve been getting suggest that it’s worth persuing.

Rajmanoharan said that she and other protestors felt that young Tamils outside of Sri Lanka (she’s 19 and lives here) were becoming politicised as a result of the SLA’s current action, and that there was great support for the Tigers among the protestors – she said 99%, although my own view is that there are people there who are not interested in the LTTE. I’ve certainly spoken to some – I’ve reported that in comments above – although there were a lot of flags around this evening.
So – we may well be seeing a radicalising of a new generation of young Tamils who take what may well be a dangerously romantic view of the LTTE, – and who are dealing with a perception, rather than reality – but who seem able to get results and who are vowing to continue the fight for independence. They are very passionate, and they seem to be able to get people out in very large numbers. For all that these protests may be organised by LTTE sympathisers, they’re extremely well attended by all kinds of people – adults, children, the elderly, students, students and working people (I spoke to a guy yesterday who was a well-placed civil servant and a long time British resident). It’s a long time since I saw parliament square so busy with protestors so consistently – this is the eighth day I’ve been down there, and the protests were going a good week before that.

I guess I’m saying that I don’t think we can write these protests off because there’s a leaning towards the LTTE in them. I’d try and make the point again that that doesn’t mean I personally support the LTTE – I am merely trying to report the fact that I’m finding a lot of young people here in London who do and who want to continue to push for independence. I’d be interested in your views on this.

Regarding the allegations of racism on my part that other commentators on this thread have made: I put that to Rajmanoharan as well – she also commented on the problems that the protestors had had getting media attention until now. She thought disinterest in non white citizens might be an issue, but was more of the opinion that it was simply that peaceful protest didn’t get the media’s attention – it was only when the protestors broke through barriers, etc, that they got the cameras, etc. She was very clear that she believed in peaceful protest – she just thought that the reason the group had started to get attention today was because it broke onto the road.

An interesting thing happened on the way there, though – the roads were all blocked and pedestrians had to make their way across parliament square to get to Whitehall. I heard a very well-appointed suit say ‘it’s disgraceful how these people can just block up the access like this,’ as he went past me. He may have said the same thing if the square had been full of G20 protestors, of course – still, there was something about the ‘these people’ that made me wonder.

Oh and BTW Sunny your even handedness on this issue is astoundingly different to your constant rantings about the evil Israeli “war crimes” during the Gaza war.

I really don’t understand how you can justify your strange difference in attitude to the two conflicts. Were the Israeli military actions in Gaza vastly worse than what the Sri Lanka govt is doing now ?

Thanks for the update Kate – what you say sounds like what I would expect. I spent a couple of months in Sri Lanka after tsunami and there is half a chapter on it in my book about humanitarian interventions.

I agree that the LTTE have got a huge propaganda boost from the SLA assault. The Economist has been covering the situation well and the ICG have produced some good reports.

On Evo Morales – yes, a few of my first CiF posts were about the gas dispute between Bolivia and Brazil and I did some more recent posts after the expulsion of the US Ambassador

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/may/05/boliviatheviewfrombrazil

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/15/bolivia.usa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/12/bolivia.brazil

Kate (52): ‘there was something about the ‘these people’ which made me wonder’

Again, the sly insinuation that the only reason someone doesn’t share your concern for one bunch of nutters over another is racism.

This isn’t our fight.

But Shatterface – people are asking for us to take this on as our fight. Are you saying that request ought to be ignored?

If the Sri Lankan government asked for our help would you give it?

Or should I say if the ELECTED Sri Lankan government asked?

Hey there,

Yes, I probably would. Depends what they wanted help for, I guess.

Doesn’t answer the question about giving help to this group, though. They have specifically requested it.

Another point – you seem to think that I am personally advocating for this group. I’d make the point again that to report on a topic is not necessarily to throw yourself headlong into it, or embrace it wholeheartedly. It is only to report on it. I certainly find it of interest and the more I talk to people at the protest, the more interesting I find it. That doesn’t mean I’ve joined LTTE, though. It means I’ve been talking to people about that organisation and the crisis in Sri Lanka.

… and regarding the ‘elected’ comment you made – the young woman I spoke to this evening (see comment above) said quite forcefully that she and other Tamils didn’t believe the elected government in Sri Lanka represented them. A number of people have said that to me. That’s their view – don’t discount it.

Hey Conor,

Is that ‘The Thin Blue Line’? I’ll look for it on Amazon – I’d like to read it. Cheers, Kate

I think you’ll find very few people who advocate suicide bombing regard the government they are attacking as their representatives. Do you support the suicide bombers in Iraq? How about Pakistan? Should we help them if they call on us? Is the fact that their story ‘interesting’ enough to persuade us they are are in the right?

And one moment you claim to be an objective observer merely reporting on the protests, the next you are damning those who won’t take sides, hinting at racist motives.

Which is it?

Hey Shatterface,

Disagree. I think intervention should be done on a case by case basis – there’s a difference between invading a country to shove democracy down its throat, for instance, and responding to a call to approach the UN to pressure for a ceasefire.

You insist on misunderstanding the point of the article, too. My comments about race were made in context of the lack of coverage – I was talking about the reasons why I felt an event of that magnitude wasn’t getting a mention anywhere, or much of a political response. I wasn’t particularly advocating intervention, although in this instance I would support UN pressure for a ceasefire. You refuse to address that point. I ask again – why in your view was that protest not covered?

Kate: ‘I was talking about the reason that an event of this magnitude wasn’t getting a mention anywhere, or much of a political response’

You raised the issue first.

Yes or no, do you think the lack of a response is motivated by race? Do you think that the coverage would be greater if this was a protest was by ‘light-skinned citizens’?

Jesus H – keep your hair on, Shatters. You’re starting to sound like Paxman in his tight
underpants, and you’ve forgotten how to read in the frenzy…

I said in the original article and again in at least one of my responses to your many repeated comments on the subject that I thought the fact that these protestors were dark skinned and from a part of the world that held no real interest to the great political and media institutions of upstanding nations such as this one was the reason that they weren’t coming up on the radar… and I still hold that view. The answer to your question (again) is:

YES
E
S

The G20 protestors got a much better press – a huge and totally overblown press (even before the protests started) if the last espisode of Newswipe was anything to go by and yes – they were largely pale and addressing themselves to the economy, which is an
issue of local relevance.

As I said in an earlier comment, the Tamils I’ve spoken to about this at the protest were less inclined to view things from a race perspective – they thought I might have a point, but felt they were being ignored largely because their protest was peaceful. You seem to have interpreted all this mean that I think Shatterface is racist. Dunno how you made that leap, but so you have. Can’t help you there, although God knows I’ve tried.

Once more for the record, though, and I direct this at Conor and others too – the point of this article was and continues to be that I decided to go and talk to these people because nobody else was, and it occurred to me as I walked past the protest each day that something interesting was happening there. There were so many people, and they kept coming back.

Indeed, I think something interesting IS happening there, and the more I talk to people, the more interesting it becomes. I think British Tamil youth are becoming highly politicised on the back of this latest crisis, and that they are proving themselves highly organised, endlessly capable of putting very large crowds together and keeping it all going for a good fortnight, and, often, enthusiastic about the LTTE.

I thought Conor’s remark last night in response to my feedback from protestors about
his postings here was a bit dismissive of that – I think he said something like that was about what he expected. It doesn’t matter if the things the youngsters at that protest are saying about the LTTE are expected, or even accurate or not – the point is, they believe the rhetoric and are quite happy to repeat it. I think that deserves reporting.

Britain has been a centre for organisation of discounted youth in the past, which has sometimes led to real catastrophe, and although I’m not for a moment saying that I think anyone I’ve spoken to plans to drape themselves in dynamite and blow up a bus any time soon – they all spoke very much in favour of peaceful protest – the fact is that they have a very rosy view of the notion of Tamil independence and freedom fighting and a very bleak view of the Sri Lankan government. There is always such handwringing after apparently inexplicable incidents like suicide bombing, etc – people saying ‘how on earth did this happen? Where did this come from? How could people develop those sorts of ideas in our midst?’ when in fact the media and politicians have in fact spent a fortnight ignoring a very large protest organised by a huge number of young people who believe that they’re trying to save lives and are getting more passionate about it every day, etc. At the very least, the fact that people are participating in a political action should be reported.

Remember this, too, while you’re bleating on about racism again – the main thing these
youngsters have learned over the last fortnight – and they’ve said as much to me – is that peaceful protest gets you nowhere if your people and issues ain’t high on the agenda. You get a lot more attention when you up the ante and throw yourself off a bridge, or break through police lines.

This is not – and I repeat IT IS NOT to say I condone violence, terrorism or lawbreaking. I do not, and I don’t think the youngsters I’ve talked to do particularly either right now. What I’m saying and saying and saying is that I think the views on that protest are worth reporting and that the mainstream media ought to have got of its arse and done it a while ago. It’s only when you talk to people that you begin to understand – and see people, rather than gender, race, religion – and even politics.

Thanks for the info Conor.

it would be good to hear from Sinhalese people. The Tamils are hardly neutral in this debate .

@ Charlie – yep, fair point, inasmuch as everyone should be heard. The Tamils are certainly not neutral, but they shouldn’t be dismissed because of that – you wouldn’t expect protestors at this protest to be neutral, and I imagine that no group of people who are seeking independence are neutral about the people they’re seeking independence from. Plenty would argue that the Sinhalese aren’t neutral either, but there may well be a range of views on Tamil independence among them. There are certainly Jews who don’t support Israeli actions in Gaza, etc.

This is an interesting thread. In answer to the original question posed by Kate and reiterated by Shatterface. I think this debate is not getting much media coverage because it is a hornets nest of unverifiable propoganda being driven by a very effective propoganda machine – the LTTE diaspora (not the Tamil diaspora). Most journalists know when they are being used as propoganda mouthpieces for a cause. This is very different from reporting the true story (all balanced sides of it). Last I recall, the jouranlist’s duty was to report dispasionately about all sides, in order to get to the truth and expost the corrupt (because the public need to know). Not to get caught up in the propoganda of interest groups?

The Sri Lankan Government has an appalling human rights record (as does India, Pakistan etal) and in the past discrimination against Tamils (1950s- 1980s) has been an issue but it has been recognised and is being dealt with. However any further progress on this front has always been non-negotiable for the LTTE because they wanted a seperate state – not equal rights. They make claims akin to suggesting that Wales, Cornwall and Scotland should be independent countries, not a part of the UK -and are willing to kill and maim to this end. They have an effective international diaspora that left the county in its darkest times (1983 – riots, an abomination for all who lived in Sri – Lanka, not just the Tamils). This LTTE diaspora have justifiably bad memories of Sri -Lanka, but they know nothing of the Sri -Lanka of today. There protest is bourne out of hate and revenge for what they quite horrifically were subjected to (as were some Muslim and Sinhalese families too, who still live on the Island also with their own mental and physical scars).

Today, most Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka mix freely in all parts of the country (some even have mixed marriages – of tamil and sinhala ethnicity). Yet it was the LTTE that dispersed the Muslims and Sinhalese from the ‘Tamil’ parts of the country. If there is a genocide going on, then why aren’t the Southerners (ie:- majority Sinhalese) and the ‘Government’, booting out the Tamils, sending them back north? Furthermore, under the ‘protection’ of the LTTE why don’t the ‘Tamils’ want to go back up north? Answer:- Because they understand that Sri Lanka is a diverse nation and all can stay where every the like. And the LTTE is not as benevolent as as interested in the ‘rights’ of Tamils as it would like the world to believe (Infact they are comparable to the Taliban when letting Tamils know that they need to tow the LTTE party line as opposed to just wanting equal Tamil rights) Hence the Tamils leave the north and when it was available LTTE ‘protection’. They are doing so even now based on reports of the last mass exodus out of the No Fire Zone.

The LTTE don’t want a diverse nation they want a homeland for Tamils (whether all Tamils want one or not) and have killed those who would prefer equal rights and a diverse Sri Lanka to a monoethnic Tamil homeland (que assasination of India’s prime minister -Rajiv Ghandi, the Sri Lankan foreign minister – Kadirgamar, a Tamil himself, and a plethora of other ‘moderate’ Tamils who want Sri Lanka for their homeland, but equal rightswithin it -is this a just cause?).

The question for journalists is, not whether the LTTE diaspora’s story should be told, but what is the true story here? Is the war in Sri Lanka a just war or isn’t it? Would you consider the LTTE cause for a seperate homeland justifiable or all Sri Lankans (Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims and others) request for a Democratic Sri Lankan state with equal rights for all the justifiable cause? Does the IRA have a just cause or the people of Northern Ireland as a nation of Catholics and Protestants? Journalists should be asking these questions.

There are three very distinct stories that need telling here :-

1) The need for the Sri Lankan Government to be less corrupt (as should all South Asian Governments) to all its citizens (not just Tamils), and improve their attitude to human rights and improve their Democracy to include listening to criticism. This includes stemming any form of ‘nationalism’ -Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or any other.

2) The LTTE want a seperate state as do the international LTTE diaspora (and they don’t represent ALL Sri Lankan Tamils), but a minority within a minority

3) The Sri Lankans of all stripes in Sri -Lanka have a story to tell (not just the international diaspora), and it needs to be told. (Refer to story 1- human rights and rule of law for a democracy in General – freedom of the press; freedom of the peopld etc). In the meanwhile, journalists can find Sri Lankans who are not Tamils, living in the UK, Canada, America etc and speak to them about what they think/believe and what there families ‘back home’ think/believe’ – just as the LTTE diaspora claim to represent ‘All Tamils back home’

Journalists who give credence to one interest group, and don’t find a way to talk to others, are indeed biased or naive (being fooled into being a propoaganda mouthpiece for one set of views). Get more than one view.

… not forgetting that until I posted this, there were almost no views published at all.

Well, what view exactly have I posted? I have suggested there are three distinct stories and journalists need to be asking searching questions against all of them. You seem to be advocating that the story of one group only needs to be heard. (you suggest that there is a story in that younger generations are getting proseletyzed to the LTTE cause, which would be an interesting stor, if it were told), but that was not the question you posed. If you are a jouranalist of any repute, you’d dig deeper…..

Yep, but you’re missing my original point – nobody was writing much on that event.

There’s plenty of room to get down to an event like this one and put in a match report – especially on a site like this, where people are free to respond, and post alternate views.

I don’t believe for a second that blogging and online writing is about painting a complete history and/or picture in the first instance – you put some thoughts together, write a post, put it up there and off the dialogue goes. You follow up with further posts and other stories. Others respond with their own posts. People pick holes in what you’re written, and you respond, and pick holes in what they’ve said. People post what we might describe as one-sided reports all the time here – they’re posting views. Others come in in the comments and take issue with what they’ve said, or what they’ve reported others have said – that’s blogging. Other posts are posted. On longer pieces I’ve written for this site, I have indeed sought comment from ‘the other side’ if you want to put it like that – my Fremantle articles are an example. In this instance, I went down to an event that nobody was writing on and got some thoughts from the people there. Fair enough. No way I’ll stop doing that. I may well pick things up and talk to more people – and that’d be another post. That’s how online posting and publication works. You seem to be saying you were expecting a 5000 word online essay that canvassed your three options and included commentary from everyone involved. There’s certainly room for such a piece, but that ain’t a match report.

You’re completely incorrect when you describe me as an LTTE mouthpiece and you need to read earlier comments I’ve made closely before you reiterate that view. You are out of line there, and haven’t bothered to inform yourself closely enough before making that accusation. I’ve interviewed people who support the LTTE for this post, and their views have been published. I’ll be making no apology for that and I’ll be posting more of their commentary on my site this evening. There are indeed other views in this conflict – this is one of the most complex and vicious disputes in the world and as someone said earlier, nobody involved in it is telling the truth. That goes for the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.

I don’t understand your middle point about my posing the possibility that there’s an interesting story in the radicalising of these young people. You are incorrect to say that there is not. Can’t quite see what you’re getting at, to be honest.

… and one more thing, which is something I’d like to say again to all – too many journalists of what you describe as ‘repute’ are even as we speak sitting round on their arses processing press releases and providing us with pained ‘analysis’ on completely irrelevant subjects like Susan Boyle’s size and other minor celeb fuckwittery…. and that was my original point. I’d read/seen tens and probably hundreds of articles about Susan Boyle’s miraculous breaking out of the ugly box, but absolutely nothing about this protest. Maybe those who bother to go and talk to people – rather than sitting around some press room somewhere, doing bugger all except publishing dreary and sexist takes on awful talent shows – ought to be acknowledged for at least reporting on someone other than ourselves.

Kate, the original question you posed was that this was being ignored because it was a darkies protest’. I’ve suggested that it is because there are other issues at play here and no one wants to touch this with a barge pole, because when the surface is scratched, there is more that meets the eye and that it is a complex issue.

The one with the agenda here seems to be you – ‘journalists are racists’ hence your mention of ‘darkie protests’ being ignored. Apparently any of the ‘back’ story/getting more than one picture related to this protest is beyond you, because to you the story seems to be the ‘media black-out’ of an ethnic minority protest because they are a ethnic minority. Your ‘no apology’ stance and the fact that you insist on interviewing the LTTE and ‘more LTTE’ and your already ‘informed’ view that the other side isn’t ‘telling the truth’ either, support this even further. Never mind the Sri -Lankan Government, what about the Sri Lankan civilians? Apparently the only civilans who matter are the ones who support the LTTE. If you are really an unbiased journalist, seek out ordinary Sri Lankans, not just the Government of Sri Lanka and those who support the LTTE.

If you’ve checked most of the papers today and yesterday there has now been ample coverage, but of the conflict and the plight of civilians; not of a group of people with dodgy links to a proscribed terrorist group. And there has been some independent verifcation (unless the UN is somehow now partisan! that was me being facetious, just in case it flew over your head).

With regard to the proseletyzing of UK’s Tamil youth’s (who more than likely have never set foot on the Island) it seems that again, my facetiousness went over your head. I agreed with you that if indeed the story were told, it would be an interesting one. (I didn’t disagree with you). But again scratch the surface and you will find a lot more going on here, I bet.

While the technical terms for journalistic blogging or match points are facinating and the reasons for them spell-binding, I’d suggest you go off and write a few reports in a few papers (and find more than one convenient group of sources)?