Father forgive him, even though he knew exactly what he was doing
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to
Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews,
says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” (Exodus 9: 1)
‘The New Internationalist’ is considered by some as a left-wing
political magazine. Now left-wingers are notorious for assuming that all
struggles against the ruling class or the state are noble and support
worthy. This is perhaps why those who think they are ‘left’ will salute
any rebel but in particular those operating in other countries. In their
own land, there can be only one set of rebels as far as leftists are
concerned, i.e. those who share membership in one’s organization. The
others are counter-revolutionaries, running dogs of imperialism,
reactionaries, this, that and the other, but not deserving
revolutionary-tag.
Osama bin Laden |
‘The New Internationalist’ had a reputation and its content was
serious and informative. The editorial management, one assumed, was
therefore more circumspect that the run-of-the-mill leftist. In the
mid-1990’s, the NI carried a letter-to-the-editor under the time-worn
and tired title, ‘Let my people go!’ It brought back all the misgivings
I’ve had about things labeled or perceived to be ‘left’.
Economic refugees
Father S.J. Emmanuel, the author of that piece, referred to the LTTE
as ‘boys’. In affectionate terms. In the past 16 years, he has never
once condemned the ‘boys’ for crimes against humanity perpetrated in the
name of freedom for the Tamil people. Fr. Emmanuel’s ‘boys’ ethnically
cleaned the Jaffna Peninsula of Muslims and Tamils. The ‘boys’ pushed
one in every 10 Muslims into IDP camps. The ‘boys’ have a fantastic
curriculum vitae in the matter of terrorism. Fr. Emmanuel’s ‘boys’ were
no choir boys.
Fr. Emmanuel, to my knowledge is yet to be excommunicated,
knuckle-rapped or even chided by the Vatican. What we know for a fact is
that Fr. Emmanuel lectured the ‘boys’ about how to deal with ‘white
people’, how to raise money (not to buy soft toys or marshmellows, but
guns, bullets, grenades and such), how to engage in propaganda (read
‘lying’) and so on. Today, as the President of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF),
Fr. Emmanuel has become the logical successor of Velupillai Prabhakaran,
the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit.
Global Tamil Forum
David Cameron |
What has this good father’s work produced for ‘his people’ over the
past two decades though? He earned for Tamil people a pariah status in
the West. The economic refugees who left Sri Lanka wearing a cloak
called ‘Political Persecution’ that was disguise enough to fool the
likes of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were either
forced to justify their refugee status by perpetuating the lie that got
them to the proverbial greener pastures in the first place or were
willing partners-in-lying of the likes of Fr. Emmanuel. They either
contributed money or had it robbed at gunpoint by LTTE operatives or
coughed up out of fear that families back home would have to pay with
life and limb if they refused. Thousands upon thousands by circumstances
or choice took part in gun-running, credit card fraud, human smuggling,
drug-trafficking or extortion.
Back home, Fr. Emmanuel’s Blue Eyed Boy, Velupillai Prabhakaran was
using Emmanuel-dollars to buy Emmanuel-guns to send Emmanuel Child
‘Boys’ dressed in suicide jackets to kill innocent people. Emmanuel-lies
gave a cloak of respectability and justification. For a while. It all
came apart a few years ago. Today there are no home-‘boys’, and the
Tamils by and large are thrilled about the fact. Today there are
foreign-‘boys’, led by the Father of All Boys, the Rev. S.J. Emmanuel.
This big boy, now the President of the terrorist-backing Global Tamil
Forum, chit-chats with the likes of former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka
and current Deputy Secretary, US State Department (South Asian Affairs)
Robert O Blake. Got me imagining. It’s like Osama bin Laden’s principle
propagandist being entertained in Washington. It’s like a key financier
of the Taliban being feted at the British House of Commons. I am not
sure if this would make Blake or Cameron squirm, but they are top names
in countries that have a long and horrendous track record in crimes
against humanity, dating back several centuries and right up to the
point at which you happen to be reading this article.
Robert O Blake |
Maximum security
The bottom line is that Fr. Emmanuel not just batted for the ‘Boys’
Team’, he helped directly and indirectly procure bats, pads, balls,
ball-guards, head-gear, boots and other paraphernalia for his team
mates. If the child who blew himself up because ‘Annai said’ is a
terrorist, then those who helped strap the boy’s chest with explosives
or collected money so that someone could thrust a gun in his hand so he
could kill innocent people is called ‘terrorist’, the Fr. Emmanuel is no
‘boy’. He may have been boy-toy at some point, but he became ‘man-boy’
quite fast. He still is.
He’s a smart ‘boy’, this priest. He’s got celebrities to salute him,
confer title and so on. The ignorance of this world should not amaze any
of us. He’s a smart ‘boy’ because he knows how to pick and choose
relevant Biblical quote. That NI article was fascinating, come to think
of it. The ‘people’ did go, in the end. They left the ‘boys’ and sought
refuge among those that Fr. Emmanuel vilified and continues to vilify.
Now Fr. Emmanuel only has foreign ‘boys’, some white and some not.
Very soon he will have to quote Exedus 9:1. He will have to beg that his
criminal ‘people’ are released from the maximum security facilities they
are bound to find residence in, sooner or later. In fact he might drop
the ‘pluralling’ and say ‘Let me go’.
In the afterlife, after his faith, it is unlikely that he will have
voice to even utter those words. Unless of course his maker forgives him
provided he demonstrates true penitence. I am sure the Almighty (if such
an entity exists) would go easy on the folk who ran the ‘New
Internationalist’. They might have not known what they were doing. Not
Fr. Emmanuel though.
[email protected] |