SAY NO TO SRI LANKA,

AND DILMAH TEA

Dilmah founder Merrill Ferando and Sri Lankas Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa cutting ribbon at an event organised by the Sri Lankan rmy
IN OPINION, TREVOR GRANT / ON SATURDAY, MAY 31,
2014
It was a scene that has been played out many times since the brutal end to the civil war in the
Tamil homeland.
Last year the Sri Lankan defence secretary and accused war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa,
stood alonside one of Sri Lanka!s richest men, "errill #ernando, cuttin a ribbon to open a
new war memorial that purports to be about peace and reconciliation but, in reality, lorifies the
murderers of at least $%,%%% innocent civilians in &%%' and enhances the process of enocide
and ethnic(cleansin in traditional Tamil lands.
)artly(financed by #ernando, it is yet another triumphalist edifice built by a ruthless reime that
is under an official *+ investiation for war crimes and crimes aainst humanity and which,
five years after the war, continues to torture, rape, and jail thousands of Tamils as well as steal
their land and reduce them to abject poverty.
To add to the Tamils! misery, while these memorials are placed in Tamil areas which have been
renamed in Sinhala, any reconition of fallen Tamil fihters has been e,puned from public
view. Tamil war memorials and cemeteries have been bulldo-ed and Tamils are banned from
commemoratin their dead, under threat of retribution from the military occupiers of their land.
.hat is important here is to acknowlede the collaboration of #ernando, who is in lockstep
with the Rajapaksa reime and, as a result, benefits sinificantly from its enocidal proram.
#ernando is the founder and owner of the /ilmah Tea company, which is one of the country!s
most prominent and successful e,ports. It fills the supermarket shelves in 0ustralia, the *1 and
many other countries, brandin itself as a 2family business built on family values3.
Dilmah Founder Merrill Fernando
4et, as you sit sippin a cup of /ilmah tea, you may wish to know that by buyin this product
you are helpin support a reime that, accordin to many widely(respected human rihts
oranisations, includin 0mnesty International and 5uman Rihts .atch, enaes in rape,
torture and disappearances of innocent people every day of the week.
Indeed, armed with these facts, you may bein to 6uestion the so(called 2family values3 of the
likes of the /ilmah Tea 7ompany and even choose another brand.
It is with this oal in mind that the Tamil diaspora 8 throuh the Transnational Government of
Tamil 9elam : has launched 2Say +o to Sri Lanka3, which aims to raise awareness to the
pliht of Tamils in Sri Lanka throuh a ;oycott(/ivestment(Sanctions campain similar to the
very successful worldwide ;/S campain aainst Israeli products.
The anti(Israel ;/S movement bean back in &%%<, to a chorus of detractors. These included
supporters of )alestinian statehood who didn!t think it could be effective aainst the miht of
*S(backed Israel. Today, it oes from strenth to strenth, as it continues to pick up credible
support from so many 6uarters, and, of course, increasin harassment from worried Israelis and
their supporters who fear the economic impact.
Recently in 0ustralia, we have seen the Israeli lobby take an 0ustralian academic to court for
darin to support the lobal ;/S campain aainst Israel. It!s a sure sin that ;/S is makin a
bi impact and it!s interestin to note that *S authorities are movin to try to stop academic
institutions from ivin support to the ;/S movement aainst Israel.
They wouldn!t be doin it unless it was workin. Indeed, some Israeli academics have
critici-ed the court action sayin that all they are doin is promotin the ;/S movement and
shinin a liht on Israel!s apartheid policies.
The fact that the enocide in the north and the east of Sri Lanka continues to ather pace means
that new methods, new strateies and new tactics must be developed and enaed, and this
constant development and enaement must become part of the everyday strule. .ithout
intellient new ways of peaceful, direct action, the nation of Tamil 9elam has a very rim
future, indeed, for, as we have discovered on so many occasions, waitin for the duplicitous
world powers to render enuine assistance is the surest way to uarantee the continuation of the
enocidal ways of the Sri Lankan overnment.
=ne of the pro()alestinian ;/S movement!s stronest supporters has been South 0frica!s
0rchbishop /esmond Tutu, who said recently> 2.hether used in South 0frica, the *S south or
India, boycotts have resulted in a transformative chane that not only brouht freedom and
justice to the victims but also peace and reconciliation for the oppressors. I remain ever hopeful
that like the non(violent efforts that have preceded it, the ;/S movement will ultimately
become a catalyst for honest peace and reconciliation?3
2Say +o to Sri Lanka3 aims to do the same for the Tamil people in Tamil 9elam as they seek
freedom from a brutal military occupation, freedom from the oppression that they have suffered
for enerations and the freedom to e,ercise the inalienable riht of all peoples to self(
determination.
8 Trevor Grant