THOUSANDS of Tamils demonstrated on Westminster Bridge on Monday evening against the failure of the Brown government to lift a finger to save the lives of tens of thousands of Tamil people, children, women and men, who are being massacred by the Sri Lankan army in the north of the country.
Among the demands that they were making was that Prime Minister Brown should come out onto the bridge to address them, and that the UK should demand a cease-fire in Sri Lanka and the commencement of peace talks.
Brown who fancies that he is a friend of the world’s poor, as well as one who has vowed that the world will never again allow another bloodletting like the Rwanda massacres, however did not come out to meet them, and neither did any of his ministers.
But his Home Secretary did act.
Yesterday morning riot police descended on Tamil men, women and children and dragged, kicked, punched and pulled them off the Bridge and onto Westminster Green.
A number of Tamils were injured in the course of this assault by the riot police, which was the second serious attack on demonstrators in London in a week.
Workers in the powerful British trade unions will be shocked at these attacks, including the death of Ian Tomlinson, during the course of the police actions around the Bank of England last Wednesday.
The Brown government is sticking to the military police regime of Mahindra Rajapakse like super-glue, and is unworried that his police state is organising the disappearance of critics of his regime, whether they be Tamil, Sinhalese, or Muslim.
Brown does not seem to be distressed that there are several thousand political prisoners in Sri Lanka being held without charge or trial.
The use of banned cluster bomb weaponry against Tamil civilians does not seem to be giving the leader of the Labour government any sleepless nights.
The reason for this attitude, is that Britain is the ex-colonial power, and has longstanding ties with the Sinhala bourgeoisie, and has got massive investments in the tea and rubber plantations, and also in the massive clothing factories in the New Economic Zones. These have been established so that British capital can super-exploit the Sri Lankan workers.
At a time when the world crisis is pushing up the cost of living for Sri Lankan workers, and where British capitalism is piling up debts, not making profits, the British bosses and government want a strong pro-imperialist client regime in Sri Lanka, one that will keep the working class down and keep the Sinhala bourgeoisie in the dominant position, by crushing the Tamils and the trade unions.
Rajapakse is a frequent and respected visitor to the UK. He recently addressed the Oxford Union, and his son is receiving military training here.
It is well known that the SAS has been deeply involved in training Sri Lankan special forces and organising its military leadership, and that Britain has helped to organise the supply of planes, armoured vehicles, naval boats and cluster bombs.
The British trade unions must take action to support the Tamil people against the Rajapakse regime and its ally the Brown government.
Trade unions must join the Tamil demonstrations and demand that the Brown government halts police attacks on the Tamils and ceases all financial, military and economic support for the Sri Lankan regime.
The unions must call for the Tamil Tigers to be taken off the British government’s proscribed list of terrorist organisations. The Tigers are in fact the main defensive arm of the Tamil people.
They must participate in the campaign to send food ships to Northern Sri Lanka in a situation where people are starving.
The unions must call their own demonstrations to demand that the British government calls for a cease-fire, and for the restart of peace talks.
Above all the trade unions must demand that the British government recognises the right of the Tamil people to self-determination.
