Facing Total Commitment to Political Resistance-by Michael Roberts
Source:Thuppahis
Within a context when the Western world surveyed the scenarios of violent conflict that involved warfire tactics, protests and rebellions that involved suicide attacks the usual concept depyed was that of “suicide killers” ….. Facingwith its attendant disgust. However, I chose to deploy the term “sacrificial devotion” and even embrace the acts of suicide protest (e.g. Norman Morrison in New York). some South Vietnamese monks, Jan Palach in Prague) as an overarching conceptual frame.
Herewith are some pertinent essays on the topic. Also note the literature featured in what is now a non-operational website that is still accessible:
Tamil Tigers recruits in camp–Pix by Shyam Tekwani circa 1989(?)
SOME TPS ITEMS
Roberts: …. https://thuppahis.com/2013/05/18/pragmatic-action-enchanted-worlds-a-black-tiger-rite-of-commemoration
Roberts: “Killing Rajiv Gandhi: Dhanu’s sacrificial metamorphosis in death,” South Asian History and Culture, 2010,
Set within the context of the Sri Lankan Tamils’ liberation war dominated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), this article examines the series of events that followed Pirapaharan’s (Prabhakaran) decision to eliminate Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 in order to preempt his election as Prime Minister. The details of the LTTE’s intricate killing operation under operational commander Sivarasan set the scene for a focus on facets of the attire adopted by suicide bomber Dhanu. Saffron-green outfit, kanagambaram in hair and sandalwood-pellet garland may have been directed by pragmatic reasoning. But circumstantial contentions also point towards cosmic reasoning. Taken together with the kill team’s preceding supplications to the god Ganapathi at a temple in Chennai, these indications suggest that Dhanu’s explosive transformation into ash was geared towards a transvaluation of self in the cycle of rebirth. Information on Hindu practices taken from the researches of Mines, Fuller and Tanaka amplify the significance of the details deployed during this operation as supplements to plastic explosives, ball bearings and suicide vest.
