Reading Wednesday
What did you just finish?
This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War by Samanth Subramanian. This is an absolutely amazing journalistic account of the aftermath of Sri Lanka's Civil War. In exteremly brief summary: the majority of Sri Lanka's population speaks Sinhalese and practices Buddhism, but a significant minority speaks Tamil and practices Hinduism. In the 1950s, in response to (real? perceived?) prejudice, the Tamils began to protest, and eventually formed the Tamil Tigers, a militant/guerilla/terrorist group that agitated for a separate Tamil country. The Sri Lankan government disagreed violently with this, finally defeating the Tigers in 2009. Significant human rights violations and absolute atrocities were committed by both sides.
Because during the last, worst months of the fighting the Sri Lankan government refused to allow journalists or UN observers into disputed territory, rumors that can never be verified or entirely denied continue to circulate: did the government deliberately bomb an occupied hospital? did they extrajudicially execute the Tiger leaders and their families, including children? how many civilians died? Sri Lanka says 9,000; the UN estimates at least 40,000. And on and on. The entire history of the war is littered with mysteries like these, through Subramanian steers a middle course of raising the questions but not pretending to offer answers.
Subramanian is not himself Sri Lankan (though he is Tamil, from India), which allows him to speak to both sides. He's not particularly interested in figuring out who was right or who was wrong, or even in describing the names and dates as you might expect from a history. Instead he simply writes about what it was like for ordinary people to live through such an extended, horrifying war. He focuses on the stories of individuals: missing children, abducted by the Tigers and forced to serve on the front lines of battle; missing children, who fought with the Tigers until they surrendered to the government and disappeared into internment camps. Even now, years later, there are no answers about where thousands of people are or if they're even still alive. Car mechanics who haven't seen new parts or petrol engines in years, but simply made do with what was allowed through blockades. Bullet holes in mosques, from the Tiger's sudden turn against Tamil-speaking Muslims. Journalists kidnapped for questioning the government one too many times. Buddhist monks turned politicians, preaching a new, hard-line nationalist version of Buddhism; Buddhist monks who left the monastery and took up arms to fight. Exiles in India, Canada, and the U.K., unable or unwilling to ever return home. And more.
It's a hard book to read, obviously, but it's very much worth it. The writing is beautiful and emphatic, and Subramanian doesn't waste time trying to offer explanations for violations that can't be explained. But he bears witness to these stories, and sometimes that's all you can do. Highly recommended.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
What are you currently reading?
Finding Charity's Folk Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland by Jessica Millward. Another NetGalley book! But I did not order any new books from them this week; I swear to god I am going to catch up so that I can start reading other things.
This entry was originally posted at http://brigdh.dreamwidth.org/19051.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War by Samanth Subramanian. This is an absolutely amazing journalistic account of the aftermath of Sri Lanka's Civil War. In exteremly brief summary: the majority of Sri Lanka's population speaks Sinhalese and practices Buddhism, but a significant minority speaks Tamil and practices Hinduism. In the 1950s, in response to (real? perceived?) prejudice, the Tamils began to protest, and eventually formed the Tamil Tigers, a militant/guerilla/terrorist group that agitated for a separate Tamil country. The Sri Lankan government disagreed violently with this, finally defeating the Tigers in 2009. Significant human rights violations and absolute atrocities were committed by both sides.
Because during the last, worst months of the fighting the Sri Lankan government refused to allow journalists or UN observers into disputed territory, rumors that can never be verified or entirely denied continue to circulate: did the government deliberately bomb an occupied hospital? did they extrajudicially execute the Tiger leaders and their families, including children? how many civilians died? Sri Lanka says 9,000; the UN estimates at least 40,000. And on and on. The entire history of the war is littered with mysteries like these, through Subramanian steers a middle course of raising the questions but not pretending to offer answers.
Subramanian is not himself Sri Lankan (though he is Tamil, from India), which allows him to speak to both sides. He's not particularly interested in figuring out who was right or who was wrong, or even in describing the names and dates as you might expect from a history. Instead he simply writes about what it was like for ordinary people to live through such an extended, horrifying war. He focuses on the stories of individuals: missing children, abducted by the Tigers and forced to serve on the front lines of battle; missing children, who fought with the Tigers until they surrendered to the government and disappeared into internment camps. Even now, years later, there are no answers about where thousands of people are or if they're even still alive. Car mechanics who haven't seen new parts or petrol engines in years, but simply made do with what was allowed through blockades. Bullet holes in mosques, from the Tiger's sudden turn against Tamil-speaking Muslims. Journalists kidnapped for questioning the government one too many times. Buddhist monks turned politicians, preaching a new, hard-line nationalist version of Buddhism; Buddhist monks who left the monastery and took up arms to fight. Exiles in India, Canada, and the U.K., unable or unwilling to ever return home. And more.
It's a hard book to read, obviously, but it's very much worth it. The writing is beautiful and emphatic, and Subramanian doesn't waste time trying to offer explanations for violations that can't be explained. But he bears witness to these stories, and sometimes that's all you can do. Highly recommended.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
What are you currently reading?
Finding Charity's Folk Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland by Jessica Millward. Another NetGalley book! But I did not order any new books from them this week; I swear to god I am going to catch up so that I can start reading other things.
This entry was originally posted at http://brigdh.dreamwidth.org/19051.html. Please comment there using OpenID.