The Induction Oath of Tamil Tiger Fighters at their Passing-Out Ceremony

Michael Roberts

 Adele Balasingham and a LTTE fighter — BBC, 1991

Apropos of the misleading interpretations of suicide attacks by Western commentators such as the political scientist, Robert Pape, it is important to note that the act of suicide was initially adopted by the LTTE as a defensive tool to protect the organisation from the leaking of information after capture. It was also a mark of their dedication to the Tamil liberation cause and thus a method of drawing popular admiration. It was not till 5 July 1987 that it was deployed as a low cost precision weapon when Miller (a nom de guerre) drove a truck bomb into an SL Army encampment at Nelliyadi. This was but one instance of uyirayutham — life as weapon.

As training was formalised, like all armies the LTTE had a passing out ceremony for their fighters. The induction of a batch of female fighters is graphically depicted in a BBC documentary filmed in the LTTE territories in 1991 where one sees/hears them chant in unison in response to their female commander’s initial prompt:

“Our revolutionary organisation’s purified aim

is for a free society to achieve Tamil Eelam

My life and soul and all this I sacrifice to

our organisation’s leader, our brother, Mr Prabhakaran

We fully accept that for him we will be very faithful and trustworthy

The aim of the Tigers – Tamils’ freedom.”

 

 

 

Though this oath has been presented in articles elsewhere it is buried within lengthy texts so it is reproduced here as a means of introducing readers to the important BBC documentary entitled “Suicide Killers.”

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As further supplement I list articles where I embellish the details of the LTTE’s dedication to cause and their organisational capacities; as well as one that addresses Islamic fervour and another that addresses hate speech, rumour mongering and ethnic bigotry.

* “The Agony and Ecstasy of a Pogrom: Southern Lanka, July 1983,” Nēthra, April-Sept 2003, 6: 199-213… RE-VISITED in http://thuppahis.com/2011/10/29/visual-evidence-i-vitality-value-and-pitfall-%E2%80%93-borella-junction-2425-july-1983/

* “Cricketing Fervour and Islamic Fervour: Marginalisation in the Diaspora,” The International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 21, pp. 650-663…. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523360409510560?journalCode=fhsp20#.U6l7BCidH9o

* “Tamil Tiger “Martyrs”: Regenerating Divine Potency?” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2005, vol. 28, pp. 493-514.

* “Saivite Symbols, Sacrifice, and Tamil Tiger rites,” Social Analysis, 2005, vol. 49, pp. 67-93.

* “Pragmatic Action and Enchanted Worlds: A Black Tiger Rite of Commemoration,” Social Analysis, 2006, vol. 50, pp. 73-102. Also posted on 13 May 2013 at http://thuppahis.com/2013/05/18/pragmatic-action-enchanted-worlds-a-black-tiger-rite-of-commemoration/.

*“Tamil Tigers: Sacrificial Symbolism and ‘Dead Body Politics’,”. Anthropology Today, 2008, vol. 24, pp. 22-23.

* “Suicide Missions as Witnessing: Expansions, Contrasts,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2007, vol. 30, pp 857-887.

* “Suicidal Political Action. III,” April 2009, http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/04/post_346.html

* “Tamil Tigers and Their Practices of Homage,” 15 December 2009, http://thuppahis.com/2009/12/15/tamil-tigers-their-practices-of-homage/

* “Understanding Zealotry,” 13 March 2010, http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/03/understanding-zealotry.html  AND  http://sacrificialdevotionnetwork.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/understanding-zealotryquestions-for-post-orientalism/

* “Encountering Extremism: Biographocal Tracks and Twists,” 6 March 2010, http://sacrificialdevotionnetwork.wordpress.com/category/virulent-politics-in-comparative-perspective/

* “Killing Rajiv Gandhi: Dhanu’s Metamorphosis in Death?” South Asian History and Culture, 2010, vol. 1, pp. 25-41…. ALSO as abstract in http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/01/killing_rajiv_gandhi_dhanus_sa.html

*   “Hitler, Nationalism, Sacrifice: Koenigsberg and Beyond … Towards the Tamil Tigers,” 19 March 2010, http://thuppahis.com/2010/03/19/hitler-nationalism-sacrifice-koenigsberg-and-beyond-%E2%80%A6-towards-the-tamil-tigers/ AND http://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/ideologies/docs/roberts_koenigsberg.html

* “Studying Collective Consciousness over Time in Sri Lanka: Questions for Post-Orientalism, Part II,” 21 March 2012, http://thuppahis.com/2012/05/21/studying-collective-consciousness-over-time-in-sri-lanka-questions-for-post-orientalism-part-i/

* “Emotion and the Person in Nationalist Studies,” 21 May 2012, http://thuppahis.com/2012/05/21/5897/

* “Marakkala Kolahālaya: Mentalities directing the Pogrom of 1915,” 13 March 2013, http://thuppahis.com/2013/03/13/marakkala-kolahalaya-mentalities-directing-the-pogrom-of-1915/

* “From Godse and Gandhi to the Selfless Sacrifice of Tamil Tigers,” 13 June 2014, http://thuppahis.com/2014/06/13/from-godse-and-gandhi-to-the-selfless-sacrifice-of-tamil-tigers/

* “Running the Gauntlet in academia: The Case of ‘Selfless Sacrifice’ — A Rejected Article,”  15 June 2014, http://thuppahis.com/2014/06/15/running-the-gauntlet-in-academia-the-case-of-selfless-sacrifice-a-rejected-article/

* “Encompassing Empowerment in Ritual, War & Assassination: Tantric Principles in Tamil Tiger Instrumentalities,” Social Analysis, 2014, Vol. 58, pp.88-106.

ALSO NOTE Roberts: “Marakkala Kolahālaya: Mentalities directing the pogrom of 1915,” 13 March 2013,http://thuppahis.com/2013/03/13/marakkala-kolahalaya-mentalities-directing-the-pogrom-of-1915/ …itself a reprint of an original essay that appeared in Roberts: Confrontations in Sri Lanka, Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2009, pp. 113-54, ISBN 978-955-665-035-8.