Books & Arts
No More Tears Sister
Screened at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York recently, "No more Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal" documents the story of human rights activist Rajani Thiranagama, assassinated in 1989. The film, made by Canadian filmmaker Helene Klowdawsky recreates Thiranagama's story as told through the voices of those that knew her. Her story is inextricably linked to the violent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict that has engulfed Sri Lanka for most of its modern history.
Thiranagama's story is a story of the growth, education and life of
two sisters, Rajani herself and her older sister Nirmala. Nirmala outlines how
the two grew up in a middle class Tamil family in Jaffna. They both go away to
college and return home politicized and inspired by the idealistic doctrine of
leftist politics. Whereas at first they both become actively involved in the
struggle for the rights of both the Sinhalese and Tamil populations, over
time—moved by the struggle of the minority ethnic Tamils against the oppressive
Sinhalese state—they are drawn into the cause of Tamil nationalism.
Thiranagama, a doctor by profession, initially has ambivalent feelings towards Tamil nationalism and militancy. However, when Nirmala—who is much more deeply involved—becomes a political prisoner, she decides to dedicate herself fully to the cause of Tamil rights.
This is a time of intense political conflict. While the Sinhalese government is brutal in its repression of Tamil activism, the Tamil militants also become increasingly violent. One group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)—most commonly known as the Tamil Tigers—emerge dominant after crushing competing Tamil liberation groups. The result is unabated violence between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE as well as political killings within the Tamil group itself. The LTTE's need for extreme secrecy means that disillusioned activists find it next to impossible to leave the organization without risking their lives. In such an atmosphere, the sisters become disenchanted with the endless ruthlessness of the movement and the brutalization of society that is occurring and rapidly sweeping away all traces of the utopian dreams of the 1970s.
Thiranagama, however, still believes there is a role for her in her conflict-ridden hometown of Jaffna. She settles there with her young daughters as an anatomy professor. By this time, the conflict is further fuelled in the region by the Indian army that arrives as a peacekeeping force. The community is caught between the various armed forces and Thiranagama experiences the deterioration of society, the increased violence against women and the cost of speaking out against the parties concerned.
Thiranagama's stance becomes that of an untiring human rights advocate. Part of the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), she actively becomes involved in helping out victims of the war. With her colleagues in the UTHR, she produces a document known as "The Broken Palmyra". This is a document that uses interviews with Sri Lankans in the community to detail human rights abuses committed by all sides of the conflict.
Thiranagama's murder—widely believed to have been committed by an LTTE assassin—was brutal, though ultimately not surprising. At a late point in the film, Nirmala turns her head away as she emotionally remarks that she feels guilty and responsible that it was her imprisonment that involved her sister in the conflict in the first place. Nirmala is much more strong and composed in the rest of the documentary. She is strong as she laughs about the unsuitability—in their parents' eyes—of her sister's Sinhalese husband. And she is matter-of-fact when she claims that for those that relied on violence for political ends, her sister—with her evenhanded critique of all sides—had gotten "too big for her boots". It is clear that Thiranagama—once useful for treating wounded Tamil militants—had become an inconvenient threat.
This documentary, made partly from rare archival footage, personal correspondence and interviews, had to mostly rely on reenactments due to the impossibility of filming in Jaffna, the risk facing anyone who wanted to contribute, and the lack of images of the subject. This has meant that the film often does not flow very well. Parts of the reenactment seem gimmicky and forced at times. However, the subject matter easily draws in the viewer. And the heartfelt testimonial of the interviewees—Thiranagama's sisters, daughters and husband—carries the film. Thiranagama's older daughter Narmada is particularly impressive. Making an appearance during the film's screening in New York, she fielded questions from audience members afterwards. Her views on the importance and primacy of the human rights of all people came across in an inspired and articulate manner. Obviously influenced by her mother and her aunt, she appears to be the type of woman her mother might have believed in—one that refuses to be made a victim.
Thiranagama's story and the documentary have a special resonance for women. It is about a woman who grew into a feminist, made by a woman who wanted to profile women activists in conflict-ridden regions. Still, it is also of significance to all those who consider themselves advocates of human rights. Human rights activists and organizations in Nepal have undergone much criticism from those that believe that their documentation of human rights violations is biased, as well as those that even accuse them outright of being directly culpable for the continuing violence. This plays into the hands of the people who would do away with human rights activists (and human rights with them)—the perpetrators of violations. This is not to say that human rights organizations and activists should never be criticized. However, as Thiranagama's story shows, human rights activists are putting themselves at enormous risk to fight for what they believe in. In a way, the human rights activist has no friend on either side of any given conflict. She is always an inconvenient threat, as Thiranagama was—if the LTTE had not murdered her, the Sri Lankan army probably would have.
In a larger sense, this film is not about one woman or women in general. It is about the will to fight for a better world, the perils of narrow-minded nationalism and, ultimately, the need to struggle for human rights.
Related Links
Readers
are suggested to watch the excerpts available on the movie's website »
Comments
Such a sad ending to such a idealistc lady. Who is wrong. who is right, is
beyond my understanding of the complex ethnic problem.
Was Ranjani too
idealistic so as to not take any sides and fight against the evils of both
warring parties?
Or were the tigers too narrow minded
so as to not
recognise her broadminded vision. Should a person be uncompromising on her
ideals in all cirumstances?? Would you take sides if the atrocities on your
commmunity are too much coming from one side?
I have no intentions of hurting the sentiments of anyone who loved Ranjani. I
greatly admire her too.
But when I see hard reality, this is what i
feel:-
Frankly speaking, i dont think any broad mindedness on the part of tamils would have solved the problems of the tamils in any way at least in the previous three decades. I still believe you choose your weapons be it ( mental of physical) depending on the mental state of the enemy. Do you think Mahatma Gandhi's weapons of non-violence would have worked against an army of Mongol barbarians instead of the British Empire?
The majority of the sinhalese were not mentally prepared or broadminded enough to give any concessions to the tamil minority in the 80's and 90;s . Probably not even a thousand Rajani Thiranagamas would have made the slightest change in the sinhalese mindset in the eigties.
But now there is light at the end of the problem. Most sinhales agree that there is a genunine ethnic problem. The tigers feel that they have reached that stage of their struggle where they think the majority sinhalese are willing to give them some sort of limited indpendent and freedom without further sacrifice of human life. ( That doesnt mean that all the loss in human lives from the tiger side was in vain ?
Frankly i don't think the sinhalese would have given any concessions if not
for the aggresive war fought by the tigers.
I am no champion of war or
violence, but as I said before there is a difference between fighting a real
army and a bunch of barbarians.
Rajani, Thanks for the review. I brought the HRW traveling film festival to
my college last year and was very impressed with the quality of documentary
films. I remain an ardent supporter of independent and well intentioned
documentary films.
Some of these films go on a traveling film festival after
the official festival finishes in New York. It costs around $200 bucks to get
one film. It is relatively easy to organize and HRW people are great about money
and the likes.
Its people like the characters in this film that would blur all the lines
between the right and wrong. As complex as the issue of ethnic nationalism is in
Sri Lanka, I believe there is always enough space to build a culture of non
violence. I don't know if words like mentality and barbarians would help us in
the cause of reducing this horrible physical violence. The Tamils were known as
hard working, entrepreneurial smart people. The Sinhalese were all Buddhists.
Yet we have one of the bloodiest ethnic wars taking place there. India screwed
it up even more by going into Sri Lanka, one of India's worst foreign policy
disasters perhaps. Both sides were equally responsible for the violence and the
barbarism that took place during the war. Now was its morasses of group politics
that did this or was it individuals going crazy in violence. That’s always open
to interpretation.
although I havent seen the movie I admire this lady's courage and her
families courage to make it to a movie so the world would see there is two sides
to the story.
Sadly the tamils who live in other countries dont tell the
world that their fear is mostly about their freedom fighters . That they are
running away from tamil tigers. Srilankan army could have done wrong things as
any army would have done in any war. But there was a less chance of srilankan
army killing her and sinhalease did not change their attitudes towards tamils
because of the violent acts of the so called freedom fighters.
whether violence is always wrong or sometimes a good method of bringing your issues to the world's attention is always up for discussion. however, what i feel certain about it that there is *always* a need for human rights activists like rajani thiranagama. when the work of human rights activists is treated as unimportant, naive or dangerous by ordinary people there is little chance that those who are threatened by it will be concerned about getting rid of people like thiranagama. but even if they are unable to change anyone's mind in a significant way, they at least have the function of a witness and that is valuable. for example, someone asks the question of whether the loss of life was in vain. when such a question can be asked at all--when individual lives are unimportant that they can be subsumed in some collective cause--perhaps its some consolaton that their lives and deaths are recorded by someone who believes that their death was unnecessary and wrong.
You are right, people like Rajani thiranagama valued human life much above any other things; and hoped that by condeming the violations from both sides she could make both sides see sense and make peace. But in such a complex atmosphere of violence and counter-violence, it was very easy to take sides. Those leaders capable of making an impression in the common mindset were either tempted or pressurised to take the cause of their ethnic side. It become a vicious cycle of eye for any eye and tooth for a tooth. But people Like Rajani nearly stood out in their bold thinking. That was really courageous coming from a women. It requires amazing courage and depth of vision to come out of the commond mindset. If srilanka has to prosper as a nation, it needs people who can raise above their ethnic background and make a strong broadminded influence on the common mind set. Looking back, how would you think the present state of things in Sri Lanka would be different, if Rajani was still alive?
Looking back at the root cause of the issue, was it a "weak" powerhungry political leadership that exacerberated the problem, Or was it it because the majority of the people were chavinistic nationalists. Srilanka need strong laws like banning any perons from mixing religion with politics, and making any kind of ethnic discrimination a crime punishable by law. But then it is yet another topic.
I feel the scenario is always more complicated than we allow it to be. When
LTTE started in early 70s - at a time when the whole world was in the middle of
a political rethinking (by which Nepal too was very affected) - let's not forget
that there was hope that LTTE would be the revolutionary force many people in
Sri Lanka desired. And nationalism was in fact seen as a very cool thing back
then as many movements that emerged tried to forge a political outpost similar
to the anti-colonial movements in Algeria, Vietnam and so forth. The Tamil
Tigers demand of their own nation is part of that kind of leftist legacy. The
fact that both Rajani and Nirmala joined the LTTE at different points in their
lives is a proof of this I think.
We also have to remember that the current
violence and ethnic conflict is not only the result of chauvinist nationalists
and religious zealots, but in fact has a lot to with the memories and remnants
of European colonialism. Be it in Sri Lanka, India, Israel, Algeria or Iraq,
ethnic conflicts are what the colonizers left behind in the 50s-70s.
I think
the question in Sri Lanka - as Rajani and Nirmala reflect through their stories
- is ultimately not about peace vs. violence. It's about what kind of political
force to create. Since the 1970s, many Sri Lankan activists still believe that a
joint Tamil-Sinhalese worker-based movement against the capital and against the
repressive state is a viable alternative. As for human rights... In forging a
coalition-based movement, I think human rights cannot and should never be the
final goal, it has to be the starting point. If activists like Rajani around the
world have been reduced to fighting for securing human rights, it speaks of the
terror we live under... but I think Rajani herself never saw human rights as her
ultimate destination (If the film represents it as that, I think it has to do
with filmmaker Klowdawsky's personal approach and rendition of the subject) but
rather as a place where everyone can imagine a better future together. I can't
call this her idealism... I think it's just a basic human desire, an
eros.
I saw this film last night. I cannot take it out of my mind. I am a sri
lankan and nobody, believe me nobody has put together the picture so well as
Helene up to now. Dayapala and Rajini fought for what and for whom? The beauty,
the importance, the compelling reason to worship this work, is not the story,
not even Rajani, but the fact that it puts enough things, un altered raw thing,
thoughts and pictures in front of you so you can see ...!
Sincerely hope we
all will get to see, learn and change ourselves. Living fighters just fight.
Dead ones teach us how to live.
PLEASE send me details about how to buy this extraordinary film... I want to
show it in my classes. I would appreciate an early response, please!
In
solidarity
nandini
One of the best scenes of the movie, Rajani cleaning up the shattered classroom, is available on the site as Excerpt #2.
And this is personally how I responded:
“Though 'No More Tears' is set in Sri Lanka, a similar story might have been explored in Africa, other parts of Asia, the middle-east, Eastern Europe or Latin America. In the sixties and seventies, Rajani was part of a generation of young political activists in post-colonial societies around the world – activists who dreamed of radically transforming their societies to achieve equality and justice for all. But this idealism continues to be ruthlessly thwarted by narrow nationalist agendas in countless countries."
-- D. B.S. Jeyaraj in Tamil Week