Check Your Des(h)i Privilege

[checkyourbrownprivilege]

Check Your Tamil/Des(h)i Male Privilege

By Gayathri, Mohini*, Ram, Sinthujan & in collaboration with the Tamil Feminist Collective (in alphabetical order)

The social, political, and economic arrangements of a society can place some people in a privileged position relative to others, particularly with respect to important goods, like institutional representation, economic resources, and even less tangible goods like “respect” and “welfare”. Since societal arrangements are not always brought into reflective awareness, it is unsurprising when even well meaning and well-intentioned members of privileged groups are unaware of how they may benefit from social arrangements relative to members of other groups. Many times have we experienced Tamil/Des(h)i men unable and unwilling to recognize the privilege they hold vis-à-vis Tamil/Des(h)i women in Eelam, South Asia, its diasporas and beyond. Sometimes they may well be aware of some of the difficulties faced by Tamil/Des(hi) women. Sometimes they may even work for the betterment of women in the island, South Asia and beyond, but this all too often doesn’t translate into wider acknowledgment of the privilege centred around their male identity and the impact that patriarchal systems have on the every day lives of Tamil/Des(h)i women.

The denial of these privileges is widespread. Often we find Tamil/Des(h)i men relativising the inequalities felt by Tamil/Des(h)i women, dismissing the undercurrent of patriarchy that produces systemic and sociocultural inequalities which continue to haunt the island, South Asia and its diasporas.

This list attempts to highlight some of the privileges provided to Tamil/Des(h)i men in Eelam, South Asia and beyond just because they are, yes, Tamil/Des(h)i men. Noting these privileges is not meant to antagonize or alienate Tamil/Des(h)i men but rather raise awareness and self-consciousness about how gender identities and their intersection with race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, etc., indeed do play a role in the way they perceive, interact, and ultimately, politicize women on the island, South Asia as well as its diasporas. It is also meant to show the extensive ways that gender identity can track inequalities in opportunity and welfare within a society. With this compilation we hope to ignite meaningful conversations and introspections into what it means to be a Tamil/Des(h)i woman and ultimately what it means to not be a  Tamil/Des(h)i man in Eelam, its diasporas and beyond.

(Some of our points are directly referenced or influenced by Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”).

You can be ignorant towards the insidiousness of patriarchy whilst benefiting from being born as a man. You can be ‘unaware’ of your male privilege.

Appearance

Your wardrobe, skin tone, or hair does not routinely become a topic of discussion between your immediate and extended family, as well as society at large.

Your choice of clothes and hair style is not used to judge your morality, sexual practices, or ability to be a 'good' [enter caregiver role - father, husband].

Your body is not used as a symbol of your family's bank balance through being decked out in gold or expensive sarees (always sarees, not western clothes).

You do not need to bleach your skin (literally with "bleach containing" products) to increase your prospects of marriage.

You can cut your hair short, without your parents, family and the whole of Tamil society telling you are less of a man and no one will be interested in marrying you.

Your parents, family, society will never criticise your clothes as bringing your family into disrepute or as being 'asingam'.

You can wear your jeans with your underwear showing and be forgiven as 'just being a young boy' without it being used to judge your sexual practices and it affecting your reputation within society.

You are not compelled to wear expensive sarees, jewellery or masses of make up to all Tamil events or to public spaces, such as temples, in order to ensure that you look like a 'Tamil pombalai' and look marriageable.

You can “look good” without people thinking your intelligence is somehow deficient.

You can demand and expect women to wear traditional clothes at functions, visits or other occasions, otherwise how would tamil culture continue to be preserved? (and because shirts, ties, and suits have somehow managed to become the male equivalent to sarees and shalwar kameez/panjavis).

Your body is, unlike the female body, not used as a weapon to ‘protect’ Tamil culture from erasure and disappearance.

You won’t receive as much ‘advice’, ‘feedback’ and reprimands by literally anyone, immediate parents to strangers, if you choose to not adhere and adopt to your cultural norms.

Your parents won’t be policed by society for the choices you make to adhere, adopt or reject cultural norms of dress and appearance.

You will not have your identity as a Tamilan stripped from you by others who deem you ‘uncultured’ because of your appearance and attire.

Your looks, morality and worthiness of being a man and, especially worthiness of being [enter family role - father /husband/son], will not be relative to and constantly subject to comparisons with those of other men in the homeland.

You can engage in social activities in public or private, e.g. drinking or dancing, without ever becoming the target for gender-specific slander and libel.

You can tell/expect your wives, daughters, sisters not to drink alcohol or smoke whilst drinking and smoking yourself.

You can drink whatever alcoholic beverage you choose to, without it being used to judge your gender with (e.g. Tamil women may drink wine, but it would be frowned upon to drink whiskey, or beer).

Your actions will not be judged based on a false dichotomy of “good-girl” or “whore”.

You can walk down the street in whatever clothing you choose without being cat-called, threatened with sexual violence, or harassed.

You will never be blamed, judged, or told "you were asking for it" for being on the receiving end of harassment and unwanted advances.

You can police womens’ bodies and morals to your liking without ever being subject to the same type of scrutiny or policing.

You are more likely free to decide and choose for yourself without having to justify the repercussions it may have for anyone beyond yourself.

Your mistakes won’t ‘stain’ you for the rest of life and detrimentally impact your own so-called ‘reputation’ and that of your families'.

Your actions as a child/adolescent are not used to judge your ability to be a husband/parent.

You can do something wrong, such as cause physical harm against someone, without society aghast at how you could have committed this act.

You can objectify women by, for instance, calling them ‘figure’ (in Indian Tamil ‘figuru’) and reducing them to your voyeuristic gaze without ever being called out on this sexual practice.

You can claim not to police your daughter's / wife's attire and 'allow' them to wear whatever they want, whilst ignoring the fact that female members of the family and just society are doing this (for you).

Sexuality & Relationships

You don't have your worth as a human being dictated based on your relationship to others (son, brother, husband, father).

If you are a heterosexual male, your sexual activities and sexual preferences will hardly ever run in danger of becoming a public topic of conversation of family and strangers alike.

If you are a heterosexual male, your sexual activities and sexual preferences will hardly ever run in danger of being subject to judgments by virtually anyone.

If you are a heterosexual man, you can turn down a sexual encounter and not be criticised as being frigid.

In a heterosexual relationship, you are not told, raised to believe nor feel like you have to subordinate your aspirations, dreams and expectations for your female partner.

If you are a heterosexual man, you are allowed to have expectations towards women, whether aesthetic or behavioral, that you cannot meet yourself.

In a heterosexual relationship, you can have had multiple sexual encounters and expect your future partner to be a virgin.

In a heterosexual relationship, you can think that “letting” your partner work is a sign of progress. Who are you to “let” her?

Your sovereignty as a human isn’t challenged and claimed by your mother, wife and later daughters.

  Marriage

You can be unmarried and an adult capable of your own will.

You can be unmarried and an adult when being addressed to in Tamil.

You can be unmarried and not be expected to display a mark of your relationship status on your body.

Your ability to cook is not considered an essential criteria of your eligibility for marriage

You can be married, work full-time and not have to do all the household chores and cooking; or if you do, you can expect to be praised for being such a ‘good husband’

You can be married without having to display cultural symbols of marriage, e.g. Thaali/Meti/Kunkamam,  whilst expecting / telling your wife to.

You can often marry outside of your ethnicity/race without having to face visceral reactions by your family members and/or strangers.

If you decide to marry, you do not have to worry about all your prior sexual experiences.

You will never be expected to change your last name upon marriage or get questioned if you don’t change your name.

In a heterosexual marriage, you are not asked, whether symbolically or not, to leave your family’s home and become part of another family.

You are not automatically expected by others to become a caregiver for an ailing parent, spouse, family member or friend, regardless of the impact it has on your life, career, education, or health.

You will not be demeaned or judged for refusing to fulfill the above "duties."

Your parents are not required directly or indirectly to provide a dowry on your marriage.

You can say that you don't believe in dowry but accept it as a "gift" of money from the bride's parents.

You can say you don't believe in dowry yourself but your parents/family/society expects it, so what can you do?

You can say you don't believe in dowry but societal change can only occur very slowly, so you'll start it with your children (and accept dowry yourself).

You can say you don't believe in dowry but accept cars, houses and land from your wife's parents as 'not dowry'.

You can say you don't believe in dowry but (only) marry a woman whose parents are affluent enough to give their daughter plenty of jewellery and write a house in her name, because she comes from a 'similar family background'.

You can be in a long relationship with a woman and decline to marry her unless her parents give you a dowry, knowing that if she declines and leaves you, you will marry someone else with ease but she will struggle to.

You can claim to be a ‘westernised’, progressive second generation Tamil man and ask for dowry when you get married as it’s “Tamil tradition”.

You can marry who you like without your choice impacting on the marriages of your younger siblings.

You can pull out of a marriage or engagement and get married again with ease.

You can get married after your younger siblings without being told you'll be 'un-marriageable'.

You can turn down a prospective offer of marriage without being told you are being too picky or you should be grateful.

You can say you believe in gender equality and respect empowered women and then just happen to marry a submissive one.

You can decline sex within marriage and not have your partner guilt trip you into carrying out your ‘duty’ or force you into having sex, i.e. rape.

You can cheat on your partner and say 'that's what men do'.

You can cheat on your partner and be absolved of guilt by society, because you were, after all, 'seduced'.

You can cheat on your wife and be rest assured that society and her family will urge her to forgive you.

You can file for divorce and marry again more easily

Childhood, Adolescence & Upbringing

Your body belongs to you and not an entire family’s, society’s and nation’s expectations and needs.

You aren’t taught and raised since birth that your worth is often tied to your ability to get married and bear (male) children.

You are often not raised with expectations of being subservient, obedient and considerate at all stages of life towards others, particularly men.

You can grow up without the expectations of being the bastion for cultural expectations.  

You can be ignorant towards how girls are met with gendered restrictions and prohibitions in their everyday life that detrimentally limit their mobility and freedom.

You can be ignorant towards how girls experience life and the world at a young age and how that goes on to shape their individual aspirations/goals.

You can say that women/girls want to be devoted to their families and are not interested in excelling in their careers/not interested in certain fields (eg. politics), whilst ignoring the social conditioning into gender specific roles that occurs during childhood.

If you are Hindu or Christian, your adolescence isn’t celebrated in the public realm as a first public step towards marriage.

You can be ignorant towards the different expectations that you are met with as a son compared to those of a daughter.

You can take pride in being told to ‘protect’ your sisters, cousins, mothers and other women without being conscious of how this constitutes a reproduction of the patriarchal order, in other words, in being the ‘man of the house’.

You are not considered responsible for your child's sense of morality. Any moral failing of the child is a reflection of how their mother raised them.

You can “explain” sexist attitudes as the result of other women’s actions or words without having to acknowledge how patriarchy can be outsourced to and guarded by other women, especially aunties.

Domestic Violence & Abuse

If you adhere to and practice physical or mental violence, it can be interpreted as a positive expression of ‘masculinity’.

You can think that non-consensual sex in a relationship or marriage cannot be rape but must be the ‘duty’ of a woman.

You can carry out domestic abuse knowing that all too often your victim will be too scared to ever speak out about it because of the cultural stigma attached.

You can carry out domestic abuse knowing that yours and her family as well as society will urge her to forgive you and ‘heal’ you with compassion.

When you hear of women who stay in violent and abusive relationships, you can simply assert that the abuse they incur stems from their own “decision to stay.”

When you hear of women who stay in violent and abusive relationships, you can simply assert that the violence occurred because the woman was irritating and/or deserved it.

When you hear of women openly talking about the violence and abuse they have experienced within the “community” or family, you can assert that they bring “shame” on the whole community and family.

Your grief, anger and rage are hardly ever dismissed as misplaced, ‘exaggerated’ or unwarranted for. They are mostly considered as a legitimate and serious form of expression.

  Education & Employment

You can think of your parent’s aspiration for your (future) job to be completely isolated from century old patriarchal beliefs, traditions and aspirations they grew up with.

You can continue higher education into Masters and PhDs, etc., without being told you’re getting too old or too educated/qualified to be married.

You can become qualified without your future prospective partner feeling inadequate (and therefore ending the relationship) by your educational or employment successes.

You can be a heterosexual male and say you believe in gender equality but, consciously or subconsciously, choose not to marry a woman who is more educated/qualified/high earning than you.

You can point to the numbers of Tamil females in professional jobs as a sign of gender equality ignoring the fact that many work part-time, stop altogether after marriage/children or never reach certain fields.

You can aspire to do whatever you choose to do without being told by 'well meaning' elders some careers will make you out to be a social deviant or unsavoury for marriage (eg. female surgeon, lawyer).

You can choose to excel in your career and, at the same time, want children and a family life, without having to compromise on your career, (or risk being judged as a bad parent) and on the presumption that your wife will compromise on her career.

You can be sure that you will not be excluded from access and progress in education or the employment sector because of your gender.

You do not have to be taught and raised to be aware of the systemic nature of misogyny for your own daily physical and mental protection.

You can deny that gender-based discrimination in the employment sector continues to exist amongst Tamils, particularly amongst diasporic communities.

Religion & Culture

You can assume that Hindu cultures are women friendly because of the worship and prominence of female deities across Hinduism.

If you are Hindu, you can expect to be freed from performing certain ritual acts, such as lighting a ‘kuththuvallakku’.

If you are Hindu and Christian, you can ignore the problematic gender roles/expectations these acts are founded upon.

If you are Hindu, you can hold and practice misogyny while being a devotee of female deities and saints.

If you are Hindu, you can rhetorically dismiss patriarchy and misogyny amongst Tamil Hindus by pointing to the existence and widespread worship of Goddesses.

If you are Christian, you can rhetorically dismiss patriarchy and misogny amongst Tamil Christians by pointing to the worship of Mary and the widespread respect shown towards nuns.

If you are Hindu, you can be sure that society will accept you as a whole person even after your wife dies.

If you are Hindu, you are considered clean enough to worship at the temple and take part in religious events whatever time of the month it is.

If you are Catholic, you can be ignorant towards how the Catholic church dictates women’s reproductive choices.

If you are Hindu or Catholic, you can be nonchalant about the fact that the position of the priest and reverend is traditionally reserved for men only.

You can unthink, unsee and benefit from gender segregation that occurs in many religious spaces and practices.

If you are an male, you don’t have to question culture as a marker, whether upper or lower caste, that has historically undermined and marginalised your position.

You can deny that mainstream culture, whether upper or lower caste cultures, organise men at their centres and women at the margins or as their satellites.

Film & Music

You can uncritically listen and watch South Asian and diasporic music and movies that reproduces gender tropes as well as hypersexualised or romanticised images and ideas upon South Asian women.

You can enjoy watching women doing all styles of dancing and music whilst telling and expecting your wives/mothers/daughters/sisters not to.

You can express your everyday sexism through so-called ‘comedy’, ‘satire’ or ‘jokes’ without ever being called out on their misogynistic roots and your complicity in normalising them.

You can reduce women in popular movies and literature to mere lovers lacking agency, depth or the possibility to exist outside of the male and heteronormative gaze as well as its many sexist expectation and imaginations.

You can be silent about how women are objectified in South Asian film and music.

You can remain blasé about the fact that the South Asian film industry, the most prominent producer of imageries of South Asia for its diasporas, has one of the lowest amount of female filmmakers.

You can be untouched by the fact that almost no mainstream South Asian film would pass the Bechdel test. Literature & Journalism

You can write in the ‘female voice’, specifically in the voice of an Eelam Tamil woman, without ever being asked to qualify and authenticate the content of what has been written and your right to do so.

You can be a journalist or photographer without being told it doesn't fit your gender.

You can have a job in media without your role being limited to that of presenter

You can be a presenter without youth or high standards of aesthetic appearance.

Your writing does not have to be restricted to that of family or love or rape to be considered a valuable contribution.

You can employ only male staff writers and yet be considered as being representative of the ‘voice of the people’.

You can choose to ignore developments in women writing and women activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, you can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

You can disregard women’s contributions to creative writing and intellectual thought.

Discourse

You can talk and engage in politics without ever being reprimanded, judged and/or isolated because of your political activities.

Your political work will not risk your prospects of marriage and other future relationships.

Critique or criticism of your discourse will not be gendered (You are "stupid. Never a "stupid man").

You can dismiss a woman being offended by a blatantly sexist remark as 'lacking a sense of humour' or being 'too PC'.

You can dismiss a woman talking about gender equality as a ‘feminist’.

You often feel entitled to talk about issues you have no expertise or stake in.

If you are a male, you are taught that you have a voice and a story waiting to be told and heard.

You can be opinionated and vocal without being called misinformed, being a ‘vaikaaran’ or to ‘stick to your métier’, i.e. motherhood and household chores.   

If you are a heterosexual upper-caste male, you can be sure that your voice will not be dismissed as self-interested and being representative of ‘identity politics’.

You can talk without being interrupt, talked over or questioned.

You are never seen as speaking on behalf of your gender group.

You can remain ignorant to the fact that patriarchy is also discursive and gendered forms of discourses marginalise women.

Your opinions are valued, listened to and heard, irrespective of their merits, quality or your expertise to articulate them in the first place.

You can be assured that your ability to make decisions and aptness to do so will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is.

You can dismiss womens’ opinions or expertise by calling them ‘emotional’, ‘irrational’ and ‘hysteric’.

Politics & Organising

You can be seen as the representative of an entire community whilst in reality only representing a subsection of it, namely, and predominantly, privileged heterosexual men.

You can have a political opinion and not be told it is because you are under the influence of someone else.

You can be a politician without having your attire the subject of conversation over your politics.

You can be a politician and be unmarried.

You can express emotion without being seen as weak.

You can choose not to display your emotion in public and not be labelled ‘stern’, ‘cold’ or some obscure reference to iron.

You can organise meetings, get-togethers and conferences without the input and leadership of women, yet remain to be seen as mainstream, normative, inclusive, sometimes even radical.

You can claim radical and progressive creds whilst being complicit in everyday acts of sexism and the exclusion of women from organising circles and taking ownership of issues and different platforms.

You can claim a desire for gender equality in your organisation but lament the lack of women coming forward to join or staying within the organisation whilst ignoring the societal and cultural conditioning of women and expectations placed on women that lead to this, or the sexism that is rife within your organisation.

You can claim gender equality in your organisation by pointing to a balance of numbers between women and men, whilst ignoring the glaring imbalance in distribution of power between roles held in the organisation.

You can claim your organisation values gender equality because it has a 'womens wing' but which in reality has no or limited powers and only partakes in so-called 'women’s issues'.

You can encourage women to join your organisation and claim to therefore believe in gender equality, whilst finding it unacceptable to work under a woman.

You can claim gender equality in your organisation whilst being ignorant to the sexist jokes used amongst (male) members to bond.

You can claim gender equality whilst being ignorant to the fact that functioning of the organisation, such as holding meetings far away/ late in the evening, etc., precludes Tamil women from having an active role due to the societal expectations placed on them.

You can bond, heal rifts, and do the real business of politics in spaces that - by the Tamil sociocultural expectations placed on women - exclude women (e.g getting drunk after meetings, smoking or when 'talking about football').

You can exclude women from political roles by gendering your household and family to the detriment of female participation and ownership.

You can be a Tamil nationalist activist and know that you can continue your activism after marriage.

You can instrumentalise women for your political gains by using them as tokens or virtual accessories to your campaigns.

You can instrumentalise women as literal objects, invited to political events to be there as mere bodies without any real involvement or (tokenized) speaking opportunity.

Women’s participation and leadership, however meaningful or substantial, can be no more than an afterthought to you.

And even then, it is only an afterthought to you because it will further your campaign and not because it was an actual thought or belief.

You can belittle and isolate issues in regards to women’s progress, development and leadership as minor, secondary if not tertiary to others.

You can relegate and limit women in politics to issues related to women, family and social care.

You can limit women in meetings, get togethers and conferences to the role of caterers or even ‘decoration’.

You can exclude women from being visible in the public by reproducing gendered-forms of labour.

You can claim that women are involved but ignore that their role is not influential on the outcome of the event, but limited to gendered forms of labour.

You can be sure of having your voice heard in a group in which you are the only member of your gender.

You can say structural discrimination against women doesn’t exist because you are unable to acknowledge and locate the practice and strategy of tokenization.

Your interrogation of gender and issues of representation can completely ignore the fact that even amongst women there are differences based upon class, caste, religion, region, sexuality, able-bodiedness, etc., that need to be taken into account and demand for greater representation of women of all walks of life.

You can be pretty sure that if you ask to talk to the “person in charge”, you will be facing a person of your gender.

You can elect patriarchal and misogynistic politicians and yet pretend to champion ‘equality’ and ‘women’s liberation’.

You can de-prioritise gender-related credentials of public figures as secondary to prove their progressive stances.

You can say gender-based violence isn’t widespread and structural because no one you have met talks about it, or you haven’t seen it at first hand.

You can be absolved from the act of interrogating and abolish the continuing inequalities that exist between both genders.

Feminism

You can denounce feminism as a "Western" concept that is contrary to Tamil culture while simultaneously adopting "Western" dress, attitudes, and values without apparent contradiction.

You can think that to say that you are against sexism and gender-based discrimination already translates into social change.

You can critique the existence of women’s only meetings as being exclusive and ‘sexist’ towards men without ever acknowledging the unequal influence and power between men and women, which create the need for independent and safe spaces for women.

You can think that gender-related issues are only women’s issues, which have no bearing on or relevance to men’s behaviours or attitudes.

You can talk about ‘gender-related issues’ and patriarchy in wider society without ever being asked how you yourself have realised and instituted gender parity in your own family, relationships and at home.

You can denounce the importance of feminist activism in diaspora because apparently “gender issues don’t exist post-LTTE anymore”.

You can instrumentalise and co-opt feminism by using it as a rhetorical tool to maintain your position in groups and organisations, and with it the patriarchal status quo.

You can unsee patriarchy and attack anyone who reads patriarchy into our everyday as being high on ‘gender theory’, being a ‘feminist’ or a ‘vaikaari’.

If you declare there is an issue of sexism or misogyny at hand, or there isn’t, your gender will lend you more credibility than a woman will have when doing so.

You can worry about sexism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

LTTE & Tamil Nationalism

 You can interpret women to be the symbols of the nation and use their bodies to ascribe diverse set of meaning upon them.

You can reduce self-determination to the nation but not the individual, particularly self-identified women of all backgrounds and especially those from oppressed caste and class backgrounds.

You can instrumentalise Tamil women as 'innocent' or 'vulnerable' civilians, ignoring the military prowess and bravery of female LTTE cadres.

You can be ignorant towards how the discursive usage of ‘civilian’ in conflict is already gendered and limits possibilities to imagine women beyond traditional, patriarchal roles.

You can justify the comparative high regard for male LTTE cadre to female cadres within Tamil society citing their military prowess, ignoring the patriarchal conditions in which these women were raised (translating into lack of educational opportunity, etc).

You can take up arms and die for your country without being posthumously labelled as having resorted to this because of a tragic event in some way connect to your role as a husband / wife.

You can say that Tamil society valued female LTTE cadres whilst ignoring the fact that when it came to marriage, most civilian Tamil men (and their families) regarded these women as too empowered to be suitable wives.

You can say that Tamil society continues to value female LTTE cadres whilst ignoring the fact that many are today, post-war- social outcastes.

You can claim that the LTTE’s gender policies broke traditional gender binaries while ignoring their sustainability, depth, meaning and the wider societal change they evoked.

You can claim that the LTTE’s gender politics led to a general social consensus on the position of women in society.

You can essentialise the LTTE’s ideas on gender while dismissing the fact that they were equally exerting control over womens’ bodies by, for instance, codifying female morality.

During protests and in statements, you can speak in relation to gender-based violence by ethnic or caste outsiders of ‘our women’ without feeling the need to problematise such expressions of possession while patriarchy and misogyny continue to be intact and rampant.

You can say that Tamil nationalism has successfully eradicated gender inequalities without ever having to attempt to enquire into the lived realities of women, particularly former cadres and women of lower class and caste status, today.

You can expect to receive a pat on the back for progressive gender work done by the LTTE without having contributed to it nor continued to carry on and build on its legacy.

You can be certain that identity politics and politics of representation only matter in inter-ethnic relations, but not in intra-ethnic gender relations.

You can subordinate gender identity politics and politics of representation in intra-ethnic gender relations to ethnic identity politics and politics of representation in inter-ethnic relations.

You can use the issue of rape of women by group outsiders as a means to reinstate control over women’s bodies and freedoms.

You can decry gender-based violence perpetrated by ‘outsiders’ whilst being completely idle and silent about gender-based violence perpetrated by ‘insiders’.

You can deny that gender politics continue to be, in the form of female absence and subordination, part and parcel of electoral politics in the homeland and its diasporas.

  Eelam & Diaspora

You can deny the historic, contemporary, physical and social violence of patriarchy amongst Eelam Tamils by pointing to the severity of historic and contemporary forms of gender-based violence in neighbouring India or Bangladesh, e.g. widow burnings and acid attacks.

You can claim that we all suffered the same without acknowledging that women, particularly women of lower caste and class status, were disproportionately and distinctly affected by war, violence, displacement and destitution.

You can overlook that forced migration sometimes meant for women of lower class and caste status the relative liberation from patriarchally-organised and caste-stratified societies, geographies and diktats.

You can overlook that many South Asian women were/are subject to gendered forms of labour, gendered expectations, and gendered-forms of vulnerability affecting women in their new countries of arrival distinct to the male experience.

You can ignore the fact that gender-based violence and discrimination continues to haunt South Asian women of all walks in diaspora.

You don’t have to struggle against or acknowledge the insidious intersection of racism, casteism, classism, homophobia and sexism.

  History & Memory

When you are told about your national heritage or about your “civilization,” you are shown that people of your gender primarily made it what it is.

If you are an upper-caste and class male, you don’t have to question the writing of history of the ‘people’ because your presence won’t be unsettled or threatened by the current and dominant upper-caste male narrative.

You can laud this piece, share it and say you agree with all or some of it, and then continue to live your life just the same as if nothing happened, as if this intervention doesn't relate to men like you. * is an alias as the author, an Eelam Tamil woman, wishes to protect her identity due to the very prejudices detailed. You can follow two of the authors on Twitter @varathas​ & @Gaya_Naganathan as well as the Tamil Feminist Collective via @TamilFeminist

[checkyourbrownprivilege]

Check Your Caste Privilege

By Sinthujan and Ram The social, political, and economic arrangements of a society can place some people in a privileged position relative to others, particularly with respect to important goods, like institutional representation, economic resources, and even less tangible goods like “respect” and “welfare”. Since societal arrangements are not always brought into reflective awareness, it is unsurprising when even well meaning and well-intentioned members of privileged groups are unaware of how they may benefit from social arrangements relative to members of other groups. Many times have we experienced “upper-caste” Tamils unable and unwilling to recognize the privilege they hold vis-à-vis “lower-caste” Tamils in Sri Lanka and beyond. Sometimes they may well be aware of some of the difficulties faced by oppressed caste members. Sometimes they may even work for the betterment of other communities in the island, but this hardly ever translates into wider acknowledgment of the privilege centred around their “upper-caste” Tamil identity.

The denial of these privileges is widespread. Often we find “upper-caste” people relativising the inequalities felt by deprived caste Tamils, deflecting the undercurrent of casteism that produces systemic and sociocultural inequalities which continue to haunt the island and its diasporas.

This list attempts to highlight some of the privileges provided to “upper-caste” Tamils in Sri Lanka and beyond just because they are, yes, Tamils of “upper-caste” origin. Noting these privileges are not meant to antagonize or alienate people of privileged caste origin but rather raise awareness and self-consciousness about how caste identities indeed do play a role in the way they perceive, interact, and ultimately, politicize minorities on the island as well as its diasporas. It is also meant to show the extensive ways that caste identities can track inequalities in opportunity and welfare within a society and displacement. With this compilation we hope to ignite meaningful conversations and introspections into what it means to be a Tamil of "upper-caste" origin and ultimately what it means to not be of “upper-caste” origin in Sri Lanka and beyond.

Caste Privilege 

1) You don’t have to ever acknowledge your caste identity and its attendant privileges.

2) You can think that the invisibility of your caste identity speaks to the erasure of caste as a relevant social system of organisation and segregation.

3) You can think that not being aware of your caste stems from progressive education.

4) You think that not speaking about caste is an act against the caste system, and you do so without having to consider that silencing caste makes it more difficult to challenge the caste system and easier to recode, invisibilise and mainstream it.

5) You can talk about anti-casteism without ever having to name the social group that holds power and sway over every other caste group in the diasporas and homeland (here: Vellalar caste group).

6) You can think that to say that you are against caste already translates into social change.

7) You can claim that the caste system has become obliterate with time while simultaneously continuing to enjoy the fruits of century-old socially constructed inequalities and exclusion.

8) You are able to increasingly replace caste with class in your socio-economic analysis without acknowledging that the historic caste/class overlap, particularly in the homeland, continues through long-term structural effects to affect questions of access and opportunity even years, decades, and centuries later.

9) You can emphasise class over caste as a means to deflect from the importance of caste as a contemporary social marker.

10) You can deny the historic, contemporary, physical and social violence of casteism amongst island Tamils by pointing to the severity of the caste system in neighbouring India.

11) You can oversimplify by saying that “untouchability”, as understood in the Indian context, never existed in Sri Lanka, therefore caste injustices “can’t have been as bad as in India”(although “untouchability” still existed on the island).

12) You can reduce oppression, inequalities and injustices felt by the Tamil people to those committed by the Sri Lankan state. 

13) You can be progressive enough to talk about intersectionality with regards to race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality while erasing the question of caste from your analysis.

14) You can become an authority on caste without ever having to acknowledge your own privileged caste background and its resulting limits and subjectivities.

15) You can question the “objectivity” of oppressed caste members’ activism, research and work on caste issues based on their own membership in stigmatized caste groups.

Education and Employment

16) You can think of your parent’s aspiration for your (future) job to be completely isolated from the century old caste traditions and aspirations they grew up with.

17) You often have better support mechanisms to access and complete higher education based on the historic proximity of privileged caste members to educational institutions.

18) You can face little or less pressure to perform well or outperform others in education and employement based on your caste identity and history.

19) You can deny that caste discrimination in the employment sector continues to exist amongst Tamils, particularly amongst diasporic communities.

20) You can normalize the casteist organisation of society according to occupational practices.

Migration & Diaspora

20) You can denounce the importance of anti-caste activism in diaspora because apparently “caste doesn’t exist anymore”

21) You can overlook that migration meant for many (upper) caste-Tamils the loss of secular status by losing their inherital socioeconomic privileges on arrival in diaspora and ritual purity by having crossed the Indian Ocean.

22) You can overlook that migration meant for many deprived caste Tamils the relative liberation from caste stratified societies and socioeconomic as well as sociocultural diktats.

23) You can claim that patterns of migration from Sri Lanka had no caste linkage.

24) You can claim that the remittance economy that links diasporas and the homeland today does not reflect caste patterns and allegiances.

25) You can deny that the remittance economy further amplifies social divisions and inequalities between different caste groups in the homeland.

25) You can claim that all refugees experienced flight and integration the same without acknowledging how questions of caste and class altered or limited some people’s choices, opportunities, and adaptabilities.

26) You can deny that caste assumptions and prejudices are recreated and projected in the Tamil vernacular onto new diasporic geographies.

27) You can think of the question of “what’s your ‘ur’(home)?” as an uncritical and sentimental reflection of curiosity/nostalgia without having to consider the socioeconomically profiling/castefying as well as social violence that is hidden behind questions of geographic belonging in Sri Lanka.

Individual Histories & Memories

28) You don’t have to hide your personal biographies or rewrite your own personal history in order to circumvent the possibility of experiencing discrimination.

29) You don’t have to constantly fear for your web of lies and social buffers to be discovered and revealed.

30) You can challenge the reinvention and rewriting of identities and social histories of deprived caste members in diaspora as you consider your history as socially incontestable and free of social stigma.

31) You can proudly attest to your history without having to care about the social consequences.

32) You can publicly remember and mourn your social position back home without ever having to acknowledge how your privileged caste background entitled and made you inherit your place in society.

33) You can remember your socioeconomic background without having to acknowledge how you benefited from caste inequalities, and how you were inherently embedded and complicit in the exploitation of "lower caste groups".

Society & Culture

34) You don’t have to fear discrimination amongst larger groups of Tamils based on your caste background.

35) You don’t have to acknowledge that caste is as deeply embedded in Tamil language as it is embodied within and by Tamil culture as a whole.

36) You can deny that negative caste assumptions and associations are made in regards to skin complexion.

37) You can deny that aesthetics, particularly regarding women, in the Tamil community are based on a history of casteification of body and mind.

38) You can disregard the ways caste shapes aesthetic ideals by pointing to European colonialism.

39) You have normalized the social violence that lies underneath everyday relations between different caste groups, including in the diasporas.

40) You can hide casteist mentalities by coding caste-based languages to hide caste attributions and judgements made in regards to social behaviourism.

40) You are quick to challenge any caste group that assumes to hold equal power to your own caste group (here: Vellalar caste group).

41) You can deny that your social surrounding is, with most likelihood, already caste gentrified.

Religion

42) Your religious identity isn’t challenged by Hinduism’s socially discriminatory practices.

43) You don’t have to question the extent of Brahmanism within Tamil Hindu culture and beliefs.

44) You can deflect from personal responsibilities in regards to caste-based inequalities by pointing to Brahmins as the gatekeeper of caste structures and hierarchies.

45) You can be quick to point to the lower secular status of Brahmins in regards to socioeconomic parameters in Sri Lanka (unlike India), without having to acknowledge that your secular superiority equals to greater responsibilities in regards to caste inequalities and violence.

46) You’re able to be religious without feeling the need to interrogate or critique Hinduism’s role in creating caste as a way organizing societies.

47) You can assume that anyone who converted to Christianity or another religion must be of deprived caste status.

48) You can say that discrimination in religious institutions have ceased to exist with the 1968 Temple Entry Movement. 

49) You can  locate discriminations in religious institution to Sri Lanka while being ignorant about the existence and importance of casteism in temples abroad. 

Marriage

50) You can say that caste doesn’t matter in diaspora while the majority of intra-communal marriages continue to be along caste-based lines.

51) You can say you don’t believe or care for caste but have no remorse over your family arranging marriage proposals according to caste-based lines.

52) You can claim that matrimonial sites and outlets’ insistence on caste doesn’t reflect the reality of marriages to be engineered according to caste ideology.

53) You can think the absence of the usage of the word “jaati/saathi” indicates to the erosion of the importance of caste as an ideology.

Intercaste Marriages 

54) You can arbitrarily judge or force someone from an inter-caste marriage to decide between caste identities

55) You can assume someone’s caste identity based on prejudicial viewpoints

56) You don’t have to deal with the consequences of being unaccepted amongst both privileged and oppressed castes.

57) You can challenge someone from an inter-caste marriage on their “authenticity” if they choose to identify with one identity over the other.

58) You can live a life without negotiating identities and histories based on caste fault lines.

Writing of History

59) You don’t have to question the writing of history of the people because your presence won’t be unsettled or threatened by the current and dominant upper-caste narrative.

60) You are more comfortable in remembering anti-Tamil violence that affected the centres of upper-caste, (upper) middle class, urban life than those of deprived caste, low class and rural background.

61) You can be sure to encounter narratives and other forms of expression that reflect a similar experience as yours/your family’s than one of caste-difference.

62) You can think the mainstream postcolonial history of Tamils in Sri Lanka vis-à-vis the Sinhalese’s national building project is reflective of the experience of all subgroups within the heterogenous Tamil community.

Politics

63) You can be certain that identity politics and politics of representation only matter in inter-ethnic relations, but not in intra-ethnic relations.

64) You can claim that we all suffered the same without acknowledging that deprived caste groups were disproportionally affected by war, violence, displacement and destitution.

65) You are quick to incorporate the injustices committed against Hill Tamils by the Sri Lankan state (i.e. 1949 Citizenship Act, Repatriation Act) into your narrative on oppression and genocide of Tamils of the island as a whole (yes, we concur IT IS a genocide), but fail to acknowledge the “upper-caste” “Ceylon Tamil’s” complicity in these legislations as well as forms of social ostracization and exclusion of Hill Tamils based on the social parameter of caste.

66) Some of you may acknowledge the preferential role and benefits enjoyed by the Tamil “upper-caste” society during British colonialism, but fail to acknowledge that not all Tamils were equally positioned during colonialism (and thereafter).

67) You can say that Tamil nationalism has successfully eradicated caste without ever attempting to enquire into the lived reality of deprived caste members today.

68) You can claim that the LTTE’s anti-caste politics were built upon a general social consensus instead of a socio-political and socio-economic diktat imposed upon society.

69) You can externalize the Hill Tamils on the national question (on the basis of caste) while failing to acknowledge their contribution to anti-Sri Lankan state resistance.

70) You can conveniently divorce the history of Tamil resistance from its origin in anti-caste resistance.

71) You can deny that caste politics continue to be part and parcel of electoral politics in the homeland.

72) You can blame deprived caste members for, at times, deviating from the popular Tamil vote without acknowledging the common disregard most Tamil political parties have for deprived castes and their concerns.

73) You can call the TNA the representatives of the Tamil people without ever having to acknowledge that the TNA represents the old boys club of highly educated “upper-caste”, (urban) men who have more often than not inherited their positions of power from an ancestry of privilege.

74) You can be suspicious of the formation of caste allegiances and parties based on caste identity as it challenges the status quo of power relations.

75) You can be sure to find representation of your caste group in almost every meaningful and powerful avenue within the community.

76) You can easily deny that diasporic Tamil political organisations are reflective of an “upper-caste” demographic majority in diaspora.

77) You can deny that the caste background of representatives’of Tamil political organisations has an impact on the political and social position these political institutions take.

78) You think school alumni groups and village groups in diaspora aren’t drawing back on caste identities.

79) You can conveniently deprioritise caste as a social issue that needs less attention than does the national question.

80) You can accuse anyone who raises the question of caste as being a Sri Lankan state or Indian state stooge, thereby making them social and political outcasts.

  Follow Sinthujan on Twitter via @varathas 

[checkyourbrownprivilege]

[checkyourbrownprivilege]

Check Your Sinhala Privilege

By Ahila, Ram & Sinthujan

The social, political, and economic arrangements of a society can place some people in a privileged position relative to others, particularly with respect to important goods, like institutional representation, economic resources, and even less tangible goods like “respect” and “welfare”. Since societal arrangements are not always brought into reflective awareness, it is unsurprising when even well meaning and well-intentioned members of privileged groups are unaware of how they may benefit from social arrangements relative to members of other groups. Many times have we experienced Sinhalese people unable and unwilling to recognize the privilege they hold vis-à-vis non-Sinhalese groups in Sri Lanka and beyond. Sometimes they may well be aware of some of the difficulties faced by non-Sinhalese. Sometimes they may even work for the betterment of other communities in the island, but this hardly ever translates into wider acknowledgment of the privilege centred around their Sinhala identity.

The denial of these privileges is widespread. Often we find Sinhalese people relativising the inequalities felt by Tamils and Muslims, deflecting the undercurrent of racism that produces systemic and sociocultural inequalities which continue to haunt the island its diasporas.

This list attempts to highlight some of the privileges provided to Sinhala people in Sri Lanka and beyond just because they are, yes, ethnically Sinhalese. Noting these privileges are not meant to antagonize or alienate Sinhalese people but rather raise awareness and self-consciousness about how ethnic identities indeed do play a role in the way they perceive, interact, and ultimately, politicize minorities on the island as well as its diasporas. It is also meant to show the extensive ways that ethnic identity can track inequalities in opportunity and welfare within a society. With this compilation we hope to ignite meaningful conversations and introspections into what it means to be Sinhalese and ultimately what it means to not be Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and beyond.

(Some of our points are directly referenced or influenced by Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”).

  Sinhala privilege in Sri Lanka & diasporas

You can call yourself Sri Lankan without ever being questioned about the place of your own ethnicity within the national spectrum because your ethnicity IS viewed as coextensive with the national identity. 

You don’t have to overthink the question of ‘home’ as much as others insofar as you could easily travel back and forth between your country of origin and your country of residence.

You can think ethnic and identity politics are unnecessary because we are all "Sri Lankan".

You can incorporate and assimilate the cultures of minorities to your wishes and negate them and externalize them to your liking.

You don’t have to struggle to be recognized as a people, identity and nation with rights and a distinct history.

You don’t have to question the writing of history of the country and its people because your presence won’t be unsettled or threatened by the current and dominant narrative.

You can see your people's history and art being exhibited anywhere where there is a label of Sri Lanka or Sri Lankan to be seen, i.e. international exhibitions, museums, galleries, festivals, etc.. 

You never have to question Western characterizations of Buddhism as a non-violent religion, despite Buddhist violence against religious minorities being commonplace in Sri Lanka 

You can benefit from Orientalist perceptions of Buddhism by automatically being acquitted of accusations of being the aggressor in the conflict by fact of being Buddhist. 

You can benefit from anti-colonial and anti-imperial politics as a postcolonial people while ignoring the neo-colonial policies of the ethnic majority government.

You can claim that we were all victims when only some of you experienced loss or physical fear for life and security.

You can feel entitled to talk about societal, cultural, economic, political affairs of Tamils as if you are an ethnic insider.

You can pretend to know it all, just because you have one Tamil or Muslim friend or acquintance.

You can talk casually about “forgiving and moving on” because your community hasn’t borne the brunt of ethnic violence.

You can talk about reconciliation without ever talking about truth and compensation for historical and contemporary injustices faced by non-Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka.

You can deny racial violence in Sri Lanka by deflecting to the JVP insurgencies.

You can tell Tamils they are living in the past while you don't acknowledge how the past has affected their present day circumstances.

You can think things have been worse in the past thus we shouldn’t complain so much about the present.

You can narrativise others’ issue, frame them, translate them and word them in eloquent English without ever being questioned on your ethnicity and your subjectivities.

You can say you want justice for Tamils but when a UN resolution is passed critical of Sri Lanka you feel like standing by and "protecting" your nation.

You can publicly mourn the anti-Tamil pogrom of Karuppu July 1983 but remain conspicuously silent on the burnt earth tactics of the 2009 mass slaughter by the government forces.

You can say you’re neutral in your position towards the conflict while everyone else is occupied with biases.

You can tell diasporic Tamils that anti-government advocacy is negatively affecting their community at home while you will not acknowledge how your virtual silence or obfuscation of “majority-politics” is negatively affecting Tamils and all other people in the island, including Sinhalese.

You can tell Tamils post-2009 that the war is over and they can all return now in peace without acknowledging that the larger part of Tamils fled from the state forces instead of the resistance movement.

You can say boycotting Sri Lanka or Sri Lankan products, national events, sports, etc., is futile, extremist, immoral and unpatriotic but when you see a Tamil store or restaurant that displays LTTE and/or Tamil Eelam support, then, you start to notoriously avoid it and defame it.

You can have no reservations in  calling Sri Lankan Army soldiers 'heroes', yet bemoan and criminalizeTamils for calling LTTE combatans 'heroes' or 'martyrs'.

You can be liberal enough to consistently write and post about the violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka and go mute when the continuing violence against Tamils is thematized. 

You can think explaining your minority complex in regards to greater South Asian demographics will explain your disregard for minority rights.

When you see state symbols, you can be reassured that your ethnicity is represented through the lion.

You can get aggrevated by public displays of symbols Tamil nationalism but have little qualms about the presence of lion symbol in everyday life.

You can call Sri Lanka a pluralistic democracy but have little concern over the prohibition of non Sinhalese (Buddhists) to become it's elected national leader.

You can vote in elections without fearing for your safety as a consequence of your electoral choices.

You can be appalled by Tamil demands for self-determination through the ballot but never question the self-determination the Sinhalese people benefit from.

You can think that putting an orange and green stripe on the Sri Lankan flag is sufficient to be inclusive of all ethnicities and religious groups.

You can think that the Sinhala name 'Sri Lanka' is neutral and inclusive of all of our identities and experiences.

Most of you never had to stop speaking your mothertongue in public or stop wearing identity markers such as religious symbol in the state that claims to represent you to not be identified as being part of your ethnicity.

You can fly the national carrier ‘Sri Lankan’ and see your culture represented in the costumes and greetings.

Sinhala privilege Sri Lanka

You can receive access to areas and facilities in Sri Lanka with the mere ability of speaking Sinhalese and carrying a Sinhalese name.

You can visit the North and East as war and poverty tourists and call Tamils who are unable to travel to their homes as being disconnected.

When you visit the North and East, you don’t have to worry about the traces you leave, the people you meet and their respective safety.

You can engage with the military without being insecure about the position you’ve put yourself in.

You can buy land and property in any geography without feeling threatened by settler colonialism

You can critique the government and still be invited to private dinner parties and banquets arranged by the government.

When you see signboards, you can be reassured that your language is always present.

When you read signboards, you can be assured that the grammar of your language isn’t misused.

You can more readily produce art and literature about the conflict and get national and international recognition.

You can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of your own ethnicity widely represented.

When you are told about your national heritage or about "civilization," you are shown that people of your ethnicity made it what it is.

You can be sure that your children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their ethnicity.

You don’t have to care about the politics of tokenism because you are part of the ethnic majority that can tokenize minorities.

You can be sure of having your voice heard in a group in which you are the only member of your ethnicity

You can pass checkpoints after checkpoints and be pretty well assured that you will not be harassed.

You do not have to educate your children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

You can be sure that your children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms.

You can be sure that you will not be excluded from the education or employment sector because of your ethnicity.

You are never seen as speaking on behalf of your ethnic group.

You can criticize the government and talk about how much you fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

You can be pretty sure that if you ask to talk to the "person in charge", you will be facing a person of your ethnicity.

You can go home from most meetings of organizations you belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

You can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another ethnicity is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize yours.

If you declare there is a racial/ethnic issue at hand, or there isn't a racial/ethnic issue at hand, your ethnicity will lend you more credibility than a Tamil or Muslim will have.

You can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, you can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

Your culture gives you little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other ethnicities.

You can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

You can be sure that if you need legal, medical or social help, your ethnicity will not work against you.

You can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of your ethnicity.

You can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of your ethnicity

You will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

You can elect chauvinist politicians and yet pretend to champion "democracy" and "liberation" for Tamils.

You can venture into broken homes and people on your war tours and assume to know it all.

You can say genocide hasn't happened because no one you met on your tour in occupied and militarized land mentioned the "G word".

You can support charities in the North and East while never having to acknowledge the institutional history that created today's conditions.

You think that Indian soap operas are negatively influencing the youth in Sri Lanka by instilling Hindu popular customs by assuming Hindu culture is a foreign product despite 15% of the islands population being native Hindu.

You go to Prabhakaran’s bunker in Mullaitheevu on a war spectator tour and shake your head about the "luxuries" he enjoyed while you ignore the extravagant lifestyle of almost every Sinhalese leader.

You think “self determination” is unwarranted and yet think British colonialism was bad for the Sinhalese but consider Sinhala neo-colonialism as "growing together".

You never admit to the power relation that will always belie any Sinhala-Tamil relation.

You think inflation in the South is equal to engineered impoverishment and displacement in the North and East.

You think that string hoppers and kottu roti are enough to make a happy masala out of all of us

You think fear of suicide bombers is equal to the fear of the omnipresent hands of state terror.

You think that anti-Muslim attitudes are unconnected to the racism and xenophobia experienced by Tamils.

You can go to the police and court and expect to sign papers in your own language.

You don’t have to fear being harassed, tortured or raped based on your ethnic background.

You don’t have to fear being racially profiled and stereotyped as terrorists despite state-terrorism

You can defy ethnic majoritarian government policies and yet fear fewer reprisals.

  In the diasporas

Most of you haven’t lost your property and identity when you left the country while countless others, mostly Tamils, have because of state oppression.

Most of you established yourself abroad with more social, economic and cultural capital than most Tamils ever had.

Most of you haven’t gone through the traumatic experience of fleeing and becoming refugees.

You can question the legitimacy of refugee status granted to Tamils (past and present) but don't question the depth of discrimination , inequalities and racial violence in the country that made them refugees in the first place. 

Most of you don’t have to fear the dispossession of property back home.

Most of you don’t have to fear the nationalisation of your savings in banks back home.

You can benefit from the facilities established, such as shops and restaurants, by Tamil refugees who have eased your transnational cosmopolitan life by bringing you Sri Lankan items into your diasporic existence.

You can think that being economically established in the diaspora erases the losses experienced back home and the claims to ancestral lands and a political solution for Tamils.

You can assume every diaspora Tamil to be socio-economically well-to-do.

You can blame the ‘Tamil diaspora’ for being physically removed from the island without ever once asking why so many had to become so in the first place.

You can be quick to project your anti-Tamil sentiments on diasporic Tamils yet can claim to not be ethnically biased in Sri Lanka.

You  canmake countless of generalizations about diasporic Tamils while claiming plurality and diversity for Sinhalese.

You can think of diasporic Tamils as being attached to parochial concerns without ever admitting to your own diasporic condition.

You can blame ‘the diaspora’ for its support of the Tamil resistance and yet get never be blamed for your support of the government.

You can apply for a visa to Sri Lanka without wondering what the government will do with your records.

You can obtain visas for countries like India without fearing rejection based on ethnic and/or political association.

You can have access to Sri Lankan institutions abroad and at home like no one else has.

You don’t have to fear being filmed if attend an anti-government demonstration.

You don’t have to fear for the lives of your family if you voice open criticism against the government.

You don’t have to worry about having your Sri Lankan scholarships revoked if you participate in protests against Sri Lankan state policies.

You think that Sri Lankan student societies should suffice for making Tamil students feel politically and culturally represented in universities.

You can think MIA is a terrorist because she articulates anti-Tamil violence through her art but praise Sinhalese rapper and actor DeLon for his nationalist pro-Sinhala stances.

You can post videos on YouTube about what is Sri Lankan that only responds to majority Sinhala cultural references. Isn't that so Sri Lankan?

  Many of you will call us racist for having called you out on your privileges.