Remembering Rajani Thiranagama After 20 Years: Opening Space for Questions, Critical Reflection, and Hope
On Sept. 21, 1989, while riding home on her bicycle, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama was shot in the head by a member of the Tamil Tigers. A professor of anatomy, mother of two, and co-founder of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR(J)), Thiranagama dedicated her life and used her leftist and feminist politics to defend the rights of civilians brutally affected by the war in Sri Lanka.
In 1990, UTHR(J)) published The Broken Palmyra, and listed Thiranagama posthumously as co-author. The text meticulously documents the human rights violations, climate of fear, and narrowing space for democracy in Sri Lanka during the latter half of the 1980s.
In particular, the book chronicles the atrocities and devastation of civil society in Jaffna. Most noteworthy is Thiranagama's chapter, “No More Tears Sister,” an account of women's experiences with sexual violence, abduction, and trauma during war.
In 2005, a documentary about Thiranagama's life and work by the same title was released to critical acclaim. Though (UTHR(J)) was forced underground soon after her assassination, its members continue to document human rights violations in Sri Lanka, and two of the remaining co-founders were awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2007.
On the evening of Sept. 25, 2009, about three hundred people gathered in Colombo’s Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall to commemorate Thiranagama’s 20th death anniversary and her contributions to dialogues of democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. The event was solemn, yet energized with creative reflection on Thiranagama's legacy, especially as it pertains to the rights of women and the need to reinvigorate a silenced and decimated Sri Lankan civil society.
The program (organized by the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee and International Centre for Ethnic Studies with the support of the Australian High Commission) included musical performances by Thiranagama's sisters, Nirmala and Vasuki Rajasingam, and poetry readings from friends and fellow activists. Thiranagama's daughter, Sharika Thiranagama, and sister, Sivamohan Sumathy, read from her letters. In addition, her husband, Dayapala Thiranagama, and uncle, Seelan Kadirgamar, spoke of her life and work and why a celebration of her life and dedication to human rights was so critical at this juncture in Sri Lanka’s history.
“If not now,” Seelan Kadirgamar asked, “when? This is the time.” He read from a letter author and activist Rohini Hensman wrote on Nov. 15, 1989, following Thiranagama's death:
“We must continue to seek answers to the questions she so courageously asked. What kind of freedom do we want? What kind of self-determination? Is it the freedom of those who have the guns and the power to impose their will on those have neither?” (Hensman 2009:7)
These questions were echoed by the memorial lecture speaker, Nandita Haksar, a prominent human rights activist, lawyer, and social advocate for minority movements in India. Her lecture, entitled, “Resistance and the Politics of Fear,” talked the audience through her own difficulties as a socialist feminist in speaking out for human rights and trying to create democratic space within an increasingly militarized civil society.
Speaking of India’s politics, Haksar says, “In the final analysis the problem is related to power sharing and the reproduction of minority cultures. The state does not provide material or cultural security. Citizens do not have equal rights to cultural reproduction and the democratic institutions do not allow for continuous renegotiation of power across ethnic boundaries. We have a situation where the state is becoming more and more authoritarian and thus alienating more and more communities. The response from the civil society is most inadequate. Even secular, non-ethnic based movements such as the feminist and human rights movement have either got co-opted into the imperialist agenda or marginalized by their inability to intervene effectively in the political processes” (Haksar 2009: 30).
Reading the passage above, it is difficult not to think of Sri Lanka's present post-war situation. Sri Lankans are faced with a narrowing space, the limitations of which must be continually challenged. There are still disappearances, abductions, and threats to those who dare to dissent. The potentials of minority cultures and communities are truncated by histories and discrimination, exclusion, and marginality. Instead of a politics of fear, there should be a politics of dialogue, democratic participation, and a sharing of and across cultural differences.
The event was, as ICES’s Nishan de Mel said, a “unifying moment” and “precious here and now” that all Sri Lankans should consider in moving forward.Thiranagama's courageous life, activism, and dedication to speaking out continue to inspire the members of Lanka Solidarity to question the past and present for a better future.
*All citations are taken from the memorial booklet distributed to audience members following the event.
Remembering Rajani: On the Twentieth Death Anniversary of Dr. Rajani Thiranagama 2009. Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee and International Centre for Ethnic Studies: Colombo.
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