The Murder of Sivaram

April 29 (AsianTribune) The abduction and murder of D Sivaram alias Taraki, is a crime and a stupidity. It is a crime not only in the simple legal sense but in an ethical and moral sense too. And if it were conducted in the anti-Tiger cause, it is a tactical and strategic stupidity, which will hurt that cause and help the Tigers far more than any single target I can think I can think of.

Jean Paul Sartre said of his rival Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, “True, Louis Althusser is a Stalinist, but not every Stalinist is Louis Althusser!” Similarly it is true that Taraki was pro-Tiger, and possibly, even probably a Tiger, but not every Tiger was Sivaram/Taraki!

Taraki was a widely read and respected columnist, firstly for The Island, then for the Daily Mirror. In his own name he was the editor of TamilNet, pro-Tiger website, but well-produced, professional and authoritative; indispensable reading. He also wrote for the Tamil language papers, mainly the Veerakesari. He was not always pro-LTTE, and indeed his anti-Tiger articles were published as a booklet some years back.