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Only Man Is Vile

Name: Only Man Is Vile
Author: William McGowan
ISBN: 9780374226527

by William McGowan

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Overview

Anointed by Buddha as the seat of his wisdom, Sri Lanka has long entranced Westerners, to whom its tropical languor, spiritual traditions, and Raj Era allure evoke an earthly paradise. Yet, beneath the superficial gentleness of the landscape and its people, a complex struggle over questions of ethnicity and nationalism has turned the "Island of the Dharma" into another Lebanon, where warring factions of Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamils exploit religion, race, and class in their bloody competition for power and status. In Only Man Is Vile, journalist William McGowan has written a fascinating account of this conflict, showing how the current fighting is rooted less in an ancient atavistic rivalry between two peoples than in the cultural and social wounds inflicted by British colonialism. With independence in 1948, hope ran high in the former Ceylon. But the Buddhists, who had long suffered under British rule, resented the privileges retained by their Christianized countrymen. Invoking ancient scripture to fuel their political ascendancy, the Buddhists encouraged racial supremacy and eventually ethnic fratricide, thus profaning the very tradition they claimed to exalt. At the same time Tamils, frustrated by the failure of their constitutional resistance to Sinhalese power, gradually embraced a violent militancy. In the forefront of this movement were the Tamil Tigers, lower-caste youth who became renowned for cyanide suicides and brilliant guerrilla tactics. A host of other factions also joined in the melee, reducing further any prospect of peace. In his extensive travels in Sri Lanka, William McGowan visited Buddhist strongholds and Tiger camps, as well as the offices of embattled politicians and the havens of the colonial elite. His honest, evenhanded portraits of the combatants add a disturbing human element to the politics of hate. And his portrayal of the Sri Lankans who carry on despite the frequent bombings and flaming tire "necklaces" is a tribute to the spi

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Editorials

Library Journal

A journalist with years of experience in Sri Lanka, McGowan forcefully transports the reader into the midst of that country's ongoing bloody civil war. Moving from one island hot spot to another, he examines the history of the persecution of the Tamil (mostly Hindu) minority by the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and of the Tamil drive for an independent state in the northeastern part of Sri Lanka. Several observers in the book compare the treatment of the Tamils at the hands of Sinhalese extremists to that of the Jews in Nazi Germany. The author himself, however, does not portray Tamil militants as blameless--he documents the ruthlessness of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas against innocent members of all groups who oppose them. McGowan does a splendid job in untangling an otherwise confusing array of participants, including the Indian government and army as well as the various Sinhalese and Tamil organizations. His observations on, and discussions with, individual Sri Lankans impart the true price of the continuing war. Highly recommended.-- Ruth M. Mara, Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C.