Thoughts from London

Put away the baseball bat

By Neville de Silva

Oh God. I don't usually invoke the Almighty. Not that I am basically irreligious. It is simply that half the nation is asking him for personal favours while the other half are blaming him for the kind of self-serving politician that has been foisted on the Sri Lankan nation that he obviously has enough on his plate without my own little contribution to the general work load.

But if the deity did come to mind in an unguarded moment, it was because of this great hullabaloo that took place some weeks ago when the United Tamil Organisation here organised what had been billed as a sports festival.

There are, of course, those who have labelled it outrageous Tamil gang warfare which is nothing new in the United Kingdom and said it was a clash between rival Tiger groups over fund raising. Talking about fund raising even New Labour is having problems about party funding, but that's another story.

Judging by local gossip and stories floating around in some Sri Lankan newspapers it would appear that the Third World War had broken out in London town unknown to most of its inhabitants and even the tabloids which would have swallowed such a juicy item as a cat would a canary.

Anyway the great gang war was fought with guns, knives, machetes and baseball bats. Now in the old Chicago days when "Legs" Diamond and Al Capone and other notorious gangsters of the prohibition era fought it out, they pulled machine guns from inside violin cases or from under overcoats and shot each other full of holes leaving many bodies and plenty of work for the undertakers.

The great Southall war has also left a terrible casualty toll- one person named Naganathan Manivannam who was apparently doing security duty at the festival.

He was shot in the leg. Why he was shot in the leg has not been explained. Was his assailant a bad shot or was he simply trying to teach this Manivannam a lesson , just telling him that he doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to asserting his rights to collect any money, even the two pounds sterling that was charged as an entry fee.

I won't say it is a national trait but sometimes it does happen our brethren try to avoid paying entry fees or any fees for that matter.

But my quarrel is with those who are trying to blow this whole Southall incident into some kind of War of the Roses and take away the credit due to the organisers who called it a sports festival.

While commiserating with the organisers who found their festival turned into a fiasco by gun and machete wielding wallahs, I must say I'm terribly disappointed about a couple of things.

The least one would expect from the United Tamil Organisation would be to show that it is a united Tamil organisation. But if the clashes that took place causing a leg injury to one of its security staff is any indication of the unity that the UTO claims, then it is surely time to undertake a little bit of reorganisation.

If ,on the other hand, the trouble that brought the Southall Police with their canine help to the grounds was caused by outsiders then it is even more necessary to do something about it and not let the playing fields of England become the battlefield of Eelam.

Otherwise it will be ellam karachchal for all, especially for those asylum seekers who want to be recognised as refugees.

There is enough crime and violence on the streets of England without our contributing to it with swinging machetes and baseball bats.

Which brings out my real grouse and why I unexpectedly turned to the deity for an explanation at least.

Why baseball bats, for heaven's sake? Surely there are enough cricket bats in England, even some of those thrown away in disgust by English cricketers whenever they suffer another humiliating defeat at the hands of those who learnt the game from their colonial masters.

If there is one thing that united the Sri Lankan nation it was cricket. In the old days when Parliament was saturated by those who appreciated the gentlemen's game even the law makers called it a day, to watch or listen to cricket.

Today the country comes to a standstill when cricket is on the cards, except of course when elections are held to the Cricket Board and there are more players involved than the game allows, with even those from the presidential security division taking to the field.

So when today's Tamil combatants on the streets of London want to beat each other to pulp with baseball bats instead of cricket bats this greatest of insults should be brought to the notice of Die Fuehrer and I don't mean Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera whose current preoccupation seems to be the mafia.

Just a tip for Pottu Amman, if he is still around. Why baseball bats? Does that not suggest a North American attempt to muscle in on the fund raising? Maybe somebody wants to be the sole super power and control the funds. Maybe it's the IMF, who knows. Please don't ask me.

I know nothing, I hear nothing and most of all I'll say nothing. But only thing- please put away the baseball bat. It is so degenerate, really.

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