RJA #13a

Questions for Bruce Plotkin
International Lawyer for the WHO

1. What do you think of the idea of civil disobedience, particularly regarding the use of nonviolence versus violence?

Ideologically, I agree with civil disobedience. In reality there are situations happening around the world, as we speak, where people are unjustly murdered because of ethnicity, or religious belief. Consider for example the civil war in Sri Lanka. The Tamils, a minority group numbering about 2.1 million is being persecuted by Sri Lankan majority the group Sinhalese. Thousands and thousands of Tamils are being killed in a genocide that they cannot defend against. The Sinhalese rounded up the Tamils and placed any remaining rebels in containment camps. In this case of government oppression there is need to question the use of peaceful strategy in defense of oneself.

2. Is there ever a time when it could be more beneficial to be violent than peaceful regarding a civil matter?
Yes, especially in cases of mass genocidal persecution like during the Holocaust. Once a government has crossed the line of unjust murder of its citizens it is time for action to be taken.



After Researching the case of Sri Lanka and the Tamils, I found that really the Tamil people have been led by a Terrorist organization called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or the Tamil Tigers who have been terrorizing Sri Lanka for almost 30 years. Reallly this is not a genocide, but a war of two different races that have been fighting over the Island of Sri Lanka. If there had not been an initial violence by the Tamil agressors, then there would not be a war and the Tamils would not be persecuted.