Sound of Silent Speech
[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 January 2012, 16:57 GMT]One can speak not only through words but through expressive conduct often called "Symbolic speech" - legally defined as nonverbal gestures and actions intended to communicate a message. In Western liberal democracies, most forms of symbolic speech are constitutionally protected. The Tamil diaspora's recent use of such protected expressive speech to publicize symbols of Colombo oppression as philatelic stamps has infuriated Sri Lanka diplomats, and is posing a long-term threat to Sri Lanka's image abroad. The autocratic suppression of free speech and threat to life have progressively shaped a local compliant media that exercises self-censorship, and have ill-prepared Sri Lanka's diplomats to confront the individual freedom enjoyed by the Tamil diaspora in the West.
French Stamps 2012 (Courtesy: Sri Lanka Mirror)
Postal stamps issued in Switzerland 2011
Pirapaharan stamp, France Jan2012
US stamp 2011, 2012
UK 2012, published by RSTE (Revolutionary Students of Tamil Eelam)
Canada 2012
Postal stamps issued in Switzerland 2011
US Stamp 2012
Navaratnam's stamp issued in Canada
In France, the stamps were produced using an online service offered by La Poste, a private business enterprise, not funded by French tax-payers. The Company deals with postal matters in several countries around France. The private businesses are likely to be only marginally affected by diplomatic pressure arising from France's foreign policy objectives, unless the images are blatantly illegal or constitutionally unprotected.
While local media in Colombo reported that French Ambassador "apologized," to Colombo on the stamp matter, the most relevant statement reported by UPI involved French embassy quoting the publisher's statement:
- La Poste called the release of the "stamps with inappropriate visuals" a "mistake," the French Embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) in Canada published a stamp showing Tamil eelam map with the words 'I remember Tamil Genocide.' Sinhala organizations in Canada have protested against the stamp. "LTTE-front" is the badge of terror being attached to the TYO, and the funds, claim the protesters, are tainted by "terror." "Legal issues in curtailing speech will prevent any action by authorities, absent imposing non-discriminatory restrictions. Protest tactics are no longer tenable in the post-Mu'l'livaaykkaal phase, and will more likely provide factual basis for libel action," commented Canadian lawyers monitoring the development.
In some countries, post-9/11 "terror laws" have eroded the supreme position of individual freedom, a pillar of western liberal jurisprudence in free democratic society, and perhaps may bar some symbols, but many symbols of Colombo oppression are not cognizable as illegal speech as a matter of French law in particular, and common law in general, legal sources in Washington said.
Spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), an activist group seeking legal redress to Tamil victims of Sri Lanka war said, "two evolving streams of activity will soon trouble Colombo's efforts to dampen Tamil diaspora activity. One, the bogey of 'LTTE rump' Colombo uses as a badge of criminality on the diaspora, will likely diminish with possible libel suits against fraudulent use of the label. Two, with the era of armed-struggle fast receding, countries that have proscribed the LTTE, will face moral dilemma and legal challenges in extending the ban," TAG spokesperson added.
The thinking of US justices to the "terror" argument to blunt speech rights is demonstrated in Virginia v. Black, where the Court struggled with how much one can suppress conduct without banning expression. The Court held that cross burning by Ku Klux Clan, a free-speech issue that triggers first amendment rights, was a "virulent form of expression" and is not constitutionally protected, but declared Virginia law that banned ALL forms of cross burning as unconstitutional.
The dissenting Justice Thomas, on the court declaring Virginia law as unconstitutional, failed to convince the court when he argued that the Ku Klux Klan is a ‘‘terrorist organization,’’ that there exists a ‘‘connection between cross burning and violence,’’ and that a burning cross is ‘‘now widely viewed as a signal of impending terror and lawlessness.’
"When not intended to intimidate, many forms of symbolic speech qualify as protected speech. So would be all forms of visual images that appear in stamps, except virulent symbols intended to intimidate, are protected, and attempts to attach the badge of terror by Colombo is unlikely to succeed despite pronouncements to the contrary," TAG spokesperson said.
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