Special Focus:

30 September 2004 Manufacturing Consent to include 'Another World is indeed Possible' Noam Chomsky Appeal for Z-net "Popular movements are the hope for a decent future. They of course have to have access to information and modes of interaction. In addition to alternative print and video, to a very large extent they have relied on the internet, which allows people to escape from the constraints of the doctrinal systems, to explore and investigate and discuss crucial issues with one another, to plan and organize...another world is indeed possible..." more

30September 2004 One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century - Kaviarasu Kannadasan extensively revised

"அதோ அந்த பறவை போல வாழ வேண்டும்
இதோ இந்த அலைகள் போல ஆட வேண்டும்
ஒரே வானிலே ஒரே மண்ணிலே
ஒரே கீதம் உரிமை கீதம் பாடுவோம்" more

30 September 2004 India & the Tamil Struggle to include South Indian Film Star/Director Revathi interviews LTTE Political Wing Leader Thamil Chelven in Killinochchi "பொடா சட்டத்தை இந்தியா நீக்கியதுபோல் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் மீதான தடையையும் இந்தியா நீக்க வேண்டும் என்றே விரும்புகிறோம்...இந்தியாவை ஒரு நேச சக்தியாகத்தான் பார்க்கிறோம்." more

29 September 2004 Reflections

28 September 2004 One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century to include Ramalingam Muttiah, from Chundikuli, Jaffna, the inventor of the first Tamil Typewriter - nominated by Visagaperumal Vasanthan. " ஈழ நாட்டின் ஒப்பற்ற ஒருவர்தான் தமிழ் தட்டச்சின் தந்தையான ஆர் முத்தையா அவர்கள்..." more

28 September 2004 Tamils & the Digital Revolution Revisited Virtual Reality & the Tamil Nation - Dr.N.Kannan  "தமிழ் கூறும் நல்லுலகம் - ஓர் உணர்வா, அல்லது இடமா? ...எப்படி இராமன் இருக்குமிடம் அயோத்தியோ, கண்ணன் இருக்குமிடம் கோகுலமோ அது போல் வைய விரிவு வலையில் இருக்குமிடம் தமிழகம்.." more

26 September 2004 Tamils - a Trans State Nation to include  

1. Canadian Tamil Students Association Pongu Thamil 2004 attracts 75,000  - "Together, We Stand" "Mr. Jack Layton, MP and Leader of New Democratic Party (NDP) regretted the refusal of visas for the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians who had wanted to come to Canada to participate in this occasion..."more  including Speeches in Real Audio by S.P.Thamilchelven, Prof. V.Elagupillai  and others...

2. Pongu Thamizh in the island of Sri Lanka & Around the World  "இலட்சியத்தால் ஒன்றுபட்ட, எழுச்சிகொண்ட, மக்களை எந்த ஒரு சக்தியாலும் ஒடுக்கிவிட முடியாது" more

24 September 2004 Tracking the Norwegian Conflict Resolution Initiative Dr.S.Sathananthan on the A to Z of Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka  "...when a military stalemate ensues, then "talks" become the continuation of war by other means. Having failed to disarm the national movement through force, the State then manoeuvres to draw the movement into "talks" with the principle objective of forcing it to decommission weapons. This continuation of war by other means is the so-called "peace process". If armed conflict is the power struggle at the military level, "peace process" is the power struggle at the political level..." more

23 September 2004  Maha Kavi Subramaniya Bharathy  to include Sanmugam Sabesan from Australia asks Bharathiyar: Bharathi_Yar?  "பாரதியார் - பாரதி யார்?... இந்த உண்மையான உணர்வு பூர்வமான கவிஞன் தன் வாழ்வில் சந்தித்த சோதனைகள் தாம் எத்தனை? .. பசியாலும், பிணியாலும் வாடி இறந்தவனை 'யானை அடித்து கொன்றது" என்ற கட்டுக்கதையைக் கட்டி தன் அவமானத்திற்கு தமிழ்நாடு திரைபோட்டுள்ளது..." more

22 September 2004 Tracking the Norwegian Conflict Resolution Initiative to include -

1. Word & Deed - An Annotated Guide to Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Address  to UN, 21 September 2004  & Response by Tamil National Alliance "Whatever may be said, whosoever may say it -  to determine the truth of it, is wisdom" -  Thirukural

2 Thinakural Editorial on LTTE's  call to the Sinhala people"...Quoting Nelsen Mandela - 'In this war one will win and the other will lose. But even after the war the winner and the loser have no choice but to talk by sitting at the same table placed on a high ground full of ashes. You think the victory will be yours. We think the victory will be ours. But do not make a mistake by taking away the opportunity to respect each other as valuable enemies. Though we do not have the same views, though we are enemies, give us an opportunity to respect you..'"... more

20 September 2004 Status of Tamil as a Classical Language revised to include India to Declare Tamil as a Classical Language "...To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature..." more

20 September 2004 Tamil Language & Literature to include Pazha Mozhi -  Tamil Proverbs compiled by Singai Krishnan " நம் இனிய தமிழ் மொழியில் பழந்தமிழ்ப்புலவர்கள் இயற்றிய செய்யுளிலும், பிற்காலப் புலவர் பெருமக்கள் எழுதிய உரை நடை நூல்களிலும், பேச்சு வழக்கிலும் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான பழமொழிகளில் ஏறக்குறைய ஓராயிரம் மட்டும் உபயோகிக்கபடுகிறது..." more

18 September 2004 Comments & About Us to include Comment from  Kundavi Sandrasegaran, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia "Accidentally bumped into your site, or should I say, our site! Delighted to welcome tamilnation.org into my life..." more

18 September 2004 Maha Kavi Subramaniya Bharathy - the Poet of Tamil Nationalism & Indian Freedom extensively revised to include Thesiya Geethangal in unicode -

செந்தமிழ் நாடெனும் போதினிலே - இன்பத்
தேன் வந்து பாயுது காதினிலே - எங்கள்
தந்தையர் நாடென்ற பேச்சினிலே - ஒரு
சக்தி பிறக்குது மூச்சினிலே more

and Commentary in Tamil on the Bhavad Gita -

"புத்தியிலே சார்பு எய்தியவன், இங்கு நற்செய்கை, தீச்செய்கை இரண்டையுந் துறந்துவிடுகின்றான். ஆதலால் யோக நெறியிலே பொருந்துக, யோகம் செயல்களிலே திறமையானது" - "இஃதே கீதையில் பகவான் செய்யும் உபதேசத்துக் கெல்லாம் அடிப்படையாம். "more

17 September 2004 Tamils: a Tran State Nation - Tamil Nadu to include Human Development in Tamil Nadu - "...Says Professor M. S. Swaminathan, the country’s legendary agricultural scientist named by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century, “25-26% of our population are chronically undernourished, what we call endemic hunger, the lack of adequate sustenance. This is not because there isn’t enough food. You have a large variety of food available in the market, provided you have the money to buy it. So the key question, why don’t we have the money? Because there are no jobs. This is the job famine. The livelihood famine...”

17 September 2004 Media & the Tamil Struggle to include link to For Tamil Journalists in Northern Sri Lanka  - An experimental Initiative of Media Resources and Training Centre of Jaffna University, Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

16 September 2004 Tamil Language & Literature to include A Brief Introduction to Tamil Language & Culture - Dr.T.V.Geetha & Dr. M.Ponnavaikko

“கல்தோன்றி மண்தோன்றாக் காலத்தே
வாளோடு முன்தோன்றிய மூத்தகுடி." more

15 September 2004 Reflections "...I know that when you make a difference in your own life, you make a difference in the world. And the world is urgently in need of being made different now. I know that I do not have to work hard to convince you of this. One look at today's headlines as you opened your Internet connection this morning has already done that. All that any of us are looking for now is a way to make a difference, a way to help change things...." Neale Donald Walsch in Conversations with God

15 September 2004 International Relations in the Age of Empire -Thomas Friedman in A Manifesto for the Fast World  '...As the country that benefits most from global economic integration, we have the responsibility of making sure that this new system is sustainable....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist - McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell-Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps... Without America on duty, there will be no America Online..." more

13 September 2004 Tamil National Forum to include Sanmugam Sabesan from Australia on  மாமனிதர் குமார் பொன்னம்பலம் (Mamanithar Kumar Ponnambalam)

11 September 2004 Reflections "There are things that we know. And then there are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know that we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know....that is, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence....simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist..."  US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld quoted by Howard Zinn in 'Iraq is not a Liberated Country but An Occupied Country'

10 September 2004 The Struggle for Tamil Eelam is a National Question - it is therefore an International Question: International Relations in the Age of Empire to include Power & Interest News Report (PINR) on Chechnya: Russia's Second Afghanistan "... The interest of the United States in the Caucasus is control over oil supplies from the Caspian Sea, which involves securing compliant regimes in the southern Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, where the oil is extracted, and Georgia, through which the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline will pass... From the American viewpoint, Russian failure in Chechnya is welcome, as long as it does not get to the point that Chechnya becomes a base for Islamic revolution worldwide..." more

8 September 2004 Tracking the Norwegian Conflict Resolution Initiative to include Dr.S.Sathananthan on the International Community & the 'Peace Process'  "...The spreading political support for the LTTE is rapidly deepening because economic links between the organisation and the Tamil people are expanding...These developments have set off alarm bells among the international community. The four core States (US, EU, Norway & Japan) anticipated the Sinhala government would be intelligent enough to play along with the Oslo Declaration... ". more

8 September 2004 Tamils & the Digital Revolution to include -

Kanini Project for an All Tamil Computer  The mission of the zha-kanini team led by the major Tamil writer Sujatha, is to bring out an easy-to-use all-Tamil computer to benefit the Tamil masses without English knowledge and Computer literacy. The team  has branded its product 'zha-kanini' named after the special alphabet 'zha' in Tamil (kanini is the Tamil word for Computer)... "Free in open source means freedom, and not free-of-cost.. Since the ongoing Internationalization process was going at a sluggish pace, it was the need of the hour to integrate resources from various fronts to accelerate and keep Tamil ahead". more

7 September 2004 The Strength of an Idea  Allama Muhammad Iqbal, 1930 Presidential Address, 25th Session of All India Muslim League  - 17 years before the Birth of Pakistan -"I lead no party; I follow no leader.. I propose, not to guide you in your decision, but to attempt the humbler task of bringing clearly to your consciousness the main principle which, in my opinion, should determine the general character of these decisions....the creation of autonomous states based on the unity of language, race, history, religion and identity of economic interests, is the only possible way to secure a stable constitutional structure in India... ... If these demands are not agreed to ...then will arrive the moment for independent and concerted political action by the Muslims of India. If you are at all serious about your ideals and aspirations, you must be ready for such action..." more

7 September 2004 Reflections Terrorism 59 Years Before Chechenya - 6 August 1945 -  Toge Sankichi: Hibakusha (A-bomb survivor)  

6 September 2004 Tamils & the Digital Revolution Minmanjari Issue 2, 2004 - உலகத் தமிழ்த் தகவல் தொழில் நுட்ப மன்றத்தின் இதழ் - Journal of International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil

6 September 2004 Indictment Against Sri Lanka 14 Years After September 1990 Massacres, Batticaloa Remembers "...On 9th and 10th September 1990, over 180 Tamil civilians were butchered by the Sri Lanka army at the Saththurukondan Army Camp in the Batticaloa District..." Ernest Renan in What is a Nation? - " Where national memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties, and require a common effort. A nation is a solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future..." more

4 September 2004 Tamil Language & Literature to include Dwelling in Futures Past: Place, Region and Tamil Nation in Ra. Krsnamurti’s Civakamiyin Capatam - Akhila Ramnarayan "...Using the historical romance as a lens with which to examine erstwhile formulations of Tamil identity (Indian nationalist and colonial rhetorics; Dravidian political separatism and anti-Brahmanism; the tanitamil (separate Tamil) language purity and suya mariyatei (self-respect) movements; the resurgence of Saiva Siddhanta religious tenets; the advent of theosophy in Tamilnadu; and Tamil marumalarcci or cultural renaissance), I argue that Krsnamurti’s novelistic writing sketched a cultural and political canvas against which competing and complementary ideals of a new regionalist consciousness could emerge, signalling a new kind of interventionist literature in the Tamil instance..." more

3 September 2004 Reflections "....The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say...  ....Frogs may bellow louder than bulls, but they cannot drag the plough in the field nor turn the wheel of the winepress, and of their skins you cannot make shoes... ...There is a space between man's imagination and man's attainment that may only be traversed by his longing... " (*Kahlil Gibran author of The Prophet)

3 September 2004 Tamils & the Digital Revolution to include Tamil Digital Library Network (TADILNET) "..Currently the TADILNET forum consists of ca. 30 individuals from many of the leading academic institutions.. from India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe and North America. The group uses a net-based mailing list at Yahoo groups for continuous dialogue. Subscription is open to anyone interested in Digital Tamil Library Development..."

3 September 2004 Velupillai Pirabaharan as Others See Him Lieutenant General S.C. Sardesh Pande, IPKF Divisional Commander, Jaffna  in Assignment Jaffna "..Our unit and formation commanders too came under the mental hypnosis of the LTTE. They would graphically explain how well entrenched the LTTE was in the minds of the people, how ungrateful people were to us, how elusive the LTTE was, how perfect it was in the midst of the people and in its actions, how effective was its grip over the public and so on - virtually admitting that it was an impossible task and all our endeavours were pointless... I too frequently fell prey to this weakness, but made conscious and equally frequent efforts to shake loose from this hypnotic state..." more

2 September 2004 International Frame of the Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include

1. Power & Interest News Report (PINR) on U.S. Troop Redeployment: Rational Adjustment to an Altered Threat Environment "In August, U.S. President George W. Bush announced an ambitious ten-year plan for the redeployment of U.S. military forces around the world...There is little doubt that the closest approximation to an American "empire" would be the cultivation of dependency on the United States in weak states and regimes.. particularly those in close proximity to regional powers.." more and

2. Indian Expansion: An Outline, 1989 - Dev Nathan "In analysing Indian expansionism we must turn to three levels at which the denial of the rights of nationalities and nations operates. The first is the centralisation of powers in Delhi and the economic, political and linguistic-cultural suppression of non-Hindi nationalities... The second is the denial of the right of secession of the border nationalities that either wish to secede (Nagas and Mizos) or do not accept their integration in India (Kashmiris). The third is the whittling down of the sovereignty of the neighbouring small powers of South Asia..." more 

2 September 2004 Tamil National Forum M.Thanapal from Australia on S.Ponnudurai's 'Varalaatril Vaalthal -Living Through History' - "an useful addition to the recorded history of our people and will make a positive contribution to future generations of Tamils" more

2 September 2004 Ruling Sri Lanka Government Coalition Partner, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on 'Green' Tigers and 'White' Tigers  "The JVP is conducting a series of lectures throughout the island entitled  'Who are the true enemies of peace?'  The JVP’s propaganda secretary Wimal Weerawansa in a lecture at Colombo’s Youth Council Centre on 17 August 2004 branded the previous United National Front (UNF) government, which signed the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002, as 'Green Tigers' - green being the UNF’s official colour. The Norwegian facilitators, he declared, were 'White Tigers'. He accused various non-government organisations, which were calling for negotiations, of 'crowing for dollars'... 'In all our endeavours the security of the motherland has to stay at the pinnacle,' he said, emphasising the need to 'mobilise the masses to defeat this so-called peace process'.." more

1 September 2004 Tamil National Forum - Sachi Sri Kantha on how  I got trapped in the Secret ‘No Fly List’ of the US  Transportation Security Administration  "..I wonder whether I’m the only Sri Lankan Tamil (holding the Sri Lankan passport) who had to face .. being named in this notorious ‘no-fly list’. I provide my harassment experience in the belief that it will be of some help to other Tamils, who may face such ordeal in the future...(At Rome) I was handcuffed and taken to the police cubicle nearby... Then, I was taken to the police station at the airport [at Terminal C] in the police car in handcuffed status by two uniformed middle level officers..." more

31 August 2004 Tracking the Norwegian Conflict Resolution Initiative D.Sivaram (Taraki) on ISGA bashing: Much ado about nothing "..The ceasefire is the only tangible reality of the peace process. All talk about talks is empty rhetoric. All those who do not accept this fact are either scoundrels who are using the chance to push their own ulterior agendas or are genuinely misguided gulls who sincerely believe that things would start moving in the right direction if only the Tigers and the UPFA sit across the negotiating table..."

31 August 2004 Tracking the Norwegian Conflict Resolution Initiative LTTE Senior Member V.Balakumaran in Oslo "...LTTE has been successfully resisting attempts to weaken its military and political strength during the peace time with the same courage and bravery it displayed during the time of war. Tamils seek a just peace and not a peace with surrender. The  LTTE leadership will not relent until political and social dignity is restored to the lives of Tamil people...We are not 'Vadi Kattina Mutalkal'. We are not stupid. The world has not come to Sri Lanka to save the Tamils. They have come to save Sri Lanka. There are 50 countries who have come to help Sri Lanka. We have only one country to help us - and that is Sri Lanka (loud laughter) It is difficult to win against an intelligent and strong soldier. Today, the Tamil community has matured to that state..."(audio: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Courtesy: TamilNatham)

31 August 2004 One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century - Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy to include When Periyar met Vinoba Bhave  Bhave: I admit that caste system should be abolished. But, I cannot endorse your acts of breaking the idols of our Gods and burning of our Epics. Periyar: The Gods and Epics are the root cause of the system. That's why, I am targeting them. If we get rid of the Gods and Epics, then the caste system that they created will automatically disappear. Bhave: There are good things and bad things in Epics. We have to take the good and leave out the bad... Periyar: How many people can do it? If you mix poison and sugar and give it, how many people can eat the sugar alone.." more