Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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"Whatever may be said, whosoever may say it -  to determine the truth of it, is wisdom" - Thirukural

Whats New Archive
April 2006-

29 April 2006 Reflections to include

�One man does not assert the truth which he knows, because he feels himself bound to the people with whom he is engaged; another, because the truth might deprive him of the profitable position by which he maintains his family; a third, because he desires to attain reputation and authority, and then use them in the service of mankind;  a fourth, because he does not wish to destroy old sacred traditions;  a fifth, because he has no desire to offend people; a sixth, because the expression of the truth would arouse persecution, and disturb the excellent social activity to which he has devoted himself...� Leo Tolstoy  on Truth

28 April 2006 International Relations in the Age of Empire

1. A Lesson in Foreign Policy: When China taught Vietnam a Lesson with US Support - Zbingniew Brzezinski, former US National Security Adviser "..The Chinese did not give us a precise date for the forthcoming "educational experience" that they were planning for Vietnam.... I developed a proposal that the United States should criticize the Chinese for their military action but should couple that criticism with a parallel condemnation of the Vietnamese for their occupation of Cambodia, and demand that both China and Vietnam pull out their forces. I knew that such a proposal would be totally unacceptable to the Vietnamese and to the Soviets, and hence would provide a partial diplomatic umbrella for the Chinese action without associating the United States with it... The Chinese learned in the course of the three critical weeks that they now had a reliable friend: they could confide in us, we could keep a secret, and our public reaction - formally critical but substantively helpful - was firm and consistent..." 

[comment by tamilnation.org - If  countries do not have permanent friends but only permanent interests, and if diplomats are 'honest' men and women who lie on behalf of their country, then it seems that diplomacy is about lying and at the same time being credible.  In the felicitous language of  Zbigniew Brzezinski, it is a matter of  a judicious use of 'form' and 'substance'.  It is a matter of being 'clever' - not being truthful. But then truth, after all, is a pathless land - and is related to the frame through which you view the world. It is simply that some of us may have a different frame through which we view the world.] more

2.The Project for the New American Century "...American land power is the essential link in the chain that translates U.S. military supremacy into American geopolitical pre eminence......In Southeast Asia, American forces are too sparse to address rising security requirements adequately...   No U.S. strategy can constrain a Chinese challenge to American regional leadership if our security guarantees to Southeast Asia are intermittent and U.S. military presence a periodic affair. For this reason, an increased naval presence in Southeast Asia, while necessary, will not be sufficient... For operational as well as political reasons, stationing rapidly mobile U.S. ground and air forces in the region will be required ...Since today�s peace is the unique product of American pre eminence, a failure to preserve that pre eminence allows others an opportunity to shape the world in ways antithetical to American interests and principles...." more

 

27 April 2006 Sri Lanka Attack on Tamil Civilian Population Centres: a War Crime "war crimes" means intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities..." Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 2(e)(i)

1. International Federation of Tamils calls upon the International Community to condemn and censure Sri Lanka's war crime & gross breach of  the CFA "The 'retaliatory action' directed on civilian targets in Trincomalee-Batticaloa areas on 25-26 April are the actions of a terrorist state intent on terrorising the Tamil people into submission..." more

2. Sri Lankan Air force bombs Tamil populated Muthur "..Many areas in the region are virtually a sea of rubble after the intensive attack. Apart from bombs dropped in six different (Sri Lanka) air force sorties, there were at least 80 shells by the (Sri Lanka)Navy and over 160 shells by the (Sri Lanka) Army. ..The casualty toll may go up when all the debris and rubble are cleared. ... Some of the victims had died because of bleeding caused by the wounds.. 43,158 people from 10,718 families are currently displaced in Trincomalee district.. A human tragedy may occur if their needs are not met on time..." more

3. Humanitarian Laws of Armed Conflict? What Laws? Tamil Civilian Population Centres In Trincomalee Under Non-Stop Attack by Sri Lanka Armed Forces -  "Dr. Kohona, the Director-General of the Sri Lanka government Peace Secretariat said the navy shelling and air strikes should not be counted as violation of CFA. He called it a fair reply to the suicide bomb blast earlier in the day in Colombo (on a military target). Condoning the attack on Sampur and adjoining villages in Trincomalee... the Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat boss called the attack by state armed forces on its unarmed civilians, justifiable...  The International community, neighbouring India and the so-called Co-Chairs and the Diplomatic community in Colombo have not thundered "Halt!" nor denounced the violation of the humanitarian laws of armed conflict by the Sri Lanka State." more

4. Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Appeal for Internally Displaced (to ICRC, UNHCR, Bilateral and Multilateral donors) for humanitarian assistance to the War IDPs. ""..Thousands of persons from Ralkuli, Kadakaraichchenai, Senaiyoor, Sampoor, Ilakkanthai, Sudaikuda, Paddalipuram and Upparu in the Trincomalee district have been displaced due to the ongoing air, sea, and ground attacks by the Security Forces of Government of Sri Lanka. The IDPs affected by the previous week�s communal violence are also streaming into LTTE controlled areas from the government controlled areas. The number of IDPs has passed the 30,000 mark and continues to rise. Due to extensive and continuous shelling and bombing the relief and rescue efforts are being severely hampered and travel to the affected areas to carry out humanitarian work has been nearly impossible..."

25 April 2006 Tamil National Forum Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia - நாட்டுப்பற்றாளர் தினம்-அன்னை பூபதி ஒரு குறியீடு!

23 April 2006 Revised An Overview of the Struggle for Tamil Eelam - Nadesan Satyendra

"....If democracy means the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, then the principle of self determination secures that no one people may rule another...The struggle for Tamil Eelam is about giving effect to the will of the Tamil people expressed by their leader S.J.V.Chelvanayagam in 1975 and reinforced by the mandate that they gave the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1977, and reiterated in the Manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance in 2001.  It is also about reversion of sovereignty - a sovereignty that the Tamil people enjoyed before the British unified the administration of the island of Sri Lanka in 1833. 

However, the struggle for Tamil Eelam is not about a search for historical first causes - a search that will end in the stone age and in a discussion about original sin. Nor is the struggle for Tamil Eelam an invitation to engage in the politics of the last atrocity - a pursuit which leads to brave speeches, retaliation and more atrocities.

The struggle for Tamil Eelam is about the democratic right of the people of Tamil Eelam to govern themselves in their homeland - nothing less and nothing more. It is about freedom from alien Sinhala rule. It  is not about securing benevolent Sinhala rule. It is about securing  a legal framework where two free peoples may associate with one another in equality, in freedom and in peace.  The demand for Tamil Eelam is not negotiable. But an independent Tamil Eelam will and indeed, must, negotiate. And here, there will be everything to negotiate about. There is a need to telescope two processes - the emergence of an independent Tamil Eelam and the emergence of a free, inter dependent association of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka. The European Union, structured albeit after two world wars, stands as an example of what the Tamil people and Sinhala people  in the island of Sri Lanka may be able to achieve - but we will need to dig deep to find common ground..." more

22 April 2006  Selected Writings - M.Thanapalasingham to include

சிட்னி தமிழ் அறிவகத்தால் நடத்தப்பட்ட வசந்த மாலை கலை நிகழ்ச்சியில் ஆற்றிய உரை " அங்கு வாழ்பவர்களுக்காக மட்டுமல்ல இங்கு வாழப்போகும் எமது பிள்ளைகளுக்காகவும்தான். அவர்கள் எங்கு வாழ்ந்தாலும் முகம் வேண்டும். முகவரிவேண்டும்...."more

 20 April 2006 International Relations in the Age of Empire to include

Power & Interests  News Report (PINR) - South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC): A Potential Playground for Power Politics - Dr. Sreeradha Datta "At the Dhaka meeting of its Standing Committee held on April 10-11, 2006, the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (S.A.A.R.C.) agreed in principle to admit the U.S. and South Korea as "observers." This move comes against the background of the earlier decision taken during the summit meeting in November 2005 to bestow a similar status to China and Japan. The European Union has also shown its interest for a similar status. In short, major global economic players are too eager to be formally associated with S.A.A.R.C. ... why is there a sudden rush for "observer" status?... While all of these extra-regional powers are economic powerhouses, their political calculations are different and often in competition. While all of them maintain close economic ties with India, some of them maintain political soft corners for states that at times have adversarial relations with New Delhi. ... In short ... expansion ...also entails a new great power rivalry in South Asia..." more

20 April 2006  Sri Lanka's War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire

Sri Lanka's Shadow War - Australian SBS Dateline Presented by George Negus"... now, in what was already a complex conflict, a new, third force has emerged. Dubbed the 'paramilitaries', they're accused of attacking the Tamil Tigers as a proxy force for the government. The government denies this, countering that the so-called paramilitaries are a fiction concocted by Tiger propagandists. So what's the real story? Here's Dateline's Aaron Lewis. And a warning that some sequences in Aaron's report could upset some out there. ... And while the Sri Lankan Government is either unwilling or unable to remove the paramilitaries from this conflict, then a return to full-scale war seems inevitable.."

19 April 2006 Human Rights & the Tamil People

Families of 7 �disappeared� TRO workers plead for their release

19 April 2006 Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka

When Tamils Are Being Slaughtered How Can We Sit and Talk? - Director-General,  Peace Secretariat, LTTE "Our people are killed; they are driven out of their traditional homes and villages; their houses are burnt down; Tamil business establishments are targeted; businessmen singled out for murder; the paramilitaries are on a rampage; When all these are taking place, how could anyone expect us to proceed to Geneva?

18  April 2006 Tamil National Forum - to include

Father Chandiravarman Sinnathurai on Thamil Tāyi -  தமிழ் தாய் 

"60 year old Somasuntharam Maheswary was knifed to death by Sinhala thugs in  Trincomalee on 15 April 2006. She was attending religious duties at Nadesar Temple when a group of Sinhala thugs  dragged her from the temple premises and cut her. Her body was later found on the road and handed over to the mortuary of the Trincomalee general hospital." - Sri Lanka State orchestrated violence raises spectre of 1983 pogrom says Tamil National Alliance

"Haunted and hunted
There she lies in her mother soil
Knifed on the back�
Her blood spills on the ground
Murdered for the crime
Of being born a Thamil Tāyi

She falls kissing the soil
Alone; alone she dies
In the hands of the mob
It�s neither the gun nor the knife
Its racism that took her life!

She might be�
Some one�s mother or a sister
Or some one�s belov�d wife
She could even be a motherless child
But one thing for sure;
She�s a Thamil Tāyi...
For the world at large
She�s another fatality..
Just another Human rights breach
Which is better not talked about
Because she is not part of
�The power bloc�
Hypocrisy�s mental block!"
 Human rights! Human wrongs!
By her death silence�
She teaches the world
NOT to keep quiet
About the plight of the
Eelam Thamils
She lies in her mother soil
As a nameless Thamil Tāyi more

16 April 2006 Easter Sunday Reflections

"... everyone is responsible for everything that happens in life. When you produce peace and happiness in yourself, you begin to realize peace for the whole world. With the smile that you produce in yourself, with the conscious breathing you establish within yourself, you begin to work for peace in the world. To smile is not to smile only for yourself; the world will change because of your smile. When you practice sitting meditation, if you enjoy even one moment of your sitting, if you establish serenity and happiness inside yourself, you provide the world with a solid base of peace. If you do not give yourself peace, how can you share it with others?" - A Contemporary Zen master quoted by Mu Soeng Sunim in Ancient Buddhist Wisdom in the Light of Quantum Reality

16 April 2006 One Hundred Tamils of the 20th Century Anton S. Balasingham to include

Adele Ann on Meeting Balasingham -   "...It all began when I married a Tamil man, Anton Balasingham, from the island of Sri Lanka, in 1978. In that union, I married the collective consciousness and history of a people: a man who embodied the Tamil psyche with all its strengths and weaknesses. greatness and failings. That history took me to live in the society and culture of one of the world's oldest Eastern civilisations: in the land of the ancient historical origins of his people, Tamil Nadu, the Southern Dravidian state of India..." more

16 April 2006 Tamil National Forum - to include

1. Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan On Academic Politics and Religious Zealotry - the Case of Professor Hoole

2. Father Chandiravarman Sinnathurai  to include Half-empty or Half-full glass: it boils down to how you view things"...In the end, the penny begins to drop. Everything boils down to ...finance, trade and economy... Plato once said war exists and will always exist because it comes from human passions. He further added that it belongs to...  our need to assert and exert dominance or supremacy... The acceptable �sophisticated trend� however, is to act locally on readiness for war but to think globally of peace. One�s talk is not expected to match one�s walk. Weird that! It is said that diplomatic �sophistication� makes one to enter into peace agreements that often lack clarity, suffer from ambiguity, and permit contradictory interpretations. In all of these �Idiyappa Cikkal� [problematic as spaghetti, like string hoppers] the word PEACE has become the most politicised and pilloried. It seems one has to run with the trend of multi-layered talks and peace negotiations if one�s aim is to win the desired goal. In this round-about game of raja-tantrum however, one�s intentions can be diametrically opposite to what you might be willing to say openly...."  more

14 April 2006 Good Friday Reflections

"I have been convicted and sentenced, a very distressing experience. But I still believe I was right to make the stand that I did and refuse to follow orders to deploy to Iraq - orders I believe were illegal. I am resigned to what may happen to me in the next few months. I shall remain resilient and true to my beliefs which, I believe, are shared by so many others... To comply with an order that I believe unlawful places me in breach of domestic and international law, something I am not prepared to do. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is a campaign of imperial military conquest and falls into the category of criminal acts...I still have two great loves in life - medicine and the RAF. To take the decision that I did caused great sadness, but I had no other choice." Doctor, RAF officer, and now war criminal - Flt Lt Malcolm Kendall-Smith on being jailed for refusing to serve in Iraq, 13 April 2006 more

14 April 2006 Conflict Resolution in the Age of Empire to include

From Conflict Resolution to Conflict Transformation: The Role of Dialogue Projects - Dr. Norbert Ropers, Berghof Foundation "..the dialoguing skills of official 'Track 1' diplomacy have all too often been driven into the background by the constraints of power politics and realpolitik. Representatives of non-official 'Track 2' diplomacy, by contrast, have instead chosen to place communication, direct encounters and mutual understanding centre-stage... But ... Even if comprehension and understanding are achieved between influential persons within the framework of a workshop or series of workshops, does the success of the whole enterprise not rather depend on how the follow-up is managed?.. And lastly: do adherents of the dialogue method not run the danger of fundamentally overestimating the importance of communication in dealing with conflicts? The ultimate concerns of most disputes, after all, are .. tangible conflicts of interest, structural factors and the struggle for power and influence. It would seem, then, that dialogues must be put in the context of the overall dynamics of conflict and conflict transformation..." more

13 April 2006 One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century to include

1. S. Jothiratnam  on Uncle Raja's Views, as I see them "..It is not by ignoring race and ethnic identity that racial harmony is constructed, but by transcending the former while building upon the latter - in this construction, it must never be forgotten that what is being encouraged is the formation of an individual's identity within a communal context (which, even according to Aristotle, is a psychologically desirable entity).. The ideal model of that most elusive of quarries, multiculturalism, is not the overused, and rather inappropriate, metaphor of the all-effacing melting pot, but rather that of the stew pot, in which each component maintains its individual identity while simultaneously enhancing the flavour of the whole dish..."more

2. C. Shanmuganayagam  on 155th  Birth Anniversary of  Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan  "...The writer, who is now 86 years old, had the good fortune, as a schoolboy of 11 years, to listen to one of the last talks of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan at the Saiva Maha Sabha hall at Kandy in 1930. One still vividly remembers the stately turbaned figure of the speaker beginning his English speech with a rendering of Saint Manickavasagar�s famous Tamil hymn: �Muthineri Ariyatha Moorkarodu Muyalvenai�..." more

13 April 2006 Tamil National Forum to include

1.Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia சர்வதேச ஊடகவியலாளர் மகாநாடும், சுயநிர்ணய உரிமையும் [together with English Translation]

2. Ivan Pedropillai - Editor, Tamil Writer Guild, UK writes  about the Spider and the Fly � a Cautionary Tale  "...After all these years of frustrated effort as a result of immutable forces within the Sinhala polity, the co-chairs of the Sri Lanka and LTTE peace talks will have to make an objective assessment of the political situation in the country as well as the fundamental and historic factors that continue to bedevil the current and crumbling peace agreement. It is axiomatic that the Sri Lankan government will never allow even the agreed federalism to the Tamils, because they will continue to be intimidated by the reactionary Sinhala Buddhist forces prevailing in the country. Further talks with the Sinhala government will only entrap the Tamils, just like how the spider dragged the fly up his winding stair. .." more

12 April 2006 Tamil Language & Literature

to include Auvayar's விநாயகர் அகவல் (மூலமும் பு.பா.இரசபதி உரையும்)

11 April 2006 Tamil National Forum to include

1. An Exchange of Letters between a Nephew in Colombo, Sri Lanka & an Uncle in United States about the Canadian Ban on LTTE "..There are so many things, we as onlookers, cannot comprehend, nor have the clout (financial or political) to change or make a difference on such matters. Therefore, first and foremost,  it should be a person's resolve to continue whatever help one can to help our people over there and not to get too agitated about such developments, particularly in foreign countries... Personally, I am very sceptical about the real impact of lobbying efforts overseas. Tamils� experience from Indira Gandhi/Clinton to the present day, should tell us that every Ruler and Group and country has a selfish Agenda ..." more

2.Sachi Sri Kanatha writes from Japan - Concerning Three Mules and Sister Rajani - A Rejoinder  "I can make two inferences. First, the links of UTHR (Jaffna) to JVP and its splinter radical group has thus been established, from two independent Sinhalese sources, who are also no LTTE sympathizers. In last January, even Susantha Goonetilleka (a virulent anti-Tamil polemicist), whose wife was the then chief organizer of UTHR activity, had corroborated this link. Secondly, by failing to confess on this deceitful UTHR-JVP link for the past 16 years, Rajan Hoole and his coterie have repeatedly attempted to hoodwink the Eelam Tamil public..."more

4 April 2005 Tamil National Forum

1. Father Chandi Sinnathurai writes from Tamil Eelam about The Elephant in the Room  "The expression "elephant in the room" refers to a situation where something major is going on, it's on everyone's mind and impossible to ignore - like an elephant in the room. But nobody talks about the "elephant" because nobody knows what to do about it. It's along the same lines as "the emperor's new clothes." The emperor's naked but nobody wants to be the first to say so� " more

2. Sanmugam Sabesan from Australia about முட்டாள்கள் தினம் - April Fools Day "தாய்மார்கள் தினம், தந்தையர் தினம், காதலர் தினம், மகளிர் தினம, உழைப்பாளிகள் தினம் - என்று இந்த உலகின் மனிதர்களுக்குப் பலவிதமான தினங்கள் இருப்பது போலவே முட்டாள்களுக்கும் என்று ஒரு தினம் ஒதுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதில் பிரச்சனை என்னவென்றால் மற்றைய �விசேட� தினங்களில் தமக்குப் பங்கிருப்பதாகக் காட்டிக் கொள்கின்ற மனிதர்களில் எத்தனை பேர் இந்த �முட்டாள்கள் தினத்தில்� தமக்கும் பங்கிருப்பதாக சொல்லிக் கொள்ள முன்வருவார்கள் என்பதுதான்!"..more

3. Sachi Sri Kantha from Japan - Front Note to Images of Hindu Gods in Buddhist Temples by P.B.J.Hevawasam  "..The Sinhalese family name with the prefix �Pandara� or �Bandara� derives from the medieval Hindu migrants from the Tamil Nadu belonging to the Pandaram clan (non-Brahmanical priests), who opted to perform religious duties at the Hindu temples. The religious and political influence of this Pandaram clan in shaping the Sinhala Buddhist society during the past five centuries and how this originally Tamil-speaking clan merged themselves into the Sinhalese society as influence peddlers deserve a separate commentary..." more

2 April 2006 Reflections

�...To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.� Arundhati Roy (contributed by Father Chandi Sinnathurai from Tamil Eelam)

2 April 2006 Tamil National Forum

Father Chandi Sinnathurai writes from Tamil Eelam on Wounded Memories: A looking back (and on அறம் - Aaram and மறம் Maram) "Dedicated to to all my dear friends and acquaintances who lost their lives in this struggle for emancipation and especially Pirithiviraj who sat alongside me to learn at the feet of Mathaiyasigham master, later as a teenager, and during his struggle for sanity, killed himself by jumping-off Kallady Bridge, Mattakalappu into the deep waters� With tears I remember each of them and silently bow my head in honour of their memory.... 1)அறம் - Aram  = Righteousness 2) மறம் - Maram = Valour. There cannot be one without the other. Yet they are distinct in its character and strength.... The latter without the under girding of the first can blind us. There is equal strength in both.  Arundhati Roy quite rightly puts it into perspective: Respect strength, never power.." more

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