30 September 2006
Tamil National Forum
29 September 2006 Festivals of the
Tamils
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Dr.S.Jayabarathi, Malaysia on Navarathi - Saraswathy Poosai: நவராத்தி - சரஸ்வதி
பூசை "நாமகளை மனமுருகிப் பிரார்த்தனை
செய்தால் போதும். பணத்தைக் கொட்டிப் படாடோபமாக நீட்டி முழக்கிச்செய்யும்
பூஜைகளினால்தான் அம்பிகை மனமகிழ்வாள் என்ற எண்ணம் எப்படியோ ஆழமாக வேரூன்றிவிட்டது.
தனக்கே சரியாகத் தெரியாமல் வாய்க்கு வந்ததைச் சொல்லிக்கொண்டு, ஆயிரக்கணக்கில்
செலவழித்து, பட்டுப்புடவைகளை நெய்யில் முக்கியெடுத்து நெருப்பில் போட்டு எரிப்பதால்
அம்பாள் ஏமாந்துவிடுவாளா, என்ன? அவளுக்கு வேண்டியது ஆழமான, எளிமையான பக்தி.
அவ்வளவே!"
more |
29 September 2006 International
Relations in the Age of Empire
| 1.
China's Geostrategy: Playing a Waiting Game
"..China's military education programs have given Beijing
some tangible benefits with many of its graduates assuming senior positions in
their respective countries...While most countries still send their very best,
the chief of staff material, to Western academies, many officers reaching less
senior positions such as one star and two star generals are increasingly being
trained in China. All armies in Africa and a few in Latin America and Southeast
Asia have N.D.U. graduates at the ranking of colonel or brigadier... China is
also assuming a major role in regions where the U.S. presence has been curtailed
by domestic politics, such as in the cases of South America and some parts
of the Middle East. From Venezuela alone, an estimated 30 officers have
graduated from various P.L.A. academies in recent years..."
more
2.Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez Speech to the United Nations "..The President of
the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in this room, and I'm
quoting, "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from
poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom."
Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother -- he looks at your
color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president
of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him. The imperialists see extremists
everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up.
It's waking up all over. And people are standing up..."
more |
28 September 2006 TamilNational Forum
to include
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1.
R.Cholan writes from USA about The Poor Man’s Air Force by
Mike
Davis
"..The following is a 19-page article on the history of the Car-Bomb. I found
this article quite fascinating for more reasons than one. Firstly
the title of the article, as it appeared in the Harper’s Magazine [October
2006], reads: ‘The Poor Man’s Air Force’. Car-bombs - the equivalent of Air
Force bombs! Many, who arrogate righteousness for themselves, however, like to
make a distinction. They prefer the label ‘barbaric’ for car-bombings, and
‘virtuous’ for air-bombings, when in fact both have the same identical effects
on their victims. They both blow human beings to bits...."
more
2.
Sara
Ananthan from Australia - Globalization and Our Place Under the Sun
"..It was said that the gun powder was
invented by the Chinese but the gun was invented by the Europeans. Ever
since, the geo politics of the world appears to have become hostage to the
threat of gun diplomacy. Despite all the pep talk about globalization and
bringing equality and prosperity to all by the spread of democracy, the balance
of power is held by the threat of atomic annihilation. It makes a mockery of all
the progress made by humanity in morality and ethics in all these centuries.
In addition, in the United Nations (UN) – the august body of international
affairs, the balance of power is wielded by the threat of the veto. So there is
no democracy and fair play in international affairs. It is a law of the
jungle – the survival of the fittest (military might is supreme) and the
confirmation of the maxim that might is right in international affairs.
There appears to be a nexus between the application of these amoral statecraft
policies and the unscrupulous think tanks, corrupted policy advisors, lobby
groups and media moguls
in the age of Empire.
These minions with highly decorative qualifications will not dare tell the
Emperor that he has no moral clothes as they are paid servants serving their
political masters in servitude..."
more
3.
Ana Pararajasingham
from Australia -
A Tribute to Adrian
Wijemanne |
27 September 2006
Reflections
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Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of
Legitimate Power and Greatness
"...Who is the enemy? Who is holding back more rapid movement
to the better society that is reasonable and possible with available resources?
Who is responsible for the mediocre performance of so many of our institutions?
Who is standing in the way of a larger consensus on the definition of the better
society and the paths to reaching it? Not evil people. Not stupid people. Not
apathetic people. Not the “system”. Not the protesters, the disrupters, the
revolutionaries, the reactionaries…The real enemy is fuzzy thinking on the part
of good, intelligent, vital people, and their failure to lead, and to follow
servants as leaders..."
more |
27 September 2006
Indictment Against Sri Lanka: Genocide'83 to include
N.Sanmugathasan, Leader of Maoist Ceylon Communist Party on
Sri Lanka's Week of Shame
27 September 2006
Tamil National Forum
| 1. Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia and asks
பயங்கரவாதம் என்றால் என்ன?
2. Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan on
Diplomatic Recognition for Tamil Eelam State
"...I was hardly surprised by the text of what
President Mahinda Rajapakse had spoken at the recently concluded Non Aligned
Movement summit in Havana.. The Sri Lankan President’s address was packed with
nothing but the routine claptrap cliches we have come to expect from the leading
top dogs of the island. What can one expect from run-of-the mill Sri Lankan
politicians who suffer from mind block and timidity to not read the history of
valiant struggles for liberation, led by guys like Washington, Mao, Begin and
Mandela?.."
more
3. Brian Senewiratne writes from Australia
-
In the path of
Adrian Wijemanne
"...Adrian was, like me, a Sinhalese who has,
for many years, campaigned for the cause of the Tamil people. There are some
similarities between the two of us but also some enormous differences which will
become apparent as we go along. In following “the Path of Adrian”, I am not
referring to myself. I invite all of you, to follow the enlightened path
blazed by Adrian.."
more |
22 September 2006
Reflections
| " First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they
fight you, then you win." Mahatma Gandhi |
22 September 2006 Sathyam Commentary
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Tamils Rally in Tamil Eelam, September
2005 |
Nadesan Satyendra - On Terrorism & Liberation
"Sinhala Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse was at pains, at the conference
of the Non- Alignment Movement in Havana on 16 September 2006, to draw a
distinction between terrorism and liberation. And that is understandable.
He was, after all, speaking in the land of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara...
Having said that, President Rajapakse's address affords an opportunity to
examine the rhetoric of those who would suppress struggles for freedom with the
cry of 'terrorism' - and an opportunity to call for the liberation of
political language along with the liberation of peoples. What is terrorism? Is
all resort to violence to secure political ends, terrorism?... Is it that there
are no circumstances in which a people ruled by an alien people may
lawfully resort to arms to liberate themselves?..."
more |
21 September 2006 Tamil National Forum
 Sachi
Sri Kantha writes from Japan on
The Mind of
Mao and Its Relevance to Eelam
"..It has been my view for long time that Eelam Tamils have been
too much Indo-centric in their world view. Among Eelam Tamils, for three
generations, we have had hundreds of arm chair experts and politicians who could
talk for hours on the liberation ideology of Gandhi and Nehru. But, one could
count in two palms, Tamil specialists who have read Mao in-depth (at least in
English translation). While nothing is wrong in being comfortable with
Indo-centric thinking, it would also help Tamils if we expand our world view
beyond the boundaries of India and elicit some interest on India’s neighbor
China and its politico-military history of the 20th century to
comprehend what Mahatma Gandhi’s junior contemporary Mao Ze Dong contributed to
China’s liberation from her oppressors..."
more |
20 September 2006 Sri Lanka Accused at
United Nations to include
Briefing
Paper on the Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka: the Rajapakse Era - International Law
Project
 18
September 2006
Strength of an Idea -Revolution
in the Revolution? - Regis Debray "...The guerrilla force is
independent of the civilian population, in action as well as in military
organisation; consequently it need not assume the direct defence of the peasant
population. The protection of the population depends on the progressive
destruction of the enemy's military potential. It is relative to the overall
balance of forces: the populace will be completely safe when the opposing forces
are completely defeated.......
By restricting itself to the task of protecting civilians or
passive self-defence, the guerrilla unit ceases to be the vanguard of the people
as a whole and deprives itself of a national perspective... By choosing to
operate at this level, it may be able to provide protection for the population
for a limited time. But in the long run the opposite is true: self-defence
undermines the security of the civilian population.... limiting oneself to
passive defence is to place oneself in the position of being unable to protect
the population and to expose one's own forces to attrition. On the other hand,
to seek for ways to attack the enemy is to put him on the permanent defensive to
exhaust him and prevent him from expanding his activities, to wrest the
initiative from him, and to impede his search operations...."
more
 18
September 2006
Tamil National Forum - Sanmugam Sabesan writes from
Australia
தியாகத்தின்
செய்தி "...பத்தொன்பது ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு நல்லூர்க் கந்தசாமி கோவில் வீதியில்
ஓருயிர் தன்னைத்தானே சிலுவையில் அறைந்து கொண்டது. தனது மக்களின் விடிவுக்காக, தனது
வாழ்வைத் தியாகம் செய்து, தனது சாவைச் சந்திப்பதற்காக அந்த உயிர் தன்கையில்
எடுத்துக் கொண்ட ஆயுதம் அகிம்சை என்ற அழைக்கப்பட்ட கோட்பாடு ஆகும்!..."
more
[together with
Translation in English: Sacrificial Message – 19 years On…]
15 September 2006 Tamils a Trans State
Nation: Australia to include
Kuruntokai Dance Drama Presented by Lingalayam Dance Company in Australia -
Review by Parasakthy Sundharalingam
13 September 2006
Reflections
| " Every adherent of the Congress, however noisy in
declamations, however bitter in speech, is safe from burning bungalows and
murdering Europeans and the like. His hopes are based upon the British nation
and he will do nothing to invalidate these hopes and anger that nation."
Retired British civil servant, A.O.Hume writing, not about writers on the
world wide web, but about the Indian National Congress that he founded in
1885 |
12 September 2006
Sathyam Commentary
Nadesan Satyendra - Black Pebbles & White
Pebbles
"...Sometimes, the Tamil response to the international
community, takes on the characteristics of the teen age girl's response in
the pebble story. It seems that we avoid confronting the international community
for fear of provoking its ire. We avoid seeking an open dialogue with the
international community on its strategic imperatives and the true rationale for
its actions. We resort to subterfuge. We say that our way is the 'anuku murai' -
the diplomatic way to 'approach' issues. We claim that this is the
effective way. But has this 'anuku murai' succeeded? Again the result of
not calling a spade a spade is that we confuse our own people. We confuse our
people by leading them to believe that the international community is without
sufficient 'cleverness' to respond to our subterfuge with its own subterfuge and
advance its own agenda. We confuse our people by leading them to believe that
all that needs to be done is to wake up the international community to the facts
and the justice of our cause and all will be well. This is the limitation of our
discourse. It is a limitation that we need to transcend. Diplomacy may be the
art of lying without getting caught but a struggle for freedom is not..."
more |
12 September 2006
Tamil National Forum
9 September 2006
Reflections
|
1.
"...We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men
who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of
bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that
everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms
- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's
own way..."
Viktor Emil Frankl
in Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning
2."...We each have a wide range of concern - our health,
our children, problems at work, the national debt, nuclear war. We could
separate those from things in which we have no particular mental or emotional
involvement by creating a "Circle of Concern." As we look at those things
within our Circle of Concern,
it becomes apparent that there are some things over which we have no real
control and others that we can do something about. We could identify
those concerns in the latter group by circumscribing them within a smaller
Circle of Influence.
|
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By determining which of these two circles is the focus of most
of our time and energy, we can discover much about the degree of our
proactivity. Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence.
They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their
energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence
to increase. Reactive people, on the other hand, focus their efforts in the
Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems
in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. Their
focus results in blaming and accusing attitudes, reactive language, and
increased feelings of victimization. The negative energy generated by that
focus, combined with neglect in areas they could do something about,
causes their Circle of Influence to shrink." Stephen Covey in
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People |
8 September 2006
Tamil National Forum to include
|
An Exchange
of Letters between an Uncle & a Nephew "..I would not place too much
faith in 'Only God and a Miracle' can help us. Neither would I lose sleep,
pondering over 'what the LTTE's plans are for the future'. Much can be done by
us 'to stop these atrocities'. Every bit counts, and little drops can make it
all flow. 'REACH Out' should be the motto. 'Knock and it shall open'
phenomenon will certainly work for all of us. Look out and find 3 to 4
persons around you in whom you have confidence, who think alike, those you can
work with, and those who care for the Tamil people in the North-East. Follow
your friends or become their leader/guide in this divine effort. You now have
the Miracle in your hands..."
more |
7 September 2006
Media & the Tamil Struggle
|
BBC Reporter
Dumeetha Luthra |
Reuban Nanthakumar writes from Australia on
BBC and its
Flirtations with Sri Lankan Propaganda
"...In a response written by the BBC’s South
Asia editor, Bernard Gabony, he defends their reporting
by arguing that both the Tamils and Singhalese accuse them of bias, and as such
it can only mean that they are neutral. That is wishful thinking. The truth
from one side cannot be “balanced” with a lie from another. Neither can it
be considered balanced if the BBC suppresses vital facts of atrocities against
the Tamils. The BBC is not there to tally the votes, but to report the facts.
..The “fog of war” does indeed apply to Sri Lanka, but the BBC is yet to reach
its broadcast standards seen in other conflict areas such as the Middle East.
No, it’s far from perfect over there, but at least, their Middle East coverage
provides enough balance for the viewers to make a reasoned opinion. This is
possibly due to reports from the region being closely monitored and commented on
strongly by both Arabs and Jews alike – a task that is disappointingly abandoned
by the global Tamil community. They should realise that their survival from
ethnic cleansing depends on their ability to keep news organizations like the
BBC honest and true to their principles. Ultimately, where governments misgovern
and news organizations fail, it is the public who are left to police the actions
of those to whom they pay attention. British citizens, who both directly and
indirectly fund the BBC, as well as the global audience, have to determine if
their trust can be allowed to be abused continually, or act now and demand the
respect they deserve..."
more |
6 September 2006
Conflict Resolution: Sri Lanka - Tamil Eelam
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1.
International Federation of Tamils:
Sri Lanka's
Military Annexation Of Sampur A Complete Collapse Of CFA?
2.
Statement
from Mr.Phillip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions on
proposed International Human Rights Monitoring Commission
"...Another factor suggesting the value of international monitoring is
that the conflict between the Government and the LTTE is ultimately a struggle
for legitimacy, not territory. The conflict has no military solution, and mere
adjustment of the facts on the ground will not fundamentally change either
party's position in future negotiations. The LTTE's hopes for autonomy or
independence rest on persuading the domestic and international communities that
this would be the best solution in human rights terms ..."
together with
comments by
tamilnation.org
"...if the international community is truly concerned to play a
Good Samaritan role and is intent on securing the 'best solution in human rights
terms', the question that Tamils may rightly ask Mr.Alston is to explain why it
is that the international community has not been persuaded by the
delaration made by the Gandhian Tamil leader S.J.V.Chelvanyagam in 1975 that the
'best solution in human rights terms' to the conflict in the island is to
secure the
freedom of the
Tamil people from alien Sinhala rule.
...The Tamils are a reasonable people and they will welcome a reasoned
response from Mr.Alston so that they may be persuaded of the 'neutrality'
of the views that he has expressed. There is ofcourse one other matter. Mr.
Alston is perhaps, understandably silent on the strategic interests that the
'international community' seek to secure in Indian region... is the
international community truly concerned about securing the 'best solution in
human rights terms' as Mr.Alston would have us believe or are the
trilaterals (US, the European Union and Japan) and India (and now China)
concerned to prevent a resolution of the conflict except on terms which secure
each of their own differing strategic interests in the Indian region..."
more
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5 September 2006
Tamil National Forum
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Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan on
Tamil Mind
and Tiger Mind: A 1994 Debate between S.Sivanayagam and Ketheesh Loganathan
" In late 1994, the Sunday Observer of Colombo published three features
(two by
distinguished journalist S.Sivanayagam and one by the then EPRLF
theoretician
Ketheesh Loganathan) on the theme of ‘Tamil Mind and Tiger Mind’. Shortly
afterwards, I received copies of these three articles from Sivanayagam himself,
and I reproduce these below for their topical interest... Loganathan’s pet peeve
for nearly two decades (from 1983 to 2006) has been, whether LTTE deserves the
‘sole, legitimate representative’ status for Eelam Tamils... After listing the
alphabet soup of Eelam Tamil entities which have ‘Liberation’ in their names
(TULF, PLOTE, TELO, ENDLF and EPRLF), Sivanayagam’s smashing return was,
“Tamil people have never been short of
liberators. What seems to be the difference between the ‘self-proclaimed
liberators’ in the LTTE and other self-proclaimed liberators is that the former
is at least in the liberation business!”
more
|
3 September 2006
Sri Lanka's War Crimes to include
 Eight
Months after Sri Lanka Para militaries abducted 7 Staff Members of the Tamils
Rehabilitation Organisation and 5 days after TRO Jaffna Office was destroyed by
Sri Lanka Army -
Sinhala
Sri Lanka government freezes bank accounts of the Registered Charity
"Humanitarian assistance to the recently displaced people of the NorthEast
by local NGOs, INGOs and even UN agencies has now been effectively shut down by
the actions of members of the Sri Lankan security forces. Currently, due to the
pullout of most international agencies from the NorthEast, TRO is one of a
handful of organizations assisting those recently displaced by war. TRO wishes
to categorically state that the current humanitarian situation in the NorthEast
of Sri Lanka is reaching a critical stage. There is a desperate need, recognized
by all who are involved in humanitarian work, which the international community
is being prevented from responding to effectively. The timing of this action
by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka with callous disregard to its consequences
truly shocks not only the TRO staff but also the Tamil Diaspora community."
more |
3 September 2006
Reflections
| “..Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can
shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting,
from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on. No matter where
you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You
always have a choice and the choice can be power.” -
Blaine Lee author of
The Power Principle : Influence With Honor |
2 September 2006
Sathyam Commentary
 The
Charge is Genocide, the Struggle is for Freedom... - Nadesan Satyendra
"...And to those in the international community who continue to
speak of their willingness to recognise the 'legitimate aspirations' of the
Tamil people (but who refrain from spelling out what in their view is
'legitimate') the time has come to reiterate that which Gandhian leader
S.J.V.Chelvanayagam declared 32 years ago and say that that it is the legitimate
aspiration of the Tamil people to be free from alien Sinhala rule... Does the
international community agree that the aspiration of the Tamil people to be free
from alien Sinhala rule is a legitimate aspiration? Or does it take the
view that Gandhian leader S.J.V. Chelvanayagam was wrong and that the aspiration
of the people of Tamil Eelam to be free from alien Sinhala rule is not a
'legitimate' aspiration? If the latter be the case, has not the time come for
the international community to explain to the people of Tamil Eelam its reasons
for insisting that the Tamil people be ruled by a permanent Sinhala majority
within the confines of a single state? Perhaps, the time has also come for the
Tamil people to engage in a dialogue with the international community
and tell them that they may ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam but they
cannot ban the
cry of a people for freedom
from alien rule. And here let us be clear. The struggle of the people of
Tamil Eelam to be free from
alien
Sinhala rule
is not about what the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam may have done or may not
have done. The armed resistance of the people of Tamil Eelam (warts and all)
arose as the inevitable response to decades of efforts by successive Sinhala
governments
to conquer and assimilate the Tamil people and the
enactment of the
6th Amendment to the Sri Lanka constitution set the seal by criminalising
all non violent means of struggle for an independent Tamil Eelam state.."
more |
1 September 2006 Sri
Lanka's War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire
to include
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Sri Lanka's military conducting slow pogrom - Tamil Guardian on Race War
"The deliberate displacement of over 160,000 Tamils by Sri Lankan military
offensives and attacks this year combined with the purposeful blocking of food,
medicine and relief supplies amounts to a 'slow pogrom' of the Tamils... Whilst
trotting out the tired counter-insurgency rhetoric of 'hearts and minds' and a
glib insistence that Tigers, not Tamils, are the target, Sri Lanka's military
has always been ready to punish the Tamils for the LTTE's violence" ...more |
1 September 2006
Media & the Tamil Struggle: Censorship, Disinformation &
Murder of Journalists
to include
Maharaja TV employee abducted in Colombo
|
