Whats New Archive
November 2006
30 November 2006
Tamils - a Trans State Nation: Tamil
Nadu to include
 Vaiko:
"Sri Lankan Tamils want a Separate Nation
"..Prabhakaran's team was not given a copy of the
Indo-Sri Lanka agreement. It was merely read out to
them. Dixit read the terms of the agreement. Anton
Balasingham was also present at that meeting.
Prabhakaran was totally shocked. They never expected
India to enter into such an agreement. They
[Prabhakaran and his team] said they were opposed to
the agreement. Dixit, who was puffing a cigar, said,
'We don't care. Who are you to oppose?' Prabhakaran
said, 'We will oppose with all our might.'
Dixit said, 'Before this cigar is over, smoke is
over, within that time we will crush you.'
These are the words of J N Dixit. Balasingham told
me the exact words..."
more |
30 November 2006
What is Terrorism? to
include
 Amnesty
Launches Campaign Against Torture by United
States - "Torture is Terror"
"...The US
Administration insists it does not condone
or use torture but the facts suggest
the opposite.. Martin Mubanga.. held at
Guantanamo Bay, has described his interrogators
using a mop to cover him in his own waste and
urine. This is just one of many testimonies
emerging from US detention centres alleging the
use of torture and ill-treatment... It is
disturbing to read about Mohammed C having his
arms burned with cigarettes. It is shocking to
find that at the time of this ordeal, Mohammed
was just 14 years old... When a nation
begins to condone torture, it sends out a
message to its own people that such inhuman
conduct is now acceptable. Such conduct then
starts to become the norm. When that nation is
as powerful as the USA, the message it sends
goes out to the whole world...
If you believe that torture is terror,
please support our campaign by making a donation
today..."
more
|
29 November 2006
Tamil National Forum to
include
 1.Sachi
Sri Kantha writes from Japan on
Triumvir Rajas
"...If one has to correctly record
the past one year of political leadership, the most
apt phrase is �triumvir Rajas� � the Rajapaksa
siblings. In principle, Mahinda Rajapaksa is the
nominal elected President. But in practice, he
shares his power with his two siblings, Basil
Rajapaksa (in charge of political affairs) and
Gothabaya Rajapaksa (in charge of military affairs).
This was neither divulged in President Mahinda�s
election manifesto nor overtly expected by the
Sinhalese voters. To borrow Thomas Carlyle�s
eloquent sentence to the Colombo scene, in November
2006, �Basil is standing motionless, Gothabaya
ejaculating, Mahinda is struggling to speak�..."
more
2.
Mathinee Sreetharan from USA together with
comment by
tamilnation.org
|
நீதியின் கரங்கள் எத்தனை நீளம்?
அநீதியை அழிக்கப் பொதுமா தூரம்?
நீதியின் காவலா, ஆண்டவா கூறு!
அநீதியொ தமிழனாய்ப் பிறந்தது என்று.
more |
|
28 November 2006
Reflections
| "...We have
completely abandoned the Federal concept, we have
decided to separate. If we don't separate we can
never win back our lost rights. We will try in every
way to set up a Separate State. This is certain. As
the voice of my people I tell this to Sri
Lanka and the world from this house. We know this is
not an easy task. We know it is a difficult path.
But either we must get out of the rule of the
Sinhalese or perish. This is our ideal ."
Gandhian Tamil Leader, S.J.V.Chelvanayagam in Sri
Lanka Parliament, December 1976 |
28 November 2006
Tamils -a Trans State Nation:
Maaveerar Naal 2006 in UK, Australia, Canada, Norway &
Belgium....
தமிழ் அகம்: ஓர் உணர்வா, அல்லது இடமா?
27 November 2006
Struggle for Tamil Eelam:
Velupillai Pirabakaran, Leader of Tamil Eelam to include
|
 2006
Maveerar Naal Address
including
Audio, Video, Text in
Tamil and Excerpts in English - An
Independent State for the People of Tamil Eelam
"சிங்களப் பேரினவாதத்தின் கடுமையான போக்கு, தனியரசு என்ற ஒரேயொரு பாதையைத்தான்
இன்று தமிழீழ மக்களுக்குத் திறந்துவைத்திருக்கிறது. எனவே, இந்த விடுதலைப் பாதையிற்
சென்று,
சுதந்திரத் தமிழீழத் தனியரசை நிறுவுவதென இன்றைய நாளில் நாம்
தீர்க்கமாக முடிவு செய்திருக்கிறோம். தமிழினம் விடுதலைப் பாதையில்
வீறுகொண்டெழுந்திருக்கின்ற இந்தப் பெருமைமிகுந்த வரலாற்றுக் காலகட்டத்தில்
உலகத்தமிழினத்தின் உதவியையும் பேராதரவையும் நாம்
வேண்டிநிற்கிறோம்..."
more
"... It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders will never put
forward a just resolution to the Tamil national question. The uncompromising
stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent
state for the people of Tamil Eelam. At this historic time when the Tamils
are recommencing their journey on the path of freedom, we seek the unwavering
support and assistance of the world Tamil community...�
more
|
26 November 2006
Nadesan Satyendra - Selected Writings
to include
|
Tomorrow is Maaveerar
Naal - "... Today is the 52nd birthday of
Velupillai Pirabakharan - a leader who has become the living symbol of
the Tamil Eelam struggle for freedom from alien Sinhala rule. And, tomorrow
is Maaveerar Naal. It is a day when hundreds of thousands of Tamils living
in many lands will bow their heads in silence, even if only for a few moments -
and remember those of their brothers and sisters, their �udan pirapukal�, who
have given their lives so that we may live in freedom and with dignity -
in Tamil we say thanmaanam, தன்மானம்......"
more
|
26 November 2006
India & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam
to include
|
Sri Lanka: Marginalisation of India, B.Raman
"..There has been a revival of the pre-1983 interest
of the US Navy in acquiring a presence in
Trincomallee and hopes of achieving this with the
support of the Government of Mr. Rajapakse should at
least partly account for the growing open support of
the US for Mr. Rajapakse and its disinclination to
take a firm stand against the methods employed by
the Sri Lankan security forces against the Tamil
population. Trincomallee has acquired a new
importance in the eyes of the US and the NATO forces
presently fighting against the Taliban in
Afghanistan as an alternative naval base for
logistic support to the NATO operations in
Afghanistan should instability in Pakistan after the
next year's general elections there make the
continued use of Karachi untenable. Mr. Burns
has showered encomiums on what he described as
India's responsible attitude on Sri Lanka---- which
is nothing but an euphemism for its in-activism."more |
25 November 2006
Reflections
-
2 days before Maaveerar Naal
2006 and 6 years ago:
24 November 2006
Reflections
|
"Throwing a bomb is bad,
Dropping a bomb is good;
Terror, no need to add,
Depends on who's wearing the hood."
- R. Woddis, "Ethics for Everyman," quoted in C.A.J. Coady,
"The Morality of Terrorism," Philosophy, vol. 60 (1985), p.
52. |
24 November 2006 What is
Terrorism? to include
|
On the Preeminence of State Terrorism
- Edward S. Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance, Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania
"By any generally applicable standard... state
terrorism is vastly more destructive than anti-state and individual and small
group terrorism. This is the basis for distinguishing between the two as
�wholesale� versus �retail� terrorism... (In state terrorism).. First, the
leaders of the targeted people are demonized and the populations themselves are
often condemned as �willing executioners.�...Second, the
government-media-intellectuals axis uses (and misuses) words that put the attack
and attacker in a favorable light and denigrate their targets. The word
�terrorism� is used only to designate retail terrorist actions and retail
responses to state violence.... Third.. is the distinction between deliberate
killing and �collateral damage.� Retail terrorists, like suicide bombers,
deliberately kill civilians, whereas with bombing raids...any civilian killings
are allegedly inadvertent rather than deliberate, hence in a different and
higher moral class..... Fourth, the word bias runs parallel with the level of
attention and indignation. The victims of �terrorism� are �worthy� victims and
get extensive and sympathetic treatment that can arouse public sympathy and help
justify the attacks on the officially-identified terrorists in programs of
�counter-terror.�"
more |
23 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum
23 November 2006 Reflections - 4
days before
Maaveerar
Naal
22 November 2006 Conflict
Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka
|
Co-chairs of Tokyo Donors Conference call for
full implementation of CFA - and continue to label LTTE as a
'terrorist' organisation
together with comment by
tamilnation.org
"The questions asked by the Press Trust of India afforded an
opportunity for US Under Secretary Burns to clarify the US
position in relation to the conflict in the island. The
questions were pointed - 1.Sir,
there has been a lot of writing in the media that there is
somehow two different tracks of U.S. policy towards this
conflict in Sri Lanka. The hard line espoused by Mr. Burns
supposedly is for allowing military offensives for the state of
Sri Lanka to preserve the territorial integrity. And supposedly
there is a softer line that is pushing for the homeland, you
know, of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Can you please clarify for the
record what it is that the U.S. is pushing there now in Sri
Lanka? and 2. What military assistance does the United
States provide to the Government of Sri Lanka and whether any of
the arms have been used by the government troops in alleged
atrocities?
more |
21 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum
20 November 2006 Conflict
Resolution in the Age of Empire to include
|
Understanding the Nepal Peace Agreement "China
unconditionally backs the king in a costless gamble to gain
influence in the Himalayan country that borders the Tibetan
region. India believes that monarchal rule is inherently
unstable in Nepal, and it threw its support behind the political
parties after they were dismissed in February 2005." .... "Every
sane mind knows that top Maoist leaders live and give out their
directives to their cadres from within the Indian territory.."
more |
20 November 2006
International Frame of Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include
20 November 2006 Sri Lanka's War
on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire -
20 November 2006 Tamil Nation
Library to include
 Memories
are Forever by Karthigasoo Jeganathan "We and our
children and grandchildren had chosen to live here (in
Auckland) for the past six years. Except for the extreme
cold during the winter season and the high humidity in the
air, we have very little to complain. This is the fifth
country of our domicile (Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Zambia and
South Africa being the other four). For me and for
Shakuntala it has been a unique experience after leaving our
motherland in the wake of the pogrom of 1977. Whatever
little hope we entertained about returning to our motherland
was lost with the loss of our home and its contents in the
worst of the pogroms of 1983... It is our hope that we could
lead the remaining few years of our lives not far away from
our children and grandchildren..."
more |
19 November 2006
Learning &
Teaching Tamil to include
18 November 2006
International Relations in the Age of Empire
|
 Revisited
Nadesan Satyendra - The Buddha Smiled Question: "The
Buddha is the most awesomely solemn of beings. Why then does
he smile?" Reply: "There are all
manner of causes and conditions whereby one may smile.
There are those who are delighted and therefore smile.
There are those who are afflicted with anger and therefore
smile. One may feel contempt for others and therefore
smile. One may witness strange events and therefore
smile. One may observe embarrassing situations and
therefore smile. It may happen that one sees strange
customs from other lands and therefore smile. It may
also happen that one witnesses rare and difficult
undertakings and thus is caused to smile".
more |
17 November 2006
International Frame of Struggle for Tamil Eelam to
include
 US
Senate backs India nuclear deal
"Energy-hungry India needs nuclear power. The US Senate has
overwhelmingly voted to pass a controversial deal to share
civilian nuclear technology with India. Under the deal,
which was proposed more than a year ago, India must allow
international inspections of its nuclear facilities. US
President George W Bush hailed the move as bringing India
into the "nuclear non-proliferation mainstream". However,
the bill still has to clear a number of hurdles before it
becomes law and is implemented. One condition would
require India to fully and actively participate in efforts
to contain Iran's nuclear programme."
more |
17 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum to include
| 1.
Himanshu B from Canada "So what point are you making by
creating the webpage, New Delhi & the Tamil Struggle: For
Province Read Nation. Are you advocating separatism?"
together with
response by
tamilnation.org
"You
may find the article
Tamil Nation & the Unity of India
of interest - and it may clarify the point that we
sought to make by publishing Pramatha Chauduri's essay
on
'For Province
Read Nation'
which he wrote in 1920. .. True inter-dependence will
come only between those who are independent.
Pramatha Chauduri's writing remains essential reading today
for all us who regard ourselves as Indians and who are
concerned to secure and protect the unity that is India... A
stable unity will emerge only when New Delhi acquires the
vision and the strength to structure a polity where the
different peoples of the sub continent (including those in
the island of Sri Lanka) may freely associate with each
other in equality and in freedom... The real
political question is not one of separation or division
but one of determining the terms on which different nations
may 'associate' with one another in equality and in freedom
- and
this
is the issue that the 21st century may have to confront.
..."
more
2. Sara Ananthan from Australia -
Urgent action needed for the humanitarian crisis in Sri
Lanka
3அன்புதாசன் from வடமராட்சி
- சாவிலும் வாழ்வோம்
4.
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingham from USA on
Merger or De-Merger? |
16 November 2006 International
Frame of Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include
14 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum to include Sanmugam Sabesan
சிலுவையைச் சுமக்குமா சர்வதேசம்?
12 November 2006 Sri Lanka's
War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire
12 November 2006 Introduction -
அறிமுகம் - A New Colombo Sunday News
Paper -
The Nation
11 November 2006 Sri Lanka's War
on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire
 1.
Tamil Parliamentarian Raviraj shot dead in Colombo 6 days
after Co-Chairs' Failure to Condemn Killinochchi Bombing
[including
Pirabakharan confers Maamanithar award to Raviraj,
Brian Senewiratne on the Future of Tamil Parliamentarians in
Sri Lanka and
Condemn the assassination of another voice
for peace and justice - Dr. Nimalka Fernando
] "'...States that want to oppress a people do so by
breaking their political will to resist injustice. To do
this, oppressing states kill a society's intellectuals and
journalists who speak for the rights of their people. They
want the Tamils to be intellectually rudderless. It is
easier to enslave a people who have lost their ability to
understand the nature of their oppression...'
Dharmeratnam Sivaram (who was himself shot
dead on 28 April 2005) speaking at Memorial Meeting for
Slain Batticaloa Journalist, Aiyathurai Nadesan on 7 August
2004"
more
 2.
Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim
condemns Sri Lanka Army for unprovoked shelling at Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission in Pooneryn "...There
was clear sight....it was impossible to misunderstand the
situation. The army was in advance informed of the
meeting which was about inspecting the pathway that has been
damaged. SLA fired artillery shells started to hit the
ground first at 100 meter distance, but gradually the
shells began approaching the delegation, at closest 50 meter
from the Head of Mission. One of the vehicles was pushed
off the path due to the air pressure caused by the artillery
shelling..."
more
3.
Sri Lanka Armed Forces shell Tamil Refugee Camp in Vaharai -
Over 40 Tamil Civilians Murdered, Hundreds Injured
"... The multi-barrel rockets attack, which began at
approximately 11:35 a.m. on 8 November 2006 and lasted for
over 30 minutes, struck a school, Kathiraveli Vikneswara
Vidyalayam, Vaharai General Hospital and TRO�s Sonobo
Children�s Home (12 children in the home were injured).
There are over 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDP)
families in the immediate area. Most of the dead and injured
are IDPs from Muttur....." |
 |
 10
November 2006 Tamil National Forum to
include Sachi Sri Kantha relates
A Tale
of Two Tamil Vice Chancellors
"This is a tale, which will be told four generations from
now in Eelam, of two Tamil Vice Chancellors. For simplicity, I tag them
with the animal motifs, a toad(y) and an ant, in the blessed island in
the year 2006...I write this tale of a toad and an ant in a sense of
desperation, to expose the gimmicks of the Priggish Moralist Orchestra.
They hardly know the ant. But I know. This courageous, self-effacing
academic (Dr. Sivasubramaniam Raveendranath) who labored in East Eelam
for 25 years to build a university is an old friend of mine. He and I
were batchmates at Aquinas University College 36 years ago, before we
entered the universities. He went to the University of Peradeniya for an
agriculture degree. I chose the University of Colombo for a science
degree. I dip my head in salute for his energy and decency..."
more
8 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum to include Sanmugam
 Sabesan
on
அவுஸ்திரேலிய நினைவு தினம் -
Lest We Forget
[together with
Translation in English]
8 November 2006 Conflict
Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka
|
Never say, never again - M.S.Shah Jahan "...Sri
Lankan government�s argument that the LTTE would financially
benefit from the opening of the A9 highway is not wrong.
(But) Sri Lanka failed to understand that it had pushed a
sector of its own citizens to starvation, possibly,
expecting their suffering would turn them against the
Tigers. But on the other hand it could justify and
strengthen the Tiger�s call for separation as a way out from
Sinhala attitude...Further on the subject of food supply
to Jaffna by ship, the Sri Lankan government is suspected to
have a hidden agenda. It is alleged that the ships have a
chance to carry other things for the armed forces. The
way SL blocked the LTTE�s suspected motive for opening A9
high way, the LTTE has blocked the government�s
unexplained interest on the shipping route. Diamond cuts
diamond is the attitude..."
more |
7 November 2006 Tamil National
Forum
|
Fr. Chandiravarman Sinnathurai on
A 9 - The Road to Sri Lankan Darfour: Emptied of Compassion
[These fractured verses were written after speaking to a couple of people in
Jaffna few days ago. This poem reflects on their plight and their dignified
resilience]
|
Relentless shelling and aerial bombing
Abductions,
disappearances,
raping and pillage
The whole world looks on
us without batting an eye lid
Its all geo-politics. No ethical or moral
considerations.
Who wants to make a quick buck
out of our plight?
Arms dealers. International
plutocrats. Local politicians.
Humanitarian needs : What�s that?
Put on the
back-burner. They might add.
We are in the
brink of starvation;
Even hospitals are bombed
Let alone schools.
No medicine for the young
and old
No
milk for our infants
But the toys are a
plenty:
Burnt out shells and empty missiles
The blood hounds savour the taste of skulls
The
crows feast on carcasses.
Many civilian lives lost forever
Stray dogs appear in the form of informants;
child-abducting Para-Militaries,
Secret agents with pocket tape recorders.
Torturing out a false confession.
Masquerading pimpernels in tinted white vans
They are the State Terrorists.
A word to the
Co-Chairs and the International Community:
Ladies
and gentlemen �
How long will you pretend to be
our saviours?
How many times you want the Tamils
to prove that
we too are humans
longing to
free our motherland?!more |
|
|
|
6 November 2006
Tamils - a Trans State Nation - United Kingdom:
Mathangi
Maya Arulpragasam
M.I.A. (Missing in Acton )
to include
 Joshua
Ostroff in Eyeweekly
on Tiger,
Tiger, burning bright: Tamil pop provocatrice M.I.A. wages
war on the dancefloor
"I haven't heard honesty in music for so long and this is
how I feel, and this is what I think. You don't even have to
say words, I was just being as raw as possible. I wanted to
make music that you felt in your gut... You can't separate
the world into two parts like that, good and evil. Terrorism
is a method. But America has successfully tied all these
pockets of independent struggles, revolutions and extremists
into one big notion of terrorism. You can't grab someone by
the neck and choke them and then complain they're kicking
you. If you're going around oppressing people, they will
fight back..."more |
6 November 2006
Learning &
Teaching Tamil
to include
Mazalais - A Website Exclusively for Children
5 November 2006
International Relations in the Age of Empire
| Revisited - Yet Again:
A
Lesson in Foreign Policy : When China taught Vietnam a
Lesson with US Support in 1979 "..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..."
more |
4 November 2006
Sri Lanka's War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of
a Ceasefire:
Sri Lanka intensifies attacks in Vanni, Vaharai after Co-Chairs' Failure
to Condemn Killinochchi Bombing
4 November 2006
International Frame of the Struggle for Tamil
Eelam
to include
 Geneva
Based International Federation of Tamils calls upon the
International Community to Respond Meaningfully to Sri
Lanka's Message of Terror "The Co-Chairs
who were quick to name the LTTE and condemn it for the
attack on a Sri Lankan military convoy in Habarana on 16
October 2006, as a �terrorist� attack, refuse to categorise
the Sri Lanka attack on a civilian population centre in
Killinochchi in the proximity of a Hospital as a war crime...the
Co-Chairs having failed to name Sri Lanka and hold it
accountable, then go on to �expect
both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE
to refrain from military action.� The message sought
to be conveyed by the Co-Chairs is clear. �We will not
condemn Sri Lanka�s message of terror in Killinochchi, but
if the LTTE responds to Sri Lanka�s continuing aerial
bombardment of Tamil civil population centres, then we will
condemn the LTTE for taking military action and categorise
such action as �terrorism��. ...The continued failure by
the international community to condemn Sri Lanka's actions
will lead more and more Tamil people in many lands, to
question whether the international community is asleep or
whether it is simply pretending to be asleep and that
explanations for the silence of the international community
may have to sought in the
strategic interests of the international community in the
Indian Ocean Region - and in particular the impact that
the success of the struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam to
be free from alien Sinhala rule may have on the uneasy
balance of power reflected in the two geopolitical
triangles juxtaposing on the Indian Ocean's political
background: U.S.- India - China relations and China -
Pakistan - India relations.... "
more |
4 November 2006 Reflections
| "...And, so we ask the Sri Lankan government
delegation, here at Thimpu, do you accept that which we are
saying as being right? Do you see the justice of our claim to an
identified homeland? Do you not see that without an
identified homeland, we could not have become a people with a
separate language and a separate culture, and that without an
identified homeland we shall cease to be a people? Or
is it the position that the Sri Lankan government does in fact
see this reality and
for that reason, refuses to recognise the existence of a
homeland for the Tamil people, so that it may absorb the Tamil
people into a single homogeneous 'Sinhala' nation?.."
Excerpt from Statement by Nadesan Satyendra at Thimpu Talks,
August 1985 |
4 November 2006
Boundaries of Tamil Eelam
to include S. Nagarajan, Professor
& Head, Department of Tamil Studies, Tamil University, India on
Territorial
Identity of Tamil Eelam:Tamil & Sinhalese Perspectives
4 November 2006
Tamils - a Trans State Nation: Canada
to include Canadian
Tamils feel Marginalized and Muzzled -
Dr. Bavan
Sri Skanda Rajah, Toronto Star Community Editorial
3 November 2006
International Relations in the Age
of Empire
|
Audio Visual Presentation:
Noam Chomsky on the Pessimism of the Intellect and
the Optimism of the Will - BBC Interview |
|
|
 |
|
Part 1
|
Part 2 |
3 November 2006 Tamil
National Forum
|
Chandi Sinnathurai, Tontaimannarru,
Tamil Eelam,
Sir: The line that you have drawn concerning
the question of peace is clearly a straight one.
Your position is, quite rightly, that the armed struggle of
the Eelamites "is NOT about securing peace" (strictly
speaking). More over you have succinctly said that "It is
not about changing the character of Sinhala rule." So what's
it all about? The yearning of the Eelamites boils down to
one thing alone, and that is: To live in peace within
"an independent Tamil state" and to live alongside
peacefully "with an independent Sri Lanka." That brings me
to a perennial question that I have tried to grapple with in
my decrepit age: Why on earth have we not made that
clear each time we came around the Table of negotiation
chasing for that mirage of elusive peace? Instead
we were brought several times to cliff hanger situations in
our Talks and to babble this, that but not "this"
which you have articulated. I'm sure the annexed video
link would say something seriously important in a humorous
way. Thank you! |
3 November 2006
Reflections
"bongo
with my lingo
And beat it like a wing yo
To Congo
To Colombo
Can't stereotype my thing yo
I salt and pepper my mango
Quit bending all my fingo
You wanna win a war?
Like P.L.O., don't surrendo
"
Maya
Arulpragasam
M.I.A. (Missing in Acton) in Sunshowers
3 November 2006 Revisited
Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka
 A
Question of Peace - Nadesan Satyendra - writing
seven years ago in 1999 "Many Tamils will share the
Sinhala visitor's hopes for peace in the island of Sri
Lanka. At the same time, they will be mindful of the
cautionary words of the Prussian military strategist
Clausewitz more than a hundred years ago: "The would
be conqueror is always a lover of peace, for he would like
to enter and occupy our country unopposed. It is in order to
prevent him from doing this that we must be willing to
engage in war and be prepared for it." ...If democracy means
the rule of the people, by the people, for the people then
it must follow, as night follows day, that no one people may
rule another. Democracy and self-determination are two faces
of a single coin. The struggle of the Tamil people is rooted
in their
democratic right to rule themselves. It is a struggle
for self determination which the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have led with tenacity
and determination over the past several years. And
their thiyagam has found an
answering response
in the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of Tamils
living in
many lands and across distant seas.
Raj Swarnan has
given expression to the feelings of many in a moving
poem in Tamil:
உங்கள் உடல்கள் சாய்ந்ததால்
எங்கள்
தலைகள் நிமிர்ந்தன..
இன்று..
நாங்கள் வெறும்
கவிதை பாடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்..
நீங்களோ..
காவியமாகி விட்டீர்கள்..
That most Sinhala people will be unable to read
the poem in Tamil (leave alone empathise with the sentiments that the poem
expresses) will serve to underline the separate
cultural,
linguistic
and historical identities
of the two peoples who live in the island. It
is a divide that will not be bridged by Sinhalese and Tamils talking to each
other in English. It will be bridged only by an independent Tamil Eelam
associating with an independent Sri Lanka in equality and in freedom..."
more
|
2 November 2006
Sri Lanka's War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of
a Ceasefire
1 November 2006
Obituary Notice
|
Mahalingam Maha Uthaman - a committed intellect and an
involved activist in the Struggle for Tamil Eelam - passed away
in Sri Lanka on 29 October 2006. A Service in his memory,
organised by his 'Maanavar Peravai' friends will be held
at St. Saviour's church, Saviours Road, Croydon, United Kingdom
on Sunday , 5 November 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Uthaman wrote
in 1988 "..One aspect of the deprivation of the Tamil nation is
the paucity of intellectual investment made at a local level.
Like capital on a global scale, the intellectual resources of
the Tamil people too have been drawn towards metropolitian
centres, within Sri Lanka and abroad, leaving the peripheral
Tamil nation impoverished and void of knowledge. However, the
dialectics of oppression is such that, even as impoverishment is
imposed at every level, vigorous resistance and the emergence of
self confident patriotic consciousness has been nurtured by the
same process. In spite of this heroic response, the
existence of an intellectual void within the nation has not only
been obvious but its effects highly damaging..."
more |
1 November 2006 Tamil
National Forum Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan about
Cartoons on J.R.Jayewardene: A Birth Centenary Chuckle
1 November 2006
Reflections
|
 |
| "...What lessons can we learn from the
failures of the 'peace talks' from Thimpu to Oslo? One major
lesson that we can learn is that a 'gradualist', step by step
process masked as 'confidence building' has not worked.
Unless we have agreement in clear terms as to end goals, even
where one side makes �concessions�, the other side will perceive
the shift as simply a tactic to re group and that in reality
there is no shift in the final goal. Efforts are then made by
each party to secure that any interim �arrangement� that may be
agreed upon does not provide a platform for the other party to
achieve its long term goals. The fate that befell the
"interim self governing authority"(ISGA) proposal
by the LTTE is a case in point. Each side questions the good
faith of the other and accusations are made that the other side
cannot be trusted. We cannot go forward by being clever.
Resort to
subterfuge brings a similar response from the other side -
to do so is to adopt the
approach of the teen age girl in the pebble story. The path
forward is not about being clever. We can all be clever.
The path forward is about being more human. We need to dig
deep to find common ground. We cannot dig deep with the mind
alone. We need our heart as well. The Tamil people and the
Sinhala people
need to talk to each other. And we need to listen to
each other. Each people will need to genuinely listen, not only
to the other's aspirations but perhaps more importantly to their
genuine fears, legitimate concerns and vulnerabilities...
But if the the people in the
island of Sri Lanka are not persuaded by all that
has happened during the past several decades, then yet again
conflict resolution will take the form of war - directed to
change minds and hearts..." Nadesan
Satyendra in Sri Lanka - Tamil Eelam: Getting to Yes |
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News &
Whats New Archives -
October 2006 |
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It
was the same world which closed its eyes and observed a studied silence when 
