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I will pass on the rhetorics and adress the issues at hand.
Out of the ashes a Tamil will rise. A Tamil individual who will speak the three languages eloquently. Who will take the case of the Tamils to the Sinhalese people (not thru killing and murder, not from a bunker). There must be ashes and a Tamil will rise. We should not kill such an individual. We should allow for many to rise. Many with different views and thoughts. We should not kill them. When we as Tamil people can do that, we will know that the salvation of the Tamils is at hand.
Then we will have the eyes and ears of the International Community. We will have their respect. They will stand behind the Tamils. Violence never won anything. Just grief.......... more grief.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Martin Luther King Jr
Here is one article you can read about him and there are many more all over the net.
http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/chelva.htm
He had many others as well, the government assassinated them all. We still have few, but the Sinhalese people and the government don't want to listen to them.
This was but one of a series of Gandhian protests conducted by the Tamil politicians of that era to focus attention on Tamil grievances and get the governments of the day to remedy them. Even before the Lankan Tamils , leaders of the Plantation Tamils like Thondaman, Azeez, Velupillai and Subbiah had launched a Satyagraha protest against the citizenship and franchise laws.
With India gaining Independence through a non - violent struggle the Tamils heavily influenced by the Mahatma tried to follow suit. But the Sinhala rulers were not the British. Brute force both official and unofficial was unleashed against unarmed peaceful protestors. When the FP led Satygraha of 1961 virtually crippled the civil administration of the North - East and a parallel postal service with its own stamp was established, the Government of Mrs. Bandaranaike cracked down hard. The military was called in. Demonstrators were beaten, curfew declared and political leaders placed under house arrest.
This refusal of Sinhala Governments to take note of Tamil grievances and aspirations when articulated through non - violent modes of protest was deeply resented by the community. This in turn spawned a new generation of Tamils who believed that the Sinhala dominated Governments do not understand the language of non - violence and that the only lingo they would respond to was violence. This was the genesis of the Tamil armed struggle. What began as a "cottage industry" has now reached gigantic proportions.
- Peaceful protests of Tamil Parliamentarians By D.B.S. JeyarajThirusuj:
Well I don't want to derail the thread with another discussion. I am very grateful for your detailed response to my question, and very glad to hear such positive things. The following statement for example,
I can assure you that is not the case in this rural white part of the country so your community's situation is quite different from mine. Perhaps its the language skills you mentioned... I don't know about the demographics there but they might also play a role, if there are more young people relative to older people. Suffice to say the relative levels of encouragement versus discouragement we're seeing should go a long way to explaining our disagreement about whether our system is anti-youth; in your community it seems young people are getting many real opportunities to be meaningfully involved, which is great!
I will try to read more, as I'd certainly like to see more of this. Pity TO is so far away, I cannot be a part of anything myself; just wishing well from afar, raising awareness in a very unaware place
Interesting observation. On a somewhat related note I've noticed you often use Ceylon (to refer to the island?), and at other times Sri Lanka (the state?), I'm hoping you can help me find the right terminology.
________________________________________________________
Tamildeqken:
Given what Thirusuj has posted, where was the respect of the international community the last time the Tamil's tried what you're propossing? Why didn't they "stand behind the Tamils" then?
There are two nations on that island which is called Ceylon (it has many other names as well, Ceylon being widely recognized). The two nations are Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam. The bigger Sri Lankan state which is powerful in regards to manpower and diplomatic support trying to annex the smaller Tamil Eelam state by force.
This is one way of putting it.
hi, thanks for all of the information here. i went to the protest on March 16th, was in the city, but didn't know anything about the background before i went. i'll share some of my perceptions here because they may be relevant.
I get a sense from Tamildeqken here that there is a concern over how the international community perceives the Tigers, and the aspirations of Tamils.
As a regional resident, visiting family in the city, I felt very much welcomed by Tamil demonstrators, from the moment i got off the subway. In fact even in the subway on the way downtown, filled with families going to attend the event, there was an atmosphere of community which made me feel right at home. This was interrupted for a few minutes when some racist idiots barged in. 'Change is glacial' says Maysie.
Getting off the subway, I joined up with a small family group who eagerly began talking about the situation. The youngest with deep clear eyes held a poster with pictures of children in bandages. She spoke up quick as a blink and told me the children there were getting hurt and there was no medicine. I spoke with her family for a bit, walked further down and grabbed a Tiger flag.
This produced lots more conversation. One group of young women was particularly helpful, they filled me in on their priorities; a) ceasefire, the Singalese should stop attacking, b) end of occupation, c) Tamil Eelam self-determination -they wanted their own country and government back, d) material help for the suffering. On this latter point there was some debate amongst the women, whether aid would actually bring with it more harm than good. But there clearly was agreement that there was need.
On a) they said that 2-3,000 people had been killed, and still no let up in the attacks. This was the first priority. And on down the list.
When we got to the Eaton's Centre, I went to the other side of the street and started reading the flyer that the group had produced, and was intrigued by the time line drawn on it; two nations, forced together by the British, under one of the two nations. Yup, recipe for disaster in any case. And writers here have elaborated on that.
Intriguing also was the map. Tamil Eelam, the ancient lands, were represented by a semi-circular swath around the west, north, and east shores of the island coast. "With offshore rights," I thought. It wasn't spelled out on the map, but i said as much to the police who happened to be hanging out in Dundas Square. "That's probably why they're getting attacked...wonder which oil company is feeding $ in to Sri Lanka...". Anyhow, thirusuj has confirmed some of this, above. When I mentioned this to the young women whom I caught up with again on the way down to Union Station, one nodded and said, 'probably'.
This young woman and her friends, who turned out to be part of a volunteer communications team, did a great job informing me of the various parametres, all very similar to what people have described here in this series of babble postings.
The event was very carefully organized, and to be honest it hurt to see how hard the activists were trying to stay off the roads, to prevent disrupting Canadians hurrying home from work...it took a very long time for the tens of thousands to squeeze along ONE sidewalk, as people moved back to a gathering at Union Station, while the road and the opposing sidewalk were intentionally left free for pedestrians.
So tens of thousands stopped at every single traffic light, walking only with the green signal, hoping Canadians would care about the thousands who were being slaughtered in their homeland.
Meanwhile, the next street over was kept Completely Clear of any road traffic, so that Special Services and regular police vans and buses and communications vehicles and other sundry over-the-top appliances along with horses could assemble to properly hem in the citizens. Which they did with utmost efficiency.
The minute I turned onto that street, having left the friendly conversation and the usual kind of comraderie one experiences at these kind of events, it got very cold. A homeless man asked for change and i gave him what i could. The wind whipped down the street. I wandered a bit more around down to the theatre district, and the chill hit my bones. Fancy restaurants, a few business people uptight in their suits... I headed back for the subway and found refuge again with families heading home from the event.
From the faces of observers that day downtown, I got a sense there was a lot of support for the activists. It seemed like it was a very useful day of education for the Canadian people. I certainly learned a lot, and thanked the youth and their elders who filled me in, as i thank those who've written here with more background.
I hope that Canadians understand when peoples feel they need to defend themselves against violent assault. Canadians should understand that- they wouldn't lie down and let others bomb and slaughter their families, why would the Tamils allow that?
People in this country need to push the Harper government to stop helping the Sri Lankan government in its assault of Tamils. We need to call for ceasefire and end of occupation, for self-government of Tamil Eelam, and for international support in this direction. This is what the Tamil youth told me, and I agree.
The silence surrounding Sri Lanka
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/03/31/the_silence_surrounding_sri_lanka/
Human Rights and Sri Lanka Conference which is organized by the Canadian Human Rights Voice (CHRV). CHRV is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, and independent organization committed to the protection and promotion of Human Rights. Conference will be held in downtown Toronto on April 3rd, 2009 at North York Civic Center from 8am to 5pm.
For More Info (Just Added Now, May not appear till approved):
http://rabble.ca/whatsup/human-rights-and-sri-lanka-conference
Also, I forgot to add that the Dress Code is Formal
Yesterday, 88 more Tamils were killed including 21 children;
http://www.tamilnet.com/
"Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling on Monday claimed the lives of 70 civilians as Fifty Caliber gunfire from the SLA positions across the lagoon also killed 18 civilians on the road, which links the makeshift hospital with IDP settlements. 21 of the slain victims and 31 of 156 wounded civilians were children. 63 tarpaulin huts were destroyed in SLA attacks. TamilNet correspondent witnessed that four children were orphaned as they lost both their parents and siblings. The civilians were struggling to take their wounded to the hospital as the entire stretch of the road has come under 50 Caliber machine gun fire. Four civilians, including a worker of the fishing union that arranges boats to transport the patients from the coastal point Thidal to the ICRC ship, were wounded in SLA gunfire."
[students at the protest on Mr.16 said this was a good website, as people here have already noted. ]
if there is a recommended letter-writing approach set up somewhere by involved groups, can someone please post it? thanks.
Here is some website.
http://haltgenocide.org/
http://www.pearlaction.org/