The Conflict of Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam in the island of Ceylon

It's Me D........... Good to meet you Sir 

The tigers consider themselves to be the saviors of the tamil people and want the respect of the tamils. They should not hide behind the civilians and use them as shields. They are not strong enough, emotionally, financially or intellectually to withstand the perils of war, they have no business hood winking the tamil people in Sri Lanka or abroad and claim to be the leaders of Tamil people. The Tamil people are dying because the Tigers consider them disposable commodity.. Just cut and run.

"Tamilan Canadavillayum uthai vangaporan". Not only have we lost to the sinhalese we are well on our way to disgracing ourselves with the international community.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Martin Luther King Jr

Rabble's front page ran an article along those same "Tigers don't speak for me" line recently (linked in rabble news features forum). 

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"One law for the lion and the ox is oppression" - Blake

Here's the rabble article Ze mentioned.

http://www.rabble.ca/news/protests-and-missed-opportunities-sri-lankan-tamil-diaspora

If we're going to talk around the rabble article, this thread's already over the limit, we could move over [u][url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/rabble-news-features/protests-and-missed-opp....

(As an aside: the disconnect between rabble and babble is bigger than I thought, since no one on this thread had even seen the article on the front page! That's not a criticism of anyone, I don't often read the rabble front page myself, it's just an observation.)

Strikes me that this is a Tamil voice, and so I'm interested in hearing how the Tamil voices here respond. It's an internal criticism I've heard before, so maybe a chance to learn from the debate within the community....

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"One law for the lion and the ox is oppression" - Blake

Thirusuj Sir

"Tamilan Canadavillayum uthai vangaporan"

Translation: Tamils are going to get kicked in Canada as well

This was a comment from an Indian Tamil from Chennai, at my workplace after the protest march and the Tiger Flags. Meaning, that we have no Idea how to run a revolution to get what we want. Also the problem with raising awareness of the atrocities of SL government is that, as soon as someone opens his/her mouth about the Tamils, they are called, Tigers (Architects of Suicide bombers, Killers and Cowards). I am not a Tiger. and the The flag is not my flag. There is another Tamil lady from SL who works with me. She suffers from the pain that is causing the Tamils, but has suggested and remains quiet, because she is a Tamil and not a Tiger.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Martin Luther King Jr

Quote:

A generation will rise out of the diaspora and will resolve the Tamil Crisis.

Thats very hopeful but don't you worry that, if its not happening now, it will be too late? I assume you don't feel this sea-change in the views of young Tamils is happening now, since your perspective on the conflict doesn't seem representative of most diaspora Tamils.

Thirusuj:

Thirusuj wrote:

I would disagree with the system in Canada is actually to discourage the youths.

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,

Thirusuj wrote:

The leadership role and positions of many of the Tamil Canadian organizations are gradually being filled by the youths. Given another 2 to 5 years, you are going to have a totally new generation with a totally new approach for the entire community.

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!

Thirusuj wrote:

If you get a chance to look at Tamil Canadian media, feedback on the current performances of youths by elders, involved youths trying to purse the non-involved youths, etc are common flash in the community media. Other tools like facebook, emails, text messaging, discussion through clubs etc..are all flooded with brainstorming new ideas and recruitments for Tamil Canadian organizations as well as participating in mainstream organizations.

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

Thirusuj wrote:

The Tamil youths have no association with Sri Lanka or the Sri Lankan flag, they are more attached to Tamil Eelam and the Tamil Eelam flag.

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.

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Tamildeqken:

Tamildeqken wrote:

Then we will have the eyes and ears of the  International Community. We will have their respect. They will stand behind the Tamils.

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? 

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.

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. ]