Remembering Black July

Dear Friends,

This year in April I visited the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem which was put up by the Jews with mighty contributions from the Jews from all over the world, especially in the USA. Just two days back I spent a day at the old Concentration Camp Dachau in München, Germany, now a museum set up by the survivors of the Hitler regime. In both places millions of visitors from the whole world are learning of the atrocities of crimes committed by the Nazis.
 
We Tamils of the Diaspora are the survivors of a series of Sinhala mob-terror and State-Terror atrocities. We are living today and have survived because others have died and paid a price for our survival. We have an obligation at least in strengthening the memory of those events and the sacrifices of those who have taken forward our struggle for freedom and self-respect.
 
The 25th Anniversary of 1983 Black July and the 50th Anniversary of Mob- and Sate-Terror 1958 are just two of the horror-filled years. By commemorating these events meaningfully we strengthen our will to struggle ahead towards freedom and self-respect.
 
I recommend the initiatives of the new web page  www.blackjuly83.com

It helps to inform ourselves and our children about our past agonies.

It is a centre to collect the stories of the survivors in word, pictures and sound.

Please take time to go to the web page and contribute your own share.
 
S.J. Emmanuel [Rev. Dr.]