Posts Categorized: Diaspora

America’s Largest Hindu Temple Opens in NJ

  By Lavina Melwani, Hinduism Today, Hawaii, January 1, 2004 All photos from BAPS You can now travel to india without boarding a plane or even leaving your home in America! Indeed, you will think you have arrived in 17th-century India, but you are actually in a small, very American town—Robbinsville, New Jersey. In this… Read more »

The Sri Lankan Civil War and Its History

Revisited in 2020 by Nithyani Anandakugan, Harvard International Review, August 31, 2020 On June 9, 2020, Sri Lankans occupied the streets outside the US Embassy in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, holding signs condemning the racism, police brutality, and other maladies plaguing the United States. Sri Lanka’s social issues also… Read more »

PEARL Oral Statement

by Sahithyan Thilipkumar, People for Equality & Relief in Lanka, Geneva, March 4, 2024 Item 2 General Debate at the 55th UNHRC

TRG: Addressing Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

Challenges, Concerns, and the Call for International Intervention February 29, 2024 – Geneva, Switzerland TRG Addressing Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka Feb 2024 ARED-Amparai-APPEAL-Feb2024 Tamil Rights Group (TRG) met with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances in a private session and issued a comprehensive statement addressing the ongoing crisis of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. The statement highlighted critical challenges,… Read more »

S. Shritharan’s Interview with Tamil Guardian

Tamil nationalism must begin from graves of Eelam fighters – Shritharan’s exclusive interview by Tamil Guardian, London, January 23, 2024 The newly elected leader of the Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Sivagnanam Shritharan spoke to the Tamil Guardian for an exclusive interview on how he hopes to further Tamil aspirations. Below are excerpts from the interview. –… Read more »

Dr. Rajan Sriskandarajah (1943-2023)

    Dr. Sriskandarajah graduated from the University of Ceylon, Colombo with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1969.  After practicing in Sri Lanka he undertook post-graduate training in England, where he obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, England in 1977.  Upon moving to the United States Dr. Sriskandarajah… Read more »

The Boat People

by Watchdog, Colombo, July 12, 2023 For years, Sri Lankans have risked everything, trying to escape their homeland. Crushed by a failing economy, cold-hearted politics, and the brutal realities of world events, many venture into the unforgiving sea. Few return. This is their story. Story by Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammed Fairooz Additional reporting and translation… Read more »

Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum, February 2023

by N. Ethirveerasingam, May 17, 2023 I took these pictures in Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum during a visit in February 2023. * When Kilinochchi fell in 2008 the army bulldozed about 4 acres of gravestones – a war crime.  Other LTTE graveyards in the North met the same fate. * I was there at the… Read more »

Sinhala Colonisation of Ancient Tamil Hindu Sites

And the importance of Muslim Christian Hindu unity A Presentation made by Senator Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah at the 9th Sitting of the 3rd Parliament of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam – Delivered May 20th 2023 on her behalf by Senator Satya Sagar Rt Hon. Prime Minister, Hon. Mr. Speaker, My Hon. colleagues in the… Read more »

Conference on Antiquity, Continuous Existence & Political Rights

Of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka by Council of Eelam Tamils, United Kingdom, House of Commons, UK, May 15, 2023 Conference May 2023 Papers delivered — Introduction Professor R. Sri Ranjan, President, International Council of Eelam Tamils Chairperson, National Council of Canadian Tamils Safeguarding women and children from Sri Lankan state’s… Read more »

Interview with Shankari Chandran

“‘Song of the Sun God’ is a novel that interrogates the injustices faced by the Tamil people” by Krishna Selvaseelan, Tamil Guardian, London, March 20, 2023 I will begin this piece with a confession. In times of emotional distress and crisis, I often watch YouTube clips of the 1991 film ‘Thalapathi’, a film which is… Read more »

Canadian MP Gary Anandasangaree on IMF Bailout of Sri Lanka

by Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree, Ottawa, Canada, March 21, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/live/bVp5wnT83mo?feature=share On Parliament Hill, Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree discusses the International Monetary Fund’s bailout program for Sri Lanka to help bolster the country’s struggling economy. He is joined by Ahrabi Rajkumar (advocacy lead for People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka), Madura Rasaratnam (associate… Read more »

Overseas Temples & Tamil Migratory Space

by Pierre-Yves Trouillet, South Asia Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2012 Abstract Temples have been places of major importance for Tamil societies for more than fifteen centuries. Following the migration of Tamilians from South India, the perpetuation overseas of their tradition as temple builders and the creation of a Tamil diaspora, they can now be found on the… Read more »

Childhood Memories of Telok Pulai, the Chinna Yaalpaanam

Of Klang, Malaysia by Sivananthiram Alagandram, Geneva, February 26, 2023 Many who lived in the Chinna Yalpanam  have gone abroad . Kindly consider posting  at sangam, so that  it would enable many to share their experience in Telok Pulai as well as the social change that has happened, I have given my e mail for… Read more »

An Archive for the Dispossessed

Creating spaces for multiple truths by Shankari Chandran  The Griffith Review, Australia, May 2022 Shankari Chandran is a Tamil-Australian lawyer and the author of three books: Song of the Sun God (Perera-Hussein Publishing, 2017), The Barrier (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2017) and Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (Ultimo Press, 2022).  She is the deputy chair of Writing NSW and a member of the Sweatshop Literacy Movement…. Read more »

The TGTE: Past Present and Future

by Usha Sriskandarajah, December 20, 2022 For the TGTE, Tamil Eelam is not a mere dream or aspiration or yearning or passion alone, it’s a commitment, an explicit, unequivocal and results-oriented goal that’s to be pursued and achieved using every peaceful means possible Text of the Keynote Address delivered by Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah, Member of… Read more »

Thaainilam – Land Grabbing

The Real Pandemic for the Tamils in Sri Lanka – Documentary Film Youth Panel Discussion Sept.25, 2021 on ThaaiNilam: Land Grabbing Documentary at Film  Premiere