July 1983 Pogrom by Lionel Bopage, Groundviews, Colombo, July 24, 2022 The political leadership of Sri Lanka has yet again demonstrated that even in the midst of the worst socio economic and political crisis the country has faced since independence, they do not wish to follow a path of honesty and fairness to end the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: History
JR Jayewardene, the Kanatte Mass Funeral and the July 1983 Anti-Tamil Pogrom
by D.B.S.Jeyaraj on his blog, July 22, 2022 (This article was published last year and is being re-posted without any changes to denote the 39th anniversary of “Black July”) July 24th 1983 was the day on which a destructive spree of anti-Tamil violence commenced in Jaffna in the early hours of the morning and began… Read more »
Black July: The Unspoken and the Unspeakable
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, July 29, 2020 Photo courtesy of Sangam July. Referred to as Black July to mark the pogrom against Tamils in 1983 carried out by Sinhala mobs. Pogrom is a Russian word meaning ‘to wreak havoc, to demolish violently’, that has come to mean organized, state sanctioned violence that targets a certain… Read more »
TMVP Informant Spills the Beans
by Easwaran Rutnam, Daily Mirror, Colombo, June 24, 2022 Flees Sri Lanka fearing for his safety Reveals information on murders to UN Writes to key diplomatic missions Shares details on Easter Sunday attacks UN officials had recorded statements from the informant over a period of approximately 5 days An informant of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai… Read more »
Avanka Lanka: An Apology
[Apologies of this sort are a long time coming. Pledges to help the marginalized are always welcome. However, where does this rather capitalist & imperialist statement originate? — “we believe that the Northern province nor the Eastern province cannot develop in isolation but needs to link up with the South and the rest of the… Read more »
U.S. State Dept Letter Leaked by 2009 Hillary Clinton Emails re IMF
IMF Supported War Crimes and Genocide in Sri Lanka by Tamils for Biden, EINPresswire, June 9, 2022 The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless of “any collateral damage inflicted” by the Sri Lankan government. EINPresswire.com/ — The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless… Read more »
May 31-June 4, 1981: Five Days of State Terror in Jaffna
by Santaseelan Kadirgamar, Transcurrents, June 4, 2011, also posted in Colombo Telegraph, February 3, 2013 Two years after the end of the war in Lanka*, without a political solution in sight, it may be appropriate to look back at events that occurred 30 years ago. 31 May to 4 June 2011 marks the 30th anniversary… Read more »
The Library Which Sparked a Civil War in Sri Lanka
by Victor Rajalingam, May 30, 2022 The Jaffna Library after it was burnt down. The burning of the Jaffna Public Library took place on the 31st of May, 1981, when an organized mob of Sinhalese individuals went on a rampage, burning the library. It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th… Read more »
Behind the Lyrics of Rathna Sri Wijesinghe
by Yamu, Colombo, July 21, 2021 It was the early 80s. Born into a Sinhala, Buddhist family in the South, Vineetha Samarasinghe Gunasekara fell in love with Balasingham Nadesan, a handsome, young Tamil man from the North. https://youtu.be/y8gyYsgRpdw Poets are not always born, nor are lyricists. Therefore, it’s quite rare to come across someone who is a poet and a… Read more »
13 Years Ago Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2022 Photograph: A scene of devastation in Mullivaikkal pictured days after the Sri Lankan military had overrun the area. Marking 13 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered… Read more »
Why Sri Lanka’s Protestors Must Topple the Statue of Bandaranaike in Colombo
by Thusiyan Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, April 22, 2022 Just under two years ago, the US police killing of George Floyd reverberated around the world. In cities such as Bristol in the UK, protestors took to the streets. They marched to the city’s harbour and there, they toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a merchant… Read more »
What are Thermobaric and Cluster Bombs?
A look at their use by the Sri Lankan army by Tamil Guardian, London, March 2, 2022 Russian manufactured cluster bombs used by the Sri Lankan military, photographed in Vanni, 2008. As Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine, it has been accused of launching deadly types of weaponry during its assault – thermobaric and cluster… Read more »
Sex, Repression & Sanskritization in Sri Lanka 1987
The 1987 Stirling Award Essay by Dennis McGilvray, Ethos, American Anthropological Association, Vol. 16, No. 2 (June 1988), pp. 99-127 The_1987_Stirling_Award_Essay_Sex_Repres Since 1952, when the concept of Sanskritization was first utilized by M. N. Srinivas in his study of the Coorgs of western India, the idea has been a useful, if at times ambiguous, tool… Read more »
Decoding Don Stephen Senanayake (1884 -1952)
On his 70th death anniversary by Prof. Alfred Jayaratnam Wilson, Lanka Guardian, a 4 part series starting January 1, 1992 Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Don Stephen Senanayake (popularly abbreviated by his initials D.S.), the first prime minister of independent Ceylon, died on March 22, 1952. While he has been touted as the… Read more »
How Britain Stole $45 Trillion from India
And lied about it by Jason Hickel, Al Jazeera, Dubai, December 19, 2018 There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to… Read more »
The Year of Darkness
by Sumi Moonesinghe, The Island, Colombo, February 6, 2022 narrated to Savitri Rodrigo July 1983 was one of the darkest months this country has ever experienced. It was then that I saw my countrymen turn on each other and where barbarism outweighed every Buddhist precept upon which the country had built its foundations. Black July… Read more »
A Multispecies History of the Ceylon Pearl Fishery 1800–1925
Seeing like the sea by Tamara Fernando, Past & Present, Volume 254, Issue 1, February 2022, Pages 127–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtab002 Published: 21 September 2021 PDF Abstract The pearl fishery of Ceylon was a lucrative source of pearls as well as a theatre of colonial power. But instead of narrating a story of abstracted governmentality, this paper dives below… Read more »
UN Human Rights Chief Welcomes Sri Lanka Report
Urges further investigation into conduct of final stages of the war Pillay on Sri Lanka by UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 26 April 2011 GENEVA (26 April 2011) — The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday welcomed the public release of the report of the Secretary-General’s Panel… Read more »
Mystery of the Murder of an American Priest in Batticaloa
The truth that came out 30 years later! [translated from the Tamil by Google Translate with some edits] by Niraj David, TamilWin, ~December 15, 2021 His name was Rev Fr. Eugene John Hebert. The locals affectionately call him Father Haybier. He belonged to Congregation of Jesus Christ of America and was a famous human rights… Read more »
The Tamils are the Original Inhabitants of Sri Lanka
by CV. Wigneswaran, Colombo Telegraph, December 16, 2021 C. V. Wigneswaran Someone asked me; We read in the press your response to a question recently. You seem to be making sweeping statements about the Sinhalese. As far as we know the Sinhalese were the original inhabitants of this Island and the Tamils came in the… Read more »