by Dr. Rohini Hensman, Pravada/Polity, Colombo, December 2021 NationalityComplexIdentitiesandMultipleBelongings I am not arguing that the nation-state is on the verge of becoming defunct; this is far from being the case. Rather, I am arguing we should reject the notion that a unique and homogeneous ‘nationality’ is a marker of our identity. Indeed, with climate change… Read more »
Monthly Archives: December 2021
Sangam Global Jan.1
by Sangam Global, January 1, 2022 www.sangam.global Saturday, January 1, 2022 11:00 am EST (US & Canada) 4:00 pm BST (UK) 9:30 pm IST (Tamil Nadu & Eelam) 10:30 pm Myanmar * Live links YouTube Facebook
MGR Remembered – Part 63
‘Manthiri Kumari’ (1950) movie – revisited by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 21, 2021 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments to my previous part 62, received on October 4th, was as follows: “You have discussed two difficult issues related to MGR. Annaism brought much flak. Most of what it said about nationalization and the right to… Read more »
Pure Tamil Movement
by Tamil Vaan Avai, Germany, December 26, 2021, 7am est, 1pm Europe, 5:30pm India
Poet Subramania Bharati’s Centenary of Death
Personal Thoughts by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 10, 2021 One hundred years have passed since Indian freedom fighter and the gifted Tamil poet of the 20th century, Subramania Bharathi (1882-1921) lost his life prematurely at the age of 39, on the early hour of September 12th. Quite many of the hagiographical accounts remembering his life,… Read more »
Myanmar Coup: Military Regime Seeks to Weaponize Religion
In a propaganda blitz, the military portrays itself as the guardian of Buddhism and stokes fear of a Muslim takeover. by Billy Ford, Zarchi Oo, US Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, December 16, 2021 Ten months have passed since Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s elected government, and by now it’s apparent that arrests, executions, torture… Read more »
An Ancient Rice Bowl Complicates the Story of Civilisation
in India by The Economist, London, December 4, 2021 In Tamil Nadu, archaeology is part of a contest over history and identity CHENNAI Rarely can a spoonful of rice have caused such a stir. When M.K. Stalin, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, addressed the south Indian state’s legislature on September 9th, he celebrated a musty… Read more »
TG: Getting Serious on Sri Lanka
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, December 15, 2021 Last week, the United States announced long-overdue travel restrictions on two more accused Sri Lankan war criminals. The move is a step in the right direction and will be welcomed across the globe by those who seek justice on the island. It serves as a reminder to the Sri Lankan… Read more »
PEARL: Renewed U.S. Focus on Sri Lanka
Culminates in Targeted Sanctions for Human Rights Violations by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, December 15, 2021 Washington D.C.; December 15, 2021 — PEARL welcomes the sanctions of Chandana Hettiarachchi and Sunil Ratnayake by the United States under section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act for their… Read more »
SL Campaign: ‘Inhumane and Degrading’ Living and Working Conditions
In Sri Lanka: UN expert by Sri Lanka Campaign, London, December 16, 2021 Dec 16, 2021 On 3 December 2021, the UN’s expert on Contemporary forms of Slavery, Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata, published the preliminary findings from his recent visit to Sri Lanka. Whilst he acknowledged some of the progress that Sri Lanka had made regarding… Read more »
Explainer: What the Most Recent Archaeological Findings
in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakalai Mean by Kavitha Muralidharan, The Wire India, September 10, 2021 Discoveries at sites in Tamil Nadu are expected to highlight, or even recast, a part of Indian history that has thus far languished in the shadows of the Indus Valley civilisation. Chennai: On September 9, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin declared… Read more »
The Archeology of Buddhism
by Jason D. Hawkes, University of Leiden, February-May 2021 13 lecture series at The Archaeology of Buddhism – Leiden University MediaSpace™ video portal Colonial origins of South Asian archeology, Lecture 1.3 at The Archaeology of Buddhism, Lecture 1.3 – Leiden University MediaSpace™ video portal
Challenging the LTTE’s FTO Listing
by Steve Schneebaum, TGTE’s virtual Parliament sitting, December 4, 2021 Other videos from the sitting at தேசமாய் சிந்திப்போம் நாட்டை உருவாக்குவோம் ! சிறப்புடன் கூடிய நாடுகடந்த தமிழீழ அரசாங்கம் !! – Homeland (tgte-homeland.org)
Wigneswaran: ‘By No Stretch of Imagination’
‘Could you call this country a Sinhala or Sinhala Buddhist Country’ by Daily Mirror Online, Colombo, December 6, 2021 Q Recently in Parliament the words “Tamil Homeland” and “Tamil National Leader Prabhakaran” were used and objected to by the Government Members who wanted those words to be expunged from the Hansard. The Chairman of that… Read more »
The Tragic and Needless Destruction of Raj Rajaratnam
Price-Giver Extraordinaire by Jim Tamney, Forbes, New York, December 8, 2021 Years ago, and while at a dinner in New York City, the subject of “insider trading” came up. A woman who had formerly worked in Royal Dutch Shell’s headquarters had an interesting anecdote to convey about trading on material non-public information (MNPI). She’d worked… Read more »
TLHR Hearing: Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC, December 8, 2021 Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka | Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (house.gov) Announcement Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic multi-religious state that… Read more »
Karthigai Deepam: The Light of the Gods
by Anuradha Srinivasan, Sri Lalitam Trust, Pondicherry, December 6, 2021 Rows of unlit lamps dot both sides of the street, all the way to the village temple tank. Women dressed in colourful silk saris, draw intricate geometric patterns, or kolams, at the entrance to their house. In the centre of each kolam stands a kuthu… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 19
A 1985 Report on Rajiv Gandhi and Tamil Insurgency by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 5, 2021 Front Note by Sachi A report on Rajiv Gandhi and the Tamil Insurgency, May 17, 1985 Sometime back, while trawling the net on Eelam Tamil militancy, I picked up a ‘Sanitized Copy approved for release on 2010/11/08: CIA-RDP85T01058R000406330001-0’, from… Read more »
Remembering the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact of 1957
by Tamil Guardian, London, July 26, 2020 Bandaranaike and Chelvanayakam in 1957. On 26th July 1957, Sri Lankan Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and the leader of the Federal Party SJV Chelvanayakam signed a deal, that contained provisions for the recognition of Tamil as the language of administration for the Northern and Eastern provinces, which came to be… Read more »
Meeks, McCaul Urge State Department to Prioritize Political Solution
in Engagement with Sri Lanka by US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair & Ranking Member, December 3, 2021 https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/2021/12/meeks-mccaul-urge-state-department-to-prioritize-political-solution-in-engagement-with-sri-lanka Washington, DC – Today, Representatives Gregory W. Meeks and Michael McCaul, Chair and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Administration to prioritize in… Read more »