TGTE Prime Minister Rudrakumaran Speaks on Norwegian Peace Talks on Peace Lawyering Podcast “External Actors Disrupted the Power Symmetry Between the Sri Lankan State and LTTE” – Rudrakumaran WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, August 26, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — On August 8, 2024, Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) Prime Minster Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran was interviewed on the… Read more »
Monthly Archives: August 2024
The Bitter Fight Over the Meaning of ‘Genocide’
Debates over how to describe conflicts in Gaza, Myanmar and elsewhere are channeling a controversy as old as the word itself. by Linda Kinstler, The New York Times, August 20, 2024 Linda Kinstler is a junior fellow at Harvard’s Society of Fellows and the author of “Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust… Read more »
UNHCHR: Situation of Human Rights in Sri Lanka
Comprehensive report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – Advance unedited version A/HRC/57/19 August 19, 2024 Summary In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 51/1, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides a comprehensive analysis of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, highlighting some concerning… Read more »
The China Hangover Is Here
by Michael Beckley, The New York Times, August 19, 2024 Opinion | Once the Global Economy’s Savior, China Is Now Its Biggest Threat – The New York Times (nytimes.com) In the 2000s, former President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela bet his country’s economic future on a rising China, securing tens of billions of dollars in investments and loans-for-oil… Read more »
From Jaffna to Malaya: The Unseen Architects of Modern Malaysia
by Sivananthiram Alagandram, Geneva, May 16, 2024 . Introduction The Jaffna Tamil community offers a compelling narrative of migration, showcasing a remarkable trajectory from agricultural origins in Jaffna to attaining middle-class status within just half a century in Malaysia. Yet, equally intriguing is their rapid ascent from clerical and junior civil service positions to prominent… Read more »
CPA: The Intersectional Trends of Land Conflicts in Sri Lanka
by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, August 20, 2024 The-Intersectional-Trends-of-Land-Conflicts-in-Sri-Lanka.pdf (cpalanka.org) 15 years after the end of the Civil War, Sri Lanka continues to experience deep ethnic divisions and has failed to address the root causes of the conflict that halt moving to a post-conflict society. Unfortunately, the decades-long problem of land has continued in… Read more »
Aragalaya and Accountability
Daily Financial Times editorial, Colombo, August 20, 2024 Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh for 15 years, fled the country on 5 August, marking the pinnacle of a student-led protest campaign that ousted a well-entrenched regime. Since taking charge on 8 August, the interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel peace laureate and… Read more »
Viraj in Tamil Radical Politics
by Dr. N. Malathy, TamilNet, August 18, 2024 The “radicalness” observable in Eelam Tamil Nationalist struggle ranges from centre-right all the way to radical left. It was only the launch of armed struggle that saw radical-left politics entering the Tamil Nationalist struggle. Prior to that Tamil radical politics was led by the Communist party centred… Read more »
Books about Tamils & Sri Lanka
Listmaker unknown, Goodreads, accessed August 8, 2024 Readers are allowed to add to the list. What would YOU add? [Editor] “My favourite fiction and non-fiction books about Tamils and the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.” 1 Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje 2 Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan (Goodreads Author) 2 Tamil Tigress by Niromi de… Read more »
‘Himalayan Declaration’ Lays Bare Deep Divide Among Sri Lankan Tamil Groups
Diaspora groups have slammed the Global Tamil Forum for not including them in a recent dialogue with a Buddhist delegation. by Mark S. Cogan, The Diplomat, Arlington, VA, USA, January 3, 2024 Almost 15 years after the Sri Lankan civil war ended, there appears no end to the political divisions, not only between the Sinhalese majority… Read more »
In Palermo, a Catholic Saint Joins the Hindu Pantheon
The Sicilian capital, Palermo, has a long history of cultural melding. Its new arrivals from Sri Lanka have embraced St. Rosalia. by Emma Bubola, The New York Times, August 3, 2024 Photographs by Gianni Cipriano After they spread pink petals on golden statues of Ganesh and Shiva, and recited prayers to blue-skinned and eight-armed gods, the… Read more »
Thousands Still Living without Land Deeds in Mannar
by Tamil Guardian, London, August 7, 2024 The issues faced by the people in Mannar due to the occupation of land has left thousands feeling helpless, said Fr. S. Marcus, President of the Mannar Citizens Committee. “For the last five years, there has been much effort by various private companies to lay claim for a… Read more »
Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1983
by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence (1981-1984), Vol.I (Report), Colombo, dated September 2002, published April 24, 2003 Commission appointed July 23, 2001 by President Chandrika Kumaratunge Commissioners: Suppiah Sharvananda, Esq. (retired Chief Justice) Sathyaloka Sasita Sahabandu Esq., President’s Counsel Mohammed Mohammed Zuhair Esq., President’s Counsel Part 1 For… Read more »
Forensic Aspects of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Attempts in 1987 & 1991
by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 27, 2024 Front Note This research study was submitted two medical journals (one in Japan, one in Sri Lanka) previously and were rejected for what I consider spurious reasons. As such, I have posted a pre-print of this study in the Research Gate site in Apr. 2024. The link is,… Read more »
‘Malai Kallan’ (Mountain Dacoit) Movie and its Five Variants
After 70 Years by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 7, 2024 70 years ago, on July 22, 1954, the trend-setting Malai Kallan (Mountain Dacoit) Tamil movie, with M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and P. Bhanumathi in the lead roles was released in Tamil Nadu to great acclaim by the public. Its political and social relevance was realized 23… Read more »
‘How Were We Done For in This war?’
Three poems by women poets from Sri Lanka ask the same question Written in Tamil, the poems have been translated by N Kalyan Raman. by Sivaramani, Paamathi & Anar, Scroll.in, March 6, 2019 The stress of a night during wartime Sivaramani The stress of a night during wartime will make adults out of our children…. Read more »
200 Years of Malaiyaha Tamil Labour in Sri Lanka
A brief history of 200 years of involuntary migration, imposed statelessness, exploitation and marginalization of Upcountry or Malaiyaha Tamil tea plantation workers. by SALAM & Maynmai, Jamhoor, India, June 6, 2024 View fullsize Tea Estate, Ceylon. Image: 1891 collection, V&A 200 years ago, the British empire brought Tamil plantation workers against their will from southern… Read more »
The Articulation of Violence in the Poetry by Tamil Women (1981-2009)
Speaking in Many Tongues by Aparna Eswaran, Kerala Council for Historical Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, KCHR Working Paper Series, VOL – II, November 2021 KCHR Working Paper Series_Vol II_03 Nov 2021_Final Abstract The three decade long war in Sri Lanka fought over competing ethnic nationalisms was a period of grave human rights violations and of ‘unspeakable’… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Uncomfortable Relationship With Its Disappeared
Over three decades, more than 30 mass graves have been found, but answers to many questions remain elusive by Kris Thomas, New Lines Magazine, USA, April 29, 2024 Kris Thomas is a Colombo-based writer and journalist In 2018, when the second-largest mass grave was discovered in Mannar, a Tamil-dominated coastal town in Sri Lanka, investigators… Read more »