by Anonymous, July 26, 2004
People rush to their homes for security when they are threatened. As is obvious, their homeland is the land where their home is located. Their homeland, or country, nourishes them, providing for their economic and cultural sustenance. Is it that simple, or do we need a legal and anthropological analysis? Multiple workshops and conferences for this analysis serve no purpose but to kill precious time. Urgent and honest action is needed to save the precious lives of affected people.
Boarding the ship from Colombo to Jaffna after the anti-Tamil pogrom known as Black July in 1983
There is an overabundance of academic debate over the Sri Lankan Northeast (Eelam) and the Tamil Homeland. The simplest test of legitimacy is to observe events under duress. The picture to the right shows the exodus of Tamils to the Northeast – assisted by Sri Lankan Government (SLG) and Indian ships- during Black July-1983. Tamils went to the Northeast to find security for their life and to protect their remaining family members. Exact exodus occurred during Emergency ’58.
Where were the surviving prisoners of the Welikada massacre shipped to? It is to Batticaloa (by the SLG military aircraft)? This is where the SLG believed that they could keep the lucky Tamil political prisoners safe when the world was watching Black July unfold.
As Tamil children remain deprived of basic food, medicine, and education, the academics and politicians debate endlessly about the “Tamil problem.” Have they shed a drop of blood to positively help communities under duress? Has the UN raised the issue of Tamils loud and clear to the world as Tamils were massacred and raped by security forces backed by the majority population?
Instead of positive action, laws against the struggle (PTA) are enacted, criminalizing T-lists are fabricated, second-hand arms are dumped, proxy war and covert funding continued – and – humorously their civilized military proudly trains other “inferior” armies on “human rights values and logistical support.” To add fuel to the fire, the world media gives the needed polish to augment their sponsor’s “strategic initiatives.”
Do we need a Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) to expose the plight of Tamils? In the era of Internet, ignorance cannot be blissfully imposed.
Tamils have woken up. Vigorously marching forward with a single-minded focus. The focus is to reclaim their legitimate homeland.
Want more analysis?
[The Sangam has posted a series of articles associated with Black July. There are many dedicated authors who persistently contribute to the writings and we can only post a subset of the articles. The posted articles show only a narrow cross-section of our freedom struggle no matter how much we try.]