This review of Fukuyama’s book shows the distinction between the concepts of state and nation. What Fukuyama does not deal with are the problems of imposing a state on top of two existing nations as in the case of Sri Lanka. — Editor by Janadas Devan, The Straits Times, Singapore, September 8, 2004 A nation… Read more »
Arumugam Thondaman Supports the Government
Ever since parliament was suspended this summer ordinary people on the island had no doubt that Thondaman’s Ceylon Workers’ Congress would throw their support behind the UPFA to give them a working majority. The questions seemed to be only when and what the price would be. Now we know one version of the story. Thondaman… Read more »
Children’s Computer Centre Opens in Kilinochchi
The Tamil Information Technology Association opened a Children’s Computer Centre in Kilinochchi on September 12. The press release about the event can be viewed at www.sangam.org/articles/view2/KidsCentreOpening_9_04.pdf
Random Thoughts on the Political Tovil
by Sachi Sri Kantha For Sinhalese, the word ‘tovil’ symbolizes something very intimate. Some are too ashamed to openly discuss it. Others consider it as a panacea for the ills afflicting them. For foreign tourists, it is a ‘burlesque show of the male natives.’ For foreign anthropologists, it is a ‘notable cultural tradition which is… Read more »
The Sinhala Nation and Foreign Military Involvement
by Taraki [aka D. Sivaram], Virakesari and TamilNatham, Sri Lanka, September 5, 2004 An important question arises when we look at the military balance in SriLanka. Though the LTTE maintains its military strength on par with Sri Lankan Army (SLA), any military intervention by a foreign country which does not sympathise with the Tamils, can… Read more »
The International Community Sharpens its Knives Against Tamils
by Sachithanandam Sathananthan*, New Delhi, September 3, 2004 Sri Lankan Tamils took note of a newspaper article titled “Ending the regional drift,” published in India recently. Its author, Dr Raja Mohan, is a foreign policy analyst who is close to the Indian establishment, and he accurately reflects its thinking. He lauded “the muscular message” New… Read more »
Working in Post-war Northern Sri Lanka
Below are pictures taken by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam during her time volunteering as a doctor in the Vanni last year. You can read about her experiences at http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/index.php?uid=530 [Now at Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka – Ilankai Tamil Sangam] … Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 15: JR Visits China and the US
by T. Sabaratnam, September 10, 2004 (Volume 2) The Chunnakam Massacre Trade and Shipping Minister Lalith Athulathmudali was appointed Minister of National Security and Deputy Defence Minister on 23 March 1984. An Oxford educated lawyer-politician with an unbridled ambition to succeed Jayewardene as the president of Sri Lanka, Athulathmudali took the appointment as the gateway… Read more »
Give the Chechens a Land of Their Own
by Richard Pipes, The New York Times op-ed, September 9, 2004 Does this call to give Chechens independence and America’s appeal to consider what is happening in the Darfur region of Sudan genocide – which legally obligates the international community to intervene – have anything to do with the actual situation in these countries or… Read more »
LTTE Critics Argue Against Continuing with Ceasefire
by Taraki, [aka D. Sivaram], Daily Mirror, Colombo, September 9, 2004 Heckles and jeers are sure to greet one if one were to say that the Tigers too face criticism and political pressure from a cross section of their supporters here and abroad for “futilely sticking to the peace process”. The hecklers and jeerers on… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Global Pressure on the LTTE
Sri Lanka Scene Weekly Review By T. Sabaratnam, 8 September 2004 US Accusation International pressure is currently on the LTTE. It was patent from the remarks made by a top US official on counterterrorism who was in Colombo the last two days. US Ambassador-at-large J. Cofer Black told senior journalists in Colombo today (Wednesday) that the… Read more »
Pongu Tamil in Toronto Sept. 25
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Top-aide Says LTTE May Not Have Killed President Premadasa
by P K Balachandran, Hindustan Times, September 8, 2004 Bradman Weerakoon, International Affairs Advisor to former Sri Lankan President, R Premadasa, has cast doubts on the popular notion that it was the LTTE which assassinated the President In his racy book entitled “Rendering Unto Caesar” (Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 2004) Weerakoon says that there are… Read more »
Twenty-Five Types of Government in the World
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 8, 2004 In early 1999, I read a humorous syndicated commentary by Gary Borders (then the editor and publisher of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Texas). It was so thought-provoking for its humor and simplicity, that I put it away safely in my file of notable collections for reference. My last month’s… Read more »
Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka
by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam MB BS, BSc (Hons), DFFP, DRCOG, MRCGP May to November 2003 20 years of war has taken its toll on all aspects of society in Sri Lanka, but the NorthEast of the island has been most affected. Homes destroyed, farmland mined, schools, temples, churches & hospitals have been damaged in varying… Read more »
A Global War: Many Fronts, Little Unity
Terror is not an enemy, but a method, used in different ways by different movements…But it is also a label that has been seized on by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and, in various shades, by leaders from Italy to Pakistan to set their own agendas. It… Read more »
Countering Terror
by Rajeev Dhavan, The Hindu, Chennai, September 3, 2004 Where counter-terrorism violates human rights, it produces state terrorism directed against a nation’s own people. Both collectively and individually, nations across the world are obsessed with policies of counter-terrorism. This obsession is subversive of peace and good governance in ways that are beginning to dwarf the… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 14: JR’s Three Track Policy
by T. Sabaratnam, September 3, 2004 (Volume 2) Building a Military Machine President Jayewardene, his fans and critics readily admit, was a grandmaster in political chess. He schemed three moves ahead when his opponent planned only two. He played the same game with Indira Gandhi. He countered her double track policy with three. Jayewardene’s three tracks… Read more »
Self-Righteous Democracies
by Phar Kim Beng, Straits Times, September 2, 2004 Mr. Bill Clinton made the promotion of democracy the centrepiece of his foreign policy when he was president of the United States. President George W. Bush, especially after Sept 11, did the same, looking to democracy as a means of reforming Arab/Muslim societies and awakening them… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: JVP’s Assault on Tamil Nationalism
Weekly Review by T. Sabaratnam, 1 September 2004 This morning the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched its campaign to split the east from the north and thus deny the Tamils their homeland. They have named their campaign in Tamil Kilakkin Uthayam, meaning, “Awakening East.” The inaugural seminar of the new movement was held at Kalmunai Town… Read more »