by T. Sabaratnam; Colombo, published March 8, 2004 Weekly Review The most redeeming feature of the northeastern crisis is the restraint shown by southern leaders, who have treated it as the LTTE’s internal affair, and their reluctance to exploit the crisis for their benefit. The recently forged United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) strongman Mangala Samaraweera declined… Read more »
FeTNA Convention in Washington, DC
The 17th Annual National Convention of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America will take place in Washington, DC on July 2, 3, 4 & 5. [Eventually ended up being held in Baltimore, MD] Originally published March 9, 2004
Facts & Opinions About American Elections
by Wakeley Paul; USA, published March 9, 2004 SOME FACTS AND OPINIONS ABOUT THE ON COMING AMERICAN ELECTIONS: HOW DOES IT AND CAN IT AFFECT EELAM? I am sure my views do not meet with [the editor’s] approval and are therefore highly controverial from an average Tamil viewpoint. That is what makes it interesting. It should… Read more »
Iraq Shiites Fail to Sign Charter
by Dexter Filkins; The New York Times, March 6, 2004 Iraqi Shiites, in a Blow to U.S., Fail to Sign Temporary Charter The article in the temporary constitution now in dispute deals with the ratification of the permanent constitution, which is supposed to be written sometime next year. According to language agreed on this week, the permanent… Read more »
Franchise Denied
by Tamil Guardian Editorial; published March 6, 2004 Franchise Denied: The Tamil vote has been thwarted – again As Sri Lankans go to vote at their third parliamentary elections in the space of five years, large sections of the Tamil people are once again to be hampered in exercising their right to vote. As at the… Read more »
Pay Any Price?
by Janadas Devan; The Straits Times, Singapore, March 5, 2004 http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com/columnist/0,1886,145-238457,00.html? LAST year, as United States forces were conquering Iraq, Middle East expert Bernard Lewis attacked those who thought US plans to install democracy in Iraq were bound to fail. Janadas Devan They think Arabs aren’t ready for democracy, he said accusingly. He, on the other… Read more »
Lions vs. Tigers
by Kopel, Gallant & Eisen; March 3, 2004 What is particularly interesting about this article is that, because of the distinct ideological position of the authors – weapons in the hands of ordinary citizens are a requirement for freedom – , the conclusion reached is different from the usually monolithic Western viewpoint on the Sri Lankan… Read more »
Pirapaharan, Chapter 32: The Return of Pirapaharan
by T. Sabaratnam; published March 3, 2004 32. The Return of Pirapaharan Filling the Vacuum Pirapaharan landed near Valvettithurai before dawn on 18 February 1983, one and a half years after he left for Tamil Nadu. When he left on midnight of 6 June 1981, six days after he witnessed the burning of the… Read more »
Election Cartoon
Published March 3, 2004
Leadership Training for Immigrant Women
published March 3, 2004 From: christopher.nugent /A_T/ hklaw /D_O_T/ com Leadership Training for Refugee and Immigrant Women Refugee Women’s Network, Inc. (RWN) has begun preparations for the eighth cycle of the Leadership Training for Refugee and Immigrant Women. You are invited to nominate a refugee or immigrant woman leader, or self-nominate if you are a… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Peace Cry to Win Votes
by T. Sabaratnam; Colombo, March 1, 2004 Weekly Review Now, the battle is to win votes with a peace cry. President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are competing with each other to show to the electorate that their government would be in a better position to usher in permanent peace in Sri Lanka. In… Read more »
Tamil Language Summer Camp
by Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA); published March 2, 2004 The second annual Tamil language summer camp sponsored by Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America is scheduled to take place early this summer. Any second-generation Tamil student with an interest in becoming proficient in basic Tamil is encouraged to apply. Tamil will… Read more »
Tamil Radio from Central New Jersey
published March 2, 2004 There is a 24 hour Tamil Radio broadcasting online from Central New Jersey. The site is http://www.merina.com Use it for all your announcements and to keep abreast of local news.
Dynasty Strikes
by The Action Group of Tamils; Kotte, Sri Lanka, February 22, 2004 The Sinhala President Chandrika Kumaratunga is locked in a personal power struggle with Sinhala Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. We, The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT), had anticipated Kumaratunga’s shenanigans almost two years ago. In our Press Release of 18 March 2002, we said she… Read more »
Letter to the International Community
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; published March 2, 2004 An open letter to the International CommunityPresidents Prime Ministers Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries of Democratic Nations Your Excellencies Re: Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka As you all may be aware, due to the political bickering between Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumarathunga (CBK) and Prime Minister Ranil… Read more »
76 Tamil Political Prisoners
by Tamil Centre for Human Rights; Paris, February 24, 2004 TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – TCHR/CTDH CENTRE TAMOUL POUR LES DROITS DE L’HOMME (Established in 1990) http://www.tchr.netPress release Ref : B07F/PR/2004 24 February 2004 There are still 76 Tamil political prisoners and detainees Arrest and detention are legal in any judicial system. But when there… Read more »
Political Bifurcation Inevitable
by Taraki; Daily Mirror, Colombo, February 27, 2004 Polarization of political forces inevitable The Parliamentary power equation after the April 2 general elections is set to sharply reflect an acute polarization of political forces in Sri Lanka. The seats in Parliament are going to be divided mainly between two fundamentally distinct political formations. On the one… Read more »
The Macartney Maneuver
by Sachi Sri Kantha; published February 27, 2004 The Macartney Maneuver: a No-nonsense Straight Lesson from a Cricket Great I’m a subscriber to the Lancet medical journal and the first page I check in a newly received issue is the one which features the humorous column ‘Jabs and Jibes.’ The Feb.21, 2004 issue of Lancet carried a feature… Read more »
The Lion & His Shadow
by Rajkumar Sivapathan; originally published February 27, 2004 School children from all over the world study great stories of how an arrogant lion demanded one animal per day from the inmates of the forest and eventually was tricked and killed by a small hare. It is no doubt that leaders of the world would have read… Read more »
You Are What You Speak
by Janadas Devan; Straits Times, Singapore, January 25, 2004 THE ancient Egyptians employed hundreds of signs in their hieroglyphic writing, as did the Sumerians in their cuneiform. Both were complex systems, which no more than a tiny portion of Egyptians and Sumerians could have mastered. Janadas Devan Imagine a system consisting of hundreds of pictograms, or… Read more »