Two thoughtful contributions by Sri Lankan academics Neil DeVotta and Gehan Gunatilleke show how majoritarianism’s relentless othering is less about the majority’s imagined ideal minority-free state, and more about the satisfaction derived from blaming, punishing and depriving the “others” — the Sinhala Buddhist majority’s first target was the Indian Tamils. by Nirupama Subramaniam, Indian Express,… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 71
Essaying the Folk Heroes in Films and Becoming One by Sachi Sri Kantha Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 70, received on Mar 27th , was as follows: “The article was fascinating. I did not know anything about Kalai Arasi and was quite taken with the fact that it was a sci-fi movie in Tamil… Read more »
Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum, February 2023
by N. Ethirveerasingam, May 17, 2023 I took these pictures in Kilinochchi Maveerar Thuyilum Illum during a visit in February 2023. * When Kilinochchi fell in 2008 the army bulldozed about 4 acres of gravestones – a war crime. Other LTTE graveyards in the North met the same fate. * I was there at the… Read more »
The Current Financial & Political Crisis and Possibilities for Fundamental Change
by Fr. Emmanuel Sebamalai, US Congressional Caucus briefing on Sri Lanka, May 11, 2023 First of all, I sincerely thank Congressman Bill Johnson and Congressman Danny Davis for organizing this event. I am privileged to air my grievances on behalf of the Tamils living in Sri Lanka and abroad. For Tamils, May 18 is the… Read more »
MP Charles: Mahaweli Project J Zone
by Sri Lanka MP Charles Nirmalanathan, TrendReport.lk, May 29, 2023 [Translated from Tamil by Google Translate with minor edits — Editor] “The Mahavali Project is a long-term strategy to destroy the ethnic heritage of the Tamils, settle the Sinhalese population, and make the Tamils ethnically non-existent,” Charles MP charged. He also warned about Sinhalese immigration… Read more »
Amnesty’s Concern re PTA Arrests
Amnesty International today [May 26, 2023] issued the following statement on Twitter (see https://twitter.com/amnestysasia/status/1662056434002190337): “Sri Lanka: @amnesty is concerned by the Sri Lankan government’s continued use of its draconian anti-terror law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) despite repeated assurances to repeal the legislation, while ignoring calls to issue a serious moratorium against its use…. Read more »
Sinhala Colonisation of Ancient Tamil Hindu Sites
And the importance of Muslim Christian Hindu unity A Presentation made by Senator Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah at the 9th Sitting of the 3rd Parliament of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam – Delivered May 20th 2023 on her behalf by Senator Satya Sagar Rt Hon. Prime Minister, Hon. Mr. Speaker, My Hon. colleagues in the… Read more »
Prez gives N-E Land Release Orders to Forest Dept.
Prez-Tamil MPs talks Forest Dept. to release N-E lands taken beyond limits demarcated in 1985 maps, Archaeology Dept. to rectify land acquisition errors by Buddhika Samaraweera, The Morning.lk, Colombo, May 24, 2023 President and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an order to release the lands in the Northern and Eastern Provinces that have… Read more »
CSST: Interview with Prof. Mark Cogan
Sri Lanka has been seen as one of China’s string of pearls by Centre for Strategic Studies – Trincomalee, May 24, 2023 China is turning its attention to the Tamils in the north, using some of the same tactics previously employed during the Rajapaksa era to slowly win the trust of the Tamil minority. That,… Read more »
Rep. Nickel’s Statement for the Record May 18
by US Rep. Wiley Nickel, May 18, 2023 Video address on twitter
HRW: Still No Justice on Sri Lanka War Anniversary
UN Pursues Accountability in Response to Government Inaction by Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, New York, May 16, 2023 On May 18, Tamils in Sri Lanka will mark Mullivaikkal Memorial Day, in remembrance of those who died in the final stages of the country’s brutal civil war that ended in 2009. Thousands… Read more »
Conference on Antiquity, Continuous Existence & Political Rights
Of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka by Council of Eelam Tamils, United Kingdom, House of Commons, UK, May 15, 2023 Conference May 2023 Papers delivered — Introduction Professor R. Sri Ranjan, President, International Council of Eelam Tamils Chairperson, National Council of Canadian Tamils Safeguarding women and children from Sri Lankan state’s… Read more »
Notes on Reaching 70 Not Out
Part 1 by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 8, 2023 [Felicitations to our long-time contributor!!! – Editor] by Sachi Sri Kantha I reached 70 today (May 8th). I’m quite happy about this landmark, because when I was born in Sri Lanka in 1953, the then life expectancy for male babies was only 58. And my mother… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s New Anti-terrorism Law is Old Wine in New Bottle
If torture is to be eradicated in Sri Lanka the institutions of the magistrate and police need to be reformed. by J.S. Tissaiyanagam, The Diplomat, Washington, DC, May 5, 2023 Sri Lanka’s government is desperate to quash dissent. It faces opposition on multiple fronts – people protesting onerous austerity measures to combat an economic crisis,… Read more »
Amnesty: Widespread Protests re ATA
Widespread Protests in Sri Lanka Highlight Unifed Opposition to Anti-Terrorism Act by Amnesty International, May 2, 2023 In response to increasing protests throughout Sri Lanka in response to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the proposed replacement legislation to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Amnesty International USA Asia Advocacy Director Carolyn Nash said: “The ATA poses… Read more »
USCIRF Recommends Sri Lanka for Special Watch List
by US Commission on International Religious Freedom, May 1, 2023 USCIRF Annual Report 2023 – Sri Lanka RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ■ Include Sri Lanka on the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); ■ Direct U.S. Embassy officials to… Read more »
America’s Bad Bet on India
New Delhi Won’t Side With Washington Against Beijing by Ashley Tellis, Foreign Affairs, New York, May 1, 2023 For the past two decades, Washington has made an enormous bet in the Indo-Pacific—that treating India as a key partner will help the United States in its geopolitical rivalry with China. From George W. Bush onward, successive… Read more »
Confronting the Truth about Sri Lanka’s Post-war ‘Rehabilitation’ Program
A reply to an academic whitewash by Sri Lanka Campaign for Truth & Justice, London, Nov 1, 2019 In a recent article published in World Politics Review, academic Jocelyn Belanger argued that the Sri Lankan experience of ‘rehabilitating’ Tamil Tiger (LTTE) militants at the end of the country’s long civil war in 2009 offers a valuable model… Read more »
History of the Satyagraha of the Tamils in Sri Lanka
by K Sivapatham, Jaffna, 1962 [in Tamil] Satyagraha of Tamils by Sivapatham 1962 [reformatted slightly rom the original by TE Library]
Designation of Sri Lankan Governor
Due to Involvement in a Gross Violation of Human Rights PRESS STATEMENT ANTONY J. BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE APRIL 26, 2023 The United States is designating Wasantha Karannagoda, Governor of North Western Province in Sri Lanka, pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, due to his involvement in a… Read more »