by Satya Sagar, Substack, December 6, 2023 The daily death and destruction in Gaza has evoked painful memories for Tamils everywhere of a similar carnage half a world away in Mullivaikal, the coastal village that became the scene of mass slaughter at the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009. The parallels between the… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 23
Remembering my Father on his Birth Centenary Year by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 12, 2023 My father (Sivapragasam Sachithanantham, 1923-2003), whom my sister and I called Aiyah was born in Puloly West, Point Pedro, Ceylon, to Vinasithamby Sivapragasam (1882-1936) and Packiyam (1889-1945), as the sixth and youngest child. Ten years ago, I posted Aiyah’s autobiographical… Read more »
The Broken Global Order Needs Mending
Who will take the lead? by Satya Sivaraman, TGTE Parliament joint session, December 1, 2023 TGTE Parliament’s Joint Session – YouTube Theme: New Mechanisms and Norms for International Peace and Justice Watching the horrific violence against civilian populations by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza the memories of many Tamils around the world must have… Read more »
“As a Human Rights Defender, You’re Almost Expected to be Superhuman”
In the words of Anushani Alagarajah by UN Women, Asia Pacific, November 28, 2023 Anushani Alagarajah is a human rights defender who has worked closely with conflict-affected communities in the North and East of Sri Lanka. She is the Executive Director at the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a non-profit research think-tank that works on… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 22
My meager contributions to Tamil Writing in the Natural Sciences by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 5, 2023 Science writing is an orphan genre among Tamil writers, due to specific conditions needed by a Tamil author. These are, (1) one should have studied natural sciences and/or technology to earn a university degree in any discipline; (2)… Read more »
Maaveerar Naal 2023
by Nillanthan Maha, November 25, 2023 [Translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with help from the editor.] This is the fifteenth Veterans Day since the end of the armed struggle. Over the past 15 years, there have been legal issues in the widespread popularization of commemorations such as Heroes’ Day. Fear cannot be… Read more »
Sabapathy Thillairajah (1928-2023)
Born in Jaffna, Irupalai Koppai on 23-02-1928 and resided in Thoppu, Achuveli and Maryland, USA. Sabapathy Thillairajah passed away on Wednesday 22-11-2023 in America. Beloved son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Sabapathy. Beloved son-in-law of the late Mr. and Mrs. Vallipuram of Thoppu Achuveli, Tamil Eelam. Beloved husband of the late Rasamma. He is… Read more »
In Memoriams: Randor Guy and Prof. Robert L. Hardgrave Jr.
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 19, 2023 Madabhushi Rangadorai, aka Randor Guy: DOB – 1937 Nov 8 and DOD – 2023 Apr 23 Prof. Robert L. Hardgrave Jr: DOB – 1939 Feb 6 and DOD – 2023 May 21. As one of the biographers of M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), an Indian movie star turned a successful… Read more »
Book Review: ‘Politics of Hate’
Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia by Knox Thames, Global Policy, Durham University, UK, May 18, 2023 Politics of Hate: Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia edited by Farahnaz Ispahani. HarperCollins India 2023. 336 pp., £17.99 paperback 9789356293557, $14.99 e-book 9789356290013 The history of the Indian subcontinent is as vast as the region’s size and population. Consequently, foreign… Read more »
Alapara Club: Is the Taste of Jaffna Changing?
by Nillanthan Maha, November 11, 2023 On the 4th, a party was held at Dilco Hotel, Jaffna. The Jaffna Municipal Council administration and the concert have contacted the hotel management and inquired about the event. The hotel management has given the contact information of the Colombo-based company called “Shuttle Vibe” which organizes the event. Some… Read more »
TGTE to Launch a Movement for New Norms for Peace & Justice
by EIN Presswire, October 26, 2023 Such a global campaign for peace and justice has become more urgent today due to the threat of the Israel-Palestine conflict spreading throughout Middle-East We need to keep evolving and creating other systems to create solutions to conflict.” — former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo NEW YORK, UNITED STATES,… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 73
Notes on the released Final Two Movies by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 9, 2023 About the contents in Part 72 of this series, pal and fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan on Sept 3rd sent me the following comments. “Thank you for part 72. You have pulled together the strands of that momentous period. Even AIADMK men… Read more »
2024 Budget
Prime focus on SOE reform and corruption [discusses budget going to the military – Ed/] by Daily FT, Colombo, November 14, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as Finance Minister, yesterday presented the Budget for 2024, a year which will start the election cycle. The welfare allocation for 2024 is close to Rs. 200 billion compared to… Read more »
Dr. Rajan Sriskandarajah (1943-2023)
Dr. Sriskandarajah graduated from the University of Ceylon, Colombo with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1969. After practicing in Sri Lanka he undertook post-graduate training in England, where he obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, England in 1977. Upon moving to the United States Dr. Sriskandarajah… Read more »
Book Review: Prisoner #1056 – How I Survived War and Found Peace
by Roy Ratnavel, Viking/Penguin Random House, Canada, 2023, 260 pp, US$27.00 by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 28, 2023 This book of memoir by Roy Ratnavel (born 1969), a naturalized Canadian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, has achieved bestseller status in Canada this year. The memoir has 12 chapters altogether, among which the first three (in… Read more »
Palestine Israel War: Whose Side are the Tamils On?
by A. Nillanthan, October 21, 2023 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the armed struggle of the Tamil people began to gain momentum, Tamil movements like EROS, EPRLF, PLOT etc. received military training in Palestine. Those who received such training were called “PLO Rainies” in the homeland. Some of them – Suresh Premachandran,… Read more »
Why Britain Fails to Hold War Criminals to Account
Amal Clooney and Rupert Skilbeck on why Britain fails to hold war criminals to account Three reforms are needed to make its international justice efforts more robust, say the lawyers by The Economist, October 19, 2021 In the year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine, Britain has repeatedly condemned Vladimir Putin’s illegal act of… Read more »
Roots of Ethnic Contestation in the Eastern Province
As in the past, the contestation is over title to the land by PK Balachandran, Daily Mirror, Colombo, October 10, 2023 Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province is again becoming a contested region between ethnic groups. This time round it is more between the Tamils and Sinhalese, with the Muslims in the periphery. . This is because of… Read more »
Dairy Farmers & Livestock Left in the Lurch!
by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan, Ceylon Today, Colombo, October 1, 2023
Deeper Sufferings
Many Tamil writers from Jaffna peninsula have written both prose & poetry. But their readings have largely remained within smaller groups. Artists from Sri Lanka have also spoken through their creations by T.M. Krishna, The Telegraph Online, Calcutta, India, September 29, 2023 In 2011, when I travelled in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, I… Read more »