by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 19, 2022 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and Trincomalee district MP Rajavarothayam Sampanthan wrote a politically important letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on September 14, 2022. In that detailed missive, the veteran Tamil MP pinpointed several measures being enacted under the current regime affecting the Tamil people…. Read more »
Sri Lanka at Brink of Humanitarian Crisis
Financial Partners Should Support Basic Needs, Promote Respect for Rights by Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch, New York, November 24, 2022 The dramatic fuel shortages that accompanied mass protests in Sri Lanka earlier this year may have eased, but for millions of Sri Lankans the economic crisis is worse than ever. This month, the United… Read more »
The Struggle of Memories against Oblivion
by Nillanthan Maha, November 27, 2022 [translation by Google Translate, with some corrections by the editor] This is the 14th Heroes’ Day since 2009. For the last 13 years, Heroes’ Day has been celebrated in one way or another, secretly and openly. Remembrance for the Tamil people has deeper dimensions than just crying and grieving…. Read more »
A Powerful Display of Tamil Nationhood and Collective Defiance
by People for Equality & Relief in Lanka (PEARL) Washington D.C.; November 27, 2022 — Today, on Maaveerar Naal (Tamil National Remembrance Day), thousands of Eelam Tamils will gather together by makeshift cemeteries and memorial plaques around the world as they remember those who gave their lives and futures for the liberation of the Tamil nation… Read more »
Revisiting the Academic Fraud of Epigraphist Senarat Paranavitana
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 5, 2022 Guruge’s conclusion was, “…at some point in the pursuit of this goal of filling gaps in history,…Paranavitana stepped beyond the thin line which separates reality from the imaginary.” Introduction Oct 4th marked the 50th death anniversary of Senarat Paranavitana (1896-1972), renowned Sinhalese epigraphist and the former archeological commissioner… Read more »
Sinhalese Settlements and Forced Evictions of Tamils in the North-East Province
by Dr. Chelvadurai Manogaran, TamilNation, UK, June 1, 2000 The planned settlement of Sinhalese peasants in the North-East Province has threatened the economic, social and cultural future of Sri Lanka’s Tamils and undermined the political power they have wielded in the province where they have a long-established history of settlement. Don Stephen Senanayake, the first… Read more »
‘Parasakthi’ Movie and Tamil Politics
70th Anniversary Remembrance by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 16, 2022 Introduction The iconic Tamil movie ‘Parasakthi’, based on a stage play by Pavalar M.S. Balasundaram, and scripted by Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), then a 28 year old DMK party activist, opened in Tamil Nadu cinema theaters as a Deepavali release on October 17, 1952. In… Read more »
Indian Ocean Strategic Ocean Newsletter 2022
by Indian Ocean Strategic Studies, New York, January – August 2022 Indian Ocean Strategic Studies newsletter January 2022 Indian Ocean Strategic Studies newsletter March April 2022 Indian Ocean Strategic Studies newsletter May June 2022 Indian Ocean Strategic Studies newsletter July August 2022 Mission of the IOSS The Indian Ocean is at the heart of international… Read more »
Footprints on the Sands of Time
FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME The visionary life and legacy of Dr. Samuel Fisk Green by Dr. Thayalan Ambalavanar, October 15, 2022 Dear friends and colleagues, October 10th 2022 marked the 200th birth anniversary of Dr.Samuel Fisk Green, the American missionary who founded the first medical school in Ceylon in 1848. A successful commemoration… Read more »
UNHRC: Unlucky Seven For Sri Lanka
by S.V. Kirubaharan, Eurasian Review and The Morning, Colombo, October 11, 2022 Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the… Read more »
Urban Poverty Triples in Sri Lanka amid Enduring Crisis
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, October 11, 2022 World Bank flags need for higher social security in the island As Sri Lankans continue braving their worst economic crisis since Independence, urban poverty on the island has tripled in the last year, from 5% to 15 %, according to a recent World Bank report. Sri… Read more »
Economic Crisis and Resistance in Batticaloa
Eastern Sri Lanka by Thavarasa Anukuvi, Polity, Social Scientists’ Association, Colombo, October 10, 2022 Introduction The question whether ‘the people’ of the North and East should or could protest in solidarity with the #GotaGoHome protest movement has been the subject of much debate (Pundir & Kanapathippillai 2022; Sandranathan 2022; Ellis-Petersen & Sandran 2022; De Soysa… Read more »
MP Sampanthan Letter re Thirukkoneshwaram Temple
by TNA leader MP Sampanthan to Pres. Ranil Wickremesinghe, September 14, 2022 THIRUKONESHWARAM – “DAKSHANA KAILASH” RENOWNED HINDU TEMPLE IN TRINCOMALEE AND TRINCOMALEE HARBOUR I am informed that in recent times certain meetings have been held in Trincomalee wherein activities relating to the above two institutions Thirukoneshwaram – Dakshana Kailash and Trincomalee Harbour have been… Read more »
Remembering 2nd Lt. Maalathy
by Tamil Guardian, London, October 10, 2022 Today marks thirty-five years since the death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle. Across the world, the day is being commemorated as Tamil Women’s Day, an opportunity to honour women’s involvement in the… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 68
‘Navarathinam’ Movie and March 1977 General Election by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 3, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 67, received on July 16th , was as follows: “Thank you for part 67 – focusing on MGR’s belief. MGR was a believer but did not exhibit it until his second term when… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Past and Future with Geneva Resolutions
by Ruki Fernando, The Morning, Colombo, September 20, 2022 “How many more years should we come to Geneva?” – Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, speaking at an informal consultation on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution on Sri Lanka, in Geneva, Switzerland, 16 September 2022. Amongst the many international institutions… Read more »
Ensuring Sri Lanka’s Compliance with UNHRC’ Resolutions
by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 22, 2022 Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka and Tamils all over the world are very deeply concerned in relation to Sri Lanka’s past human rights violations including war crimes and the very minimal steps taken by Sri Lanka so far… Read more »
Child’s Guide To Ranilnomics
Proposed Debt Restructuring Will Pose More Issues Than Answers By W A Wokewardema, Colombo Telegraph, September 26, 2022 Dr. W.A Wijewardena Aseni, whiz kid of economics, and her grandfather Sarath Mahatthaya, ex-official of the Finance Ministry, are continuing their conversation of the economics of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, tagged Ranilnomics. Previously, they discussed the ideological battle… Read more »
1981 Visit of Queen Elizabeth to Sri Lanka
From the Pages of Tribune (Colombo), etc. by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 26, 2022 Front Note Queen Elizabeth (1926-2022) died on September 8, at the age of 96. She had visited Ceylon (later to be renamed Sri Lanka) from April 10-21, 1954 and in 1981. I may note here that the only memory of the… Read more »
A Rebuttal from ‘Tangential Tamil Sniper’
aka Sachi Sri Kantha September 20, 2022 Front Note Prof. Michael Roberts (b. 1938), a Sri Lankan historian cum anthropologist with some name recognition, currently residing in Australia, and is a contributor to the scholarship on V. Prabhakaran, LTTE and Tamil militant movement in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he has chosen to specialize in negative portrayal… Read more »