By T. Sabaratnam, 2003 Volume 1, Introduction, Part 2 Original Chapter 1 Why didn’t he hit back? “Why didn’t he hit back,” was Pirapaharan’s reaction when he heard from his father, Thiruvenkadam Velupillai, about the burning of the Panadura Pillayar Kovil priest. His father, an admirer of the Federal Party Leader Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayakam, had… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Biography
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Intro., Part 2
by T. Sabaratnam, 2003 Volume 1, Introduction, Part 1 Original Vol.1, Intro, Part 2 The Language Tamil youths had been radicalized by the late 1960s. Language is a matter that touches the heart of every Tamil. They are proud of the antiquity and richness of their language, and linguistic nationalism is part of the psyche of every… Read more »
T. Sabaratnam: Pirapaharan, Vol. 1, Introduction
From the Editor Mr. T. Sabaratnam wrote a history of V. Pirapaharan from 2003-2005 that was posted on the Sangam website. This history is of the period BEFORE the war began and its early stages. The history dwells on the root causes and the background of those involved. As most of this material is not… Read more »
Remembering A. Sivanandan (1923–2018)
We Are Here Because You Were With Us by Virou Srilangarajah, ‘Ceasefire,’ UK, February 4, 2018 That he was still alive at the time, though in comparative retirement, makes that neglect even sadder.” So wrote Ambalavaner Sivanandan in 1980, commenting on the lack of acknowledgement by black political movements of the 1960s in the United States of the… Read more »
Sivanandan: When Memory Forgets a Giant
by David Renwick, ‘Red Pepper,’ UK, January 6, 2018 Daniel Renwick calls for the whole movement to discover and remember the vital work of A. Sivanandan, who died this week Ambalavaner Sivanandan (Siva) was not en vogue during my life. For activists and anti-racist campaigners of previous generations of the black struggle, though, Siva was a giant. His presence… Read more »
Ambalavaner Sivanandan (1923-2018)
An anti-racist fighter from Ceylon by Virou Srilangarajah, ‘Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka,’ January 17, 2018 “There is nothing, nothing, so horrendous as communal war, ethnic war. Overnight your friend becomes your enemy, every look of your neighbour is laden with threat, every passer-by is an informant. You walk the streets on tiptoe, casting nervous… Read more »
Rudrakumaran: Man with a Mission in Pursuit of Eelam
With Rudrakumaran at the helm there is hope and somehow there is no doubt he will do everything in his power to keep hope alive – and I know the Maveerar are smiling…because of him; they know the non-violent fight for Tamil Eelam is in good hands! by Usha Sriskandarajah, July 26, 2017 Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran’s… Read more »
Remembering Sivaram
by Amna Jatoi, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo May 25,2017 His biographer speaks of the unimaginable cultural consequences of living continually under the gun. Although this comment was made about Tamil communities living in Sri Lanka more widely, it provides the basis for understanding Dharmaretnam Sivaram’s core beliefs about the role of intellectuals, or those with knowledge (and… Read more »
The Power Thinker
Original, painstaking, sometimes frustrating and often dazzling. Foucault’s work on power matters now more than ever by Colin Koopman, ‘Aeon,’ March 15, 2017 Imagine you are asked to compose an ultra-short history of philosophy. Perhaps you’ve been challenged to squeeze the impossibly sprawling diversity of philosophy itself into just a few tweets. You could do… Read more »
The Enlightened Theology of a Tamil Saivite
by Karthick Ram Manoharan, ‘The Wire,’ India, December 22, 2016 In Religion, Caste and Nation in South India, V. Ravi Vaithees focuses on the works of the Tamil Saivite saint Maraimalai Adigal and explores the religious roots of the Dravidian movement and its impact on the political discourse. This year has been a calamitous one… Read more »
Tribute to Dr. V.C. Kulandaiswamy
Remembering Bala Anna 10 years On
by Tamil Guardian, London, December 14, 2016 Today marks 10 years since the passing of Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr Balasingham – or Bala Anna as he was fondly known – was deeply adored by the Tamil people. His charismatic addresses drew tens… Read more »
Jaffna Press Club: Remembering Mylvaganam Nimalarajan
October 19, 2016 Today, 16 years have passed since our colleague Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was assassinated. Along with the lack of justice for hundreds of thousands of Tamil people massacred in the Tamil homeland in the island of Sri Lanka, there has similarly been no justice for journalists and media workers, including Nimalarajan. The culture of… Read more »
Tribute to Ainkaran – A Unique Artist from Tamil Eelam
by ILankai Tamil Sangam, October 2016 Sivaaingaran Chelvadurai, a tech-supervisor turned impressive stage singer, who performed on equal footing with renowned playback singers over three decades and who was born and raised in Tamil Eelam, emerging from a family of social activists and intellectuals, passed away at age 55 in Columbia, Tennessee, USA. Ultimate… Read more »
Father Thaninayagam
by M.K. Elaventhan, August 8, 2016 This is Father Thaninayagam’s 103rd birth anniversary and 36th death anniversary. Thaninayagam Thamil Thaninayagam Eng1
A Special Day To Remember Sugitharajah
Sri Lanka’s calendar is full of reminiscences from the bloody years. January is a month to remember the targeted killings of journalists under the previous government’s supervision. Impunity for these crimes against democracy prevails. In February attention is on independence, which opened up the doors for ethnical strife, in May it’s the end of the… Read more »
Tribute to Dr. Ananthan Satchi
Satchi Memorial Final Dear Tamil Americans, On Friday November 27th we lost one of our founding members, Dr. Ananthan Satchi. Born in 1939 and raised in Malaysia, he received his medical degree from the University of Colombo. He moved to the United States in 1971 and worked as an Anesthesiologist until his retirement. Since forming the… Read more »
Veteran Eezham Tamil Academic, Diaspora Leader Theva Rajan Passes Away
Mr. Arumugam Thevarajan, who was contributing to the language, history, culture, rights, media and social welfare of Eezham Tamils in the island and in the diaspora for nearly six decades, passed away in New Zealand on Wednesday at the age of 81. Joining the Ceylon government clerical service in the 1950s, and posted in the… Read more »
The Passing of Veteran Tamil Activist David Iya
We are deeply saddened by the death of our founder, colleague and mentor Solomon Arulanandan David, who was known to the Tamil people as “David Iya” or “Gandhiyam David”. He suffered from illness in the last few years and was 92 years of age at the time of death. A qualified architect and town planner,… Read more »
On David Iyaar’s Passing
Solomon Arulanandam “Gandhiyam” David [1924-2015] Men involved in our defeated movement always spoke about a man who was there at the beginning. A man who guided the first generation of the Iyakkam. A peaceful man who experienced the massacres at Welikade prison in 1983. A man who the movement never abandoned – freeing him was… Read more »