by Allie Nava, published September 2024 Maya’s Journey From America to Her Birth Country Was Meant to Be a Nostalgic Visit. Instead, It Became a Fight for Survival. Fans of Paolo Coelho, Amy Tan, Vaddey Ratner, and Khaled Hosseini will be captivated by July and Everything After, a modern tale of resilience and transformation against extraordinary… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Diaspora
No, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Question Has Not Been Resolved
by Mario Arulthas, AlJazeera, Qatar, January 9, 2025 “They’re trampling on our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a Tamil woman, as the torrential rain lashing our faces washed away her tears. Standing barefoot and ankle-deep in mud at the site of a former cemetery in Visuvamadu, Sri Lanka, she was lamenting the adjacent military… Read more »
All Roads Run through Tamil Eelam
New Delhi must remember that any form of connectivity with Sri Lanka inherently involves the Tamil North-East. Tamil Guardian editorial, December 21, 2024 Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to India saw him receive the grandest of receptions, in a sign that New Delhi is firmly pressing ahead with its plans to increase its footprint… Read more »
Tamil Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Brutal Civil War Live in Fear
— and disempowerment, 15 years on by Krishnan Francis, Associated Press, New York, May 31, 2024 MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — At the site of a bloody battlefield that marked the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Singaram Soosaimuthu fishes every day with his son, casting nets and reeling them in. It is a skill… Read more »
Dead or Alive?
Parents of children gone in Sri Lanka’s civil war have spent 15 years seeking answers By Krishnan Francis, Associated Press, May 18, 2024 MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — For 15 years, Rasalingam Thilakawathi has been trying to find out what happened to her daughter at the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war. Or… Read more »
Memory Wars
Sri Lankan diaspora in Canada grapples with how to honour those lost in civil war by Stephen Khan, The Conversation International, Australia, October 27, 2024 Last August, a foundation stone laying ceremony was held in Brampton, Ont. for a Tamil genocide monument in the city. The memorial’s architectural design was selected from among 100,000 submissions and finalized by… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamils
by Ottawa Tamil Association & Bramption Tamil Association, November 26, 2019? Sri LankasGenocideAgainstTamils_ Booklet
BTF: President Elect – the Challenge Faced by Tamil Nation
by British Tamils Forum, October 4, 2024 BTF press release re 2024 presidential election FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE President elect — the challenge faced by Tamil nation. Forge a strategic alliance and face any future democratic process unitedly When the nation has been struggling under the regime of successive nefarious governments, the arrival of the newly… Read more »
Why Did Tamils & Muslims 0f the North & East Reject JVP-Led Alliance?
by Imtiyaz Razak, Colombo Telegraph, September 30, 2024 Introduction Sri Lanka’s recently concluded 9th presidential elections culminated in a notable victory for the Marxist JVP, led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who secured the presidency after a second ballot count. The election results underscore a significant electoral divide: while a majority of Southern Sinhala-Buddhists rallied behind… Read more »
Sri Lankan Fare Takes Center Stage Uptown
Lungi debuts on the Upper East Side this week by Caroline Shin, Eater NY, September 18, 2024 While Sri Lankan food has made a mark in Staten Island, it’s moving beyond the borough to Manhattan’s Upper East Side with Lungi. Co-owner Albin Vincent is flipping Imli, his neighborhood spot for modern Indian food, into Lungi, with a focus on… Read more »
Letter to the President: A Clarion Call for Fairness
by Roy Ratnavel, Canada, October 1, 2024 Ratnavel letter to new Pres. Dissanayake Oct 1 2024 October 1, 2024. His Excellency Anura Kumara Dissanayake President Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Dear Mr. President, Please accept my warmest congratulations on your election victory. As you embark upon your new responsibilities as the ninth Executive President of… Read more »
Manifesto of the Tamil Candidate
Political Anguish of the Tamils . By S.V. Kirubaharan, Tamil Centre for Human Rights, France, September 13, 2024 . (So far, this manifesto has been published only in Tamil. Therefore, if there are any errors in the English terminology used, these must be excused.) . For over a year, the Tamil people have been united… Read more »
PEARL: Sri Lanka’s Atrocities Against Tamils in 2009 Constitute Genocide
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, Washington, DC Full report: Justice-for-Genocide-Sri-Lankas-Responsibility-for-Genocide-Against-the-Tamil-People-in-2009 For Immediate Release Comprehensive Legal Analysis Urges Genocide Recognition (Geneva, September 9, 2024)– The Sri Lankan government and military committed genocide against the Tamil people in 2009, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) said in a legal briefing paper released today…. Read more »
Response to Indian Foreign Minister’s Remarks by US Tamils
by Tamil Diaspora News, September 1, 2024 The BJP once acknowledged the Tamil genocide, yet now urges support for those responsible. Voting for a Tamil candidate is far from a waste—just as Tamils in Tamil Nadu chose to support their own instead of the BJP. When minorities vote for their own candidates, it is a… Read more »
From Jaffna to Malaya: The Unseen Architects of Modern Malaysia
by Sivananthiram Alagandram, Geneva, May 16, 2024 . Introduction The Jaffna Tamil community offers a compelling narrative of migration, showcasing a remarkable trajectory from agricultural origins in Jaffna to attaining middle-class status within just half a century in Malaysia. Yet, equally intriguing is their rapid ascent from clerical and junior civil service positions to prominent… Read more »
Viraj in Tamil Radical Politics
by Dr. N. Malathy, TamilNet, August 18, 2024 The “radicalness” observable in Eelam Tamil Nationalist struggle ranges from centre-right all the way to radical left. It was only the launch of armed struggle that saw radical-left politics entering the Tamil Nationalist struggle. Prior to that Tamil radical politics was led by the Communist party centred… Read more »
‘Himalayan Declaration’ Lays Bare Deep Divide Among Sri Lankan Tamil Groups
Diaspora groups have slammed the Global Tamil Forum for not including them in a recent dialogue with a Buddhist delegation. by Mark S. Cogan, The Diplomat, Arlington, VA, USA, January 3, 2024 Almost 15 years after the Sri Lankan civil war ended, there appears no end to the political divisions, not only between the Sinhalese majority… Read more »
In Palermo, a Catholic Saint Joins the Hindu Pantheon
The Sicilian capital, Palermo, has a long history of cultural melding. Its new arrivals from Sri Lanka have embraced St. Rosalia. by Emma Bubola, The New York Times, August 3, 2024 Photographs by Gianni Cipriano After they spread pink petals on golden statues of Ganesh and Shiva, and recited prayers to blue-skinned and eight-armed gods, the… Read more »
Review: ‘Brotherless Night’
‘Brotherless Night,’ an ambitious novel about Sri Lankan civil war, wins $150K prize by National Public Radio, Washington, DC, May 13, 2024 Audio at V.V. Ganeshananthan’s ‘Brotherless Night’ The writer V. V. Ganeshananthan has won this year’s Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, for her novel Brotherless Night. This is the second year of the prize, which… Read more »
TRG Calls for Action and Accountability Following UNHRC Report
on Sri Lanka’s Enforced Disappearances by Tamil Rights Group, Markham, Canada, June 25, 2024 Markham, Canada – Over fifteen years following the end of Sri Lanka’s Genocidal war against Eelam Tamils, families of the forcibly disappeared are still searching for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones. The recent UN Human Rights Office report released on… Read more »