TRO’s Fifth Annual Event on Saturday Oct 23, 2004, New Jersey sangam.org/articles/view2/588.html Dear Friends, Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) invites you for the fifth fund raising dinner and fine Tamil music concert. The cease-fire in our homeland has brought an end to the senseless killing. But the suffering of our people who have endured years of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Diaspora
Tamil Diaspora
by V. Sivasupramaniam, October 7, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/585.html Diaspora comes from the Greek word ‘diaspeirein’ to mean disperse or scatter. Diaspora is the dispersal or the scattering of persons with a common identity such as culture and language in different directions. Diaspora transcends all its variations. The diaspora maintains and nurtures their civilisational and cultural distinctiveness and… Read more »
Reporting from Vanni, Part 1
by K. Mylvaganam, October 6, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/584.html I was back in heaven (Vanni) for three wonderful months. Only those who have been here will understand what I mean. You are in a homely atmosphere listening to Tamil music and Tamil being spoken everywhere. The only time I did not enjoy this music is when the… Read more »
President Chandrika’s Address to the Asia Society
in New York by Nadodi, October 6, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/581.html http://www.asiasociety.org/speeches/kumaratunga04.html The caption given to the news item about President’s speech at the Asia Society on September 20 in the Yahoo India news was “LTTE must give up Tamil Eelam demand: Kumaratunga.” This statement of the President is totally out of place and indicates how Kumaratunge… Read more »
Inspiration and Hope: The Youth of Sri Lanka
by Greg Buie, October 5, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/580.html As I prepared for my summer adventure in my comfortable Southern California home, I had a hard time imagining what sorts of experiences I was in store for in Sri Lanka. Yet, in a state of unchallenged enthusiasm and naiveté, I excitedly boarded the plane to this country,… Read more »
An Analysis of SLFP Objections to the ISGA Proposals
By Wakeley Paul, Esq., October 4, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/577.html The SLFP’s initial flap over the Interim Self-Governing Administration (ISGA) proposals, suggesting that the proposals are nothing but a stepping stone toward separation, is one more example of the Sinhalese effort to blunt their sins and desire to perpetuate the concept of Sinhalese supremacy. The Sinhalese also… Read more »
Response to President Kumaratunga’s UN Address
by M. Nadarajan, October 4, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/576.html The headline in the Daily News reporting the President’s speech quoted her as saying “My government has got a clear mandate for peace.” She said that at numerous elections her government had obtained that mandate. She did not say whether that included the last elections of April 2004, when her… Read more »
Political Chaos in Sri Lanka
by V Gunaratnam, September 30, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/571.html There are new imperatives driving Sri Lankan politics at this time, as it struggles to move the peace process forward and around the corner. But it is difficult to make out anything, because the political scene is like a huge iceberg: only the tip is visible but there… Read more »
THO Healthcare Projects in Vanni
September 29, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/569.html and THOsummer2004.pdf (sangam.org) Several doctors from Australia worked in Vanni this past summer and describe their experiences within the framework of requirements for successful short term visits. THO summer 2004
Elagupillai’s Pongu Tamil Speech
Full Script of Speech By Prof. Elagu . V. Elagupillai at Pongu Thamil in Queen’s Park, Toronto, September 25, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/566.html Members of the Tamil Students Association, Vicar General Fr. Emmanuel, Special Guests, Federal Provincial and Local Government authorities, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am honoured to be with you this evening at this historic Pongu… Read more »
American Policy of Disengagement from Sri Lanka
The American Policy of Ostensible Disengagement from Sri Lanka by Wakeley Paul, Esq., September 24, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/565.html American leaders and the American media have a tendency to distance themselves from ‘third world’ concerns. America’s daily worries probably sound like trivial squabbles to third world occupants. The heated debates over abortion and the right to life;… Read more »
International Community Can Help Forge Peace
by Ana Pararajasingham, September 23, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/562.html According to Satchithananthan Sathananthan (“International community sharpens its knives against Tamils“ published in sangam. org-), the primary aim of the international community is ‘to undercut the Tamils’ political support for the LTTE and emasculate the military power of the Tamil national movement’. In support of this argument he cites several… Read more »
ISGA: Legitimate, Practical & with Precedence
by Arvalan, September 23, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/561.html On October 31, 2003 the LTTE, on behalf of the Tamil people, announced their proposal for an Interim Self-Governing Administration (ISGA) of the Northeast of the island called Sri Lanka. This proposed ISGA is a significant step toward a peaceful resolution of the decades-long conflict between the Tamil and… Read more »
Peace in Sri Lanka: Power Sharing
Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part III – Power Sharing by R. Cholan, September 22, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/558.html In Part II, I had shown how the federal constitutions in the three examples confer the powers to regional governments by default. Powers of the central governments are defined, and those of the regional governments are… Read more »
Peace in Sri Lanka: Fear of Secession
Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part II – Fear of Secession by R. Cholan, September 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/557.html The Sinhala opposition to the ISGA proposal is not a new phenomenon. The views being expressed currently about the ISGA are exactly the same as what has been said about ‘federalism’ for the last fifty… Read more »
Peace in Sri Lanka: Equality
Peace in Sri Lanka – Some Thoughts Part I – Equality. by R. Cholan, September 20, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/556.html No one expected the peace talks in Sri Lanka to progress without a hitch. But, the manner in which the process has stalled, without a single concrete step beyond the December 2002 Oslo accord, and with a… Read more »
Children’s Computer Centre Opens in Kilinochchi
The Tamil Information Technology Association opened a Children’s Computer Centre in Kilinochchi on September 12. The press release about the event can be viewed at www.sangam.org/articles/view2/KidsCentreOpening_9_04.pdf
Working in Post-war Northern Sri Lanka
Below are pictures taken by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam during her time volunteering as a doctor in the Vanni last year. You can read about her experiences at http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/index.php?uid=530 [Now at Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka – Ilankai Tamil Sangam] … Read more »
Pongu Tamil in Toronto Sept. 25
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Working in Post-conflict Northern Sri Lanka
by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam MB BS, BSc (Hons), DFFP, DRCOG, MRCGP May to November 2003 20 years of war has taken its toll on all aspects of society in Sri Lanka, but the NorthEast of the island has been most affected. Homes destroyed, farmland mined, schools, temples, churches & hospitals have been damaged in varying… Read more »