by Sharanya Manivannan, Medium, November 15, 2020 I had first known that there was a film adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s iconic novel Funny Boy when I had heard about closed screenings of it in Colombo sometime in mid-2020. The story is a bildungsroman about a queer, upper-class Tamil teenager, culminating in the Black July riots of 1983 that… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Diaspora
Discussion with Anton Balasingam and Thamilchelvam of the LTTE
April 17, 1997 at Puthukudierruppu, Mullaithivu (In the presence of Adele Balasingam and Lawrence Thilagar.) by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell), Consultant in Education and Sports, Olympian 1952 and 1956, October 22, 2020 In April 1996, Harvard University’s Program for International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR) convened a consultation process with the Sinhala and Tamil Diaspora living… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Militarised Coronavirus Containment has Grave Consequences
by Thusiyan Nandakumar | MedAct, October 16, 2020 | As states around the world continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, fears are mounting in many places for already disenfranchised and vulnerable communities. In Sri Lanka, a region that has been torn by decades of ethnic conflict and suffers from continued reports of human rights abuses, those… Read more »
Justification for Self-Determination
Tamils in the North & East of Sri Lanka by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 20, 2020 When the United Nations was created after the World War II, one of its purposes was spelt out in Article 1 [2] of the UN Charter as: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of… Read more »
Crucial Time for Urgent Actions
By UNHRC, UN, international community & diaspora Tamils by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 19, 2020 It need not be detailed again to list the grievances of Tamils which commenced in 1948 and continue to pile up and accumulate with no redress in sight from the… Read more »
When Will the EU, US, UK & UNHRC Take Action
To find the missing? By; Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 12, 2020 The mothers, fathers, relatives of the missing are on the streets for more than 1340 days on sit-in protest demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. They are holding EU, US & UN Flags and the pictures of their loved ones who are… Read more »
Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Sri Lanka
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 3, 2020 The Universal Declaration for Human Rights [UDHR] was adopted on 10th December 1948 by the United Nations at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The UDHR contains thirty Articles. Articles 1 and 2 outline the philosophical claim of the UDHR and emphasise that human beings are born free in… Read more »
Rajapaksa Shifts Up a Gear
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, September 28, 2020 Sri Lanka’s president has wasted little time in getting to work. Within weeks of his party sweeping parliamentary polls, Gotabaya Rajapaksa rapidly produced the long-promised 20th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution, which seeks to further concentrate power into the executive presidency he occupies. As expected, there are few checks… Read more »
Amazing Mum
The ‘amazing’ mum who fled two civil wars and ended up running a Flintshire petrol station by Kelly Williams, Daily Post, UK, September 19, 2020 Shanty Yoganathan’s daughter Niz shared her mum’s incredible tale as she gets set to celebrate her 50th birthday A proud daughter has shared the extraordinary tale of how her mum… Read more »
PEARL Condemns Sri Lanka’s Latest Assault on Tamils’ Right to Remember
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA (Washington D.C.; September 24, 2020) — PEARL is deeply concerned by reports that a Sri Lankan court has banned commemorations of Lt. Col. Thileepan, who died while conducting a hunger strike for Tamil rights in 1987. PEARL condemns the arrest, pursuant to the ban, of those… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Boiling Tamils
And failing Tamil political leaders by Thambu Kanagasabai: LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, September 21, 2020 There is no denying of the fact that the Tamils in Sri Lanka have been at the receiving end by the successive Governments in power and targeted in the agenda of GENOCIDE including structural GENOCIDE… Read more »
Tale of a Tiger
Facets of LTTE Chief Prabhakaran’s life by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily FT, Colombo, May 13, 2020 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed 11 years ago in combat with the armed forces of Sri Lanka on 19 May 2009. The longest war in South Asia came to an end after the… Read more »
Pres. Gotabaya’s Forward March towards an Exclusive Sinhala-Buddhist State
by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 3, 2020 President Gotabaya’s throne speech on August 20, 2020 as expected does not spring any surprise or disappointments to the minorities particularly Tamils as it is a frank and forthright speech which is crowning Buddhism and Sinhalese and expressing… Read more »
Statements re International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearance North & Eastern Province Date 30.08.2020 Hon Ms. Michelle Bachelet Jeria, The High Commissioner Human Rights commission, Geneva Justice for the families that are suffering from enforced disappearance in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Today 30 August is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced… Read more »
State-Sponsored Pogroms Against Tamils in Sri Lanka
And the need for a referendum in Tamils’ homeland [North & East of Sri Lanka] by Kumarathasan Rasingam, August 23, 2020 It is high time and urgent need for the United Nations, UNHRC, ICC and the International Community to find remedial justice to the oppressed Tamils in Sri Lanka. The following facts prove beyond doubt… Read more »
Struggling Tamil Nationalism
And Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 18, 2020 For the recognition of nationalism, the prerequisite are the existence of a nation, defined by J. Stalin as follows: “A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people formed on the… Read more »
COVID-19 and Pres. Gotabaya’s Military Rule
In North East Sri Lanka by Kumarathasan Rasingam, July 23, 2020 Tamils in Sri Lanka especially in the North and East are now living between the devil and deep sea. Heavy presence of the military [to the ratio of one soldier to every four civilians 1: 4] and on the other side they are scared of… Read more »
July 1983 Anti-Tamil Violence
by Canadian Tamil Congress, July 2013
Empty Promises and Deceptive Politics of Tamil Leaders
by M K Elaventhan, Former member of Parliament, Sri Lanka, July 10, 2020 The third general election after the end of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam”s rule in the North and East is due to be held on August 5th 2020. At the outset, it has to be stated that the current Sri Lankan Government… Read more »
TIC: Discriminating And Disproportionate Actions Against Minorities.
18 June 2020 Sri Lanka: Discriminating And Disproportionate Actions Against Minorities. Withdrawal from UN Resolution Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced on 19 February 2020 that Sri Lanka would be withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1 of 1 October 2015. The Resolution called for investigation into war crimes during the… Read more »