by Eleanor Pavey, SciencesPo Mass Violence and Resistance – Research Network, France, May 13, 2008 A. CONTEXT The 1983 massacres in Sri Lanka are best understood within the context of the post-independent state of affairs that prevailed in the country at that time. Having obtained independence from its British colonial rulers on February 4, 1948,… Read more »
Posts Categorized: History
CPA 2008: Essays on Federalism
by Rohan Edirisinha & Asanga Welikala, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, 2008 Essays on Federalism in Sri Lanka is a new collection of essays and articles on the Federal idea in Sri Lanka, edited by Rohan Edrisinha and Asanga Welikala. CPA has since its inception been at the forefront of the advocacy of federalism as a… Read more »
‘Satygraha: Freedom Movement of Tamils in Ceylon’
by S. Ponniah, 1963 68740.pdf (noolaham.net) Satyagraha by S Ponniah 1963 Transcribed by Satchi Sri Kantha with commentary Satyagraha of February 1961 in Eelam Satyagraha of March 1961 in Eelam
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Photos of Menik Farm Detainees 2009
From the files of Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell) Do we know where all these detainees are? Can UNHCR confirm they were all released? Photo_FemaleYouthDetainees_MenikfarmMovie6 Photo_MaleYouth Detainees_Menikfarm_Movie7 Where are the pictures of all the other detainees? From Dr. Ethirveerasingam: These photos were sent to me by a UN Refugee official monitoring the Vavuniya camp. I think… Read more »
Interview with an IDP 2009
by Manisat blogspot posted on YouTube, 2009 Figuratively translated from Tamil to English in 2009 by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell) The host warned the young people who are not strong enough to see tragic scenes not to watch. She said that what you are about to see is what the Tamil brothers and sisters suffered…. Read more »
A Poisoned Chalice
How international aid bolstered Sri Lankan despots by Viruben Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, September 7, 2022 “I was born into a debt-free nation”, claimed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe as he accepted yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on behalf of the island. This will be the seventeenth time since independence that… Read more »
An Overview of Sangam Literature சங்க இலக்கியம்
by R Shanmugananthan, Sydney, September 2, 2022 Flags of Cheras Cholas and Pandyas When I was reading about Arumuganavalar and C W Thomotharam Pillai, I found that they have done pioneering work in rediscovering Sangam Poetry even before U Ve Saminatha Iyer. Their work appears not to have been given credit. That led me write… Read more »
The First Thamil Eelam Sports Festival – July 2004
by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, Ph.D., July 31, 2022 The First Thamil Sports Festival was held in the Kilinochchi Playgrounds in July 2004. The one-week of sports festival was organized under the guidance of the Sports Unit of the Thamil Eelam administration. Participants from the 8 Districts in the North-East took part in the Week-long competitions in Soccer,… Read more »
Why the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Failed
Rebutting the Biased View of Journalist Jeyaraj by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 7, 2022 Recently, a review by D.B.S. Jeyaraj on the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (appropriately tagged as the Rajiv – Jayewardane Accord) was published in the Daily Mirror (Colombo) on July 30, 2022, under the caption ‘Indo-Lanka Accord 35th Anniversary: How the Tamils Messed… Read more »
Black July
by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Groundviews, Colombo, August 17, 2013 Black July compressed from/derived from Remembering, to never again repeat: Launch of 30 Years Ago site The culmination of months of dedicated research, travel, challenging production work and curation, I am very pleased to launch 30 Years Ago. The project is an attempt to remember and probe Sri… Read more »
Federalism: Myths and Realities
by Rohan Edrisinha – Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and Centre for Policy Alternatives, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, January 18, 2004 Excerpts of a speech delivered at the Executive Seminar on Human Rights for senior officers of armed forces on Saturday, January 10. The agreement reached between the Government of Sri Lanka and the… Read more »
The Black Week That Impacted Sri Lanka Forever
July 1983 Pogrom by Lionel Bopage, Groundviews, Colombo, July 24, 2022 The political leadership of Sri Lanka has yet again demonstrated that even in the midst of the worst socio economic and political crisis the country has faced since independence, they do not wish to follow a path of honesty and fairness to end the… Read more »
JR Jayewardene, the Kanatte Mass Funeral and the July 1983 Anti-Tamil Pogrom
by D.B.S.Jeyaraj on his blog, July 22, 2022 (This article was published last year and is being re-posted without any changes to denote the 39th anniversary of “Black July”) July 24th 1983 was the day on which a destructive spree of anti-Tamil violence commenced in Jaffna in the early hours of the morning and began… Read more »
Black July: The Unspoken and the Unspeakable
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, July 29, 2020 Photo courtesy of Sangam July. Referred to as Black July to mark the pogrom against Tamils in 1983 carried out by Sinhala mobs. Pogrom is a Russian word meaning ‘to wreak havoc, to demolish violently’, that has come to mean organized, state sanctioned violence that targets a certain… Read more »
TMVP Informant Spills the Beans
by Easwaran Rutnam, Daily Mirror, Colombo, June 24, 2022 Flees Sri Lanka fearing for his safety Reveals information on murders to UN Writes to key diplomatic missions Shares details on Easter Sunday attacks UN officials had recorded statements from the informant over a period of approximately 5 days An informant of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai… Read more »