“To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities,” she said, in support of a motion by a ruling party MP…
“The high poverty rates in ethnic states clearly indicate that development in ethnic regions is not satisfactory and ethnic conflicts in these regions have not ceased,” she said during her brief speech.
by Janadas Devan, The Straits Time, Singapore, December 2004 WHEN Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested by the British in 1942, he traipsed off to prison clutching, among other things, Plato’s Republic and Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (in the original French, of course). This Indian freedom fighter was nothing if not inward with high European culture. He… Read more »
With an Ex-National Security Adviser By JOHN DARNTON, The New York Times, December 20, 2004 It was “shameful,” he added, that his administration refused to employ the term “genocide” for a period of six weeks. “It was based on the belief that if you used the word, then you’re required to take action,” he said…. Read more »
by S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA, Canada, December 19, 2004 There have been some reports by interested parties about the so-called seminar held on December 12, by Human Rights Watch in Toronto. It is made to appear that those who spoke out at the Seminar were Tamil Tigers. It was nothing like that. Many of us… Read more »
Negotiations with suicide bombers can end violence, as Sri Lanka demonstrates Jonathan Steele in Kilinochchi, The Guardian, UK, Friday December 17, 2004 Come to Elephant Pass to witness a rarity: a place where the contradictions of the “war on terror” have not produced the usual regression. In most of the world the fight against “international… Read more »
by Ana Pararajasingham, South Asia Analysis Group, Delhi, December 13, 2004 It is only natural that India, the regional power, should have an abiding interest in the manner in which the conflict in the Island of Sri Lanka is resolved. The Tamil National Alliance MP, Mr Gajendra kumar Ponnambalam’s declaration that the Tamil Nation has… Read more »
by Ravi Gowribalan, December 16, 2004 Many Tamils once believed that the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play an important role in helping the people in the war-affected areas of Tamil Eelam. During the ceasefire, we have seen a dramatic upsurge in the number of international NGOs in Tamil areas and their interest in Tamil affairs… Read more »
The True Face of the International Community & a Rational Response from the Tamils of Eelam by Siva Muthulingasamy, UK, December 16, 2004 The International Community(IC) is all united by just one common objective, a World Trade monopoly. They work in partnership with the US, like “the good cop bad cop” duo in a Hollywood… Read more »
World Tamil Organization proudly presents a seminar loaded with much for serious and curious minds on Saturday, December 11th, 2004 All Day Event from 11:00 AM at Center Hall, Busch Campus Center Rutgers University 604 Bartholomew Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Participants: Keynote Address by Durai. Raja, New Delhi Mr. Raja is the current national (central)… Read more »
by Charlemagne, The Economist, London, October 2004 Does any of this sound familiar from the NGOs that comment and try to influence ‘ethnic’ affairs in Sri Lanka? — Editor How independent are the civil-society organisations beloved by the European Commission? THE European Commission knows it has an image problem. To try to fix things, it… Read more »
by M. Nadarajan, December 4, 2004 Those of us who live in the United States of America, arguably the greatest country in the world and certainly the richest country, take a lot of things for granted. America also claims to be the most democratic country in the world, and preaches to the world about how… Read more »
for Nottingham North Confluence: You led an all party Parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka recently. Can you give us a broad brush picture of the current state of play in the peace process in that country as you observed it? Graham Allen: We were pleased to see that most political parties are getting involved in the peace… Read more »
Reasons for the Construction of the Canal and its Economic & Environmental Impact on Sri Lanka by Donald Jayantha Gnanakone, Los Angeles, December 2, 2004 The past three months has seen such a flurry of activity and controversy never seen before in Sri Lanka, since the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact by Rajiv Gandhi… Read more »
by Janadas Devan, The Straits Times, Singapore, November 29, 2004 ‘THO’ I call them Mine, I know that they are not Mine.’ The English critic F.R. Leavis liked to cite that remark of William Blake about his works to point to the essential impersonality of literature: Blake ‘meant that when the artist is creatively successful,… Read more »
Media Bias is hurting the peace process between Sri Lanka and Tamils by R Shanmugananthan, Australia, November 28, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/666.html Nowadays, when you read news supplied by international news wires, one automatically looks for the other side of the story. Such is the one-sided nature of news reports. The old adage that there are two sides… Read more »
by Pranay Gupte, November 19, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/661.html Why am I sceptical that there isn’t exactly going to be an exodus from India to Singapore? Precisely because of what that Indian cabinet minister told me. Singapore can attract all the cheap coolie labour it might want, but the word has gotten around in the Indian professional… Read more »
Bingo in Swansea by SASHA FRERE-JONES, The New Yorker Issue of 2004-11-22, Posted 2004-11-15 sangam.org/articles/view2/651.html “World music” is a category that does nobody any favors. Entirely disparate performers, like the dapper Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and the African blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure, get lumped together in American record stores simply because they don’t sing… Read more »
To The Editor, Sangam.org — The TamilNet news website of 18th November reported two killings in the East within a space of 14 hours. The first was the killing of a political worker of the LTTE at 9.45 PM on Wednesday by gunmen suspected to be paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lanka military intelligence… Read more »
by P K Balachandran, Hindustan Times, November 15, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/647.html One of the basic reasons for the conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the rest of the world is the difference of opinion on whether ‘group rights’ should take precedence over ‘individual rights.’ This conflict is a major factor stalling the… Read more »
by DARYL G. PRESS and BENJAMIN VALENTINO, The New York Times op-ed, November 17, 2004 Does any of this sound familiar to Sangam readers? sangam.org/articles/view2/644.html Hanover, N.H. — The textbook urban assault on Falluja reflected well on the dedication, training and equipment of the American military. Unfortunately, it has not brought the United States appreciably… Read more »