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 »
Posts Categorized: International
A Set of Killings in the East
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 »
Conflict over ‘Rights’ Stalls Sri Lankan Peace Process
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 »
A Victory, But Little Is Gained
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 »
All Lankan Eggs in Indian Basket?
The Island, Colombo, November 10, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/643.html The joint Indo- Sri Lanka statement issued after the visit of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to New Delhi and the proposed Defence Co-operation Agreement together with complementary agreements such as on Pallaly Airport are being hailed in all quarters here, except by the LTTE. There is much satisfaction because… Read more »
The Sri Lankan Peace Talks and the ISGA Proposals
by M. Nadarajan, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/639.html Newspapermen and many governments continue to give their views on the peace process, spouting out nonsense without, in most instances, any knowledge of what they are speaking about or the background to the problem. In order to make any meaningful comments, one should look at the past, the… Read more »
No Peace Without Justice
by Arundhati Roy, November 4, 2004 Speech on accepting the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize sangam.org/articles/view2/648.html Sometimes there’s truth in old cliches. There can be no real peace without justice. And without resistance there will be no justice. Today, it is not merely justice itself, but the idea of justice that is under attack. The assault… Read more »
The Discipline of Honor
by P.J., October 31, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/629.html I became interested in the armed struggle of our people in the eighth grade. It all started with my friend telling me about a band called “Rage Against The Machine.” Rage Against The Machine fascinated me with the idea of revolution. I tried to learn about the issues they… Read more »
Power to the Minority
by Mafoot Simon, Straits Times, Singapore, October 29, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/627.html Dear Ehsan, It’s been many years since you migrated to the United States. Quite a long way from Jalan Ismail to Los Angeles, isn’t it? Your accountancy business doing OK? I’ve been following the presidential contest, and it strikes me that it truly is the… Read more »
A Kerry Win: Implications for Sri Lanka
by Dayan Jayatilleka, [source not recorded], October 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/622.html The Sangam makes no endorsement in the American election campaign. This is an interesting article speculating on the implications of one outcome of the election. Jayatilleka is a voice crying in the wilderness for a a non-sectarian, pluralistic, federal state on the island. If that… Read more »
Hindi-English Bhai-Bhai
The Hindu editorial, Chennai, October 14, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/603.html IT IS BY now accepted wisdom that the diversity of India is best represented by a government that is itself an alliance of divergent political, cultural, and linguistic currents. The advent of coalition governance has done much to bring together elements previously thought to be irreconcilably inimical…. Read more »
PICAR Sri Lanka Problem-Solving Project
by Donna Hicks and William Weisberg, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, date unclear sangam.org/articles/view2/598.html Has anything changed in the past 10 years or are we right back where we started? Note iPostn particular points boldfaced below — Editor Since 1994, Harvard University’s Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR) has been working to… Read more »
Why We Needn’t Feel Insulted
By that insult Eelam Tamils should realise their potential and continue to work as a cohesive and united people to achieve their goals. No need to worry about our size! — Editor Janadas Devan, Straits Times, Singapore, October 10, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/597.html JEAN-JACQUES Rousseau in his Essay On The Origin Of Language cited this parable to illustrate the… Read more »
by a former child soldier – a Poem
by Peter P. sangam.org/articles/view2/583.html We are the people We are the leaders And they They say it’s their rights We say it’s their rights They say release We say releasing them They say don’t recruit We say stop recruiting them They say protect We say protecting them They say education We see ruined schools They… 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 »
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 »
TNA’s Press Release on President’s Speech at UN General Assembly
24 September 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/572.html The Parliamentary Group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met on September 23 2004 to consider the statements made by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge relating to “Peace Negotiations” in Sri Lanka during the course of her address to the 59th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The President has stated… Read more »
Tide? Or Ivory Snow? Public Power in the Age of Empire
by Arundhati Roy August 24, 2004 Transcript of full speech by Arundhati Roy in San Francisco, California on August 16th, 2004. The editor and the Sangam do not agree with everything in this article, but it is a powerful alternative view, with a global persective not found in many other places. I’ve been asked to… Read more »
The Persecuted, in Chains
The New York Times editorial, September 25, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/567.html In jails and prisons across the United States, thousands of people are detained who have never been accused of crimes. The guards treat them like criminals, and the criminals they bunk with often abuse them. They are held for months, sometimes even years, but unlike the criminals,… Read more »
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 »