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 »
Posts Categorized: Politics
An Indictment of the Sri Lankan Government
by S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA sangam.org/articles/view2/599.html The Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government stands indicted of genocide and other crimes against humanity against the minority Tamils who are some of the original inhabitants of the island. The following facts from the date of independence, prove beyond doubt the ethnic cleansing and efforts to eliminate the Tamil presence… 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 »
THE ISGA PROPOSALS: THE COURSE TO TAKE
In the face of government intransigence by S. Muthu Cumaraswamy sangam.org/articles/view2/596.html The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have advanced the proposals regarding the creation of an Interim Self Governing Authority for the NorthEast of the island of Sri Lanka so that an effective administration could be set up in that area. The aim is… Read more »
Fear of the Demand for One Country, Two States
And equal individual opportunity By Professor Alvappillai Veluppillai, The Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 10 2003 ISSN 1076-9005 sangam.org/articles/view2/595.html Introduction In my view a common thread running through the history of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict in the post-independence period is the Buddhist fear of the Tamil demand for sharing as one nation, two states,… Read more »
Let the Tamils Go
Make Up Your Mind Forthwith to Let the Tamils Go by V. Navaratnam, Daily Mirror, Colombo, October 7 and 8, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/594.html People used to cite the trio: Professor G. L. Peiris, President Bill Clinton, and Premier Bob Rae, all contemporary Rhodes Scholars at Oxford, as examples for high level of intellectual calibre among national… Read more »
What is the Relationship of Rama and Sita?
The Question the Sinhala Nation Asks at Dawn by Taraki (aka D. Sivaram), Virakesari, Colombo, October 10, 2004 translated by M. Thiru sangam.org/articles/view2/591.html In response to my article last week Chandranathan has written his view. “The Sinhalese people are kept in an illusion by their leaders and opinionmakers. Therefore, we should make a continuous effort… Read more »
Attempts to Explain Our Problems to the Sinhalese Useless
Attempt to Explain the Tamils’ Problems to the Sinhala Nation is a Useless Effort by Taraki (aka D. Sivaram), Virakesari, Colombo, October 3, 2004 Translation by M. Thiru sangam.org/articles/view2/590.html I went to a book release event in Colombo last Monday. The Sinhala extremist SL Gunasekara has written a book highly critical of the ISGA and a… Read more »
Only Inflicting Pain Pays
Tamils should recall old lessons: only inflicting pain pays by J. S. Tissainayagam – Comment, Northeastern Monthly, October 8, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/586.html Tamils have forgotten a golden rule that has come down during the 20-year armed struggle, between the Tamil guerrilla groups and the Sri Lankan state. In the 1980s, before signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord… 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 »
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 »
The Worst Weapon of Mass Destruction
Thinakural Editorial, Colombo, Sept. 22, 2004 Translation by M. Thiru sangam.org/articles/view2/573.html A Summit among world leaders to discuss World Hunger took place at the UN Headquarters last Monday (20/09/04), the day before the commencement of the United Nation’s 59th General Assembly session. More than 100 nations participated in this summit, of which more than 50… 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 »
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 »
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 »