by various, October 11, 2004
sangam.org/articles/view2/593.html
Our land!” “TAMIL EELAM!” Surrounded by the hopeful and enthusiastic cheers of the crowd stirred up a wave of emotions in me at Pongu Tamil. The value of the Tamil movement was a notion that I had never fully been able to comprehend until before this powerful event. With flags waving and hands clapping, I finally began to realize the impact of the iyakkam on so many lives.
Freedom is a concept I take for granted living in America. I never have to worry that I’ll need higher credentials for graduate school than the person next to me also applying, simply because I’m Tamil. I never have to wonder whether a group of men with rifles will force me to leave my home and find shelter beneath a tree. I am blessed to even have been given the opportunity to peacefully protest without the fear of being violently silenced.
Awareness is crucial towards any cause. But it is even more so crucial to the Tamil cause because there is such misleading information floating around. I am ashamed to say that even I easily fell prey to it. There was a time when I believed the nonsense-filled articles about the LTTE. There was a time when I believed the ignorance because it required less effort. It was easier to believe that the Tigers should not have resorted to violence than to believe that so much pain and injustice could be brought upon an innocent group of people. However, after attending Pongu Tamil, all my confusion suddenly dissipated.
I thought to myself, ‘Isn’t it incredible that almost 80,000 people cared enough to spend their whole Saturday at Queen’s Park just to make a statement they weren’t even sure would make a difference?’ But the thing is that it did make a difference. It made a difference to the non-Tamils who read the flyers containing myths about the LTTE. It made a difference to the 100,000 people who realized that they weren’t alone in their support for the Tamil movement. It made a difference to our accas and annas in Eelam who realized there are people across the globe thinking about them. It made a difference to my thangachi whose life was changed this summer in Vanni. And it made a difference to me. It warmed my heart to see just how passionate people could be about a cause. It brings hope to those whose lives are affected by the injustices that are brought about by simply living. I went to Pongu Tamil to support my sister, but I came back to America supporting my people back home. – Rosha, Age 21, USA
My time at Pongu Tamil on September 25, 2004 was inspirational, motivating, and unforgettable. I was one soul in a sea of tens of thousands of Tamil demonstrators, rising above our individual differences and uniting together to express an intense desire that has been voiced time and time again – the Tamil people of Northeast Sri Lanka want and deserve to live normal, peaceful lives. The Government of Sri Lanka has so far failed to acknowledge the equality of race and religion in Sri Lanka and has consistently denied Tamil people opportunities for education, employment, and cultural expression. This neglect shown to the Tamil people has caused over 20 years of brutal destruction, loss, and injustice in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.
The Tamil people have suffered enough. I know this personally because I have seen the tears of a 16 year-old orphan girl in Jaffna who solemnly spoke to me about her anxiety of raising 4 brothers and sisters since both her parents were killed by shelling. I have seen so many children stunted, malnourished, deaf, blind, and handicapped. I have seen children who have only one outfit and tattered shoes in which they walk past army checkpoints to a bullet-ridden school everyday to learn what they can from a teacher with no more than a grade 10 education. The Tamil people have suffered enough. Having recognized the ground realities, the Government of Sri Lanka should adhere to the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE and work to move the peace process forward.
Millions around the globe are yearning for peace in Sri Lanka. Nobody wants war and nobody wants simply an absence of war (like the current ceasefire). Everybody wants peace and to live normally with equal opportunities. I don’t know what it will take to get the Government of Sri Lanka to adopt a sense of urgency about the dismal plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. But I do know that eighty thousand people gathering in Queens Park to demonstrate their desire for peace in Tamil Eelam is a good place to start. – The writer recently visited Tamileelam
My visit to Canada was amazing. Aside from our Thamil homeland, I have never seen a bigger Thamil community. I felt jealousy and envy when comparing Canada’s enormous Thamil community with America’s small Thamil community. Pongu Thamil brought me a feeling of belonging. Recently, I had met a few anti-Iyakkam/Eelam people. I was saddened to think that not very many people supported our people’s cause. This summer on July 5th, Carumpuli Nal, I witnessed the massive support of the Thamil people in their sympathy and remembrance of our martyrs. On September 25th, those feelings of overwhelming patriotism for our homeland came back to me. The sight of so many people carrying Iyakkam flags and our leader’s picture was ecstatic. – Prem J., Age 19, USA. Prem authored “Do Not Cry”
I will never forget looking out across the multitudes of people, dressed brightly and proudly in a sea of red and yellow. Pongu Thamil was indisputably an overwhelming success. Thamils came in droves to show their support for our homeland. Even though we are days away from Eelam, everyone in the audience was offered a brief journey back home, through the impassioned speeches provided. This event will forever be among the most memorable of my life. I will never forget the overpowering feeling of unity and support for our homeland. It is one thing to abstractly discuss Thamil solidarity—it is an entirely different thing to confront it with 100,000 other Thamils on a Saturday afternoon.
This only begins to describe the awe-inspiring experience of attending an event in which everyone joined together for a common cause, a cause greater than any one of us, and all of us together: peace. The nature of the event was unequivocally positive, calling upon the Canadian government to support its 300,000 Canadian Thamil citizens in their effort to attain peace in our war-ravaged homeland. Canadian flags here and there seen among the flags of Thamil Eelam loudly and clearly conveyed the message that many of the Thamils at Pongu Thamil were Canadian citizens, demanding their legitimate voice in Canadian government. We want to use that voice to help bring a lasting peace to Sri Lanka.
The event’s focus on youth was also incredibly poignant. Though many would be inclined to consider the struggle our parents’ struggle, the youth who came to the event showed this will forever remain the cause of the Thamil people: students and adults alike. It is only through the collaboration of both groups that the movement will be successful, and this was clear through the remarkable achievement of Pongu Thamil, where parents and their children alike formed one unequivocal voice for peace in our homeland. Not our parents’ homeland, but our homeland. – Tasha, Age 17, USA. Tasha spoke at the Pongu Tamil peace rally.
(See http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=12973 for a video clip of the event.)