31 March 2006 Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka 1. Revisited: The Folly of Eelam Punditry - D.Sivaram "Today it is clear beyond all reasonable doubt that India and the US-UK-Japan Bloc are trying to influence and manage Sri Lanka's peace process to promote and consolidate their respective strategic and economic interests.... We already hear fools (and there are many of the educated variety among Tamils) declaring that we should swallow our pride and yield to the dictates of the world's sole super power, that the US would bomb the Vanni back to the stone age if the LTTE does not toe the line.
Any foreign force can have its way in a country only if its people are divided, politically obfuscated and are irredeemably sunk in political stupor. The creeping intellectual/political barrenness in the northeast should be stopped without further delay. LTTE officials too should stop making pedestrian, boringly predictable utterances on public forums and, instead, make every endeavour to stir the people's reason, intellectual curiosity, their sense of community, their imagination and their intellectual fervour. This is the only way forward to decisively break the vicious circle of political obfuscation by which our people are deeply but blissfully afflicted today.
America may be the mightiest nation on the earth today but that cannot detract an iota from our right to live with honour, dignity and freedom in the land of our fore bears. It cannot for a moment make us give up an inch of our land to help India or the US Bloc stabilise the Sri Lankan state for the sole purpose of furthering their strategic and economic interests..." more2. Rohan Canagasabey on Foundation for Co-existence (FCE) Symposium in Colombo "...Transformation, not just reform of the state is the means to find a solution to the ethnic conflict.." more |
29 March 2006 International Relations in the Age of Empire | Washington's 2006 National Security Strategy Confirms a Policy Void says Dr. Michael A. Weinstein in Power and Interest News Report ".Rather than resolving the differences between the unipolarists and the multipolarists, the new National Security Strategy incorporates both perspectives without synthesizing them, so that the report confirms a continuing policy void at the highest levels of Washington's power structure. The lack of a coherent vision appears starkly on page 37 of the report, where the contending positions are jammed together: "...we must be prepared to act alone if necessary, while recognizing that there is little of lasting consequence that we can accomplish in the world without the sustained cooperation of our allies and partners..."more together with note by tamilnation.org |
27 March 2006 Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka | 1. அறிமுகம்: Introducing an European Initiative for a Negotiated Peace in Sri Lanka - Peter Schalk et al "..We, a group of scholars with extensive research experience in South Asia and/or inter-community relations as well as human rights activists from different European countries, are deeply dismayed over the recent decision of the EU (26th September 2005), to impose a travel ban on official delegations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and, moreover, to actively consider their proscription as a ‘terrorist organization’. .." more 2. Usha Sriskandarajah writes from Canada - President Mahinda Rajapakse Is Wrong |
26 March 2006 Reflection | “It is modest of the nightingale not to require any one to listen to it; but it is also proud of the nightingale not to care whether any one listens to it or not. The honoured public, the domineering masses see only one side of the dialectic and takes offence at its pride and do not perceive that the same thing is also modesty and humility. It is not the masses, and not mankind and not the public, not even the highly educated public, which is its Lord and Master but GOD.” Soren Kierkegaard (contributed by Father Chandi Sinnathurai) |
26 March 2006 Human Rights Watch: The Conclusion & Some of the Facts to include 26 March 2006 New Delhi & the Tamil Struggle - An Amoral Role to include  1. India clawing back to Sri Lanka's North East - M.R Narayan Swamy "India is slowly, patiently and with a clear agenda finding its way back into Sri Lanka's North East... .In just a year after Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran declared in Trincomalee that the "North East is very close to India's heart", New Delhi is making its presence felt again...Unlike in the 1980s when it was accused of covertly arming Tamil guerrillas, India is maintaining a safe distance from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which New Delhi outlawed in 1992 on charges of killing Gandhi. The objective this time is to reach out to the predominantly Tamil and Muslim people of the northeast with development projects, which have the full backing of the Sri Lankan government..." 2. Rajiv Gandhi's War Crimes.... நெற்றிக்கண் திறப்பினும் குற்றம் குற்றமே... உண்மைகள் ஒருபோதும் உறங்குவதில்லை, உறங்கவும் கூடா... . "the Indian Army came here, massacred innocent Tamil civilians, raped our women and plundered our valuables. The acronym IPKF will always stand for Indian People Killing Force where we are concerned.We will one day erect a memorial in the heart of Jaffna town, in the centre of Hospital Road, in memory of all the innocent civilians – ranging in age from the very old past 80 to young children massacred by the IPKF and to the women who were raped." IPKF - Innocent People Killing Force, Dr. T. Somasekaram
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24 March 2006 Tamil National Forum 22 March 2006 Conflict Resolution: Sri Lanka - Tamil Eelam | S.N.Lingam writes from USA on Non-States and Non-Events "...Engulfed by the mist of 'maya'[illusion] created by the geo-political interests of the international community or the "co-chairs", we must try to go beyond their advice, persuasion, pressures and veiled threats.As Golda Meir said: "We cannot always be expected to take their advice,and therefore, we must have the capacity and the courage to go on seeing things as they really are and to act on our own most fundamental instincts for self preservation". more |
21 March 2006 Reflection | "Unsavoury regimes these days hire the best talent available to spruce up their international image... The PR technique is simple enough: minimise the human rights abuses, talk about it as a 'complex' two sided story, play up efforts at reform... If possible, it is best to put these words in the mouth of some apparently 'neutral' group of 'concerned citizens', or a lofty institute with academic credentials." Richard Swift, New Internationalist, in Mind Games, July 1999 |
21 March 2006 Human Rights & Humanitarian Law - | Revisited: Who is Behind Human Rights Watch - Paul Treanor "...For a century there has been a strong interventionist belief in the United States - although it competes with widespread isolationism. In recent years attitudes hardened: human-rights interventionism became a consensus among the 'foreign policy elite' even before September 11. Human Rights Watch itself is part of that elite, which includes government departments, foundations, NGO's and academics. It is certainly not an association of 'concerned private citizens'. HRW board members include present and past government employees, and overlapping directorates link it to the major foreign policy lobbies in the US... Human rights are not the only ideology of intervention. The 'civilising mission', which justified 19th century colonisation, is another example. The point is that human rights can serve a geopolitical purpose, which is unrelated to their moral content...." more |
21 March 2006 Tamil National Forum | Sanmugam Sabesan from Melbourne, Australia on ஒட்டுக் குழுக்களும், ஒட்டாத சமாதானமும்! [together with English Translation] "...சிறிலங்கா அரசின் முரண்பட்ட நடவடிக்கைகள் சமாதானச் சுழலுக்குச் சாதகமாக இல்லை. சிறிலங்கா ராணுவத்தினால் இயக்கப்படுகின்ற தமிழ் ஒட்டுக் குழுக்களின் சமாதான விரோதச் செயற்பாடுகள் சமாதானத்தைக் கலைக்கும் நோக்கினையே குறி வைத்து நடாத்தப்படுகின்றன. இந்த நிலை தொடர்ந்து நீடித்தால் சமாதான முயற்சிகள் படுதோல்வியை அடைவதோடு மட்டுமல்லாது மீண்டும் போர் வெடிக்கக் கூடிய சாத்தியக் கூறுகளையும் தவிர்க்க முடியாமல் போய் விடும். .." more |
18 March 2006 M.Thanapalasingham writes from Sydney, Australia on  1. Tamil Eelam - A De Facto State - தமிழ் ஈழ தன்னாட்சிக்கான கட்டுமானங்கள் "..வள்ளுவர் படைக்கு அடுத்தபடியாக கூறும் குடியாக, போர்குணம் கொண்ட மக்கள் கூட்டமாக ஈழத்தமிழர்கள் அணிதிரண்டுள்ளமை அரசுக்கான கட்டுமானங்களை விரிவாக்கவும் பாதுகாக்கவும் சர்வதேச சமூகத்தின் அங்கீகாரத்தை பெறவும் வழி சமைக்கும் எனத் துணியலாம்..." more
 2. Spirituality & the Tamil Nation - காரைக்கால் அம்மையார் - ஒரு பன்முகப்பார்வை "பிரச்சனைகளை எதிர்நோக்கியபோது அம்மையார் செயல்பட்ட விதங்கள், சைவ பத்தி இயக்கத்திற்கு முன்னோடியாக சிவனை முழுமுதற் கடவுளாக பாடிய பாடல்கள், சிவதாண்டவம் பற்றிய கருத்தாக்கங்கள், இலக்கிய வடிவங்கள், என பரந்துபட்ட துறைகள் எல்லாவற்றிலும் காரைக்காலம்மையார் ஒரு முன்னோடி. அக்காலச் சூழலில் வைத்து நோக்கும்போது அவர் செய்தது ஒரு தனிமனிதப் புரட்சி எனலாம்..." more
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16 March 2006 Tamil National Forum to include 14 March 2006 Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include 14 March 2006 Tamil National Forum to include Father Chandi Sinnathurai on 12 March 2006 Reflections | "I would say, favour the question, always question. Do not accept answers as definitive. Answers change. Questions don't. Always question those who are certain of what they are saying. Always favour the person who is tolerant enough to understand that there are no absolute answers, but there are absolute questions. " - Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize for Peace, 1996 "Whatever may be said, whosoever may say it - to determine the truth of it, is wisdom" - Thirukural |
10 March 2006 International Frame of the Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include Symposium in European Parliament on European Union Contribution to the Peace Process in Sri Lanka - Organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights 9 March 2006 Women & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam to include 9 March 2005 Spirituality & the Tamil Nation to include 9 March 2006 Reflections - Revisited | "... As it is we have played at war . . . we play at magnanimity and all that stuff.... They talk to us of the rules of war, of chivalry, of flags of truce, of mercy to the unfortunate and so on. It's all rubbish. I saw chivalry and flags of truce in 1805. They humbugged us and we humbugged them. They plunder other peoples' houses, issue false paper money, and worst of all they kill my children and my father, and then talk of rules of war and magnanimity to foes ! Take no prisoners but kill and be killed ! . . . If there was none of this magnanimity in war, we should go to war only when it was worth while going to certain death...... war is not courtesy but the most horrible thing in life; and we ought to understand that, and not play at war.. The air of war is murder; the methods of war are spying, treachery, and their encouragement, the ruin of a country's inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to provision the army, and fraud and falsehood termed military craft.... " (The fictional Prince Andrew Bolkhonsky in Tolstoy's War & Peace , Book 10, Chapter 25, pp 486-7) |
8 March 2006 On Womens International Day - Tamil National Forum to include Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia on சர்வதேச  மகளிர் தினம் - பெண்ணியம் - கற்பு - தமிழ்ப்பெண் ""பெண்ணிடமும் மனிதம் இருக்கின்றது! பாலியல் வேறுபாட்டிற்குப் புறம்பாக, ஆண்மைக்கும் பெண்மைக்கும் அப்பாலாக, இந்த மனிதத்தை இனம் கண்டு கௌரவிக்குமாறு, பெண்ணினம் ஆணினத்திடம் அன்புக்கரம் நீட்டுகின்றது. ஆழமான புரிந்துணர்வுடன் ஆணினம் இந்த அன்புக்கரத்தைப் பற்றிக் கொள்ளும்போதுதான் ஆண்-பெண் சமத்துவம் சாத்தியமாகும்." - Velupillai Pirabkaran " |
6 March 2006 One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century | S.Rajaratnam - the Ideas Man (who passed away on 22 February 2006)"... (He) himself was modest about his role. After he retired in 1988, he said: 'My contributions were very abstract. There are no buildings I can point to... I was there helping to shape people's ideas, attitudes.' But he was 'there' at a crucial time - when ideas did matter, when hearts and minds did have to be won, when spirits had to be steeled and the legitimacy of the new state established. He was 'there', present at the creation, when ideas did have the force of acts..." |
5 March 2006 Tamil National Forum to include Sachi Sri Kantha - Concerning Three Mules and Sister Rajani 5 March 2006 Ilayaraja's 'Thiruvasagam in Symphony' to include  Vaiko at Ilayarajah's திருவாசகம் Vizha [note by tamilnation.org: Vaiko's Speech is a moving tribute not only to Ilayarajah and Thiruvasagam but also to Tamil Literature] 5 March 2006 Sri Lanka's Ethnic Cleansing - a 56 year Record Speaks 4 March 2006 Reflections 4 March 2006 Tamil National Forum to include 1 March 2006 International Relations in the Age of Empire to include  Arundhati Roy On Intellectual Engagement "..The facts are there in the world today. .. But what does information mean? What are facts? There is so much information that almost all becomes meaningless and disempowering.... To expose things is quite different from being able to effectively resist things... I don’t agree with the term, Intellectual. Anybody with skills and intelligence can be intellectual. A cobbler is an intellectual..." more |
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