சனி, 10 மே, 2014

Genocidal Sri Lanka, abettors, appropriate urbanisation of Eezham Tamils

Genocidal Sri Lanka, abettors, appropriate urbanisation of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2014, 19:37 GMT]
For nearly 500 years, the nation of Eezham Tamils has been denied of effective urbanisation of their own, by the successive colonial regimes of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British, who groomed Colombo as the only urban centre to politically and economically control the island. Genocidal Colombo’s Sinhala military and the abettors in New Delhi, Washington and Beijing now take away the Eezham Tamil right to urbanisation by building Sinhala military capitals in the so-called Palaali ‘High Security Zone’ and in Trincomalee. A nation that doesn’t have its own urban centres and control over infrastructure would be easily enslaved, commented an academic in Jaffna.

Further observations by the academic in Jaffna:

The occupying Sinhala military appropriating thousands of acres of land of displaced Eezham Tamils around Palaali and in both sides of the Koddiyaaram Bay in Trincomalee, including Champoor; erecting fenced enclaves; building harbours, airports and infrastructure facilities such as power stations within the enclaves and the occupying military operating industries and ‘tourism’ within the enclaves, are clear evidences for Colombo building new Sinhala military-political-commercial capitals in the country of Eezham Tamils. It is like the Portuguese building Colombo for the decimation and eventual annihilation of Kotte, the capital of the natives in the south, the academic said.

The US-trained Sinhala military commander occupying Palaali, summoning the Jaffna University Vice-Chancellor and the faculty of the university to “Thal-hevana” (a Sinhala name given to a resort hotel) within this new enclave, to discuss matters over the closure of the university for Mu’l’livaaykkaal remembrance week, is only a tip of the iceberg of the unfolding scenario, the academic said.

The Establishments in complicity, i.e., Washington, New Delhi and Beijing not only refuse to accept the genocide, the on-going structural genocide and the sovereignty cum right to self-determination of the nation of Eezham Tamils, but also deny their right to development and urbanisation of their own.

By endorsing the military occupation in international forums such as the UNHRC, by having ‘military to military relationship,’ and by flooding the Sinhala military with material support to build the new enclaves, Washington, New Delhi and Beijing respectively are in active complicity with the structural genocide engineering that is taking place.

However, New Delhi eying on Palaali and Trincomalee is the worst of the culprits. Some gullible sections among Tamils think that the Sinhala nation could never be a ‘true friend’ but the Tamil nation is a ‘natural friend’ of India, and New Delhi would eventually learn the lesson. But a junta in New Delhi always thought in the opposite direction.

Haunted by the paranoia of its own deeds, there is a tendency in some imperialist sections in India to view Muslims, Christians, tribals. Naxalites, Northeast states peoples, as well as Dravidianism, as forces destabilising New Delhi. This section of policy makers in India, coupled with the tradecraft of corporates, as well as extra-parliamentary elements such as the intelligence, bureaucracy, media and possibly the military, finding genocidal Colombo a ‘natural ally’ should not be overlooked.

Chronology:

Tamils resisting demographic genocide

Tamils resisting demographic genocide at North-East border, stricken by poverty

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2014, 23:10 GMT]
The Sri Lankan State is accelerating Sinhala colonization with the aim of permanently wedging the demographic contiguity of the northern and eastern provinces at Kokkuth-thoduvaay, a strategic village situated in Mullaiththeevu district. “Nobody has listened to our repeated pleas for freeing our lands. We went from divisional offices to SL president placing our appeals. We have also done our maximum in mobilising against the demographic genocide,” says civic member K. Sivalokeswaran from Kokkuth-thoduvaay North. Now, the Eezham Tamils, who have resettled in the village are stricken by poverty, similar to what the world has witnessed in Somalia, he says. All the agricultural lands owned by Tamils have been appropriated. The residential areas where Tamils managed to resettle are also being appropriated by Colombo, he says.



Mr Sivalokeswaran is the only elected Tamil member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the civic body of Seru-nuwara of the Trincomalee district in the Eastern Province. He hails from Kokkuth-thoduvaay in the Northern Province. Sivlokeswaran narrated the situation Sinhala colonisation and demographic-genocide taking place at the strategic link.
Kokku'laay
The location of Kokkuth-thoduvaay village and Kokku'laay lagoon. [Satellite map courtesy - Google Earth]

Shown within the box is the target area of Colombo discussed in the feature
The Tamil villagers were uprooted from their native village for the first time on 23 December 1984 when the occupying SL military seized it. Some of them resettled in 2011 after thirty years of displacement.

Eezham Tamils who returned to their village got some of their residential lands back. But, the Sinhala colonialists had appropriated all the agricultural and farming lands that were owned by Eezham Tamils.

For 30 years, the Eezham Tamils had been blocked from accessing their village, which the SL military claimed as a High Security Zone. However, the Sinhala settlers had been brought in large numbers by the Colombo government providing lands to them under the SL military occupation.

The Sri Lankan State-sponsored Sinhala colonisation has been taking place from the times of former SL presidents J.R. Jeyawardene and R. Premadasa. The process is now being accelerated under the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The names of the farming lands of Eezham Tamils and the irrigation tanks have been Sinhalicised into Kirikkabeta, Janakapura, Sinhapura and so on.

The Tamil names Munthirikai-ku’lam, Aamaiyan-ku’lam, Adaiyak-ka’ruththaan, Ka’n’naaddi-ve’li and Eringcha-kaadu are no more, even in the official records.

Tamils are now limited to only three villages. Despite the demographic genocide, more than thousand Tamil families had managed to return to the three villages of Kokkuth-thoduvaay, Karunaadduk-kea’ni and Kokku’laay.

In Kokkuththoduvaay alone, there are 167 families in the Northern GS area, 145 families in the Central GS area and 100 families in the Southern GS area.

Before displacement, the livelihood of the people was mainly agriculture. Now, deprived from resuming the agriculture, most of them have become fishermen.

Even during the times of Srimao Bandaranaike, some of the Tamil farmers numbering around 100 families were given land deeds and permits for agricultural lands.

Now, the SL authorities reject these papers. They say that these documents are not valid anymore, Sivalokeswaran told TamilNet. The lands have all come under the ‘development’ scheme of Mahaweli, the SL authorities say.

Further, Colombo is also appropriating residential lands of Eezham Tamils.

“25 Sinhala businessmen from South are given 500 acres of lands at the heart of our residential area in Kokkuth-thoduvaay Centre. Jungles have been cleared for farming near Koaddaik-kea’ni Pi’l’laiyar temple,” Sivalokeswaran said.

“We fear that we will permanently lose our village and get absorbed by the on-going Sinhalicisation.”

When the Tamil families came back in 2011, resettlement assistance was promised for 6 months. But, the people only got it for 5 months, the civic member complained.

Tamils are neglected on all fronts. 25,000 rupees allocated by the UNHCR are yet to reach a section of resettling Tamils. “But, the Sinhala settlers in Weli-Oya are provided dry rations continuously for one year. We have documentary evidence to prove this,” Sivalokeswaran said.

Tamils are only opposing the State and military sponsored colonisation schemes of the Sinhalese in the lands appropriated from Tamils.

“At the same time, the poverty rate has become worse than Somalia among the resettled Eezham Tamils at Kokkuth-thoduvaay,” the civic member said.

The Sinhala settlers who cut the Theakku (Teak) trees that constitute the jungles, for example near Aiyanaar Koayil in Mu’l’liyava’lai on Odduchuddaan Road. Causing destruction to the environment in North, the settlers transport the trees to the South.

But, when the resettling Tamils, who have no roof, cut one or two trees to construct their houses being constructed under the housing scheme provided by India, the Tamils are immediately jailed for two weeks. They get released only after getting slapped huge sums of fines, ranging from 50,000 rupees to 200,000 rupees, Mr Sivalokeswaran further said.

Chronology:

வெள்ளி, 9 மே, 2014

5000 ஆண்டு ஓவியங்கள் விழுப்புரத்தில் கண்டுபிடிப்பு

5000 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முந்தைய ஓவியங்கள் விழுப்புரம் மாவட்டத்தில் கண்டுபிடிப்பு

  • பாறையில் கண்டறியப்பட்ட ஓவியங்களை ஆய்வு செய்யும் ஆய்வாளர்.
    பாறையில் கண்டறியப்பட்ட ஓவியங்களை ஆய்வு செய்யும் ஆய்வாளர்.
விழுப்புரத்தை அடுத்த சிறுவாலை என்ற கிராமத்தில் 5000 ஆண்டு களுக்கு முந்தைய தொல் பழங்கால ஓவியங்கள் கண்டுபிடிக் கப்பட்டுள்ளன.
உலகெங்கிலும் வரலாற்றுக்கு முந்திய கால மனிதர்களின் ஓவியங்கள் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டு வருகின்றன. கற்கால மனிதர்களின் கலை உணர்வையும் அவர்கள் வாழ்ந்த இடங்களையும் வாழ்க்கை முறையையும் சித்தரிக்கும் இம்மாதிரியான தொல்பழங்கால ஓவியங்கள் தமிழகம் முழுதும் 50-க்கும் மேற்பட்ட இடங்களில் கண்டு பிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. அவற்றில் விழுப்புரம் மாவட்டத்தில் கீழ்வாலை, செத்தவரை போன்ற இடங்களில் கிடைத்த ஓவியங்கள் தனிச் சிறப்புக்குரியவை. அவற்றின் காலம் கி.மு 3000 முதல் கி.மு 7000 வரை என அறிஞர்கள் கருது கின்றனர்.
அதைப்போன்ற தொல் பழங்கால ஓவிய தொகுதி ஒன்று விழுப்புரம் மாவட்டம், அன்னியூரை அடுத்த சிறுவாலையில் சமீபத்தில் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
ஊருக்குக் கிழக்கே உள்ள குவாரிகளால் உடைக்கப்பட்டு எஞ்சியுள்ள குன்றில் இதனை, அதியன் என்பவர் கண்டறிந்து தகவல் தந்தார். அதன்படி சென்னை பல்கலைக்கழக ஆய்வாளர்கள் ஜெ.ராதாகிருஷ்ணன், செல்வன், ஆர்வலர்கள் செந்தில்பாலா, ரவி உள்ளிட்ட குழுவினர் செவ்வாய்க் கிழமை சென்று ஆய்வு நடத்தி உறுதி செய்தனர்.
இந்த ஓவியம் குறித்து ஆய்வாளர் ஜெ.ராதாகிருஷ்ணன் கூறியதாவது: “5000 ஆண்டுகள் பழமைவாய்ந்த இந்த ஓவியம் 11/2 மீட்டர் நீளமும், 50 செ.மீ. அகலமும் கொண்டது. பொதுவாக இம்மாதிரியான ஓவியங்கள் வெள்ளை மற்றும் காவி நிறத்தில் இருக்கும். இது காவி நிறத்தில் சற்றே தெளிவற்ற நிலையில் உள்ளது.
இது ஒரு இனக்குழு தலைவி, வேட்டையாடிய பின் தன் வீரர்களுடன் வேட்டையா டிய உணவுகளைத் தமது இருப் பிடத்துக்கு இரண்டு வண்டிகளில் எடுத்துச் செல்வதுபோல அமைந் துள்ளது.
இது ஒரு சடங்கை உணர்த்து வதாகவோ, வேட்டையாடுதலை உணர்த்துவதாகவோ கூட இருக் கலாம். இதுவரை கிடைத்துள்ள தொல்பழங்கால ஓவியங்களைவிட, இதில் இரண்டு சக்கரங்களையும் வண்டியையும் தெளிவாக வேறுபடுத்தி அறியமுடிகிறது.
இது புதிய கற்கால, பெருங்கற் கால வேட்டை சமூக மக்களின் நாகரிக வளர்ச்சியைச் சுட்டும் முக்கிய ஆதாரம்” என்றார்.
மற்றொரு ஆய்வாளரான செல்வன் கூறுகையில், “இங்கே கிடைத்துள்ள பிற தடயங்களையும் கொண்டு பார்க்கும்போது, இங்கே கற்கால மனிதர்கள் முதல் பல்வேறு சமூகங்கள் இங்குள்ள குகை, குன்றுகளில் வாழ்ந்திருப்பதை அறியமுடிகிறது. மேலும் இப்பகுதியில் தேடினால் இன்னும் நிறைய வரலாற்றுத் தடயங்கள் கிடைக்கலாம்.
கல்குவாரிகளால் பல அரிய தொல்சின்னங்கள் அழிந்து போயிருக்கின்றன. இது அதில் தப்பி பிழைத்தது அதிர்ஷ்டவசமானது.
தொல்சின்னங்கள் மீது கவனம் கொண்டு அரசு காப்பாற்ற வேண்டும். பொதுமக்களுக்கும் இதுகுறித்த விழிப்புணர்வு ஏற்பட் டால்தான் இவற்றைக் காப்பாற்ற முடியும்” என்று கூறினார்.
 

SL commander warns students against Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance

SL commander warns students against Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2014, 23:33 GMT]
The commander of the occupying Sri Lankan military in Jaffna , Major General Udaya Perera, on Wednesday told Jaffna University students and academics when Ms Vasanthy Arasaratnam, the vice chancellor of the University, took them to a meeting with Major General Udaya Perera at Thal Sevena resort situated in SL military-appropriated Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) of Valikaamam North. No one would be allowed to take part in any collective events of remembrance on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day, the SL commander told the students and the academics. In the meantime, a section the SL military intelligence operatives have distributed anonymous leaflets with death threats on those who mark Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day.

The SL military commander in Jaffna is not only denying the Eezham Tamils their democratic right to pay tribute to those who perished in the genocidal onslaught, he has also passed a message to the world that it is now the SL military, which is running the civil affairs in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, a student leader told TamilNet Wednesday.

The Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University Ms Vasanthy Ariyaratnam was responsible for taking the students and faculty deans to the meeting with SL military commander, the student leaders further said.

Jaffna University Student Union representatives told TamilNet that the SL military intelligence operatives were entering the University premises under the cover of visiting Sinhala students.
Leaflet by SL military warns academics, students
On Wednesday, the SL intelligence operatives put up anonymous leaflets threatening the academics and students who have voiced for the collective right of remembering those who perished in the genocidal onslaught.

“Professors are guiding the student associations in supporting terrorism and this is the final warning to them,” the leaflet put up by alleged SL military intelligence operatives at the premises of Jaffna University on Wednesday claims.

The leaflet threatened academics and students mentioning the names of Art Faculty Dean Professor V.P. Sivanathan, Jaffna University Teachers Association lecturer A Rajakumaran, Jaffna University Student Union leader Subahar, Art Faculty Student Union leader Komes and Science Faculty Student Union leader Venugopan.
Leaflet by SL military warns academics, students
A leaflet put up inside the premises of Jaffna University by the SL military intelligence wing


Udaya Perera was trained and awarded in the US Army War College in 2012, after his role as director of SL Army operations in the genocidal onslaught in 2009 followed by two years of counter-insurgency foreign service in Malaysia. He is now deploying new tactics for furthering the structural genocide against Eezham Tamils in his position as the commander of SL military occupying the peninsula.

Chronology:

வியாழன், 8 மே, 2014

SL military wants Jaffna University shut down on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day

SL military wants Jaffna University shut down on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2014, 07:01 GMT]
The Registrar of the University of Jaffna Mr V. Kandeepan, has issued a notice instructing the students at the University hostels to vacate the premises between 16 May and 20 May without citing any reason. All the education activities have also been cancelled for four days, bringing the entire University to a standstill during the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance this year. The instruction has come from the occupying Sri Lankan military, informed sources told TamilNet. Since 2009, the University student community has been fighting for the collective right of remembering those who sacrificed their lives in the Tamil struggle. In the meantime, the Eastern University in Batticaloa is already at a standstill as Tamil students have been protesting against the Vice Chancellor for collaborating with the genocidal regime of Colombo.

The Eezham Tamil students and the academics organised in the teachers union have been marking Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance on 17 and 18 May and the Tamil Heroes Remembrance Day on November 27.

The instruction to shut down the University was passed to the Vice Chancellor Ms Vasanthy Arasaratnam from Palaali military base, according to informed sources.

The University was also closed during the Tamil Heroes Remembrance Day last year.

A notice conveying the ‘instruction’ with the signature of the Registrar has been put up at several places inside the University premises on Tuesday.

The SL military intelligence recently entered the premises of the University under the cover of policing the Sinhala students in a dispute. The Jaffna University Student Union had condemned the military interference.

The SL military intelligence has been deploying the Sinhala students to keep the Tamil students threatened inside their Universities in Jaffna and Batticaloa.

The education activities are already at a standstill at the Eastern University as the Eezham Tamil students in Batticaloa had voiced against the Vice Chancellor for suppressing the students from mobilising against the injustices taking place at the University.
Registrar's notice
All education activities have been cancelled and the students are instructed to vacate the hostels for 4 days between 16 May to 20 May.

Civic member Shageevan urges course-correction of TNA

Civic member Shageevan urges course-correction of TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2014, 23:51 GMT]
Eezham Tamils have also been consistent in denouncing a 13th Amendment-based discourse in the past. Also, when Oslo sought to push the Tamil question into an internal formula during the CFA times, the Tamil side confronted the move by producing a blueprint for Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). Now, especially after facing the genocidal onslaught in 2009, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should have articulated the position of Eezham Tamils by demanding an international investigation on crimes against humanity and genocide at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Why did the TNA parliamentarians fail articulating the Tamil position in an open and transparent manner at the Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva all these years, asked S. Shageevan, the deputy chair of Valikaamam North civic council (Piratheasa Chapai) at a press conference held in Jaffna on Monday.

Mr Shageevan, who also represents the uprooted people of Valikaamam North, has come with his criticism of the TNA after addressing the Human Rights Council three times.

Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Ms Ananthi Sasitharan, who represented the Northern Provincial Council and Mr MK Shivajilingam, who is also a councillor at the NPC, belonging to the TNA, addressed the UNHRC session. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Visvalingam Manivannan and Selvarajah Kajendren of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) also addressed the UN Human Rights Council articulating the situation of Eezham Tamils. All of these participants and the others who attended the side events did it on their own effort.

Meanwhile, a minor section, projecting itself as the hierarchy of Tamil National Alliance, was deviating away from demanding international investigations on crimes against humanity and genocide, Shageevan accused.

The Tamil people need to course-correct the elitist section of the TNA, which has failed so far in articulating the Tamil position, he said.

The journalists, civil society and the academics should play a constructive role in shaping the Tamil polity in a timely manner before TNA gets trapped into an internal discourse through the brokering by South Africa after the Human Rights Council in Geneva has passed a resolution demanding OHCHR investigation.

Gajendrakumar challenges Sumanthiran on Geneva discourse

Gajendrakumar challenges Sumanthiran on Geneva discourse

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2014, 22:56 GMT]
The biggest betrayal is failing to do the needful at the right time to the Tamil people through demanding the international community to make the right decision. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and its nominated politician M.A. Sumanthiran have failed the Tamil people by reducing their scope of demands to fit the agenda of regime change and sabotaged every attempt by fellow Tamil representatives to advance the limitations, said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the president of the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) at a press conference held in Jaffna on Sunday in response to the accusations levelled against the TNPF by Mr Sumanthiran at an earlier press conference in Jaffna on Friday.

Everyone in Geneva expected the TNA, as the elected party with mandate, to spell out clearly what the Tamil people wanted. But, the TNA and its alliance partners were in fact sabotaging the representation of Tamil demands, the TNPF leader accused, citing examples from what really took place in Geneva.

Gajendrakumar was responding to Sumanthiran who had assailed all those who had critiqued the draft.

In the eyes of Sumanthiran, the resolution passed in Geneva consisted everything that could be achieved in the Human Rights Council discourse and all those who critiqued the resolution in order to strengthen it were destructive in their conduct.

Gajendrakumar said the resolution, although it had an international dimension, has limited the scope of the OHCHR investigation into the human rights paradigm along the path of regime change. There was no mention of the Tamil national question. In fact, the resolution has presented the case as that of ‘religious minorities’.

Out of the four possible international investigation mechanisms at the UN, two mechanisms are possible through the Human Rights Council and the other two need to be taken through the Security Council. What has been achieved at the UNHRC this year is the minimum possible one, which calls for the OHCHR to monitor and conduct investigations, which should result in a report to the UNHRC in one year.

Many countries would have supported a demand to strengthen the resolution into an independent Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which is the strongest one that could be achieved in the UNHRC. Also, it should have been possible to give a wider mandate to the investigating commission to pay a particular attention on crimes against humanity.

But, when the TNPF and civil society representatives met the representatives of these countries at Geneva, they told the TNPF that no Tamil representative had asked for wider mandate. All those who had come to see them from the Tamil side were only talking about wooing support to the US-draft.

TamilNet presents the press conference speeches of both M.A. Sumanthiran and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam:


Uyangoda revisited on Tamil nationhood, self-determination

Uyangoda revisited on Tamil nationhood, self-determination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2014, 13:42 GMT]
In a pioneering and incisive article published 35 years ago in a Colombo-based monthly journal Lanka Guardian, Jayadeva Uyangoda, currently a professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Colombo, articulated the Tamil Nationhood and corroborated Tamils right to self-determination based on the Marxists-Leninist principle. His article, condemning the Sinhala Left’s failure to grasp the National question in the island is remarkably applicable in the present context of protracted genocide and military occupation, and displays the resilience of Sinhala chauvinism, which is endemic to the Sri Lankan left, opines a Tamil diaspora student of Anthropology, reproducing the article authored by Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda in the Lanka Guardian of 15 March 1979.

“With the due exception of those courageous Sinhala comrades, many who are exiled, who have risked their lives due to the principled solidarity displayed towards the Tamil people and their struggle, most of the Sri Lankan Left displays the cognition and rationality which Uyangoda rightly criticizes as non-Marxist and chauvinistic three decades ago,” commented the Diaspora activist, sending the article of the Sinhala academic Professor Uyangoda to TamilNet.

“In the true spirit of Marxists Leninism and its commitment to democratic rights and socialist change, Uyangoda elucidates the Sinhalese are unable or unwilling to understand the fundamental characteristic of national oppression and the inevitable historical response to it by the oppressed,” the Tamil activist said.

“His article condemning the Sinhala Left’s failure to grasp the National question in the island is remarkably applicable in the present context of protracted genocide and military occupation, and displays the resilience of Sinhala chauvinism which is endemic to the Sri Lankan left. With the due exception of those courageous Sinhala comrades, many who are exiled, who have risked their lives due to the principled solidarity displayed towards the Tamil people and their struggle, most of the Sri Lankan left displays the cognition and rationality which Uyangoda rightly criticizes as non-Marxist and chauvinistic three decades ago,” the Tamil activist says.
Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda
Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda [Library Photo]
Professor Uyangoda, in his 1979 article wrote: “It is a matter of regret that almost all the leftist political parties and groups in this country have been committing the fundamental error of considering the Tamil people in Sri Lanka only as a national minority. This failure betrays not only their residual traces of social chauvinism... but also their inability to grasp the Marxist-Leninist fundamentals on the national question.”

Regarding the ‘minority’ discourse which denies Tamil Nationhood Uyangoda wrote: " Even our leftists began to use the term ‘Tamil minority’ indiscriminately without giving thought to its dangerous implications. Dangerous because when one regards an oppressed nation merely as a national minority, then one easily tends to misunderstand, minimize and underestimate the oppressed status of that particular people. This ultimately serves to justify and even to defend the nationalist prejudices of the oppressor nation.”

Uyangoda wrote that the Tamils “[...] were/are being deprived of the fundamental democratic rights of a nation first of which is the right of political independence, that is of a separate political existence. Hence an oppressed nation [...] The demand for separation is only the concrete manifestation of the historical necessity, political democracy for an oppressed nation.“

In conclusion Uyangoda called for the Sinhala Left to rightfully study and address the Tamil national question and their right to self determination: “The time has come for most of our leftist political groups who claim to be Marxist-Leninists to reconsider their attitudes and strategies towards the struggle of the oppressed Tamil people. The failure to adopt a correct revolutionary strategy on this key political issue would definitely have its gravest implications.”

“His words proved to be prophetic, the Sinhala Left display a chronic inability to grasp the logic of the Marxist Leninist principle of Self-determination, that it is the oppressed nation which determines its political future according to its national aspirations. Moreover the Sri Lankan Left, holding a religious commitment to the oppressive unitary state, indulged in analysis and praxis, which denied Tamils national existence in order to legitimize the state structure,” the Tamil diaspora academic further says.

“Forsaking the basic principles of Marxist Leninism the Sri Lankan Left reiterated the Sinhala chauvinist concept of protecting the territorial integrity, sovereignty and unity of the Sri Lankan state. Uyangoda’s article is an excellent reminder of the historical failure of the Sri Lankan Left as well the continuity in their social chauvinism.”

“Furthermore it is also a reminder of the few genuine Sinhala comrades who espoused the Tamils inalienable rights during the early stages of the armed national revolution. Nonetheless many of the few Sinhala leftists, who understood and even advocated Tamils rights in the early phase, have either become silent on the genocidal oppression against Tamils or morphed into becoming active enemies to Tamils political struggle. Uyangoda displaying incredible incisiveness and comradeship in this article did become more timid in his analysis of the unfolding genocidal crimes against the Tamil Nation,” the young academic further observed.

* * *

Are Tamils a minority?

by J. Uyangoda

Lanka Guardian, March 15, 1979 (page 20 and 22)

Mr. A. Jayaweera, in his polemic against Drs. S. C. Fernando and Carlo Fonseka states, in parenthesis, that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka are not an oppressed national minority, but an oppressed nation (Lanka Guardian - January 15th). I entirely agree with him on this point. It is a matter of regret that almost all the leftist political parties and groups in this country have been committing the fundamental error of considering the Tamil people in Sri Lanka only as a national minority. This failure betrays not only their residual traces of social chauvinism, as Mr. Jayaweera says, but also their inability to grasp the Marxist-Leninist fundamentals on the national question.

On what grounds can one describe the Tamil people in Sri Lanka a national minority? In this country the term "minority" had been used in relation to the Tamil people first by the British rulers and then by so—called patriots in the time of colonial rule. Since then the word come to the official jargon to be used as an adjective to the word "Tamils". Even our leftists began to use the term ‘Tamil minority‘ indiscriminately without giving thought to its dangerous implications. Dangerous because when one regards an oppressed nation merely as a national minority, then one easily tends to misunderstand, minimize and underestimate the oppressed status of that particular people. This ultimately serves to justify and even to defend the nationalist prejudices of the oppressor nation.

It is true that in terms of numerical strength Tamils are secondary to the Sinhalese. But this population criteria must not be applied to determine the superiority or otherwise of a particular nation. Moreover Marxists never subscribe to the medieval notion of ‘superiority‘ or ‘inferiority’ of any nation. Any nation which, in actual fact is in a lesser position in terms of population must not be deprived of its legitimate place and rights. Thus, the Tamils though they are not the major ethnic group in Sri Lanka, are essentially not a national minority. They possess a fairly contiguous traditional territory, a common language and culture of their own, and a common economic life though the latter to a certain extent, has been intermingled with and interrelated to that of the Sinhalese due to specific historical conditions. Hence a Nation. They were/are being deprived of the fundamental democratic rights of a nation first of which is the right of political independence, that is of a separate political existence. Hence an oppressed nation.

Only if and when we identify and locate the main problem in this way that we are able to perceive the essential historical meaning of the demand of the Tamil people for a separate state. They strive for separation not because they are instigated by some foreign power, but because they need for themselves the right to determine their own destiny. The demand for separation is only the concrete manifestation of the historical necessity, political democracy for an oppressed nation.

Most of the leftist political groups, let alone the right wing parties, seem to think that the fundamental characteristic of the "Tamil Question" is that the Tamils are discriminated against by the Sinhala dominated capitalist ruling class. This is both a misunderstanding and a misrepresentation of the problem of national oppression. If we present the problem of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, concretely and historically, as Lenin put it, we may come to the inevitable conclusion that the national question is one of the unresolved tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution. In the classical bourgeois revolutions or during the process of those revolutions in Western Europe the oppressed nations formed their own national states. The slogan of the right of nations to self¬-determination came into being in the 17th and 18th centuries only as a petty-bourgeois slogan with the characteristic of a democratic demand of the rising bourgeoisie against feudalism and feudal state structure. The raison d’etre of the demand to self-determination in the context of the present day historical situation in this country is that the local bourgeoisie, unlike most of the classical European counterparts, is incapable of carrying out the tasks of the bourgeois revolution through to the end. This of course is true of all the neo-colonial bourgeoisies. The present agitation and struggle of the Tamil people in the North is nothing but a nationalist movement of an oppressed nation for political democracy. Those who consider the Tamil people merely as a national minority inevitably fail to understand this essential democratic context of the demand for political independence. It is this very failure, which has led most of our leftist groups to be content with merely believing that the "Tamil problem" can be solved by ending “all sorts of discrimination" in a future socialist society.

It is not disputed that only in a socialist society that all sorts of discrimination, racial or otherwise, can be brought to an end effectively and forever. But “The socialist revolution is not a single act, it is not one battle on one front, but a whole epoch of acute class conflicts, a long series of battles on all fronts i.e. on all questions of economics and politics, battles that can only end in the expropriation of the bourgeoisie. It would be a radical mistake to think that the struggle for democracy was capable of proletariat from the socialist revolution, or of hiding, overshadowing it, etc. On the contrary, in the same way as there can be no victorious Socialism that does not practice full democracy, so the proletariat cannot prepare for its victory over the bourgeoisie without an all round, consistent and revolutionary struggle for democracy." (Lenin the Socialist Revolution and The Right of Nations to self-determination—Theses)

Lenin's words are categorical and unambiguous. The proletariat, in its series of struggles for socialism, must fight for democracy too. The proletariat fights for democracy not to confine itself within the limits of a capitalist system, but with the sole purpose of transcending those limits with the view of extending and intensifying the struggle for every fundamental democratic right up to the socialist revolution that expropriates the bourgeoisie.

The time has come for most of our leftist political groups who claim to be Marxist-Leninists to reconsider their attitudes and strategies towards the struggle of the oppressed Tamil people. The failure to adopt a correct revolutionary strategy on this key political issue would definitely have its gravest implications.

* * *

Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, a senior academic in the University of Colombo, is a well-regarded political commentator in the Sinhala and English media in the island. He was one of the Marxist rebels, who led the armed insurrection to capture state power in 1971 and was incarcerated for many years after the rebellion was ruthlessly crushed by the Sri Lankan regime at that time.

Towards the end of the Vanni war, Professor Uyangoda visualized the situation as one such in which Tamils have to survive in the ‘magnanimity’ of the Sinhala majority in the island.

‘Magnanimity’ coming in the forms of militarization, colonization, structural genocide and the annihilation of the Eezham Tamil nation and its territoriality is what is seen as the outcome of the war, jointly waged by powers of vested interests in the island.

Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki), a renowned Tamil journalist, political analyst and senior editor of TamilNet was perplexed by the irrational ways of the Sinhala national psyche which turned advocates of Tamil self-determination into the staunchest of Sinhala chauvinist and wrote: “If we have to find explanations for all these, then we have to do an in-depth analysis of the psyche of the Sinhala Nation. Based on that alone can we firm up our approach on how to deal with the Sinhala nation.”

Uprooted Champoor Tamils in Trincomalee: ‘Tell the world our story’

Uprooted Champoor Tamils in Trincomalee: ‘Tell the world our story’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2014, 23:34 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka and its Colombo-centric investment board are jointly opposing the resettlement of Champoor people and even the name of the village has been officially deleted. The area constitutes more than 9,000 acres. But, the SL government has appropriated, through Gazette notifications, only 1,458 acres including the 500 acres that has been demarcated for the construction of a coal power plant. However, the occupying SL Navy is not allowing the people to resettle. The main problem is the policy of genocidal militarisation, the people say. The real problem of Champoor people in Moothoor East in Trincomalee district has not reached the outside world, the uprooted people and their representatives told TamilNet after they marked 9th year of their uprooted life with a prayer for resettlement at Paththirakaa’li-amman temple in Champoor on 26 April 2014.

The so-called High Security Zone, where people are barred from resettlement, consists of 4 entire wards and 50% of two wards, belonging to more than 600 families.

The militarisation is the main problem, says Tamil National Alliance councillor of the Eastern Provincial Council Mr Kumarasamy Nakeswaran.

புதன், 7 மே, 2014

தாய்மொழிக்கல்விக்கு எதிரான உச்சநீதிமன்றத்தின் தீர்ப்பு

மிக மிகத் தவறான தீர்ப்பு.  இந்தியாவை முழுமையும்  இந்திய மயமாக்குவதற்காக மத்திய அரசின் செல்வாக்கால்வழங்கப்பட்ட தீர்ப்போ என்ற ஐயம் எழுகிறது. இதனால், நாம் எதிர்பார்க்கும் மனித நேயத் தீர்ப்புகளும் மத்திய அரசின் செல்வாக்கால் வழங்கப்படா என்றும் புரிகிறது. உலகெங்கும் உள்ள கல்வியாளர்களும் கல்வி உளவியலாளர்களும் தாய்மொழிக் கல்வியை வலியுறுத்தும் பொழுது தவறான தீர்ப்பை உச்ச நீதிபதிகள் வழங்கி உள்ளனர். அனைத்து மொழியினரும் இணைந்து போராடித் தாய்மொழிக்கான தீர்ப்பபைப் பெற வேண்டும். தமிழக அரசும், பிற அரசுகளும் தாமாகவே முன்வந்து சீராய்வு மேல் முறையீடு அளிக்க வேண்டும். அன்புடன் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் /தமிழே விழி! தமிழா விழி!எழுத்தைக்காப்போம்! மொழியைக் காப்போம்! இனத்தைக் காப்போம்!/

 தாய்மொழியில் தொடக்கக்கல்வி கட்டாயமில்லை: உச்ச நீதிமன்றம் சம்மட்டி அடி!
 
'தொடக்கப் பள்ளிகளில் மாணவர்களுக்கு, தாய்மொழி அல்லது வட்டார மொழியில் தான் கற்பிக்க வேண்டும் என, மாநில அரசுகள் கட்டாயப்படுத்த முடியாது' என, உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தின் அரசியல்  யாப்பு ஆயம் நேற்று உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது.

தடை உத்தரவு:

கருநாடக மாநிலத்தில், நீண்ட காலமாகவே, தொடக்கப் பள்ளிகளில், கன்னட மொழியில் தான் மாணவர்களுக்கு பாடங்கள் கற்பித்துக் கொடுக்க வேண்டும் என்ற  சிக்கல் நீடித்து வருகிறது. இது தொடர்பாக, மாநில அரசு பிறப்பிக்கும் உத்தரவுகளுக்கு, அந்த மாநில உயர்நீதிமன்றங்களில் தடை உத்தரவு பெற்று வரப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்நிலையில், கடந்த 1994 இல், கருநாடக மாநில அரசு பிறப்பித்த உத்தரவின் அடிப்படையில், 'ஒன்றாம் வகுப்பு முதல், ஐந்தாம் வகுப்பு வரை படிக்கும் மாணவர்களுக்கு, கன்னட மொழியில் தான் பாடம் கற்பித்துக் கொடுக்கப்படும். ஆங்கிலம் இரண்டாம் மொழியாக இருக்கும்' என, சில ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன், கருநாடக மாநில அரசு உத்தரவிட்டது. இதை எதிர்த்து, ஆங்கிலப் பள்ளிகள் சங்கத்தினர் சார்பில்,  உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தில வழக்கு தொடரப்பட்டது. சில மாதங்களுக்கு முன், இரண்டு நீதிபதிகளைக் கொண்ட, ' பகுதி ஆயம்' முன்  இவ்வழக்கு கேட்கப்பட்ட போது, 'இந்த  நேர்வில், அடிப்படை  உரிமை தொடர்பான  தன்மைகள் உள்ளதால், இந்த வழக்கை, ஐந்து நீதிபதிகள் கொண்ட, அரசியல்  யாப்பு ஆயம்  கேட்பதுதான் சரியாக இருக்கும்' எனத் தெரிவித்து, அந்த  ஆயத்திற்கு வழக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டது. அரசியல்  யாப்பு ஆயத்தில்   கேட்கப்பட்ட இந்த வழக்கில், நேற்று தீர்ப்பு வழங்கப்பட்டது.

தலைமை நீதிபதி  (உ)லோடா,  நீதிபதிகள், பட்நாயக்கு, முகோபாத்யாயா, தீபக்கு மிசுரா, கலிபுல்லா ஆகியோரைக் கொண்ட  ஆயம் பிறப்பித்த உத்தரவு:

தொடக்கப் பள்ளிப் படிப்பை, அந்தந்த வட்டார மொழி அல்லது தாய்மொழியில் தான் கற்பிக்க வேண்டும் என, மொழிச் சிறுபான்மையினரை, எந்த மாநில அரசுகளும் கட்டாயப்படுத்த முடியாது; அதற்கான அதிகாரம், மாநில அரசுகளுக்கு கிடையாது. தாய்மொழியில் தான் தொடக்கப் பள்ளிப் பாடங்களைப் படிக்க வேண்டும் என வற்புறுத்துவது, அடிப்படை உரிமைகளுக்கு எதிரானது. எனவே, கருநாடக அரசு பிறப்பித்த உத்தரவுகள் தள்ளுபடி செய்யப்படுகின்றன. 

இவ்வாறு உத்தரவிடப்பட்டது.