Life as a female Tamil Tiger guerilla relived by one of first female soldiers
In 1987, aged 17, Niromi de Soyza shocked her middle-class Sri Lankan family by joining the Tamil Tigers. One of the rebels' first female soldiers, equipped with rifle and cyanide capsule, she was engaged in fierce combat.
Last Updated: 5:19PM BST 08 May 2009
December 23 1987 was a warm, clear day, and I was hiding under a lantana bush with eight of my comrades in a village north of Jaffna. With our rifles cocked and our cyanide capsules clenched between our teeth, we awaited the soldiers who had been scouring the area for us for several hours. Our orders were to empty our magazines into them before biting into the glass capsules we called 'kuppies' that hung on a thread around our necks. As a Tamil Tiger guerrilla, there was no honour in being caught alive.
There had been 22 of us that morning – nine boys and 13 girls, aged between 15 and 26 (I was 17). Now, four of my comrades were missing, two were wounded. Ten were dead.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Opinion: What does the future hold for Sri Lanka? Quel avenir pour Sri Lanka?
What does the future hold for Sri Lanka?
by Eric Meyer, Professor at Inalco, Paris
Article date : 30-04-2009
The political system, society and economy of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) were thoroughly shaken up by more than a quarter of a century-old conflict (1983-2009) between the Sinhalese majority government (75% of the population) and the Tamil separatist guerrilla led by the organisation of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The latter which controlled vast territories between 1990 and 2007 in the north and east of the island, and had built a force capable of inflicting heavy losses on the Colombo Army, has lost most of its territories and military potential since 2008, and finds itself driven to defeat on a cramped coastal strip, where it was retaining about fifty thousand civilians, by the end of April 2009, to use them as a human shield. After suspending hostilities for two days on the occasion of Sinhalese and Tamil new year (14th April), fights resumed and the Sri Lankan Army moved forward till the sea, triggering a mass exodus of civilians, which as of 29th April, continued under disastrous sanitary conditions.
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by Eric Meyer, Professor at Inalco, Paris
Article date : 30-04-2009
The political system, society and economy of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) were thoroughly shaken up by more than a quarter of a century-old conflict (1983-2009) between the Sinhalese majority government (75% of the population) and the Tamil separatist guerrilla led by the organisation of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The latter which controlled vast territories between 1990 and 2007 in the north and east of the island, and had built a force capable of inflicting heavy losses on the Colombo Army, has lost most of its territories and military potential since 2008, and finds itself driven to defeat on a cramped coastal strip, where it was retaining about fifty thousand civilians, by the end of April 2009, to use them as a human shield. After suspending hostilities for two days on the occasion of Sinhalese and Tamil new year (14th April), fights resumed and the Sri Lankan Army moved forward till the sea, triggering a mass exodus of civilians, which as of 29th April, continued under disastrous sanitary conditions.
Read more!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Opinion: Sick of these Tamil Protests, Eh?
by Sunthar V
Sick of these Tamil Protests, Eh?
Let me take you to the side and speak to you. Away from the crazy mass of Tamils who have blocked your roads, caused commuter chaos and made your life so miserable through their protests. So miserable, that you feel they should be stripped of their Canadian citizenships and shipped back to wherever the hell they came from.
As Torontonians recover their lost sympathy from last week’s University Avenue hold-up, and brace for yet another human chain rally put forth by these Tamils, there are many thoughts that explode out of my rather youthful Tamil-Canadian upbringing. Yes, I too am a Tamil. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a terrorist nor am I a difficult individual. I do however, have a long last name and I am the first generation of my family to receive a post-secondary education, but never has my upbringing consisted of resentfulness towards what my family calls home, Canada. I would never give up this country for anything, and my pride for it mirrors my favourite beer commercials.
However, I cannot express the same sort of pride towards our government.
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Sick of these Tamil Protests, Eh?
Let me take you to the side and speak to you. Away from the crazy mass of Tamils who have blocked your roads, caused commuter chaos and made your life so miserable through their protests. So miserable, that you feel they should be stripped of their Canadian citizenships and shipped back to wherever the hell they came from.
As Torontonians recover their lost sympathy from last week’s University Avenue hold-up, and brace for yet another human chain rally put forth by these Tamils, there are many thoughts that explode out of my rather youthful Tamil-Canadian upbringing. Yes, I too am a Tamil. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a terrorist nor am I a difficult individual. I do however, have a long last name and I am the first generation of my family to receive a post-secondary education, but never has my upbringing consisted of resentfulness towards what my family calls home, Canada. I would never give up this country for anything, and my pride for it mirrors my favourite beer commercials.
However, I cannot express the same sort of pride towards our government.
Read more!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Video Interview: CBC Newsworld Interview with Phillip Koneswaren
Phillip Koneswaren, interviewed by Peter Forestell
CBC Newsworld
May 11, 2009
A full transcript follows.
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CBC Newsworld
May 11, 2009
A full transcript follows.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Opinion: Guerre au Sri Lanka - Le Canada doit sortir de sa torpeur
Guerre au Sri Lanka - Le Canada doit sortir de sa torpeur
Christian Nadeau, Professeur au département de philosophie de l'Université de Montréal
Le Devoir
Édition du samedi 02 et du dimanche 03 mai 2009
Selon les Nations unies, 100 000 civils tentent ou ont tenté d'échapper à la zone des conflits depuis le début des hostilités au Sri Lanka le 20 avril. Ils sont pris en charge par le gouvernement dans des «camps de bien-être» que l'organisation Human Rights Watch a qualifiés de «camps d'internement» (Le Monde, 30 avril 2009).
La population tamoule est ainsi forcée à un exode sans précédent. Selon l'ONU, 6500 civils ont déjà perdu la vie en raison des combats, en plus de 14 000 blessés. En ces temps de grippe porcine, les préoccupations sanitaires voilent les yeux de la communauté internationale sur une tragédie à laquelle il faut à tout prix mettre un terme.
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Christian Nadeau, Professeur au département de philosophie de l'Université de Montréal
Le Devoir
Édition du samedi 02 et du dimanche 03 mai 2009
Selon les Nations unies, 100 000 civils tentent ou ont tenté d'échapper à la zone des conflits depuis le début des hostilités au Sri Lanka le 20 avril. Ils sont pris en charge par le gouvernement dans des «camps de bien-être» que l'organisation Human Rights Watch a qualifiés de «camps d'internement» (Le Monde, 30 avril 2009).
La population tamoule est ainsi forcée à un exode sans précédent. Selon l'ONU, 6500 civils ont déjà perdu la vie en raison des combats, en plus de 14 000 blessés. En ces temps de grippe porcine, les préoccupations sanitaires voilent les yeux de la communauté internationale sur une tragédie à laquelle il faut à tout prix mettre un terme.
Read more!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Opinion: The War in Sri Lanka and the Left in Toronto
By Noaman Ali and Fathima Cader
photo by freelancer RJ
The recent burst of mass mobilizations by sections of the Canadian-Tamil community in Toronto has brought to the fore several contradictions concerning the conflict in Sri Lanka and its presence in and connection to Canada. Mainstream media’s responses to the protests have been overwhelmingly racialist, exposing many of the limits of Canadian multiculturalism. In order for Canadian multiculturalism to accept any given group of people as a cultural community, it must define that group by differentiating it from a supposedly mainstream Canadian identity. This focalising Canadian identity—in effect a non-identity—is white and middle-class. Thus, when the Toronto Star publishes an editorial entitled “Protesters vs. the public” [1] it effectively notes that the protesters are not part of the public by pitting (Tamil) protesters against the (Canadian) public. Rather than focusing on the war, media outlets have focused on the inconvenience posed to commuters, thereby shifting attention away from deaths in Sri Lanka to traffic regulations in Canada.
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photo by freelancer RJ
The recent burst of mass mobilizations by sections of the Canadian-Tamil community in Toronto has brought to the fore several contradictions concerning the conflict in Sri Lanka and its presence in and connection to Canada. Mainstream media’s responses to the protests have been overwhelmingly racialist, exposing many of the limits of Canadian multiculturalism. In order for Canadian multiculturalism to accept any given group of people as a cultural community, it must define that group by differentiating it from a supposedly mainstream Canadian identity. This focalising Canadian identity—in effect a non-identity—is white and middle-class. Thus, when the Toronto Star publishes an editorial entitled “Protesters vs. the public” [1] it effectively notes that the protesters are not part of the public by pitting (Tamil) protesters against the (Canadian) public. Rather than focusing on the war, media outlets have focused on the inconvenience posed to commuters, thereby shifting attention away from deaths in Sri Lanka to traffic regulations in Canada.
Read more!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
News: Canadian Academics for Tamil Rights - Statement on the Crisis in Sri Lanka
Canadian Academics for Tamil Rights
Statement on the Crisis in Sri Lanka
We are writing to express our grave concerns about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the “safe zone” in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka. Most independent observers estimate that more than 200,000 Tamil civilians, many already displaced multiple times, have been under siege in the tiny coastal strip with at least 50,000 still there. Confirmed reports indicate that more than 4000 civilians, including 700 children, have been killed since January 2009.
Displaced persons who have managed to flee the fighting have been placed in de facto detention camps by the Sri Lankan government where they are denied freedom of movement, in contravention of international standards. There are over 40,000 displaced people being held in 13 sites in the Vavuniya District in overcrowded conditions without adequate access to healthcare, food and water. There are reports of rape, torture and killings in the camps (Medico International, Germany, April 16, 2009). Civilians who are suspected of LTTE ties have been taken into government custody, leading to fears of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, tactics the government and its allied militias have employed in significant numbers over the past few years (Amnesty International, ASA 37/004/2009).
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Statement on the Crisis in Sri Lanka
We are writing to express our grave concerns about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the “safe zone” in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka. Most independent observers estimate that more than 200,000 Tamil civilians, many already displaced multiple times, have been under siege in the tiny coastal strip with at least 50,000 still there. Confirmed reports indicate that more than 4000 civilians, including 700 children, have been killed since January 2009.
Displaced persons who have managed to flee the fighting have been placed in de facto detention camps by the Sri Lankan government where they are denied freedom of movement, in contravention of international standards. There are over 40,000 displaced people being held in 13 sites in the Vavuniya District in overcrowded conditions without adequate access to healthcare, food and water. There are reports of rape, torture and killings in the camps (Medico International, Germany, April 16, 2009). Civilians who are suspected of LTTE ties have been taken into government custody, leading to fears of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, tactics the government and its allied militias have employed in significant numbers over the past few years (Amnesty International, ASA 37/004/2009).
Read more!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Opinion: The War of Words -- The Politics of Genocide: Part II
By Chandra Almeida
Read Part I here:
photo by freelancer RJ
Sri Lanka would not be the first instance where international reaction to mass atrocities is almost always confined to press releases, lopsided actions by states and military-diplomatic and financial support for state parties committing crimes (including from the West). There’s a considerable list of mass atrocities committed against civilian populations (targeted for their group identity) -- from the massacre of Hutus in Burundi to ethnically targeted mass killings in Indonesia among others.
Unless genocide terminology is invoked, mass atrocities carried out in systematic and relentless ways are almost always hidden under generic labels like humanitarian disaster, civil war, complex emergency etc., which de-prioritize them for meaningful international action. Even the term ethnic cleansing has not been evoked vis-à-vis Sri Lanka where Tamils face the brunt of a conventional and counterinsurgency/counter terrorism campaign.
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Read Part I here:
photo by freelancer RJ
Genocide is not the "crime of crimes". – International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur
The legal and moral meanings of the word "genocide" have parted ways. As a result, lawyers and journalists talk past each other, and politicians suddenly find a convenient linguistic excuse for doing nothing. That is not just semantics. – Professor David Luban, Chicago Journal of International Law
Sri Lanka would not be the first instance where international reaction to mass atrocities is almost always confined to press releases, lopsided actions by states and military-diplomatic and financial support for state parties committing crimes (including from the West). There’s a considerable list of mass atrocities committed against civilian populations (targeted for their group identity) -- from the massacre of Hutus in Burundi to ethnically targeted mass killings in Indonesia among others.
Unless genocide terminology is invoked, mass atrocities carried out in systematic and relentless ways are almost always hidden under generic labels like humanitarian disaster, civil war, complex emergency etc., which de-prioritize them for meaningful international action. Even the term ethnic cleansing has not been evoked vis-à-vis Sri Lanka where Tamils face the brunt of a conventional and counterinsurgency/counter terrorism campaign.
Read more!
Opinion: War of Words: Part I
By Chandra Almeida
Genocide has become such an emotive and powerful word -- it recalls the horrors of the Holocaust and Rwanda in our popular psyche, and so is seen as the crime that demands immediate international intervention among the public at large.
Hip Hopster M.I.A should stick to singing and not dabble in anti-genocide advocacy for Sri Lanka, or so her not-so-hip critics charge. They claim this is the preserve of ivory tower denizens, or comparably able minds. Not even Arundhati Roy is welcome at this exclusive club. Volleys of withering criticism have been directed by mostly Sri Lankans, seemingly concerned for the plight of Tamils, but really worried about the conflict moving beyond the counterinsurgency/counter-terrorism context or the obscurity of civil war.
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“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” – George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
Genocide has become such an emotive and powerful word -- it recalls the horrors of the Holocaust and Rwanda in our popular psyche, and so is seen as the crime that demands immediate international intervention among the public at large.
Hip Hopster M.I.A should stick to singing and not dabble in anti-genocide advocacy for Sri Lanka, or so her not-so-hip critics charge. They claim this is the preserve of ivory tower denizens, or comparably able minds. Not even Arundhati Roy is welcome at this exclusive club. Volleys of withering criticism have been directed by mostly Sri Lankans, seemingly concerned for the plight of Tamils, but really worried about the conflict moving beyond the counterinsurgency/counter-terrorism context or the obscurity of civil war.
Read more!
Video Interview: Both Sides of the Sri Lankan Conflict
Al Jazeera English: Interview: Both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict - 2 May 2009
What is happening in Sri Lanka's war zone is practically impossible to verify because independent observers and journalists have little or no access to the area.
In an attempt to gain some clarity, Al Jazeera's Imran Garda spoke to Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military, and Thileepan Parthipan, a representative from the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
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What is happening in Sri Lanka's war zone is practically impossible to verify because independent observers and journalists have little or no access to the area.
In an attempt to gain some clarity, Al Jazeera's Imran Garda spoke to Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military, and Thileepan Parthipan, a representative from the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Read more!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
News: Statement by Lasantha Wickramatunga's wife on World Press Freedom Day
by Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge
(Widow of Lasantha Wickrematunge, 2009 UNESCO World Press Freedom Laureate)
Your Highness, Mr Director-General, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of my late husband and fellow journalist, Lasantha Wickrematunge, I wish to thank you most sincerely for this great honour you have done him. Lasantha would have been so proud, so humbled, to have known that an august, independent, international jury of his peers had seen in him, a fit candidate to receive this prize. On his behalf, and on behalf of fellow journalists worldwide who continue to risk life and liberty, to provide for us, all the freedoms we so cherish, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. His parents and his children will be so proud, to know of the recognition you have given their son, their father... as indeed am I, now his widow.
The fact that Lasantha is the second journalist to be honoured posthumously since this prize was created 12 years ago is testimony to the risk many journalists run in the pursuit of their calling. Two years ago you honoured Anna Politkovskaya, an unapologetic critic of military and political excess, who was brutally murdered in Moscow in October 2006.
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(Widow of Lasantha Wickrematunge, 2009 UNESCO World Press Freedom Laureate)
Your Highness, Mr Director-General, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of my late husband and fellow journalist, Lasantha Wickrematunge, I wish to thank you most sincerely for this great honour you have done him. Lasantha would have been so proud, so humbled, to have known that an august, independent, international jury of his peers had seen in him, a fit candidate to receive this prize. On his behalf, and on behalf of fellow journalists worldwide who continue to risk life and liberty, to provide for us, all the freedoms we so cherish, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. His parents and his children will be so proud, to know of the recognition you have given their son, their father... as indeed am I, now his widow.
The fact that Lasantha is the second journalist to be honoured posthumously since this prize was created 12 years ago is testimony to the risk many journalists run in the pursuit of their calling. Two years ago you honoured Anna Politkovskaya, an unapologetic critic of military and political excess, who was brutally murdered in Moscow in October 2006.
Read more!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Opinion: Tamil Protests: The Lost Message
By G. Kuganesan
I write this letter, not for personal gain or “Tamil propaganda," as the Sri Lankan consulate might claim. Born in Colombo in 1981 – the state capital – I made Canada my home at the tender age of three. My entire life has been in the heart of Toronto, in the heart of Scarborough. My friends – white, black, Asian and every mixed breed and creed in between.
I am not an LTTE supporter, though I understand their aim and the logic behind some of their misguided tactics. I do not believe solutions come about through violence, but that is a separate topic, and not the basis of this letter.
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I write this letter, not for personal gain or “Tamil propaganda," as the Sri Lankan consulate might claim. Born in Colombo in 1981 – the state capital – I made Canada my home at the tender age of three. My entire life has been in the heart of Toronto, in the heart of Scarborough. My friends – white, black, Asian and every mixed breed and creed in between.
I am not an LTTE supporter, though I understand their aim and the logic behind some of their misguided tactics. I do not believe solutions come about through violence, but that is a separate topic, and not the basis of this letter.
Read more!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Video: Voices from the Sri Lankan Vanni
While the Sri Lankan state and its backers claim the armed forces are undertaking a humanitarian mission to relieve a hostage situation, facts from the ground once again highlight this is simply an operation to extend the majoritarian writ across the North & East at any cost to Tamil minorities. Although the refugees remain in a monitered environment, they appear willing to speak out on the atrocities happening in the war zone:
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Audio Interview: Neelan Thiruchelvam's Wife Speaks Out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8030000/8030419.stm
Andrew Hosken
BBC
2 May 2009
Read more!
Andrew Hosken
BBC
2 May 2009
...
But, the Tamil Tigers kill their own, too.
"I didn't hear the explosion, but apparently, a suicide bomber had had to go onto the other side because my husband had moved."
Dr Neelan Thiruchelvam, a moderate Tamil intellectual, was murdered by the Tamil Tigers 10 years ago. His widow, Sithi, holds no rancor for those who killed her husband:
"A large proportion of the blame, in all this, is in the successive state governments that we've had. They have failed us, much, much more than -- The Tigers have taken a people who have been extremely traumatised by the inequity of governance, and made them imagine a better future."
...
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News: The Smoking Gun - Part 2
Grim scenes at Sri Lankan camps
by Nick Paton Walsh
UK Channel 4 News
5 May 2009
Channel 4 News reports from a camp in the northern Sri Lankan city of Vavuniya, where Tamil refugees have been taken.
Shocking claims have emerged of shortages of food and water, dead bodies left where they have fallen, women separated from their families, and even sexual abuse.
This programme obtained the first independently filmed pictures from the internment camps set up by the Sri Lankan government to house Tamils who have fled the country's civil war.
Video 1: Video Evidence of the Internment Camps
Video 2: Interview with Sri Lankan High Commissioner to UK Following Video Evidence of Camps
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News: The Smoking Gun
Al Jazeera English: Sri Lanka admits military bombed 'no-fire' zone - 1 May 2009
Sri Lanka's government has admitted to Al Jazeera that its military bombed an area held by separatist fighters and now crowded with trapped civilians.
The admission follows the leak of satellite images taken by the UN which show signs of aerial bombing inside the 'no-fire zone'.
Read more!
News: Censorship in the World's Largest "Democracy"? - Part 2
by Sanjay Dev
This is a followup to the previous entry -- Censorship in the World's Largest "Democracy"?
We asked previously if the following two links were visible on Youtube:
Anita Pratap's Meeting with LTTE Chief Prabaharan in the 80s:
Anita Pratab's speech at "Tamil in SriLanka" book release 2 of 2:
We made our post on censorship public first before asking other sources in India. Our sources replied that they could see the videos. One source reported that it would be a real eye-opener for many people who do not understand much about the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Stephanie Nolen, from the Globe and Mail, however, seemed to have done her own investigating prior to our posting. In her posting, "India, Sri Lanka and a question of censorship" on May 2, she said:
Read more!
This is a followup to the previous entry -- Censorship in the World's Largest "Democracy"?
And the response was...
We asked previously if the following two links were visible on Youtube:
Anita Pratap's Meeting with LTTE Chief Prabaharan in the 80s:
Anita Pratab's speech at "Tamil in SriLanka" book release 2 of 2:
We made our post on censorship public first before asking other sources in India. Our sources replied that they could see the videos. One source reported that it would be a real eye-opener for many people who do not understand much about the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Stephanie Nolen, from the Globe and Mail, however, seemed to have done her own investigating prior to our posting. In her posting, "India, Sri Lanka and a question of censorship" on May 2, she said:
Read more!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Opinion: Classy Iggy, Real Classy
Photo credit: Blair Gable/Reuters
Dear Michael,
I have always voted Liberal, but events of the past few months have made me lose all faith in the Liberal Party.
33 000 Tamils - mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, grandparents, teenagers, infants - came to Ottawa and stood for hours in the rain. You stayed inside. There was no acknowledgment. Many had traveled for hours and taken time off work to come out to Ottawa for this. And yet, you didn't budge from your inner chambers on Parliament Hill
They didn't deserve this treatment at the hands of the Liberal Party. The flags were not in sight, and I don't need to tell you that to label all Tamils as terrorists is blatant stereotyping and beneath someone of your academic and advocacy pedigree. I've read you wax eloquent about human rights abuses on almost every imaginable issue, but here there has been nothing but barely audible squeaks.
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