TAMIL TIGERS

 

WHATS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? When you say Sri Lanka to people on the street- they say “ Beautifull place, went there last year- it was amazing”. When you tell them about the war-they say “Sh*t theres a war? I never knew dat – Genocide? F*ck Off”.

 

That’s the response I got with one the staff at the post office today. Its amazing to see the lack of information given to the public about the 26 yrs of Civil War in Sri Lanka. For the people who don’t know about this here’s a quick recap:

 

Sri Lanka an ex British colony is divided by the Tamils up north and the Sinhalese south of the country. In 1948 the British left the country and gave power to the Sinhalese.

 

Under the Sinhalese Government, Tamils were not seen as rightful citizen of the country, higher education and highs profile jobs was not an option for Tamils who had to settle for labour work.

 

LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) was formed in 1976 as due to constant oppression by the Government against the Tamil people.

 

In 1983, 13 soldiers were killed in a LTTE ambush, sparking anti-Tamil riots all over the country killing several hundred Tamils. This was the start of the Civil War, the Tamil Tigers call it “Eelam War”.

 

Being a Tamil myself, well a French Tamil I would blame the Sri Lankan Government for all this, if they treated Tamils right in Sri Lanka, this would not of happened. But the British Government got a big part too in this, their the ones who invaded the country and left it in the wrong hands. One more f*ck up by Britain.

 

The British Government see the Tamil Tigers as Terrorist but the Tamils see them as Freedom Fighters fighting for a just cause. I wouldn’t call myself a supporter of LTTE, all my life I never really got involved in this conflict, I did not have much concern about the situation in Sri Lanka, I had other problems in my mind, my parents were not really bothered to educate me and my brothers about the conflict, we knew a little but not enough to become alarmed, in contrast I have a number of family members who support the cause, even financially aiding the LTTE. Okay you may see this as financing terrorism but they see it as financing freedom fighters, saving children, basically saving their homeland- Can you blame them for that?

 

One thing I don’t approve of , probably the reason why I don’t fully support the LTTE , is suicide bombings in public area, thats pretty messed up because civilians always end up dying but then again the Sri Lankan government have prosecuted and killed a number of Tamil civilians for no apparent reason in the past. But for the past weeks I have become more involved, even attended 2 demonstrations ( I know its shit, I should be there everyday but I’m unemployed so its hard times at moment.) Looking at all these killings and pictures of dying children I have developed hatred against the Sri Lankan government, they are deliberately bombing hospitals in the no-fire zone killing innocent civilians and there’s no one to stop them. The UN which is supposedly set up to stop things like genocide has been reluctant to get involved. WHY? How is this different from the Yugoslavia genocide?

 

The worst thing about it is the lack of coverage of this war in the Mainstream Media. You would think a country like Britain who has the most influx of Tamils and the biggest population of Tamils would cover the conflict on BBC 1…. But NO they don’t for some reason they don’t think its worthwhile. All you see is GAZA, ISRAEL, IRAQ, IRAQ and IRAQ again.

 

Now Londoners are all wondering why all these Indian looking people camping out in Parliament square. Today its been the 16^th day of protest- allday-allnight, its amazing for me to see all this dedication, once again it amazes me, the lack of media presence, you had a bridge blockade, Tamils jumping off the Westminster Bridge, suicide attempt in front of Downing Street but still nothing on the 8 O clock news. All you had is little articles on the Net or on the London Paper. It needed 2 people to go on a hunger strike to gain more attention. Sivatharsan Sivakumaraval, 21 and Prarameswaran Subramaniam, 28 from Mitcham started a hunger strike on the 7^th of April, after 5 days Sivatharsan stopped after being promised by MPs dat he will be sent to theUN HQ in New York to put accross the situation in Sri Lanka but Prarameswaran has gone on with his strike and promised he will continue his hunger strike until the UN implements a Cease Fire in Sri Lanka.

 

Most of the protesters are British Tamil students, most of them probably never set foot in Sri Lanka (I’m one of them, me and my brothers never set foot in that part of the world) but are out there, day and night, in rain or sun. Its CRAZY to see such dedication, you see children, elderly people, parents who pull sickies at work to go to the demonstration, its CRAZY. Yet there has been minimalistic coverage of the conflict, British media needs to know that there is more to the world than Gaza and Palestine.

 

Watch this, you will understand more about the conflict.

 

"Ethnic unrest in SRI LANKA".....BBC Documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6swi0UguCU  Part1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoMJyF20nN4 Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKRPQKgQBmc Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLH5xdJ5XEo Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z25SGuIi40 Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMh_TveRiP8 Part 6