Category Archives: Eelam

January 12, 2025 · 1:54 pm

The Maaveerar Dead as A Perpetual Inspiration For Eelam

Mario Arulthas, in Al-Jazeera,  9 January 2025 …. with highlightinging emphasia imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Maaveerar Dead as A Perpetual Inspiration For Eelam

The nationwide electoral success of the anti-establishment NPP does not mean Tamil nationalism is on the decline.

An election official holding a ballot box gets off the bus outside a vote counting centre after the voting ended for the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 14, 2024 [Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters]

“They’re trampling on our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a Tamil woman, as the torrential rain lashing our faces washed away her tears. Standing barefoot and ankle-deep in mud at the site of a former cemetery in Visuvamadu, Sri Lanka, she was lamenting the adjacent military base built on the graves of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters, including that of her brother.

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January 9, 2025 · 11:43 am

An Epitaph For Lasantha Wickrematunge

Sabanayagam Varagunam in Daily Mirror, 8 January 2024, where the title reads “Lasantha Wickrematunge: A National Hero’s Enduring Legacy” … with highlighting here being the imprint of The Editor, Thuppahi

Wickrematunge’s courage was not merely a product of his profession; it was an intrinsic part of his being

January 8 marked a dark and somber day in Sri Lanka’s history, as our thoughts went back to Lasantha Wickrematunge, the fearless journalist and an indefatigable champion of human rights, who fell victim to a brutal assassination. Sixteen years have passed since his untimely demise, but Wickrematunge’s adherence to justice and human rights cemented his status as a national hero that continues to inspire generations.

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January 8, 2025 · 1:18 am

When Extremists Feed Off Each Other …. Pertinent Reflections from 2012

Michael Roberts

Just today I came across an old political essay of mine, one entitled “Prejudice and Hate in Pluralist Settings: The Kingdom of Kandy.” While the essay is of continued relevance today for Sri Lankan as well as world politics, let me bring readers face-to-face with several insights reposing within two of the COMMENTS which the article attracted, one from Dr Jane Russell and the other from Professor Chandre Dharmawardena.

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December 2, 2024 · 5:36 pm

Politics of Identity in Lanka: Mithran Tiruchelvam’s Introduction in 1997 to his Book

Introduction by Mithran Tiruchelvam …. a son of Neelan Tiruchelvam of the ICES [who was tragically assassinated by the LTTE in front of the ICES offices one year later]

The present collection of essays arose out of a symposium held at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Colombo from 13-15 March 1997, where researchers and scholars presented some of their recent research interests. This volume seeks to gather the threads of a hybrid collection of essays and weave them together in their shared historical moment. An anthology of this nature seeks organizational cohesion based on the papers’ common origins at the symposium, thereby sacrificing some degree of thematic or disciplinary unity. It is intended that such a collection make available to the general reader and to the scholar alike, a sense of the variety of social science pursuits being undertaken in Sri Lanka today. As such its purpose is to flavour as much as to nourish the reader’s palate, providing a sampling of the eclectic diversity of topics, methodologies and critical perspectives. engaging the social scientist today.

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November 25, 2024 · 6:00 pm

Tamil Tiger Maaveerar Rallies Crop Up Again in Australia

A Circular Memo that reached the Thuppahiyaa, 25 November 2024

Big Tiger Event this week in every major city in Australia – share with Sri Lankans Aussies. ………….Please see the attached document and once you have read the contents, consider these actions:

  1. Download the pdf attachment. Starting a new email (instead of forwarding this), send the pdf version via email to your local federal MP and Senators of your state. Their email addresses can be found here (some have not given their emails so you will have to use the online form or call the office and get an email address): https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members Maaveer celebration ….

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November 20, 2024 · 9:35 pm

Gerald Peiris: A Lifetime of Wide-Ranging Research & Service

These are but some of his publications over a career spanning the 1950s to 2020s — with eyesight deterioration blighting his last platform of life. No more table tennis, but much to remember. So, here. let me doff my cap to thee, Gerry Machang, …. Mike

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November 12, 2024 · 12:46 am

Rajiv Gandhi’s Reasoning behind the IPKF Operation

Madhur Sharma, in Outlook.com, 28 November 2022, where the title runs thus “Why Rajiv Gandhi Sent IPKF To Sri Lanka And How LTTE Played Both Sides” .… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord with Sri Lankan President Junius Richard Jayawardene in 1987. Under the pact, the Indian military was deployed as the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka. Soon after the deployment, the circumstances changed and IPKF was engaged in combat by the Tamil armed group LTTE.

Rajiv Gandhi with Anton Balasingham, Pirapaharan & AN Other in India ….. and Pirapahrana & MGR chat in South India

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November 2, 2024 · 11:55 pm

Remembering Professor Margaret Trawick,  American Anthropologist in Tamil Lanka

N. Malathy =  Obituary,  7 January 2022 … ”Margaret Trawick Wanted to Retire in the LTTE’s Vanni”

I first heard about Margaret Trawick through the “Tamil Circle” email group during the late 1990’s. This was before internet-based news sites had become common. ‘Tamil Circle” was a way to share news about the homeland. From a university library, I borrowed Margaret’s book cum her PhD thesis, “Notes on Love in a Tamil Family”, which was based on her anthropological work in Tamil Nadu. That was the beginning of my journey to understand my own society. Margaret’s book taught me a lot about the anthropological perspective of societies, a perspective that the science-focused Tamil elite of my generation lacks. It remains a weakness of my society.

Version 1.0.0

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October 31, 2024 · 12:07 pm

Dr Narendran Rajasingham: A Grounded Sri Lankan Tamil Patriot

Michael Roberts

Naren Rajasingham was a trifle junior to me at Peradeniya University when he pursued a Vet/Science Degree before proceeding to postgraduate qualifications in the same field. It was only when I was fully enmeshed in researching the Eelam Wars and visiting Colombo with some frequency that I got to know him. My memory is imprecise in its notation of time; and I cannot fix precise dates to our exchanges.

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October 16, 2024 · 12:40 am

Tekwani’s Review of the Sri Lankan Political Situation in Mid-2020

Shyam Tekwani, an Item presented as a “Sri Lanka Brief” in June 2020, AT https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/06/19/sri-lankas-return-to-ethnic-majoritarianism/ entitled “Sri Lanka’s return to ethnic majoritarianism” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The voyage from Serendib to Sri Lanka through Ceylon continues to be an uninterrupted tale of opportunities lost, scorned and spurned. The brutal end to the quarter-century war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the government to heal the Sinhala–Tamil ethnic divide. But now a new front is opening, one against Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority. Events since the Easter attacks of 2019 are reinforcing the belief that tolerance and inclusive governance are a chimeric dream.

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