Human Rights & the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom - Tamil Nation

Human Rights & the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom



International Federation of Tamils on 60th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights " It was sixty years ago on 10 December 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was also sixty years ago, on 4 February 1948, that the British ended their colonial rule of the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka as it is now known) and handed over power to a permanent Sinhala majority within the confines of a single unitary state. And for the people of Tamil Eelam in the island of Ceylon, it was also sixty years ago that British colonialism was replaced by Sinhala colonialism.... For the people of Tamil Eelam, the 60th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a painful reminder of the gap between the words and deeds of the member states of the United Nations - a gap made all too visible by their responses to Sinhala Sri Lanka’s 60 year record of tyranny and oppression – a tyranny and oppression that led the people of Tamil Eelam to have recourse, as a last resort to rebellion and armed resistance, with all the suffering that that resistance entailed, and continues to entail... Aspirations for freedom and liberty are not easily quelled. This is the lesson of history. And it is this lesson of history that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out to teach sixty years ago after the ‘untold sorrow’ of two world wars - the lesson that ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’ and the lesson that ‘if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law’. The last 60 years show that there is a pressing need to continue to teach that lesson to the member states of the United Nations." more

Tamil National Forum
Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan on Wiseacres with Snobismus Syndrome

Six Blind Men of Hindustan

Tamil Nadu & the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom
New Delhi won't listen to the political jokers in Tamil Nadu says Sri Lankan Army Chief Fonseka "...If the LTTE is wiped out, those political jokers like Nedumaran, Vaiko and whoever who sympathizes with the LTTE will most probably lose their income from the LTTE.. If you consider the overall thing, the LTTE's separate state ideology is a threat to India, because this ideology will spread in Tamil Nadu too. It is now proved by Tamil Nadu by staging protests against the Indian government and seeking help to take the side of the LTTE..." more

Tamil Language & Literature

Project Madurai publishes complete text of Kanthapuranam on the Web in Unicode & PDF

International Relations in the Age of Empire - 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948... Human Rights? What Human Rights?
1. Andre Vltchek - Wouldn't it be nice to live in an ideal world with no violence and brutality - "Wouldn't it be nice to live in an ideal world with no violence and brutality, where every individual is free and responsible, where every nation can choose its fate and alliances?... This is not the world that I know. Almost all the countries on earth do everything they can to crush independence movements, preventing ethnic groups and occupied territories from gaining self-governance... Just over ten years ago I witnessed the aftermath of mass rape by Indonesian military (TNI) in a small mountainous town of Ermera, in East Timor. Almost all men were arrested and the military moved in, raping everybody from little girls to grandmothers. Eventually I got arrested for being in the area. When I finally managed to reach safe shores, I contacted several major newspapers and television channels in the US, Australia and Europe. There was no interest in my story or in the plight of tiny occupied nation. Occupation, after all, occurred, with the blessing of the United States and Australia, and Indonesia proved to be a good ally after killing almost all Communists as well as hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese.." more

2. John Pilger - Kafka Has A Rival: The British Foreign Office Lectures Us On Human Rights - "..Today, a surreal event will take place in the centre of London. The Foreign Office is holding an open day "to highlight the importance of Human Rights in our work as part of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". There will be various "stalls" and "panel discussions" ... Is this a spoof? No. The Foreign Office wants to raise our "human rights awareness". Kafka and Heller have many counterfeits.... There will be no stall for the victims of a systemic British policy of exporting arms and military equipment to ten out of 14 of Africa's most war-bloodied and impoverished countries....There will be no stall for history, for our memory. Stored in the great British libraries and record offices, unclassified official files tell the truth about British policy and human rights, from officially condoned atrocities in the concentration camps of colonial Kenya and the arming of the genocidal General Suharto in Indonesia, to the supply of and biological weapons to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s..." more

Week Ending: Saturday 6 December 2008

Reflection
Without Comment "... We can expect in the next years and decades, young terrorists of Tamil origin to descend upon us, machine guns blazing in all directions. How to guard against this? We must avoid the worst case scenario, in which Tamil terrorism of external origin reinforces and links up with Sri Lankan based Tamil terrorism. ...there are 80 million Tamils and only 18 million Sinhalese. Therefore the Sinhalese need the support of the anti-Tiger Tamils. They also need to increase the numbers of anti-Tiger, anti-terrorist Tamils..." Sri Lanka Ambassador, Dayan Jayatilleke in “Nothwithstanding the Dividing Sea…Mahaveera, Mumbai & the Madrasi Mad Max mode", 2 December 2008

One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century: Kalaivanar N.S. Krishnan to include
1. A Birth Centenary Tribute by Sachi Sri Kantha : Kalaivanar N.S. Krishnan, the Tamil Comedian and Political Activist

2. NSK on Sirippu

3. Hindu Obituary, 1957 "Krishnan the comedian was twin-brother to Krishnan the moralist and motley was only a disguise this fine artist threw over his self-chosen mission as propagandist for a better order..."


Maveerar Naal - in many lands & across distant seas ...

"உங்கள் உடல்கள்
சாய்ந்ததால்,
எங்கள் தலைகள்
நிமிர்ந்தன..
இன்று..
நாங்கள் வெறும்
கவிதை பாடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்..
நீங்களோ.. காவியமாகி விட்டீர்கள்.."

... Germany -Australia - Belgium - Canada - Denmark - Finland - France - Italy - Netherlands - New Zealand - Norway - Scotland - South Africa - Sweden - Switzerland - United Kingdom - United States - Vaiko speaks in London to more than 40,000