Respect and Democracy in Our Hearts

My mum (72) got discharged from Jaffna hospital this morning, immediately traveled nearly 35KM and then took tuktuk/auto to cast her vote before coming home, despite I don't believe either Sri Lanka constitution or provincial council system due to the denial of Tamils rights and repressive policies. Though, I respect mum's decision and admire her continuing commitment to the cause.

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A Mother’s Call for the Re-awakening

                                                             Photo credit: Sangam
Mrs. B. Thilagamani began her non-violent resistant activism when she was 18 years old and played a key role during the 1961 Satyagraha Campaign. During the Satyagraha Campaign, Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) brutally retaliated against non-violent campaigners. In their terror campaign of 18 April 1961, Thilagamani was sprayed with SLAF tear gas and her sari was partly burnt. Today, 18 April 2011, marks her 50 symbolic years in non-violent activism.

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Searching for Peace in a Kingdom of Vultures

(From my archives 2009 September)

“Peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part”



The armed conflict in Sri Lanka came to an end by mid May 2009 - after more than three decades - with a ‘military victory’ of the Sri Lankan government. The Rajapakse regime won the Eelam War – IV, but a Tamil spirit for autonomy remains - as it occurred - due to misrule, an identity-based state patronage, exclusion, mismanagement of scarce natural resources, underdevelopment, and violation of human rights. The Tamil people’s political aspirations were once again proved through the recent Jaffna Municipality and Vavuniya Urban Council elections (both districts are in the Northern part of Sri Lanka). Even though the government has won their battles, it has failed in the resettlement, reconciliation and reconstruction process so far. Whether nonviolent or violent, the struggle of Tamils is closely related to the denial of their basic human needs.

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Advocacy from Afar - Towards Human Rights for Victims of the Sri Lanka's civil war -

                                              (Photo Courtesy Virakeasari)




In 2009, the global media turned it's attention to the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). At the time, many questions were raised on the treatment of the Tamil civilians trapped in the conflict.

“About 300,000 civilians, plus the Tamil Tiger forces were trapped in an area of territory about the size of Central Park in New York…They were within range of all the armaments that were being used, small and large, being used to smash the Tamil Tiger lines… Between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians died during the final desperate battles”
- Former UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss

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