sri lanka
Scores arrested in Paris Tamil protest on Sri Lanka
Around 180 people were arrested and four injured in Paris on Monday during an unauthorised protest by Tamils that turned violent, a police spokesman said.
Expatriate Tamils have been demonstrating around the world against the Sri Lankan government's conduct of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels. London has been a focus as many Tamils blame Britain, the former colonial power, for denying them a homeland.
Congressional Hearing on Sri Lanka
http://www.hcfa.house.gov/press_display.asp?id=610
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) Hearing Announcement: Sri Lanka: The Ongoing Human Rights Crisis
Petition Against the IMF Loan to Sri Lanka
I signed this, but I'm not sure how I feel about it entirely. I think it's worth discussing - its framing is Tamil nationalist, but its demands are anti-militarisation and the use of external financial pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka and so would benefit more than just Tamil nationalists imo. The preamble:
What If You Had One Day Left To Stop Mass Ethnic Cleansing? (Updated)
2009, April 18 - 12:56pm — dr anonymousUpdate
The mass violence is scheduled to accelerate tomorrow. This addendum to the post is a list of several steps you can take culled primarily from the comments. If you look in the comments and particularly kettilkili's comment, you can find some advice about framing your own work or other resources if you want to see what else has been done or plan your own steps.
1. Read up to date news from International Red Cross on civilians in the North East
How Jeremy Page was barred from reporting Tamil Tiger conflict
First person report on a Times of London reporter's deportation from Sri Lanka. The lede:
"The Sri Lankan immigration officer’s eyes narrowed as she swiped my passport at the international airport in Colombo last week. “Come this way,” she said, leading me into a side room, where a colleague typed my details into a computer.
Unprecedented carnage, SLA turns firepower on civilian zone
Please note source is TamilNet - I have no idea what its politics are:
A foreign policy short of ideas
India's immediate neighborhood comprises of countries that are becoming increasingly politically unstable. While the problems of Pakistan and Afghanistan make it to the headlines of newspapers worldwide, these two countries are not the only ones witnessing serious internal turmoil.
Sri Lanka’s displaced: the political vice
After Sri Lankan army forces overran parts of the last stretch of territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 1 April 2009, a statement from the defence ministry in Colombo announced that they had found the bodies of over seventy LTTE cadre. The statement went on to detail the spoils of war: the numbers of captured rifles, grenade-launchers, and mortars. As for civilian deaths and injuries - despite what was evidently hard fighting in populated areas - not a word!
Non Violent Communication Resource in Sri Lanka
NVC is something that I've been exposed to over the past year and become interested in learning more about. Some of the practices involved are of enormous use, as is the underlying framework for thinking about people, which focuses on understanding your and others' needs in negotiating differences and/or conflicts. I was excited to see that there is a resource in Sri Lanka and would be curious to know more about it if anyone knows or other efforts.
Suspected Tamil protesters behead Nehru statue in London
Protesting Sri Lankan Tamils are being blamed for beheading the statue of Jawaharlal Nehru outside India House in London. Indian diplomats were informed of the statue’s desecration when they arrived at the premises of the High Commission in Aldwych this morning. The remains of the statue have been bound in a white sheet and are visible for all to see. When contacted, India’s High Commissioner to UK Shiv Shankar Mukherjee said: “The statue has been damaged and the police are investigating.
