Speakers at the annual meeting of the US Tamil Sangam last weekend called on expatriates to play a greater role in placing the Tamil struggle in the international agenda.
Congressman Danny Davis (D-Ill.), the first United States congressperson to visit areas held by the Liberation Tigers, discussed the parallels between the Blacks’ struggle for freedom in America and the struggle for Tamil freedom.
‘There is no greater feeling than the human need to be treated fairly and equally – this burns deep within the hearts of every creature. I can see this burns in your hearts, minds and souls,’ Congressman Davis said.
‘Frederick Douglas, the great freed slave, said struggle and strive are the prerequisites to progress. What a man will submit to is exactly what a man will get. The limits of tyrants are determined by the will of those they would seek to oppress, so we must continue to fight.’
‘I saw areas totally devastated, I visited the orphanages and saw the wonderful children, and thought, ‘how can I be helpful, how can I do anything but assist in any small way I can,’ their struggle is parallel to that struggle I have experienced as an individual and as a group,’ Congressman Davis said.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam spoke about the current political climate in Sri Lanka that is highly hostile to the peace process.
‘[Premier Mahinda] Rajapakse’s pacts with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) make creating a consensus within the country very difficult. We will be lucky if the agreements from the peace process are actually enforced,’ Mr. Ponnambalam said.
Professor John Neelsen from the World Centre for Peace, Liberty and Human Rights from France offered an international perspective on the Tamil issue.
He reiterating the need for the Tamil diaspora to persuade their host governments to support their struggle.
‘Territorial autonomy must be supported by the international community,’ he argued. ‘[This] needs to be done on two fronts. By action in Sri Lanka, but also with a political front on the international level.’
‘It is the major responsibility of expatriates to act as citizens of their new countries to represent the voice of Tamils. There is no guarantee of success, but Tamils are fighting for a just cause,’ Prof. Neelsen said.
‘In the battlefield of the international community, Tamils and the LTTE have failed to present their point or even neutralize the voice of Sri Lanka. The LTTE is still considered a clandestine guerilla organization that holds territory, as the European Union ban and the United States’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization shows,’ he said.
‘The government of Sri Lanka is the official representative and the only intermediary and partner in an international system based on states. This does nothing regarding the culture of impunity, or the human rights violations, the question of maintaining paramilitaries, or the necessary transfer of aid to the Northeast to address disparate standards of development,’ he said.
After Congressman Davis people must work towards peace, placing ‘peace within the hearts of men as a world order,’ Prof. Neelsen added that Tamils must also appeal to the international community’s self-interest.
‘People operate not by goodwill, but by interests. You must figure out who is really the power that will make a difference, such as the United States. If the U.S. withdrew the designation of the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, this would be simple recognition that no possibility of a peaceful settlement is possible when one party is proscribed as a terrorist group.’
‘You must help to redefine the Tamil point of view where we currently only see the Sri Lankan government’s view,’ Prof. Neelsen stated. ‘You must present the situation as the fight of Tamils, and show that establishing an independent state is in the interest of fighting terrorism’
Congressman Danny Davis (D-Ill.), the first United States congressperson to visit areas held by the Liberation Tigers, discussed the parallels between the Blacks’ struggle for freedom in America and the struggle for Tamil freedom.
‘There is no greater feeling than the human need to be treated fairly and equally – this burns deep within the hearts of every creature. I can see this burns in your hearts, minds and souls,’ Congressman Davis said.
‘Frederick Douglas, the great freed slave, said struggle and strive are the prerequisites to progress. What a man will submit to is exactly what a man will get. The limits of tyrants are determined by the will of those they would seek to oppress, so we must continue to fight.’
‘I saw areas totally devastated, I visited the orphanages and saw the wonderful children, and thought, ‘how can I be helpful, how can I do anything but assist in any small way I can,’ their struggle is parallel to that struggle I have experienced as an individual and as a group,’ Congressman Davis said.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam spoke about the current political climate in Sri Lanka that is highly hostile to the peace process.
‘[Premier Mahinda] Rajapakse’s pacts with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) make creating a consensus within the country very difficult. We will be lucky if the agreements from the peace process are actually enforced,’ Mr. Ponnambalam said.
Professor John Neelsen from the World Centre for Peace, Liberty and Human Rights from France offered an international perspective on the Tamil issue.
He reiterating the need for the Tamil diaspora to persuade their host governments to support their struggle.
‘Territorial autonomy must be supported by the international community,’ he argued. ‘[This] needs to be done on two fronts. By action in Sri Lanka, but also with a political front on the international level.’
‘It is the major responsibility of expatriates to act as citizens of their new countries to represent the voice of Tamils. There is no guarantee of success, but Tamils are fighting for a just cause,’ Prof. Neelsen said.
‘In the battlefield of the international community, Tamils and the LTTE have failed to present their point or even neutralize the voice of Sri Lanka. The LTTE is still considered a clandestine guerilla organization that holds territory, as the European Union ban and the United States’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization shows,’ he said.
‘The government of Sri Lanka is the official representative and the only intermediary and partner in an international system based on states. This does nothing regarding the culture of impunity, or the human rights violations, the question of maintaining paramilitaries, or the necessary transfer of aid to the Northeast to address disparate standards of development,’ he said.
After Congressman Davis people must work towards peace, placing ‘peace within the hearts of men as a world order,’ Prof. Neelsen added that Tamils must also appeal to the international community’s self-interest.
‘People operate not by goodwill, but by interests. You must figure out who is really the power that will make a difference, such as the United States. If the U.S. withdrew the designation of the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, this would be simple recognition that no possibility of a peaceful settlement is possible when one party is proscribed as a terrorist group.’
‘You must help to redefine the Tamil point of view where we currently only see the Sri Lankan government’s view,’ Prof. Neelsen stated. ‘You must present the situation as the fight of Tamils, and show that establishing an independent state is in the interest of fighting terrorism’
 Panel at the Sangam AGM: (l-r) TNA MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Professor John Neelsen, Dr. Francis Muthu and US Congressman Danny Davis. |
