Eelam Tamils in the Diaspora countries this week began a series of rallies in support of the Tamils’ right to Self-Determination.
The rallies, titled 'Pongku Thamil,' (meaning 'Tamil Upsurge'), are intended as Tamil mobilising through cultural programmes. It resumes a major plank of Tamil political activity.
The very first Pongku Thamil was held on January 17, 2001 by university students in defiance of the Sri Lankan military occupying Jaffna and despite the ongoing fighting in the peninsula.
The Pongku Thamizh movement was initiated by university students in the Tamil homeland to serve as a demonstration of the motivation and defiant will of the Tamil people for the cause of Tamil Eelam.
After the 2002 Ceasefire began, the rally was repeated not only in Jaffna, but as a series of events to bring the Tamil people together in a common act of peaceful political agitation in support of the Eelam cause.
In 2003 and again in 2005, Ponku Thamil rallies took place in all the major Tamil population centres in Northeast Sri Lanka and across the Diaspora.
This year’s series began with a rally in New Zealand; Tamils gathered at Potters Park in Auckland for two hours on Saturday between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
More than 350 Tamils of the 400 Tamil families in Auckland, wearing T-shirts marking the traditional Tamil homeland and carrying the portrait of Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), called for the recognition of Eelam Tamils Right to Self-determination and marked the upsurge event with cultural programmes and speeches.
Maire Leadbeater of Indonesia Human Rights Committee, a former East Timor solidarity activist addressed the audience.
Mrs. Narmatha, a former lecturer at the University of Jaffna, who witnessed the emergence of the first Pongku Thamil rally in Jaffna and a representative of Pax Christi International also spoke at the event.
On Saturday Diaspora Tamils in Norway and Denmark also marked Pongku Thamil on Saturday.
In Oslo, around 3,000 Tamils attended a Pongku Thamil event that lasted for more than 4 hours. Trond Jensrud, a ruling Labour Party (AP) politician of the Oslo Municipal Council addressed the event.
Sam Jared, representing an Eritrean organisation in Oslo, in his speech compared the similarities between the cause of the Eritreans and Tamils, and stated that the victory of Tamils is a logical conclusion as their struggle is based on the principle of the right of self-determination.
On Sunday Diaspora Tamils in Northern Italy gathered at Piazza Argentina in Milan, one of the largest cities in Italy, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and voiced their support for an independent Eelam.
Burani Vainer, a renown lawyer in Italy for his legal defence of freedom struggles, addressed the audience as a chief guest, on the principles of the right to self determination.
Tamil poet Arivumathi, the other chief guest from Tamil Nadu, India, also addressed the audience.
The organisers of the rally said that although only a few hundreds Tamils reside in metropolitan area of Milan, nearly 500 Tamils gathered in the city where only 30 Tamils families live. Many participants had come from remote areas of Northern Italy to take part.
Meanwhile, around thirty Sinhalese arrived at the site and mobilised a counter-protest. Around 50,000 Sinhalese expatriates live in Northern Italy.
On Wednesday, over eight thousand Tamils gathered in Paris to express their support for Tamil independence. For days before the rally, the streets of the La Chapelle area in Paris, where many Tamils live had been decorated with red and yellow balloons – the Tamil national colours.
Tamils in South Africa, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, UK, France, Sweden, Canada and Malaysia are also expected to hold their own rallies in the coming days.
