The Tamil Diaspora and the Future of the Tamil Struggle

groundview journalism For citizens

Nirmanusan Balasundaram   18 Feb, 2011Today, the 18^th of February, finds us three months away from the second anniversary of the “Mullivaikal Massacre”. At this juncture it is important to ask the question: What constructive action can be taken by the Tamil Diaspora to build a better future for the Tamil nation?
In Tamil culture, at a funeral, all the people of the village are expected to attend. It’s tradition. But if the whole village was a funeral house, who will go and to whose house?  Also, who will heal the existing souls?
This is not just a philosophical question, but an unavoidable reflection on the May 2009 humanitarian catastrophe, where 40,000 Tamils were massacred and nearly 60,000 were wounded. Nearly one in four Tamil people became direct victims of the Sri Lankan government’s offensive military operation. And today the survivors still suffer lingering effects of structural and cultural violence.
The disastrous events of May 2009, which were sold to the International Community as a “humanitarian rescue operation” by the Rajapakse regime, led to nearly 300,000 Tamil people being detained against their will in military run internment camps for almost a year.
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