Hundreds of Tamils and non-Tamil allies took to Instagram yesterday to assert their determination to mark Maaveerar Naal and to remember the fallen fighters of the Tamil liberation struggle despite many contemporary obstacles such as censorship, the global pandemic and state crackdowns against memorialisation in the Tamil homeland.
British Tamil musician and Kollywood actor Teejay Arunasalam
The campaign, in which individuals posted photos of themselves with a raised palm accompanied by the hashtag #RememberResist, aimed to circumvent Instagram’s draconian censorship of Eelam Tamil symbols and imagery.
British Tamil model Sheerah Ravindren
“Flags and other tools can be taken away from us, and many people may not have access to them. What can’t be taken away from us are our bodies,” said Tamil writer and activist Sinthujan Varatharajah who initiated the campaign. The raised palm, which relates to the Tamil ‘uruthi’ gesture of making a vow, was inspired by the use of hand gestures in Kurdish struggles and in recent anti-government protests in Thailand. The gesture could also denote ‘stop’, - “stop criminalising us, stop dehumanising us.”
Tamil Canadian entrepreneur Tanya Yoganthan
The campaign was also inspired by a viral Instagram campaign earlier this year which was initiated by Tamil-Canadian activists Pirathanya A, Thivakar A and Thurika K. The campaign called ‘I am Tamil and genocide is my identity’ successfully targeted a Canadian school board to support efforts around Tamil genocide education.
Tamil-Canadian dancer Yalini Raja
“Maaveerar Naal is again being prohibited in Eelam, so it is more important than ever for us to remember publicly and visibly in the diaspora, to come together and ensure that our martyrs are commemorated in a dignified way,” Varatharajah said in a call to action earlier this week. “We want to use this moment to rethink what symbols and signs mean for us as Eelam Tamils. Our flags, our emblems, our tools to resist are constantly criminalized, offline and online. We have to reconsider our strategies, to adapt and be ahead of clampdowns.”
Indian model and activist Seema Hari
“The public space is a contested space. Sri Lanka and other states can criminalise, ban and hinder our public remembrance events, but they cannot silence us. They cannot stop us from remembering, from commemorating, from resisting. We author our own history,” they further wrote, encouraging Tamils to show resistance through remembrance online, and for non-Tamil allies to show their solidarity.
Tamil-Canadian actor and filmmaker Tharshan Raj of Basement Reels
Hundreds got involved over the day, including actors, artists, musicians, writers and other creatives and content creators.
Tamil-Canadian design artist Pranavi Suthagar
Reflecting on the enthusiasm for the campaign, Varatharajah wrote today: “We come from a lineage of resilience: a history of organizing, building, moving and adapting. We could not afford to stand still because of the circumstances we have experienced. The further oppressed you are, the more adaptive you become.”
Berlin-based Kurdish visual artist Elif Küçük
“The internet can be many things, but the internet is also what we do with it,” they said touching on Instagram’s censorship of Eelam Tamil content. “Institutions are clearly not our friends, neither are Instagram and other channels. Neither is the algorithm they run. But we can respond to it, manipulate it to some degrees to our own needs. That’s what we did and need to do further.”
Berlin-based Tamil activist, writer and political geographer Sinthujan Varatharajah
“We cannot afford standing still. We move on whilst carrying on the legacy of our predecessors.”
Swiss-Tamil musician Priya Ragu
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