As part of our series - ' Tamil Nadu activists speak out ' - on the growing activism in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam Tamil issue, Tamil Guardian caught up with leading activists across the state. This week, we publish our interview with students from Loyola College in Chennai. Students from Loyola College in Tamil Nadu remained steadfast in their call for a complete boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo by the international community, and continued to call for Sri Lanka to be suspended from the Commonwealth. In an interview from Chennai, Joe Britto from Loyola College said to the Tamil Guardian, "We, the students of Tamil Nadu, we strictly condemn that - that conference shouldn't be happening in Sri Lanka, and we will protest on the streets, and we will raise our voice against the Sri Lankan Commonwealth conference."
As part of our series - 'Tamil Nadu activists speak out' - on the growing activism in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam Tamil issue, Tamil Guardian caught up with leading activists across the state.
As part of our series - 'Tamil Nadu activists speak out' - on the growing activism in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam Tamil issue, Tamil Guardian caught up with leading activists across the state. This week, we publish our interview with the 'Students Struggle for Tamil Eelam'.
Last week, three young Tamils from Toronto, Montreal and London, published a piece on the website Tumblr, listing the 'privileges' of being Sinhalese. Since then, the piece entitled ' Check your Sinhala privilege ', has sparked widespread praise, criticism and passionate debate online. Tamil Guardian caught up with the writers, Ram, Ahila and Sinthujan, via Facebook, to find out more.. Tamil Guardian: What inspired you to write this piece? Sinthujan : We were just speaking about the concept of privilege in general, unrelated to Sri Lanka, and som e of the problematic things some of our friends would say. Even though many of them are well-intentioned and well-educated, they often neglect to see the issues in some of their statements. Most of them similarly don't see the ways the social, political, and economic arrangements of any given society are what systematically produce existing inequalities between different social groups. Ram: This neglect is especially prominent in discussions of Sri Lanka, for instance, when civil conflict is simply explained in terms of “ethnic hatred” rather than through a close examination of the ways societal arrangements in Sri Lanka have benefited some ethnic groups relative to others.
From campaigning against enforced disappearances to standing as Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) candidate for the Jaffna district, to searching for the whereabouts of disappeared husband, the LTTE political leader Elilan , Ananthy Sasitharan, has become a rising Tamil voice in the North-East. Tamil Guardian caught up with the activist-turned-politician on the phone, as she made her way home from a day of campaigning. The interview was interrupted briefly when Ananthy – who has already escaped an attack on her vehicle in recent weeks – suspected that her vehicle was being followed. TAMIL GUARDIAN: How would you describe the present state of the Tamil homeland in the North-East? ANANTHY SASITHARAN: " Our homeland is completely occupied by the military , so much so that the military presence seems larger than the actual Tamil population. At any event, the army is there. People are scared by the army presence, they live in a state of fear, too afraid to talk or do anything . All our native lands are in their hands, they have seized everything.
As part of our series - ' Tamil Nadu activists speak out ' - on the growing activism in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam Tamil issue, Tamil Guardian caught up with leading activists across the state. This week, we publish our interview with the Save Tamils Movement based in Chennai. It is the 'democratic wish' of the Tamil Nadu state to support Eelam Tamils, with Tamils across the world supporting a free Eelam, stated the Save Tamils Movement, in an interview with Tamil Guardian.
Vadai song by Charles Bosco, featuring Jackson Bosco and Kutti Hari, pictured here with dancer Makesh As Charles Bosco's newly released Vadai Song, featuring Jackson Bosco and Kutti Hari, goes viral, who could have ever predicted that a song all about ulunthu vadais - a doughnut shaped, savoury snack - could be the next best thing? Yet, with over 36,000 YouTube hits since it was released just four days ago, the trio's tongue-in-cheek tribute to that enduring Tamil party food staple has proved a phenomenal success, and its fans growing by the day. Cup of tea and vadai in hand Tamil Guardian...