Sagi Thilipkumar

Black flags in the country of the lion: Unfulfilled self-determination

Jul 19

In November 2019 Sri Lanka again produced headlines in the international media. Gotabhaya Rajapakse won the presidential elections by a landslide. Shortly afterwards, he appointed his brother and former president Mahinda Rajapakse as prime minister. Thus, the Rajapakse brothers are back in power after five years. In May 2009 they had conquered the last territories of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). The author outlines what this return means from a Tamil perspective.
Signs of Resistance

The history of the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka after Western colonisation is a history of oppression by the chauvinist Sinhala-Buddhist state. Because of strength and resilience, the Tamil people acted against this oppression with resistance. This goes from peaceful protest for equal rights to a militant fight for a separate state. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians and combatants lost their lives throughout the armed conflict.