We are all Tamil
Take a minute right now and email your MP to ask him or her to support the demand that Canada use its influence to pressure the Sri Lankan government to call an immediate ceasefire and stop the slaughter of Tamil civilians.
As you have no doubt heard by now, in a brilliant action, the Tamil community, which has been almost continuously mobilizing over the last few weeks climbed the on ramp on to the Gardiner Expressway, one of the busiest highways in Toronto, and sat down blockading traffic for several hours. Reports of a massive slaughter of Tamil civilians had been coming out over the week end. Frustrated at the silence of the federal government despite the largest demonstrations we ever have seen in this country, and desperate to save the lives of family and friends back home, a group of Tamil activists decided to lead a creative act of civil disobedience.
While drivers returning to the city from a week end away were no doubt frustrated, this action drew more attention to the Tamil cause than even the magnificent human chain where more than 150,000 people filled the sidewalks from Union Station to Bloor Street. Finally, the Tamil struggle is on the front page and lead story of every media outlet in the country. Bravo to these brave, articulate, effective activists. I've never seen a better organized protest.
On the week-end there had been a massive demonstration called by the Canadian Peace Alliance and some unions to support the Tamil. It was the first major show of non-Tamil support for this struggle after months of demonstrations. I have been part of a group called Canadian Academics for Tamil Rights that formed a couple of weeks ago and issues a statement supporting an immediate ceasefire and defense of the rights of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
It has taken a while for non-Tamil support to build because of the confusion about the role of the Tamil Tigers. The discourse on the war on terror has allowed goverments like ours to ignore massive slaughter of civilians by oppressive states in the name of fighting terrorism. Moreover the Tamil Tigers have committed atrocities. But whatever our concerns about the Tigers it is critical to separate the human rights issues from the political ones.
As we say in our statement:
"The overall human rights situation in
"Political opponents and journalists with critical views are subject to threats, intimidation and assassination. The culture of impunity has been institutionalized. In an effort to shield its own actions from public scrutiny, the Sri Lankan government has barred most humanitarian agencies, independent observers and journalists from the conflict zones. As a result there is a lack of timely information about the situation of the trapped civilians as well as severe shortfalls in humanitarian assistance. "
\We have a special responsibility to mobilize support for the Tamil community in Canada as they are the largest Tamil diaspora in the world. So please take a moment to express your support by writing your MP, calling in to talk shows, writing letters to the editor , joining the demonstrations, whatever you can do.
Moreover, we can learn from the Tamil activists who have be organizing for months, escalating their tactics in face of silence from the government. First they organized protests on the sidewalk in Toronto, where most of them live, then they took their protest to Ottawa, where they had thousands of people on the Hill for days. Finally when they agreed to take down their flags only Jack Layton spoke in support. When that didn't get more of an impact they sat down in front of the US Consulate for an entire week . That's when they started getting more attention from the media, from other community organizations and from some politicians.
Yesterday I was assisting at a Q and A for Velcrow Ripper's fantastic film about combining spirit and activism Fierce Light opening in theatres on May 15, and someone asked, "What can we do in Canada, where people are so complacent" I pointed out that at that very moment there were people demonstrating at Queen's Park to stop a genocide in Sri Lanka and he could join them. Over the last year, we have seen massive protests by Tamils, Palestinians and Burmese. The 20th anniversary of the massacre at Tienamen Square in coming up on June 4. Unlike when I was young and demonstrating against the war in VietNam, today the people from the conflict regions of the world are our neighbours. Their struggle is our struggle. Talking about the global village may be a cliche but the global city is a reality and Toronto is in the forefront. We are all Tamils.
I shall toss my 2 cents into
I shall toss my 2 cents into this debate, since a few fellow "Canadians" have provoked mild disgust by their response. Listen, if my family were at risk of slaughter I would also take any non-violent direct action necessary to provoke a reaction to stop this. The Tamil community has been crying for weeks and for the most part has gotten nothing but apathy from this largely ignorant and racist society.
From researching their trajectory I am convinced the Tamil Tigers (at least the leadership) are a nasty bunch of terrorists and criminals, but that is not the point here. The point is to pressure the Sri Lankan government to end the bloodbath and look for other ways to bring peace and start a reconciliation process not with the Tigers but with the Tamil people.
It is ridiculous, and stupid to suggest the Canadian government should send troops to Sri Lanka or take sides in the civil war. What they should do is apply diplomatic pressure, impose sanctions, cut military exports or pressure other countries to do so, and even expel the Sri Lankan ambassador unless they stop doing things like bombing hospitals. This is NOT taking sides with the Tigers, it is taking sides with international law and just plain decency!
But I know we can't expect much from the fascistic Harper government so let's not hold our breath waiting for them to do anything, read our e-mails, or listen to our polite appeals. To the Tamils, don't listen only to bigots like the ones above. Although most of us don't understand clearly this reality because we've never experienced this kind of suffering and war ourselves, many Canadians agree with the need for progressively more aggressive non-violent direct action and will support it as much as we can.
If a few are miffed by having their commutes extended, or their conformable lives otherwise inconvenienced well they can just suck it up...
Pictures from May 13th protest
Here are some pictures from Wednesday's protest:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24056390@N03/sets/72157618136938388/
And an excellent opinion piece on rabble.ca about the protests, which answer some of the arguments being made here against.
http://rabble.ca/news/2009/05/traffic-and-tamils
First we carried no flags
During the very first Human Chain held in Toronto, there were no Tamil flags. Yet, none took note.
This weekend, there were three thousand dead, 3 times more than the casualties in Gaza earlier this year, yet, Tamils had to block Gardiner, to bring the attention of the world.
There will be a day of judgement, when all those who are complicit by being silent today will be judged harshly by history.
No Choice
Tamils have been protesting peacefully and for months now and Canadian government have been largely ignoring these protests. Sri Lankan government keeps on killing many more Tamils while the world is sleeping. Many Tamils canadians have close relatives friends who are caught in the cross fire and have lost many loved ones. They don't know what to do. They want Canadian government to take meaningful action rather than providing "Aid" to kill more Tamils. They can perhaps put economic sanctions on Sri Lanka. In this part of the world, we are talking about animal rights etc, while average Tamil living in Northern Sri Lanka is being treated worser than an animal. My Non-Tamil Canadians questioned Tamils action but after some explanations and little research, they understood the problem. Sri Lankan government must stop this genocide now. If Canada starts taking meaningful actions, then these demonstrations will not happen. As for Children and women getting involved, there are hundreds of women and children dying every day in Sri Lanka, perhaps you should pay more attention to that.
UN mourns Sri Lanka 'bloodbath'
Tamil Canadians call upon Canada to,
• Call for an Internationally Monitored Permanent Ceasefire
• Urge Unhindered Access to UN agencies into the “safe-zone”
• Take lead in ending this humanitarian tragedy and help find a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
If Sri Lanka does not accept this, apply economic and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka
They absolutely are Canadians
They absolutely are Canadians (presumably) and paying taxes - they should be given all the rights and freedoms that we as Canadians receive - which DOES NOT include blocking major highways. Sure, shut down a street, its annoying but it gets your point across. What happens when you don't get what you want? Shut down more streets? Keep it up for weeks? Canada isn't going to all of a sudden decide that the government cares now, and that it will send our army to stop the civil war - all they are doing is creating public unrest and losing support for your cause.
The mayor and the premier have now both warned to stop blocking major roads, and yet the response is basically "we'll do what we have to do". Its ridiculous, and illegal, and I hope every person who breaks the law is fully charged. I am ALL FOR peaceful protest, but breaking a police line on an on ramp is in no way peaceful, putting yourself in danger of speeding vehicles and strangling the traffic in a city is NOT peaceful. Sit at queens park, stand outside the embassies, but don't pull this shit!
I understand that not everyone there are part of the terrorist organization - but they are all sympathizers. What if we sent them money - and they regain the war and take control. Do you think then the "blood bath" will stop? Or will it turn to the other side and the previous government supporters will start to be targeted? There is no right side for this, and Canada has no place determining it.
In the young people that I was refering to was in reference to a photo of 5-6 young girls standing face to face with police in riot gear - of course Toronto's finest will not start beating young girls, nor grown men in this situation, but there was obviously a clear decision to have young/women near the front. There were also photos of people holding their BABIES in front of them so that the police would not go ahead. For that matter, why would babies be at this protest? Watch the youtube video of the "take over" of the gardiner ramp and tell me that that is a place to bring a stroller.
"Toronto police chief Bill Blair said this morning that it was inexcusable and dangerous for Tamil protestors to bring children up on the Gardiner Expressway last night.
"I think that's quite reprehensible, quite frankly," Blair said. "Having children and elderly people up front in a demonstration like that, I think it creates a very dangerous situation."" from the star
It is WRONG to protest like this. It is unsafe and not legal. Write letters and hold peaceful protests, like everyone else.
Until then they WILL be "bunched" together with the terrorist label, as they are TERRORIZING our city. They certainly are terrorizing our traffic flow, hindering business, jobs, emergency vehicles. Oh, and now they say that they aren't done and will do another "drastic" traffic incident - Whats next, Taking over union station? A Human chain around the rogers center? When does it escalate to a plane into a building? I realize that is a massive exaggeration, but they wanted to be heard and September 11th certainly let them be heard - and hated by the public. What is to say that there isn't extremists within your organization plotting this? This is a massively smaller scale, but the escalation is dangerous and needs to be stopped NOW.
And yes, I'm close minded and "selfish", but at the same time, this is the way that people are reacting following these stunts.
For the record: I would GLADLY donate to the red cross or an aid group to help where they can, but I WILL NOT support either side of a civil war. The killing of people based on race is horrendous, and should be stopped, but there is only so much that another country can do. I agree that if there is a way to stop the fighting it should be taken, but sending our money and our soldiers over is NOT the right actions. We already called for the cease fire (as per the below poster), what more should we be expected to do? An Iraq style invasion? Should we spend the billions of dollars and lose the thousands of lives? I think that being for THAT would be the selfish opinion, as we lose OUR innocent lives for something they have NO involvement in.
Response to Mat
Mat,
The Canadian Tamil community is not asking our Government to send our troops or our money. They are asking for our government to be a voice against genocide through the UN, other international organizations, and through the application of political and economic sanctions against Sri Lanka.
I understand you are venting (to a degree), and as you've stated your Sept 11 analogy is an exaggeration. Here is one that is not - The government of SL killed about as many civilians on Mother's Day as Al Qaeda did on Sept 11.
I realize given the way international media reports the SL conflict this was not apparent and is part of the problem in convincing our elected officials and fellow Canadians to take action against SL to bring about an end to the killings.
Regards,
Raj
No deletion here
You should be aware that the protesters are not Tamil Tigers, they are ordinary Tamil Canadians living here and paying taxes. Part of the problem is that alot of people, including our government does not make the distinction. Most of them have family who have been killed over the past months in Sri Lanka or are in danger of being killed right now. If you went down to the protest to talk with them, you would see that they are just trying to save the lives of their families.
As to the young people, I have been down at the a few of the demos and find the young people the most articulate in expressing why they are demonstrating. It's ridiculous to say they are using children as shields, against who?...the Metro police? Every Tamil demonstration I've been on has children and babies for that matter because mothers are bringing them. It does mean that the police are less likely to move in and I don't see that as a problem.
Thank You
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for posting this blog post. And I want to thank all those Non Tamil members who came out to support us.
There's innocent civilians beings being killed and no action is being taken by the International Community. As a Tamil I will march at every protest until the war is brought to complete halt and lives of innocent civilians are secured from the Terrorist Government of Sri Lanka.
You may argue that Canada did act and called for a cease fire. Canada called for cease fire weeks after other countries called and Sri Lanka refused to stop the war. Sri Lanka did tell the world they're giving 48 hour humanitarian pause but attacks were being continued even though international community were under the impression there were no fighting. It's time for International Community to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop the war on innocent Tamils. People in the safe zone are staying on their own will and I suggest all those who say Tamil Tigers are holding innocent civilians hostage. Please e-mail and urge your MP to
* Urge the international community and the UN to ensure the protection of all civilians;
* Urge the UN Security Council to authorize timely and decisive measures to halt mass atrocities in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka, including the dispatch of a Special Envoy to the region, and the creation of a commission of inquiry into crimes under international law committed by any person or entity;
* Demand that the Government of Sri Lanka remove restrictions imposed on access to the conflict zone for humanitarian workers and media and permit international observers in the detention camps;
* Initiate internationally mediated efforts aimed at achieving a durable political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka.
Once the media is in the safe zone then the truth will emerge.
In the past 4 months, civilian casualties have risen over 8,000 and this is unacceptable. Sri Lankan Government is bombing hospitals, schools, and their so called safe zone to wipe out the Tamils.
People can also sign the petition created by the NDP:
http://www.ndp.ca/srilanka
Tamils dont pay taxes?
Excuse me....all the protesters ... are all tax payers. They work hard for a living, eventhough they didn't get the lifestyle they deserved back in Sri Lanka. They also pay taxes, and the cost is going out of that as well....
Dont look at it in a selfish way.
If anyone had family there, didn't know where they were, if they were alive or not, would frustrate you.
Once incident: Teenager here, lost his whole family that had stayed in a church for protection. He is an orphan eventhough he is in this country Canada. He will protest because he is going through such struggles. He works here, pays taxes here, I'm sure he has the RIGHT to protest.
Tamils don`t pay taxes.
Tamils come to Canada and expect everyone to pity them for what is going on in Sri Lanka. This war has been going on for 20 yrs, where were the tamils during those years. The tamils are protesting only now due to success the sri lankan government is having in bring them down. Tamils aren`t tax payers, they enjoy the benefits of Canadian social welfare; some even lieing inorder to enjoy it, enjoying it upon the backs of the hard working Canadians.
taxes, taxes...
I'm always baffled by this thing where people have to pay taxes to be considered human beings.
Disgusting
This is disgusting - this has nothing to do with Canada and this terrorist organization (as determined by over 20 countries) is costing our tax payers massive amounts of money, spreading our police force thin, and making major inconvenience for our citizens.
Regardless of any political wrongdoings in your country, you have no write to hold ours hostage.
I hope the tigers realize how their recent stunt has wiped ABSOLUTELY ANY compassion from Canadian citizens. As far as most people are concerned, they should leave Canada and go do something about it - its not our fight (Or should we go to every civil war? Lose are own citizens for some other countries political b/s...)
Feel free to censor and delete this comment, as its not in support of terrorists... (Speaking of that, could you imagine bin laden supporters doing this? Oh wait, they are all already on terrorist watch lists...)
Maybe you should just put all the 14 year old girls on the front lines, because human shields are something the tigers are used to, right?
Your comment is aptly named,
Your comment is aptly named, Mat. Because it is disgusting your level of ignorance and racist hostility.
This has nothing to do with Canada, eh? I know many of those protestors and they are Canadian citizens, most through birth. They pay taxes too.
And how have they held you hostage? I am getting really irked at people throwing this term around like they know what it means. The protestors haven't prevented other Torontonians from leaving their homes, going to work, going shopping, getting coffee, etc. They just make you a little later, if your route happens to be where they are.
I would think that it is the protestors suffering more by having to stand outside in freezing rainy weather rather than the motorists in their comfy cars with coffees in hand. So stop complaining. Obviously the minor traffic inconvenience you are suffering pales in comparison to what they have to stand through. Common sense anyone?
You say that the protestors "should leave Canada and go do something it" And then you say you don't want to "lose our own citizens for some other country's political b/s". You are majorly contradicting yourself there because, and I will repeat myself, the protesters are Canadian citizens too! So I am touched that you don't want to lose any Canadian Tamils, knowing surely it would be the Tamil youth who would jump at a chance to enlist in the forces if we were to intervene in Sri Lanka.
Secondly, the Canadian forces exist in part to serve troubled nations through peacekeeping, which if they were to intervene, is exactly what they would attempt to do. They are not going to go in there guns blasting. Besides the protesters are not asking for Canada to invade the damn country, they are asking for Canada along with other nations to place economic and political sanctions on the government. And if that doesn't work then the peaceful intervention of the army.
As for those who are saying it was dumb of protesters to put children in harms way on the Gardiner, this is what happened: It was a Sunday afternoon, not much traffic, some adults at the head of the procession went onto the highway, police went in, protester grabbed a cop's bike and threw it down, cops started beating him, drew blood, while other cops blocked the highway from any incoming cars many many feet from the area, then rest of the protesters (with children) after seeing that oncoming traffic was impeded, surged onto the ramp. This all happened in a matter of minutes. Really people, those protesters are condemning the loss of human lives, why would they put their children's lives at risk? If you care about child safety, how about children in Sri Lanka being raped, butchered, and hanged? Also, was the bike that expensive that the cop had to draw blood? The poor guy's head was bleeding and his bloody glasses were on the ground. A cameraman waded into the crowd and started taking pictures of the blood and the shattered lens. I can only hope they pop up everywhere on the internet under the heading "Cop scared for bike's life, beats protestor until he draws blood".
You think that these protests are only a recent occurrence? These protests have been going on in Canada for at least 10 years, sporadically, in Ottawa. Nothing came out of it. When Singhalese terrorism intensified, the protests intensified. Orderly protests were tried with minimal traffic inconvenience; human chains, candlelight vigils, chanting outside the consulates, all while being careful to remain on the sidewalk. Police even praised the protestors for being orderly and cleaning up after themselves. But this also brought them minimal attention. Then they decided to get attention by bringing out the Tiger flags. Harper's gov. said hell no, put the flags down and then we will talk to you. When the Tamil Tigers were told of this they urged Canadian Tamils to do so. Does that sound like a terrorist organization to you? Or does it sound like an organization that truly cares about those they are fighting for and are willing to obey in order to be heard? So the protestors did for a couple of days. Nobody from Harper's government so much as coughed in their direction. So the flags came back. And why not? After more demos, they were told to keep it at Queens Park. That happened too. Nobody responded. The issue wasn't even front page news anymore. So, after all that time of listening to orders and no one batting an eyelash, they decided to make the government PAY ATTENTION. I mean people have been on HUNGER strikes for weeks fer crying out loud. And all over the world, same protests.
We all apologize to those who the highway blockade was not just a minor inconvenience but major, such as for a hospital visit. For those who ran out of gas, your fault. It was obvious it was a long wait and you shouldn't leave your engine idling for more than a minute anyway. Bad for the environment. However the cops need to be blamed also for not properly guiding the cars out. They were almost all stationed with the protestors. In case more bicycle lives were taken and they needed to draw more blood. Huge highway accidents have happened and have been dealt with efficiently before. Police Chief Blair is saying it was reprehensible of us to place elderly and children up in front of the police barricade. Why? It's the Metro Police. Are they dangerous?
I wonder what you would do if a stranger with murderous intentions were to barge into your house and back you up against a wall. Would you not fight back? Therein lies the whole idea of the Tigers. They are freedom fighters. Initially they tried peaceful tactics, but that did not work. The people they are fighting for are oppressed and have no other voice in that country. The Singhalese government has been hell-bent on wiping them out for decades. They have made their intentions clear on numerous occasions through numerous racist policies. The Tamils had addressed their concerns through the democratic process, through peaceful protests and demonstrations. The government didn't care. Instead they unleashed state terrorism. Even Singhalese Buddhist monks pushed for these violent measures(I wouldn't call them true Buddhist monks because they wore their hair long, were wined and dined by politicians, and acted violently towards peaceful Tamil protesters).
Coexistence is not possible with the sort of mindset that exists in the Singhalese government which is set on keeping Tamils second class citizens and even wiping them out. What is needed is a separate state. And that is what the protestors are asking for.
Also, many of the atrocious actions attributed to the Tigers is spin and propaganda by the Singhalese government. The Tigers do not do civilian suicide bombings. And children willingly go to get recruited, and parents willingly send them. The Sri Lankan government has told civilians to go to safety zones and then promptly shelled them there. Even Human Rights Watch has spoken of this. And you say that human shields are something the Tigers do. Please. The Tigers are on Terrorist Watch lists only because (and if it still hasn't hit you by this line...) the Sri Lankan government claims they are! Spin and propaganda by the government has helped demonize the Tigers. Even Tamils in the capital city of Colombo have no idea that civilian lives are being depleted everyday. Singhalese journalists who dared stand up to the government have been persecuted. Some killed, others have fled the country. If there isn't anything to hide then why this extreme cover-up? Why are there no NGOs and international media allowed into the country? Not because as the government claims "the NGOs will be at risk" since that's what those NGOs exist for. They exist to serve those in war zones. Come ON. If this is just Tamil propaganda, then why are Singhalese journalists, academics and other Singhalese condemning the government?
Because the fact is, the Singhalese forces rape, butcher, do indiscriminate bombing, and use chemical weapons. Did nobody learn from the Holocaust? From Darfur?
It's strange that the Singhalese government openly declares its hatred of the Tamil race (which should ring alarms but hasn't apparently registered with any nation or person) but also tries to cover up its intentions.
"terrorist organization (as determined by over 20 countries)"- I hope you rethink that statement now. Did you know Nelson Mandela was hated at one point? An arm of his political group was violent. Now he is respected and hailed as essentially a freedom fighter.
Governments all over the world are focusing on the terrorism label and doing nothing and ignoring the fact that there are civilian lives at stake! You don't need to take sides to save innocent lives.
There is so much more to this issue. Here are some links for those who want to know the full story:
Dr. Brian Senewiratne, a respected and prominent Singhalese academic who has been threatened numerous times since he spoke out against the government: http://www.tamilnation.org/forum/brian/index.htm
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=13&id=5693
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=169254&archive=28,35,2009
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=169123
Misinformation
Alright, I get it.
The protest started out legally and was, in every sense, necessary. But you need to understand the following.
Many Canadians were sympathetic to your cause, which is not genocide but a civil war, but as soon as members of your protest ASSAULTED police officers blocking them from the Gardiner Expressway on ramp it turned into an ILLEGAL terrorist act.
The police stopped traffic because the officers at the on ramp were being over thrown. The man that was beaten down was given that treatment because he was DISOBEYING the basic laws of road/highway safety.
Those laws are there to make sure nobody gets hurt, everyone who went up there is VERY, I repeat VERY, lucky that the police shut down the highway. There would have been masses of accidents because civilians ON FOOT were running onto a highway.
Your cause is justified when you block a major street, but holding a major transport route hostage and costing everyone (including yourselves) lots of money for policing is ignorant and nothing short of stupid.
I am not labelling the entire Tamil protest group as terrorists, and I have now heard the Nelson Mandela point WAY too many times to care anymore, but if you disobey the law then the police have the right to take action. Whether it is beating down a man who is refusing to LISTEN and OBEY police orders, or stepping up their presence because they view all Tamil protests as dangerous to public safety. I know that the protesters are mostly peaceful and full of regular Canadian citizens and families, but you cannot think that breaking onto a highway is going to help anything. Don't protest infront of Queen's Park on a sunday when no parliament is in session and expect a response. I applaud that there has been a talk to stop people from waving the Tamil Tigers flag from the high-ups, most people did not think this to be a problem until ILLEGAL actions were taken.
The protesters outstepped their boundaries when they WALKED onto a HIGHWAY. I think the police should have detained the people responsible for thinking that blocking a highway will make people and the Canadian government sympathetic.
You cannot say that this wasn't an act of terrorism, I heard an organizer quite clearly when he said: "We will not move until a representative from the Canadian government comes down here to address this crowd" - that sounds like a terrorist demand to me. You can say it was a passive protest but as soon as someone threw a bike at a cop as well as other objects from the crowd it turned into a mob of people acting like they broke through the border and were running to freedom.
This is not how you get your cause noticed and respected and I am ashamed to think that I was going to support your cause at one point.
Please do not disrupt our city for the CIVIL WAR collateral damage that is happening to your families, get everyone to lay down their weapons and all will be well.
CIVIL WAR is NOT GENOCIDE.
I understand everyone is frustrated because their families are in one of the most dangerous areas to be in today. I would be freaking out too, but common sense needs to still take part in protests. I have never had to go through anything like most of the Tamils have and I hope I never have to experience what your families are going through back home. But please think things through before turning a peaceful protest into an act of mob terrorism.
I heard about the peaceful actions and politeness of the people once they were on the Gardiner and how they cleaned up after themselves but this still does not excuse the initial action of FORCING their way up the ramp. It was no longer a protest but an angry mob. And no matter what anyone says, that is not acceptable in the least ESPECIALLY when WOMEN and CHILDREN are in the crowds.
My heartfelt condolences go to you and your families, but do not take advantage of Canadian citizens and their generosity if you expect a community response from outside your own.
Civil War is not Genocide?
If "CIVIL WAR is NOT GENOCIDE", how did it become "War on Terrorism”.
You lack the understanding that Genocide can be committed in any war and in a quiet climate as well.
I blame the Canadian government for the action of the Tamil protestors. The Canadian Tamils themselves admitted that the action was out of the line but it was necessary. The Canadian government should have taken action when there were so many protests, campaigns, vigils, urging of actions by individuals and organizations, especially when there was protests right in front of the Canadian parliament in huge numbers. They should have consulted with the Canadian Tamil community before banning the LTTE (not even a single person was arrested and found guilty saying that they were interfering in Canadian life when the ban was placed, all Canadian were given this pathetic excuse that they use suicide bombs half way across the world, maybe they didn’t think that it is the only effective weapon of the poor, maybe they didn’t realize that arming Sri Lankan government with fighter jets, rocket launchers etc while denying the same to the other side).
As Canadian we should look at the problem that lead to it…..fix it…..then deal with the rest. The problem that lead to it is the Canadian governments inability to look into issues like the Tamils liberation struggle (specially in a globalized world) instead of following the lines of the so-called democratically elected government of Sri Lanka.
Now the Tamil Tigers are no more or out of action for a while…..are Canadians going to step in and take responsibility for the mess our government was knowingly or unknowingly has created (or tell the government to fix it)?
Are Canadians going to make sure that the Tamil people (who the Tigers have defended so vigorously and against so many problems) are safe from a government that even denies access to international monitors, international media and many other norms that they are entitled to as human beings?
Or as Mike Cowie writes:
"Are we happy now? With the Tamils' decades-long struggle for self-determination quashed and their dreams of an independent homeland shattered, are we fully satisfied? Should we give ourselves a pat on the back?"
Freedom Denied! Are We Happy Now: The Crushing of Sri Lanka's Tamils
http://mikesanddislikes.com/politics_south_asia_freedom_denied_are_we_ha...
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