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"...அரிய சாதனைகள் செய்யப்படுவது வலிமையினால் அல்ல
- விடா முயற்சியினால்தான்..."
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Week Ending: Saturday 11
October 2008
 Tamil
National Forum Sachi
Sri Kantha writes from Japan El Presidente's
Bumbling Butch Cassidy
Act at the UN Podium
- "El President’s stupid UN act in speaking a few
sentences in Tamil, coupled with the saddening news of Hollywood actor
and humanist Paul Newman’s (1925-2008) death that followed, prompted me
to reminisce on Paul Newman’s signature role as a bumbling Butch Cassidy
in 1969. Paul Newman in his role as a comedian cheat delighted his fans
with a fumbling act as a bank robber, pretending to speak Spanish to
scare the customers and bank workers...President Rajapakse’s script
writers should have told him, this Tamil proverb - படிக்கிறது
தேவாரம்,
இடிக்கிறது சிவன் கொவில்..."
more |
International Tamil
Conferences
 Revisited
- 11 Years Ago : International Convention for
Solidarity with Eelam Tamils of Sri Lanka, New Delhi 1997
"As the convenor of this convention it was first proposed by me on the 24th
May 1997 at a mass rally in Pondicherry. It is necessary for me to make this
point in the first place even before welcoming you because the Government of
India and its Home Minister have been trying to suggest that this convention is held
here in New Delhi consequent upon the U.S.Government declaring LTTE as a Terrorist
Organisation. The Home Minister has made such an observation in his letter
addressed to me in which he had suggested me that I should not organise or
participate in this convention. I had not expected the Government of India to
behave in the manner in which it has..." George Fernandes M.P. President, All India Samata Party,
on Conspiracy to suppress
the truth more |
Week Ending: Saturday 4
October 2008
Reflections
 "..In the background of the Indo-US nuclear deal now going into
'overdrive', as
well as the increasing economic co-operation and (most importantly) the joint
military exercises and interoperability efforts and acquisitions made by India,
there is a geopolitical notion: that the US is building India's military
capacity in order to counter potential rivals China and Russia in the
region... (But) Empires don't build great powers. They build clients and dependencies..."
Empires Don't Build Rivals - Justin Podur
|
Tamils: a Trans State
Nation
Reflections
 "I want a Tamil Government... I want a Tamil country... That country I
dream of is coming up in Sri Lanka's Jaffna. I went there to
salute that land.."
Dalit Panthers of India Leader T
Tirumavalavan, 2004
 "..Tamils
of Eelam must achieve success by continuing to pursue their policies
courageously as they have been doing for the past 30 years... The Eelam
Tamils must stand firm and attain their final goal.. the people of Tamil Nadu had made great
achievements but they were dwarfed by those of the LTTE..."
Bharathiraja, 2004
 "...The struggle for Tamil Eelam
rests in three fronts or battlefields. The first
battlefield is in Tamil Eelam. There the struggle is progressing
with lives being put on line. The second battlefield is in the
Tamil Diaspora living in many lands. The third battlefield is in
India. A change in the policy of the Indian government will
depend on a change in the approach of Tamil Nadu
political parties. A change in the approach of Tamil Nadu
political parties will depend on change amongst the people of
Tamil Nadu..."
Suba Veerapandiyan,
2008
 "...தமிழீழ
மக்களுக்கான பலம் உலக அரசுகள் என்ற கட்டமைப்புக்குள் இருக்க
முடியாது... தமிழீழ பிரச்சனையின் தீர்வுக்கான சர்வதேசப் பாதை
சென்னை -
புதுடில்லி- உலகம் என மட்டுமே அமைய முடியும். "
தமிழீழ ஆய்வாளர் மு.திருநாவுக்கரசு
2007 |
Tamils - a Trans State Nation:
| 1.
Tamils Rally in Tamil Nadu:
Withdraw Military Aid to Sri Lanka - "இலங்கைப் போருக்கு நிரந்தர
தீர்வு தமிழ் ஈழம் அமைவதே" |
|
 |
| |
| 2. Australia -
School English Assignment in Sydney, Australia:
'Lyrics on Social Issues' - A Thirteen Year Old Tamil's
Poem
“The
Struggle” - Senthan Sanchayan
|
|
"Suffering from war, the
greatest sin,
Being deprived of Food,
shelter, rights and medicine,
The Tamils face this
tragedy day after day,
And there’s nothing really
more, to say
But the struggle, keeps,
going on,
And I’m explaining, it,
through this song,
About the suffering and
injustice which the Tamils face,
Caused by the Sri Lankan
Government,
The Biggest Disgrace
more |
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3. Canada - Canadian Tamil Youth Fast for Internally Displaced in Vanni |
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|
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4. Norway - Tamils Fast
in Oslo for internally displaced Tamil civilians in Vanni |
International Relations in the
Age of Empire
 Understanding
Politics & Wall Street - Who is Henry Paulson? - Tom Ely "...Paulson,
according to a celebratory 2006 BusinessWeek article entitled “Mr.
Risk Goes to Washington,” was “one of the key architects of a more
daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and
greater chances in their pursuit of profits.” Under Paulson’s watch,
that meant “taking on more debt: $100 billion in long-term debt in 2005,
compared with about $20 billion in 1999. It means placing big bets on
all sorts of exotic derivatives and other securities.” "
more |
Reflections
|
1. "No return to short-termism. No
return to Tory boom and bust.. And it is precisely because we have taken the time and trouble to
build the long term foundation for success, precisely because we
have resisted short term lurches in policy, that we can today steer
a course of stability at a time of uncertainty in the world economy
without putting growth at risk...."
UK
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Boom and Bust,
Speech to Labour Party Conference, Eight Years ago in September
2000
2. "There is 'no clean solution' to the problem. The
end is not in sight. I don't know how long it will take... Let's say there is a
complete collapse. Does that mean the end of the world...the
free market economy? No... From
time to time you are going to get this kind of a problem... As an
insurer, AIG was supposed to be a 'firewall' against the
collapse of the financial system. But they also went into
derivatives. Why not? Everyone was making money. This was a
mania. Can such mania be tamed? Not likely. Human nature,
greed, fear will always be there.' "
Lee Kuan Yew at the Institute of Strategic
Studies, London, 25 September 2008
3. "I believe that despite
the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving,
fierce intellectual
determination, as citizens, to define
real truth
of our lives and our societies
is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact
mandatory..."
Art, Truth & Politics - Harold
Pinter, Nobel Lecture, 2005 |
Tamil Armed Resistance & the Law
|
 |
|
Three
Views: One Truth - Proof by Induction? n=1, n=2, n=3... "Where national memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than
triumphs, for they impose duties, and require a common effort. A nation is
therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the
sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is
prepared to make in the future. "
Ernest Renan in What is a Nation |
International Frame of Tamil
Eelam Struggle for Freedom: United Kingdom
Tamil National Forum
|
Sara Ananthan writes from Australia on Toxic Assets & Globalised World
"The
German Finance Minister’s statement to the parliament, 'The world
will never be the same again' implies that the
world will have to accommodate additional financial
power centres... Uncle Sam’s toxic diplomacy cum
statecraft is also being outsourced on to the second most populous
nation and the rest of the world is being asked to bear the ultimate cost...
It appears as in the case of shrewd, Uncle Sam's toxic asset adoption
policy where the toxic asset is being socialized to spare the pain on
the perpetrators.."
more |
Week Ending: Saturday 27
September 2008
Reflection
Tamil Diaspora - a Trans
State Nation
| American Tamils Protest before United Nations Headquarters in
New York
-
- as Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse addresses UN
General Assembly:
Save the Children - Text of Speech by Usha S Sri Skanda Rajah
"..I come to you as a mother; I make this
desperate plea on behalf of mothers - Tamil mothers all over all
over the world who are traumatized by the suffering of innocent
children - our Tamil children who are facing genocide at the
hands of Mahinda Rajapakse and his treacherous Sinhala forces..."
more |
|
 |
Reflections
| 1. "..But imagine it happens:
Killinochchi is flattened,
Mr P is dead,
LTTE
dissolved. Will the Tamil
dream of a Tamil Eelam die? Of course not. It
will be revived, and new cycles of violence will occur. And probably
new CFAs. And possibly the same mistake,
confusing ceasefire with peace,
using it as a sleeping pillow to do nothing..."
Conflict Resolution in Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka: the Norwegian Initiative - Professor Johan Galtung
2. "..The film portrays, quite brilliantly, the nature of
a guerrilla uprising. Walker (the English mercenary) seems all too aware
of the danger of a popular uprising, when he cautions the white rulers
that 'the guerrilla has nothing to lose.' And that in killing a hero of
the people, the hero 'becomes a martyr, and the martyr becomes a
myth.'...
Amazon Review of Queimada -
Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn! |
The Strength of an Idea
 Revisited:Queimada -
Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn! "... The young boy who guards the
captured Dolores (the rebel leader) stays with him and provides Pontecorvo with
a means of allowing Jose Dolores to give his ideas
expression through dialogue. Jose Dolores does not assail his captor;
he tries to inspire and convert him. He tells the young man
that he does not wish to be released because this would only
indicate that it was convenient for his enemy. What serves
his enemies is harmful to him. "Freedom is not something a
man can give you," he tells the boy. Dolores is cheered by
the soldier's questions because, ironically, in men like the
soldier who helps to put him to death, but who is disturbed
and perplexed by Dolores, he sees in germination the future
revolutionaries of Quemada. To enter the path of
consciousness is to follow it to rebellion.....Pontecorvo
zooms to Walker (the English mercenary) as he listens to Dolores' final message
which breaks his silence: "Ingles, remember what you
said. Civilization belongs to whites. But what
civilization? Until when?" The stabbing of Walker on his
way to the ship by an angry rebel comes simultaneously
with a repetition of the Algerian cry for freedom. It is
followed, accompanied by percussion, by a pan of
inscrutable, angry black faces on the dock. The frame
freezes, fixing their expressions indelibly in our
minds.." more |
International Frame of the
Tamil Eelam Freedom Strggle - Canada
 Democracy,
Canadian Style - Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne Refused Entry Visa
"..It has been reported that you have publicly participated in LTTE
activities by personally and knowingly attending and speaking at
pro-LTTE events such as PongoThamil in Madrid and London. In addition,
you have publicly announced your support for B. Nadesan. As a prominent
member of a political party that has historically and consistently shown
support for the LTTE we can conclude that your actions constitute
membership in the LTTE..."
Comment by
tamilnation.org
"The
sequential logic of the Canadian High Commission in Colombo beggars
belief. That Mr.Karunaratne has never been to Spain and did not attend
the Pongu Thamil event in London is not the question. That the
Canadian High Commission's
allegation that Mr.Karunaratne had 'personally and knowingly' attended
these events was an allegation made with a reckless disregard to truth
is also not the question..."
more |
International Relations in
the Age of Empire
 1.
Global
Priority: Feed the Markets, Starve the Hungry - Devinder Sharma
"...in the days to come we will see more and more bailouts ... No
wonder, Prof Nouriel Roubini of New York University's Stern School of
Business had once called it: 'privatisation of profit and
socialisation of losses.' ...when financial intelligence fails,
and that too with the brightest of the money managers from the best of
the business schools in control, you refrain from even pointing a
finger. You don't ridicule the chiefs of corporate world nor do you mock
at what the so-called prestigious business schools produce. The reason
is simple. We are all part of the greed, which in one word can define
the reason behind the financial meltdown. In other words, let us accept
we are all beneficiaries of a corrupt financial system. Therefore, we
refrain from standing up and calling a spade a spade..."
more
 2.
Understanding Financial Mania and Systemic Risk
- 'Leveraged Buy Outs', 'Private Equity', 'Hedge Funds' -
An interview with Damon Silvers, June 2007 "...Private equity is a term that was designed to mislead people. The
term encompasses all sorts of investment funds that take controlling
interests in companies that are not public - private companies -
through holding equity in them. And it confuses basically three
kinds of very different investment strategies... A hedge fund is another term that doesn't tell you much
about what it really is. A hedge fund is an informal term for an
investment fund that operates under a Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) exemption.If you're running an investment fund, you
typically have to register with the SEC and comply with the rather
extensive set of regulations designed to protect investors. The
exemption is that if you're only taking investments from sophisticated
investors - from large institutions and wealthy individuals - you have
an exemption from these securities rules..."
more |
Tamil National Forum
| 1.Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Melbourne,
Australia மணக் கொடைத் தடைச்
சட்டம் - (சீ - தனம்?!) |
|
 ‘தமிழீழ
விடுதலைக்கான போராட்டம், மண் விடுதலைக்கான போராட்டம் மட்டும்தான்’ என்று
எம்மில் பலர் இன்னமும் எண்ணியும், எழுதியும் வருகின்றார்கள்....பெண்ணிய
அடிமைத்தனம், சாதி ஒடுக்குமுறை, வர்க்க பேதம் போன்ற பல சமூகக்
குறைபாடுகளைக் களைவதற்கான போராட்டங்களையும், 'தமிழ் மொழி மீட்பு, மண்
மீட்பு, நெறி மீட்பு’ போன்றவற்றிற்கான போராட்டங்களையும், ஒருங்கு சேர, நடாத்தி வரும்
போராட்டம்தான் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் போராட்டம் என்பதை நாம் இந்த வேளையில் சுட்டிக்
காட்ட விழைகின்றோம்." more |
2.Sachi
Sri Kantha writes from Japan on
Bertrand Russell, the
Pig, the Donkey, the Sheep, the Performing Animals & the cacophonous 'Alternative' Tamil Leadership
together with
Comment by
tamilnation.org |
|
 |
2. Brian Senewiratne writes from Brisbane, Australia
Sri Lanka - Time for
International
public protests |
|
 |
| "...Genocide has to be done with
no witnesses. So the Government of Sri Lanka, in September 2008, ordered
the UN agencies and all humanitarian groups, to leave the Tamil North,
saying that their safety could no longer be guaranteed... It is up to us
in the international community, to see that what goes on behind the
closed and censored doors of Sri Lanka is bought to the attention of the
international community (IC). By “the international community” I do
not mean foreign governments. Most Governments have very well
informed Embassies in Colombo and know full well what is going on in the
Tamil North and East. There is simply no point in telling them what they
know, even better than we do.Those who need to be apprised of the
situation are the people, the ordinary decent people in the
world, who would baulk at this criminal activity by a so-called ‘elected
Government’, in a “Democratic Socialist Republic”, as Sri Lanka likes to
call itself... . Many have asked me, “What are the Tamil
Tigers doing about this?” My answer is,
“Never mind the Tigers, what are you doing about
it?
""
more |
Reflection
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