Thousands of Tamil Torontonians have been protesting to draw the attention of the Canadian government, and its citizens, to the escalating warfare in Sri Lanka.
The 26-year civil war became a humanitarian crisis when the country’s Tamil civilians became sandwiched between the government of Sri Lanka’s (GOSL) army forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE). LTTE—a militant group that evolved from an earlier group, the Tamil Students’ Federation (TSF)—was founded in 1970 and established itself as an armed organization against the widespread discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils, declaring its intent to carve out a separate state known as the Tamil Eelam.
In the frenzy around the unfolding events and the mass protests by Tamil expatriates around the world, speculating reports from both the GOSL and the LTTE, great confusion has been created regarding the crisis.
In 1948, colonial Britain granted independence to Sri Lanka, forming a government that formally cast minority Tamils as second-class citizens. Racism became instituted into government policies, where the Singhalese held the majority of seats. The Official Language Act of 1950—a policy that eliminated Tamil as an official language—along with the colonization schemes that caused the resettlement of Singhalese populations into the predominantly Tamil areas.
The defeat of the LTTE last week finally ended decades of civilian hardship and saw many world leaders call for a fully inclusive political solution between the two groups.
This will not be easy. While many Singhalese understand Tamils have been marginalised, they are unable to grasp Tamils’ anger towards Singhalese assumptions about ‘Tamilness.’ Meanwhile, Tamil communities are caught between ing the only group willing to fight for them, the reality of ing an unelected, nondemocratic militant group, and international and Singhalese communities that have yet address serious violations of the Tamil’s basic civil and human rights. Racism has continued to fester, alienating communities through misinformation, propagating fears of the other side. Each group must learn to see the other as fellow humans, not opponents.
In Toronto, the continuous protests regarding the GOSL’s war against the LTTE at the cost of Tamil civilian lives have elicited Torontonians’ general concern along with the general annoyance at such disturbances to the public. Civil demonstrations are an important part of democracy without which minority groups can be silenced. Although exposure to the many number of crises that cry out for our attention desensitizes us, we cannot afford to be indifferent to humanitarian issues in an era when human rights laws are easily discarded by cooperate agendas in favour of capitalist pursuits. GOSL denied media and the United Nations access to the war zone. Furthermore, when the global community allows such subversion of organizing meant to protect human rights, it sets a precedent for a model of behaviour that avoids ability.
These recent protests created awareness about the crisis. By being vigilant, we can demand ability. With the exception of the breakaway group that protested unsafely on the Gardiner Expressway, these protests, such as the one staged on Jan. 29, outside Union Station in Toronto and the hunger strike of Gunam Veerakathipillai at Queen’s Park, have been peaceful and organized, and as such, are both a useful and necessary part of global citizenship.
At this critical point, it is essential that dialogue between communities begin. While these talks should be led by the GOSL and Tamil community leaders, it also falls on the everyday citizen to reach out to their fellow citizen. Without meaningful communication between the two communities, Sri Lanka’s divided society may never unite.
Zincia Francis is a member of the Queen’s Tamil Students Association.
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