WEEK ENDING MAY 31, 2012 I WWW.CARIBBEANTIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM Dreams of sovereignty in a foreign land Bÿ: MAaÿ ASSAF troubled mother-land. selves as direct descen- Singhalese have succeed- he would do whatever for- ed with them back home," ................... This new generation dants of the original set- ed at creating a sU'ong eign aid said and that he yells the young lady in the fAmizhthini Alweera* is making sure their fel- tlers of the island and cultural identity that has would look into it," says microphone. was still in Sri Lanka low Tamil students un- have fallen prays of racial made them a dominant Alweera. In Canada, there have today, she would not derstand the privilege of supremacT ideologies, ac- power in their nation. Yellow and red flags been victories for the Sri likely aspire to a govern- being born in a tolerant cording to scholar of the Since Sri Lankan Tamils and t-shirts are every- Lankan Tamil people. ment position. Nor her country. "We shouldn't conflict, Patrick Peebles. haven't been able to ac- where in the park. Some Rathika Sitsabaiesan was children would go to uni- take for granted the fact Different from complish anything close young people are wear- the first person of Tamil versity without facing that we have access to Israelis and Patestinians, to this, they've become op- ing shirts with the shape origin to be part of the discrimination for their post-secondary educa- Singhalese and Tamils pressed and at times ex- of theh" dream indepen- Canadian parliament. cluded from public life. dent Tami! state in Sri Daughter of communi- 'Tnis-is why I came Lanka. 'ÿfou can't talk ty activists who helped in- here," says Alweera. 'The sovereignty in Sri Lanka. clude Tamils in Cana "'dian conflict has been going on We still face violence be- life, Sitsabaiesan arrived for 60 years. We took arms cause of our choice of in Canada from Sri Lanka 30 years ago. Everything vote. When Quebec Want- at the age of five and went there is censored. There ed to separate and cre- to University of Toronto are orphans, women with- ated the Bloc Quebecois where she became in- out husbands, mutilated they weren't punished for volved with the Tamil children. They don't pub- it, but we can't even talk Students' Association. lish any" of that. People about it. It's been illegal Back in her country are still suffering. There since 1983," says Krisna such an association would were still police check- Saravahahnottu, 27, a Sri raise suspicion from the points everÿwvhere when Lankan Tamil descendent government and people I left." and York University crim- of her race would face dis- Alweera used to own a inology student. crimination at School and farm in her native island, 'ÿe come out every when attempting to ob- but the government took year not only as a commu- tain govemÿnent posi- it from her, as well as her nity, but as a Diaspora," tions. citizenship once she fled says Saravahahnottu. "All we want is free- to Canada. Since her ar- 'ÿo affirm the necessi- dom for our people," ,says rival to Canada in 1996, ty of self.determination. Alweera. She doesn't A section Of the gathering at the demonstration mhe has taken to write Tamfls in (Sri Lanka) live like to appear on the me- to powerful people in the in in_human conditions. dia, her name has been culture. She would get tion," a young lad}, yells can't be distinguished North American govern- Some with no potable wa- changed for anonymity. constantly stopped by po- into a microphone to a from each other by their ments. She has written ter. Their economic con- "My family is still lice in a country strug- crowd surrounding a physical appearance. letters to American presi- ditions are inferim-to the there. I wouldn't take my gling with an on-going stage. 'ÿe shouldn't take However, their cultures dent, Barack Obama, past Singhalese." children there. They have facing a civil war and her for granted the universal are completely distinct. Canadian foreign affairs Barefooted young girls never been there. I never land would be always in human rights we enjoy They speak different lan- minister John Kenney, with brown, camouflaged went back. It's not safe. risk of being taken away here." guages and while the former NDP leader skirts and black shirts are I am happy I'm here and by the government. The civil war in Sri Tamil minority is most- Jack Layton and Prime dancing to the Sri Lankan they can have a better life. These are some of Lanka started nearly 60 ly Saivite Hindu, the Minister Stephen Harper. Tamil music. "We will That's why I'm giving my the situations many Sri years ago and has left ' Singhalese are Buddhist. "Some of them re- never forget our roots de- voice to the voiceless peo- Lankan Tamils in Toronto hundreds of thousands Political upheaval in plied to me. Harper said spite the dangers associat- ple back home." claim to have suffered in dead, many displaced the island began after Sri their native land. In May with their cultures erased Lanka gained indepen- 18 of 2009, the North and has also forced thou- dence from Britain. An American Diaspora of Sri sands of political exiles to ethnic conflict between Lankan Tamils started countries such as Canada. Sri Lankan two ma- commemorating the anni- The conflict has its jor ethnic groups began versm:y of what they call similarities with the more and ultimately" led to the 'a genocide' against their famous Israel-Palestinian idea of a separatist TamiI people. On Saturday, conflict, in which two cul- state. Sri Lankan Tamils May 19 Sri Lankan Tamil tures claim to be the origi- speak a different dialect youths in Toronto, fo!- na] inhabitants of a land. from Indian Tamfls and !owed their parents exam- The fact at the root of the are concentrated north pie" and organized a man- problem is that both cul- and east in the island. ifestation in front of the tures, Singhalese, the rul- The Singhalese majmity Queen's Park monument ing class who represent think of themselves as un- in downtown Toronto, a the 74 per cent of the na- privileged to Sri Lankan call for action addressed tion's habitants and Sri Tamils who they claim to the Canadian govern- La ÿnkan Thralls, a minor- were favored during colo- ment and the internation- ity who represent 13 per nial times. al community to aid their cent, both think of them- As a result, the Shri Lankan students support demonstration I.