Tamil Genocide and Resistance to be commemorated in north of Ireland
[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2017, 20:02 GMT]
Irish and exiled Sinhala activists are this year joined by Eezham Tamil diaspora in organising remembrance events on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide on May 18 in the north of Ireland. The Remembrance Day is to be marked at Belfast and in Derry, with memorial functions at republican cemeteries and at memorial sites followed by screening of documentaries and public meetings. The move reflects increasing efforts at solidarity-building with the grassroots of oppressed nations and progressive forces in the Western hemisphere in order to internationalize the Eezham Tamil struggle and to build solidarity for their quest for equality, self-determination and justice, the organizers told TamilNet on Sunday. The Sinn Féin has also expressed its support to the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance, whcih is to be held in Derry and Belfast, the organizers further said.
Remembrance of Tamil resistance is equally important as the remembrance of Mu'l'livaaykaal Genocide, the organizers further said.
Irish and exiled Sinhala activists are this year joined by Eezham Tamil diaspora in organising remembrance events on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide on May 18 in the north of Ireland. The Remembrance Day is to be marked at Belfast and in Derry, with memorial functions at republican cemeteries and at memorial sites followed by screening of documentaries and public meetings. The move reflects increasing efforts at solidarity-building with the grassroots of oppressed nations and progressive forces in the Western hemisphere in order to internationalize the Eezham Tamil struggle and to build solidarity for their quest for equality, self-determination and justice, the organizers told TamilNet on Sunday. The Sinn Féin has also expressed its support to the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance, whcih is to be held in Derry and Belfast, the organizers further said.
Remembrance of Tamil resistance is equally important as the remembrance of Mu'l'livaaykaal Genocide, the organizers further said.
The 2017 Mu’l’livaaykkaal
Remembrance events in the north of Ireland are being organized by a
collective of movements and activists such as the Coiste Na Nlarchimi,
Relatives for Justice, National Graves Association, Pat Finucane Centre,
Bloody Sunday Trust, Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka and the
International Human Rights Association – Bremen.
The Irish forum for peace in Sri Lanka, and the International Human Rights Association – Bremen, were central in the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in Dublin in 2010.
The process initiated at Dublin concluded in Bremen, Germany, in 2013 with the verdict that the Sri Lankan state is guilty of genocide against the Eezham Tamils, and that the USA and UK are guilty of aiding the genocide through their alignment with Colombo.
The memorial events will be held in Belfast and Derry simultaneously. The Remembrance Day is to start with the unveiling of two murals on the International Wall of the Falls Road and on Free Derry Wall respectively, in commemoration of the Eezham national resistance and struggle.
In Belfast memorial, the memorial ceremony is to be held in the Republican plot on Milltown cemetery where the Irish freedom fighters have been buried, and is followed by a screening of the documentary No Fire Zone and a public meeting at An Cultúrlann, which will be addressed by Irish and Tamil activists.
In Derry the memorial ceremony will be held at the Bloody Sunday memorial, a memorial erected by the Irish people to mark the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry perpetuated by the British army. It is then followed by screening of the documentary film No Fire Zone in An Culturalann and with a public meeting and in Derry at the Free Derry museum, in which amongst others the director of the channel 4 documentary, Callum Macrae, as well as Tamil activists and survivors of war in exile are addressing.
The Coiste na Nlarchimi is the organisation of ex-political prisoners of the Irish Republican movements. The Relative for Justice is the largest human rights organisation which advocates for the rights of families of victims of the troubles. The Irish National Graveyard Association is formed to revive the memory of the Republican hunger strikers led by Bobby Sands and other IRA volunteers who sacrificed their lives for the Irish struggle. Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights organisation named after an Irish human rights lawyer who was assassinated by British paramilitary groups.
The month of May is also historic for the Irish, as it is a month which marks the martyrdom of the leaders of the Easter rising of 1916, who were executed by the British authorities for initiating armed struggle of the Irish independence against the British.
There are many parallels between the Irish and Eezham Tamil experience of oppression, genocide and resistance.
The report, ‘Britain’s Dirty War’ by Phil Miller, a researcher for Corporate Watch in London, illuminates the British role in deploying counter-insurgency techniques used against the Irish in training and enhancing the Sri Lankan security forces in their genocidal war against the Eezham Tamils and their revolutionary liberation movement.
Extracts from a communiqué issued collectively by the organizers follow:
The Irish forum for peace in Sri Lanka, and the International Human Rights Association – Bremen, were central in the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in Dublin in 2010.
The process initiated at Dublin concluded in Bremen, Germany, in 2013 with the verdict that the Sri Lankan state is guilty of genocide against the Eezham Tamils, and that the USA and UK are guilty of aiding the genocide through their alignment with Colombo.
The memorial events will be held in Belfast and Derry simultaneously. The Remembrance Day is to start with the unveiling of two murals on the International Wall of the Falls Road and on Free Derry Wall respectively, in commemoration of the Eezham national resistance and struggle.
In Belfast memorial, the memorial ceremony is to be held in the Republican plot on Milltown cemetery where the Irish freedom fighters have been buried, and is followed by a screening of the documentary No Fire Zone and a public meeting at An Cultúrlann, which will be addressed by Irish and Tamil activists.
In Derry the memorial ceremony will be held at the Bloody Sunday memorial, a memorial erected by the Irish people to mark the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry perpetuated by the British army. It is then followed by screening of the documentary film No Fire Zone in An Culturalann and with a public meeting and in Derry at the Free Derry museum, in which amongst others the director of the channel 4 documentary, Callum Macrae, as well as Tamil activists and survivors of war in exile are addressing.
The Coiste na Nlarchimi is the organisation of ex-political prisoners of the Irish Republican movements. The Relative for Justice is the largest human rights organisation which advocates for the rights of families of victims of the troubles. The Irish National Graveyard Association is formed to revive the memory of the Republican hunger strikers led by Bobby Sands and other IRA volunteers who sacrificed their lives for the Irish struggle. Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights organisation named after an Irish human rights lawyer who was assassinated by British paramilitary groups.
The month of May is also historic for the Irish, as it is a month which marks the martyrdom of the leaders of the Easter rising of 1916, who were executed by the British authorities for initiating armed struggle of the Irish independence against the British.
There are many parallels between the Irish and Eezham Tamil experience of oppression, genocide and resistance.
The report, ‘Britain’s Dirty War’ by Phil Miller, a researcher for Corporate Watch in London, illuminates the British role in deploying counter-insurgency techniques used against the Irish in training and enhancing the Sri Lankan security forces in their genocidal war against the Eezham Tamils and their revolutionary liberation movement.
Extracts from a communiqué issued collectively by the organizers follow:
“The Irish people are well placed to understand Britain’s role in Sri Lanka and its terrible consequences for the Eelam Tamils. Just as loyalism served to internalise British interests within Ireland, Sinhala supremacism was groomed by the British to assist their colonial control of the Indian subcontinent. Britain’s terrible legacy is not limited to their actions several centuries ago. Its interference in Sri Lanka continues to this day - as it does in Ireland”
“The Eelam Tamils could only survive several decades of intense pressure from the US/UK backed Sinhala forces by comprehensively involving the whole population into the resistance struggle. The liberation movement did this mobilising the oppressed strata of Tamil society, the women, the poor and the lower castes to leading the struggle. The resulting social achievements, which could be clearly observed during the time of the Sri Lankan peace process, constitute the very character of the risen Eelam Tamil people. This will not be allowed to extinguished by physical force and psychological pressure. The Eelam Tamils are inspired that the Irish have sustained the idea of independence for so long. This invitation to commemorate May 18th, in Belfast and Derry will be a historic step in a long-lasting relationship.”
Chronology:
31.01.14 PPT verdict and Eelam Tamils
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