Sivananthan லேபிளுடன் இடுகைகளைக் காண்பிக்கிறது. அனைத்து இடுகைகளையும் காண்பி

செவ்வாய், 14 ஆகஸ்ட், 2012

மனச்சான்று உள்ளவர்கள் உணருகிறார்கள்! வருந்துகிறார்கள்!HSBC apologises for Lion flag display

HSBC apologises for Lion flag display, hunger striker welcomes community action in UK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 10:02 GMT]
Eezham Tamil activist Sivanthan who waged a hunger strike in London for 22 days during the Olympics, has welcomed the action by the local Tamil community of New Malden, Surrey, after reading the news report, which appeared in the local news paper Your Local Guardian on Sunday with the title “New Malden bank sorry for displaying ‘genocide’ flag.” The Bank had removed the offending flag on 03 August, a few hours after the local community reacted against the display and the wider attention it acquired through a headline story. After removing the Sri Lankan flag, the HSBC branch had also extended apologies to the members of the community. In the meantime, the recovering hunger striker has appealed the London based Tamil electronic media to refrain from running commercials displaying ‘Sri Lanka’ flag and businesses to stop using the same.

Gobi Sivanthan on 13 08 2012 by TamilNet

On the concluding day of the Olympics, the apology by the HSBC bank was brought up in the news story by Clare Buchanan of Your Local Guardian.

“The flags were meant with the very best intentions and the bank unreservedly apologises to any members of the Tamil community who were offended,” the paper said citing a spokesman of HSBC.

In the meantime, Mr. Sivanthan, who is currently hospitalized after the fast, urged Tamil media houses operating from London like the ILC Radio and GTV, to refrain from giving advertisement space to the business establishments, which were using the offending ‘Sri Lankan’ flag in their commercials.

Referring positively to the recent decision taken by the HSBC branch in New Malden, London to remove Sri Lankan flags and apologize for displaying the same after protests from Eezham Tamils in the locality, youth activist Gobi Sivanthan urged Eezham Tamils world over to reject the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity and all symbols associated with it, in a voice interview for TamilNet. He further appealed to Eezham Tamil businesses not to promote any symbols associated with the genocidal Sri Lankan state.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr. Sivanthan said “Sri Lanka colluding with world establishments is taking its process of genocide further by imposing the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity on us,” opining that the Sri Lankan flag is associated with genocide of the Eezham Tamils.

He appealed to Tamil businesses, shops, restaurants and media houses to refrain from using the Sri Lankan flag symbols and other symbols associated with the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity which only legitimizes the ongoing genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation.

Sivanthan also criticized some establishments’ organizations for criminalizing the national flag of the Eezham Tamils, emphasizing that Tamils have a responsibility to defend and uphold the national flag and national symbols of Tamil Eelam.

The Tamil Eelam national flag was on prominent display at the spot of Sivanthan’s protest for all the 22 days.

Chronology:

14.08.12 HSBC apologises for Lion flag display, hunger stri..

03.08.12 Local community protests HSBC display of Sri Lanka..

12.02.10 HSBC International opens branch in Jaffna

Related Articles:
13.08.12 Youth Activist Sivanthan concludes 22 day hunger strike

திங்கள், 13 ஆகஸ்ட், 2012

Youth Activist Sivanthan concludes 22 day hunger strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2012, 07:27 GMT]
Gobi Sivanthan, UK based Eezham Tamil youth activist, concluded his 22 day hunger strike coinciding with the final day of the London 2012 Olympics, on Sunday. Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at the spot where Sivanthan was fasting at Stratford, to convey solidarity with his protest as he broke his fast at 4 PM. Sivanthan had undertaken the hunger strike with five demands, including calling for an immediate halt to the “ongoing genocidal land grabs”. After the end of the fast, Tamils took a procession to Aspen way, along the route of the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and staged a three hour demonstration calling for a free Tamil Eelam and an end to the genocide of the Eezham Tamils.

Sivanthan is now hospitalized, undergoing monitoring of his health conditions following the 22 day long hunger strike.

Expressing solidarity with the demands of Sivanthan, Les Levidow from Campaign Against Criminalizing Communities (CAMPACC) spoke concisely in a video for TamilNet on the demand to release all the Eezham Tamil prisoners of war held by the Sri Lankan state, arguing that they were being treated as “non-people” by the Sri Lankan state.

He further said that the ICRC has a special responsibility to act on this matter because it was familiar with the workings of the LTTE, criticizing it for its silence.

“The prisoners must be protected from the abuses that have already been carried out by their Sri Lankan captors, in addition to possible abuses including possible death at the hands of the racist genocidal regime,” Mr. Levidow said.

Jeyananthamoorthy, former TNA MP, youth activist Parameswaran, who led a 23 day hunger strike during May 2009, Thanam, a senior activist of the TCC-UK, and Sophie, a youth activist spoke at the event conveying their solidarity with the hunger striker.

Parameswaran emphasised on the need for diaspora organizations to be clear on the fundamentals of the national liberation struggle while dealing with external actors.

All speakers asserted the need for holding the Eezham Tamil identity and the national symbols of the Eezham Tamils.