6/6/14
STUDENTS UPRISING DAY 2014
Marking Students’ uprising day every year, where we remember and commemorate the anniversary of Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran Anna is an event holding a great significance in the Eelam Tamil nation’s struggle for self-determination. His commitment, courage and firm determination to fight for the national liberation struggle uncompromisingly continues to inspire the Tamil youth of today. On this day, as we take a moment to pay respects to P. Sivakumaran Anna, we the Tamil Youth Organisation also take a moment to reaffirm our goals and aims as a representative of the Eelam Tamil youth around the world.
The constant attack on students and youth of Tamil Eelam plays an important part in the systematic approach to genocide on the Eelam Tamil nation perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state. The Eelam youth have witnessed both the mental and physical element of the crime of genocide throughout the struggle, since the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948. It is said and known that targeting the youth is in effect targeting the people of tomorrow and thus, it is a direct attack on the future of the nation itself. It shows the intent of the state to destroy the nation of Eelam Tamils.
The system of standardisation of marks introduced in 1971 as a way of controlling the admissions to the universities is a clear example of the intent to completely divert the future generations of the Eelam Tamil nation. The qualifying mark for the admissions for the Sinhalese was lowered whilst keeping it high for the Tamils, whereby discriminating against the Tamil students and intentionally decreasing the percentage of Tamil youth entering university education. These consistent discriminative policies as well as the persistent state-sponsored violence on the nation, forced the youth to take the path of an armed struggle to overcome the oppression faced.
The continued targeting of the youth intensified during the wartime period. The shelling of schools, abductions, rape, killing and torture of the youth became a daily process for the Eelam Tamils facing genocide. The Sencholai massacre, an intended bombing of an orphanage in Vanni and the Trincomalee massacre, where five high school students were shot dead, are both examples of the extreme attacks that were faced during this period.
The acts of genocide of the Sri Lankan state faced by the nation, since 1948, are not a lost soul after the supposed ‘end’ of the war. The face of genocide has taken a different formation in this post-2009 era, however the motive and the intent to completely destruct the nation of Eelam Tamils on the island still stands firm. Rape, torture, abduction, land grabs as well as attacks on the students (apparent through the recent attacks on Jaffna and Eastern University students) are an unceasing process even today;
The process of genocide is hidden in the façade of ‘reconciliation’ and ‘united-Sri Lanka’ – an agenda that is also promoted by the international community.
Student movements have continued to play a significant role in the national liberation struggle of the Eelam Tamil nation. In fact, it can be evidently said that the national struggle for the right to self-determination of the homeland has fomented the youth movement to rise considerably. The history of our national struggle has taught us enough about the importance of the involvement of the youth. Thus, on this day, as we pay our respects to an important figure in the youth involvement, it is important that we reaffirm our political stand as the youth of today.
We, the Tamil Youth Organisations, being the representatives of the Tamil youth in the diaspora:
1. Demand the facilitation of a UN monitored referendum among the Eelam Tamils, recognising the sovereign nationhood, right to self-determination and the territorial integrity of the historical homeland of the Eelam Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
2. Demand an independent, international investigation on war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state on the Eelam Tamil nation, since 1948.
3. Reiterate that we will stand firm on our political aspirations as determined in the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976 and the Thimphu Declaration of 1985, in our fight against the genocide.
4. Reaffirm that we will continue to voice against the genocide faced by our nation in the homeland, until we are completely free from oppression and an independent, sovereign state of Tamil Eelam is recognised and achieved, whilst uncompromising on the fundamental principles of nation, homeland and right to self-determination.
Signed: Tamil Youth Organisation Australia
Tamil Youth Organization Canada
Tamil Youth Organisation Denmark (Thisaigal)
Tamil Youth Organisation France
Tamil Youth Organisation Germany
Tamil Youth Organisation Italy (Giovani Tamil)
Tamil Youth Organisation New Zealand
Tamil Youth Organisation Norway
Tamil Youth Organization Sweden
Tamil Youth Organization Switzerland
Tamil Youth Organisation United Kingdom
