We are all Tamils

[frandroid]

Judy Rebick:

It has taken a while for non-Tamil support to build because of the confusion about the role of the Tamil Tigers.   The discourse on the war on terror has allowed goverments like ours to ignore massive slaughter of civilians by oppressive states in the name of fighting terrorism.  Moreover the Tamil Tigers have committed atrocities.  But whatever our concerns about the Tigers it is critical to separate the human rights issues from the political ones.
[...]

We have a special responsibility to mobilize support for the Tamil community in Canada as they are the largest Tamil diaspora in the world.  So please take a moment to express your support by writing your MP, calling in to talk shows, writing letters to the editor , joining the demonstrations, whatever you can do.

Moreover, we can learn from the Tamil activists who have be organizing for months, escalating their tactics in face of silence from the government.  First they organized  protests on the sidewalk in Toronto, where most of them live, then they took their protest to Ottawa, where they had thousands of people on the Hill for days.  Finally when they agreed to take down their flags only Jack Layton spoke in support. When that didn't get more of an impact they sat down in front of the US Consulate for an entire week. That's when they started getting more attention from the media, from other community organizations and from some politicians.

Yesterday I was assisting at a Q and A for Velcrow Ripper's fantastic film about combining spirit and activism, Fierce Light, opening in theatres on May 15, and someone asked, "What can we do in Canada, where people are so complacent"  I pointed out that at that very moment there were people demonstrating at Queen's Park to stop a genocide in Sri Lanka and he could join them.  Over the last year,  we have seen massive protests by Tamils, Palestinians and Burmese. The 20th anniversary of the massacre at Tienamen Square is coming up on June 4.  Unlike when I was young and demonstrating against the war in Viet Nam, today the people from the conflict regions of the world are our neighbours.  Their struggle is our struggle.  Talking about the global village may be a cliche but the global city is a reality and Toronto is in the forefront.  We are all Tamils.

Read Judy's full entry.

I have written to my MP, Olivia Chow. Not so much because I think the NDP needs to be convinced that this is a right cause, but to counterbalance the mail probably coming in from the car drivers who are pissed off at their traffic being affected who won't care that there is a war on the other side of the globe which greatly affects one of Toronto's largest communities.

Comments

[everynewmorning.livejournal.com]

The spelling of Tiananmen made me cringe, but interesting article nonetheless. Until this weekend, I didn't realize that Toronto had the largest Tamil population outside of Sri Lanka.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Her spelling through the article is cringe-worthy... I've actually corrected a bunch of mistakes in my quote, although I missed Tiananmen one. :(

Population-wise, that's why it matters even more... If no one cares here, no one in the world cares.