NationStates Jolt Archive

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

Tamil Tigers?

Aren't they a soccer team? :confused::confused::confused:

I don't know the details of conflict, or why the Tamil want independence. So, because of my lack of understanding on the subject, I'll vote unsure. I'll try to read up on it sometime.

Why the question marks behind the first two options?

And Yes.

Why the question marks behind the first two options?



You figure that out, and you find the meaning of life.

Tamil Tigers?

Aren't they a soccer team? :confused::confused::confused:

They are actually a terrorist organisation who began the practice of suicide bombings. wikipedia is your friend.

You figure that out, and you find the meaning of life.oh, cool.

No. The Tamils are a minority, but they are not an oppressed or disenfranchised one, nor do they have any good argument against being part of a united Sri Lanka.

But even more, support for a Tamil homeland among the Tamil population, both on the island and those on the mainland, is not strong. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam derive most of their support by extortion, threats of violence against their own populace and crime. They're a bunch of fanatics fighting a war without any real point.

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

All are equally oppressed. Interpret it how you want.

Why not? If the people determine that they require independence, who am I to say they should not be granted it?

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

Let them continue to kill each other for my amusement as I completely ignore them.

Somehow I don't think the Tamil's think they need NSG's approval to be independent, they probably figure that any 'independence' isn't worth the paper it's printed on unless your willing to defend it by force of arms.

Autodetermination is a right that all nations possess.

No nation has the right to prevent another from choosing the path of their own future freely. No existing state, boundaries, or current political entity should have primacy over a nation.

Ultimately, if several nation form a country, it has to be of their own free will. Not because a majority wants to prevent the minority from being independant.

I fail to see why they can't be granted a plebiscite on the issue, much as Kashmir should have had.

cameroi supports political indipendence for EVERY cultural and bioregeonal entitiy. we don't support anyone killing each other for it, but we damd sure don't support killing anyone to prevent it either.

=^^=
.../\...

If they genuinely wanted it and showed it in a democratic referendum, I see no reason why there shouldn't Tamil independence from Sri Lanka and/or India.

I support the right of any individual group to lead themselves.

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

I think that there are other viable options before the extrema ratio of independence, like local autonomy (see Suedtirol as autonomous province of Italy). Anyway, if it doesn't work, independence after UN-held referendum, following the usual self-determination criterion.

Locke should have written an amending formula for the social contract

I thought you meant a Tamil state in India at first. I support that movement, if only because its proponents haven't resorted to terrorism to get its point across. Fastest way to make sure you'll never get what you want is to blow people up... :rolleyes:

I thought you meant a Tamil state in India at first. I support that movement, if only because its proponents haven't resorted to terrorism to get its point across. Fastest way to make sure you'll never get what you want is to blow people up... :rolleyes:

Didn't stop the Israelis, the Irish.....

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

I am no supporter of LTTE, but you obviously have no idea of the history and degree of ethnic violence by Sinhala chauvinists and the reactionary violence by various Tamil groups in the beginning and later by the LTTE which killed off (literally) all other Tamil groups to carry on their own agenda.

Read about Jaffna riots. It was the beginning.

People may disagree about the means and methods of LTTE, particularly its 'generalissimo' Prabhakaran...but fact is that many tamils of SL would rather have him protect them from being killed outright by the SL army. This is what keeps LTTE ranks full.

Most non-SL Tamils (especially Indian tamils) do sympathise with SL-Tamils...but not the LTTE after they killed Rajiv.

I have hopes on the current leader Rajapakse...he is a break from the elites of the Jayawardane, Bhandaranayake, Premadasa types. I have no hopes from Prabhakaran. He has to die before a rapproachment (sp?) happens between the two sides.

Didn't stop the Israelis, the Irish.....

Sorry, I wasn't quite clear. I was referring to terrorists, not freedom fighters. (:p)

Sorry, I wasn't quite clear. I was referring to terrorists, not freedom fighters. (:p)


You mean people who won, as oppossed to those in the process of trying to...

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I support any Independent nation if they have the support of most of its own people.

So I support The Tamils independence.

Didn't stop the Israelis, the Irish.....Sorry, I wasn't quite clear. I was referring to terrorists, not freedom fighters. just different tags.

If they can campaign peacefully for a referendum on their self-determination, then I'm all behind it. I'm quite behind self-determination. As a concept. Blowin' stuff up never solved things. It just made different problems.

I support any Independent nation if they have the support of most of its own people.

So I support The Tamils independence.

Therein lies the problem. SL chauvinists claim that Tamils are immigrants to the country. The truth...as usual is yes and no. Tamils came in many waves to the island. Some long back, some during the wars between the medieval kingdoms of Pandya and Chola dynasty with Sinhala kingdoms and some with the British sponsored import of labor for tea plantations and for bureaucracy etc.

It can also be argued that the Sinhalese themselves are Indian immigrants...just a bit farther back than the recent ones from India :cool:

Btw, look into the mythology of the origin of Sinhalese as written in Mahavamsa. There is a reason why the name came into being (Sinha - Singha/Singh - Lion). Its about a lion having children with a princess...:D

I am no supporter of LTTE, but you obviously have no idea of the history and degree of ethnic violence by Sinhala chauvinists[...]
True, but after decades of British-approved Tamil rule* when the Sinhala were effectively second-class citizens, it's perhaps not that difficult to understand the oppressive rule of the Sinhalese against the Tamils.

I do agree with you on Prabhakaran, though. Admittedly all I really know on the subject was a heavily biased Wikipedia article (written, it would seem, by at the very least a Sinhalese sympathiser, if not someone who was actually Sinhalese) plus some anti-Tamil websites, and what my (Sinhalese-descended) girlfriend has told me, but assuming that the basic facts were essentially correct, Prabhakaran is a very nasty piece of work.


*Yes, friends, once again it's us Britishers who are at fault! :p

They are actually a terrorist organisation who began the practice of suicide bombings. wikipedia is your friend.
Oh.

The name would make a pretty good soccer team, though. It's even an alliteration!

True, but after decades of British-approved Tamil rule* when the Sinhala were effectively second-class citizens, it's perhaps not that difficult to understand the oppressive rule of the Sinhalese against the Tamils.

That's 'grievance' is something that the Sinhalese politicians and demagogues created to get to power. Both tamils and sinhalese were second class under the British...so accusing the tamils of oppressing sinhalese is quite ridiculous. If we take the tamil bureaucratic elites lording over sinhalese...then there is also the tamil indentured laborers in the tea gardens.

The overall socio-economic conditions of the tamils after SL independence was no better than the sinhalese. Plus the tamils were a political minority and the sinhalese would have always had their way politically...so there is no justification for going the military way of trying to kill off and intimidate tamils into subjugation.

As you might know, I am a tamil, born and brought up mostly in Tamil Nadu...I have had several encounters with SL tamils...hosted a couple of refugees in late 80s and did some social work as part of my college social service group at a refugee camp in Rameswaram. Their plight is very deplorable and sad.

Try and get Director Mani Ratnam's "Kannathil Muthamittal" (Peck on the cheek) movie. It touches on the problems there. Also "The Terrorist" by Santosh Sivan. Both are critically acclaimed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terrorist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannathil_Muthamittal

If they can campaign peacefully for a referendum on their self-determination, then I'm all behind it. I'm quite behind self-determination. As a concept. Blowin' stuff up never solved things. It just made different problems.

On the contrary, nothing of substance happens without force of arms behind it.

The Tamils have always been a different ethnic peoples but I fear even if they get their own state, it'd be failed state as that part of Sri Lanka is ruined economically anyway.

On the contrary, nothing of substance happens without force of arms behind it.

Gandhi would disagree.

If they stop killing then yes, but the Air Tigers are fucking awesome

Do you support an independent Tamil state seperate from the rest of Sri Lanka? I personally don't and feel the same way abou the Tamil Tigers as I do about ETA and their seperation movement; that they need to stop the killing and accept their situation. They are not oppressed to the degree as say the Palestinians or the people of Tibet are.

I actually believe ETA is in the right on their movement, dunno much about the Tamil Tigers though.

The Tamils have always been a different ethnic peoples but I fear even if they get their own state, it'd be failed state as that part of Sri Lanka is ruined economically anyway.

That alone should not be a reason for secession/partition. This again goes into the "who decides where history starts" question.

What makes this "ethnic divisions and chauvinism" more ironical is that the Sinhalese themselves were immigrants and some Sinhalese elites who are big on chauvinism, have roots in India with mixing and even direct lineage from India.

Sometimes I think the separation of Ceylon as a separate entity of governance by the colonial British as a wrong thing...if it was a part of the union of India with a SL tamil state and a SL Sinhala state each having autonomy like how other states of India has...there would have been lesser bloodshed.

Sometimes I think the separation of Ceylon as a separate entity of governance by the colonial British as a wrong thing...if it was a part of the union of India with a SL tamil state and a SL Sinhala state each having autonomy like how other states of India has...there would have been lesser bloodshed.

Maybe so. I must admit that its continued separation from India in colonial times has puzzled me a bit, although I do see why that was originally the case. (Ceylon was taken under the British government's direct control, once British forces had taken it aaway from the Dutch, during the period when India itself was still being run indirectly through the Honourable East India Company...).
Then again, maybe Burma should have been left as a part of India -- divided into several separate states, mainly on ethnic grounds -- too?

Then again, maybe Burma should have been left as a part of India -- divided into several separate states, mainly on ethnic grounds -- too?
Couldn't have worked out worse than the actuality.

Maybe so. I must admit that its continued separation from India in colonial times has puzzled me a bit, although I do see why that was originally the case. (Ceylon was taken under the British government's direct control, once British forces had taken it aaway from the Dutch, during the period when India itself was still being run indirectly through the Honourable East India Company...).
Then again, maybe Burma should have been left as a part of India -- divided into several separate states, mainly on ethnic grounds -- too?

Yeah...the process of colonization of proper India and Ceylon were different...maybe it was administered from England by different power centers and kept that way...I have to read more into this..

Burma's case is different...it was a part of British India until 1937...just 10 years or so before both India and Burma got independence. Guess the Indian freedom fighters did not press against the issue and were fine with it. But then, they may not have had much choice or say in that matter either...what with the more pressing issue of partition of the somewhat central areas of Punjab and Bengal into Pakistan.

What a fine mess the whole thing looks like now. The areas of Indian civilizational borders...broken into basket cases all around the current Indian republic...Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, Afghanistan, Bhutan. All are despotic one way or other.