Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism

Through a succession of key stages since Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) became independent in 1948, its Tamil minority, historically concentrated in the north and east but with an important segment in Colombo, became alienated from the Sinhalese majority and, after peaceful opposition failed to secure its rights, resorted to an armed struggle. The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) today appear to hold the key to their people’s future. While they have suffered setbacks, including the loss of the Tamil capital, Jaffna, they remain a potent guerrilla force, able to strike with impunity at both military and civilian targets. The Tigers’ grip on the Tamil population seems secure, as does their overseas support and funding from Tamil exiles in Britain, Canada, and Australia. This book offers a concise history of the Sri Lankan Tamil nation, its culture, social make-up, and political evolution. In a final chapter, A. J. V. Chandrakanthan gives a first-hand account of life and attitudes inside the embattled Tamil areas today. A. Jeyaratnam Wilson teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Brunswick. He is the author of The Break-Up of Sri Lanka and S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism. A. J. V. Chandrakanthan teaches in the Department of Theology at Concordia University, Montreal.

The militarisation of the Sinhala-Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka began in the 1970s when attempts to reconcile by peaceful means the Tamils' claim for basic individual and collective rights with the Sinhalese need to allay their chronic sense of insecurity finally failed. Since then the struggle has intensified, erupting successively in the burning of the Jaffna Public Library in 1981, the anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983, and the army's assault on Jaffna in 1995. The mainly Hindu Sri Lankan Tamils have always been separated by language, religion, and history from the Buddhist Sinhalese although the minority community in the island vastly outnumbers the Sinhalese when the 40 million Tamils in South India are taken into account. The author's analysis is informed by first-hand knowledge and personal contact with many of the actors involved.

In This Informed Historical Account, The Author Traces The Growth And Transformation Of Tamil Consciousness In Sri Lanka From A Movement To Safeguard Cultural Identity To A Political Struggle For A Separate State. He Also Examines The Social And Caste Structure Of The Sri Lankan Tamils And Their Linguistic, Cultural And Literary Heritage. He Describes Their Political And Cultural Activity In The Nineteenth Century And The Expressions Of Rising Tamil Consciousness In The Twentieth Century. · Draws On First-Hand Research.

Dr. Murugar Gunasingam has completed a pathbreaking and pioneering study of the Eelam Tamil quest for self-determination under the able guidance of my good friend and one-time colleague, the late Dr. Sinnappah Arasaratnam. This study in my view will receive the plaudits of all students of Sri Lanka's politics and modern history. For this meticulous work of scholarship, Dr. Gunasingam was justly awarded the degree of Ph.D by the University of Sydney. In undertaking this study, Dr. Gunasingam has left no stone unturned in his search for bibliographic material. Not only has he focused on almost every available source but he has also brought an analytical mind to bear on their veracity. His critical bibliography will be most welcomed by the world of Sri Lanka scholars and we are all in his debt for his untiring efforts. Some of his sources are highly original and they see the light of day for the first time. Nationalism is a many faceted phenomenon in our present world of bloody ethnic strife, a fact of life which was not foreseen by any of the great social scientists or thinkers of the past. What effects such self-destructive and internecine ethnic strife will have on global equilibrium is fearful to contemplate. The examples of Kosovo and Rwanda, leave alone other uncared for and lonely outposts on the globe, are still to unfold themselves in the final reckoning. For ethnicity is global and infectious reaching almost epidemic proportions in countries where minority groups strive for a fair share of the ever-shrinking national pie and feel neglected, if not adequately cared for, and are not endowed with equal rights with an independent judiciary and enlightened forward-looking political leadership, especially from the majority ethnic group. Dr. Gunasingam has raised these questions with all their ramifications in his comprehensive thesis.

Then in 1947, on the eve of Ceylon becoming independent under a Sinhala-dominated government, he entered Parliament with the aim of protecting the threatened interests of the Tamil minority.

This book examines Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka and provides insights on how Tamil nationalism has survived the destruction of the Tamil Tigers after May 2009 and continues to thrive, despite the absence of a charismatic leadership to lead it or a centralised organisation to mobilise the Tamils along ethnic nationalistic lines. The ethnic nationalist ideology shaped up by the Tamil Tigers continues to remain the driving force of the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka and the Diaspora. Using a Foucauldian counter-historical theoretical framework, the author analyses and offers answers to these questions: What is keeping Tamil nationalism alive despite the demise of the Tamil Tigers over a decade ago? Why do many Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad refuse to accept a Sri Lankan political identity? How are Tamils able to continue on a nationalist path despite the absence of a unified political leadership? The book argues that Tamil nationalism has survived the latter’s destruction because it has become counter-historical. It is this that has allowed, despite the internecine rivalries between Tamil political parties and Diaspora groups, the Tamil nationalist spirit to remain alive. The author also suggests that counter-history has, for many Tamil political parties and Diaspora groups, become the means of waging war, other than through an armed struggle, against the Sri Lankan state. Based on field research, interviews and documentary analysis, the book provides empirical and unique insights on Foucault’s thesis that power is multifaceted and can function in the absence of centralised mechanisms. This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of Politics and International Relations, in particular those working on ethnic nationalism, post-armed conflict peacebuilding/conflict resolution, the politics in Sri Lanka, diaspora politics and Foucault.

Tamil Nadu has been playing its legitimate role in the inter-government relationship on the Tamil issues. The magnitude of the state politics in the problems of Sri Lankan Tamils has reached its Zenith during the past one decade as a result of the eruption of ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. Since Tamil Polity has been fully dominated by ethnic political parts, each one has been trying its level best to project itself as the Vanguard of Tamil Nationalism. This book traces the approaches of the political parties and especially ethnic political parties towards the Sri Lankan Tamil issues. It also analyses to what extent the pressure extended by the ethnic political parties has been taken into account in foreign policy making of Indian Government during different periods. Significantly this work touches a very important aspect that to what extent the support extended by the political parties to help themselves to establish firm roots in provincial polity. This study sheds light on the ambiguous stand of the political parties in Tamil Nadu over this issue which ultimately has weakened the cause of the Tamils and mislead the Indian Government which adopted a tough stand without heeding to the plea of the majority of the Sri Lankan Tamils.