Eezham Tamils urged to concentrate on strategic connections opposed to imperialism

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2015, 21:06 GMT]
“The US and Britain deliberately broke the peace process, they reorganised and re-equipped the Sri Lankan armed forces, provided it with training, intelligence and tactical support and let it loose [on Eezham Tamils]. Then at the critical moment they withdrew the UN, and allowed the mass killings to take place with international impunity. Now the same imperialist powers are orchestrating acceptance of SL’s cover up,” said Dr. Andrew Higginbottom, lecturer in Politics and Human Rights at the Kingston University in London. He was addressing the participants at Tamil Eelam Heroes Day remembrance event held in London on Friday. Solidarity activist Roberto Cardenas from MERU Verdadero, the movement of Ecuadoreans in the UK, also joined the British academic in urging Eezham Tamils to make strategic connections with the progressive social movements in Latin America.

Today's social movements are more concerned with socio-cultural issues than politico-economic ones, and they are more focused on demands concerned with quality of life and inclusion, Roberto Cardenas said.

At the same time, the traditional dependency of the popular and social movements on worker's movement has now shifted to other actors such as peasants, indigenous people, students and professionals who are oriented towards identity and self-determination, he observed.

Mr Cardenas said Latin American social movements were now focusing on reformulating the economic development model.

Eezham Tamils are yet to conceive an alternative development model to confront the destructive designs of the so-called development paradigm being imposed on them by the powers.

“To succeed in our struggles, there is a need for an alliance between the freedom fighters in Latin America, Africa, Asia and wherever the social movements are seeking self-determination, independence and justice,” Mr Cardenas said.

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the hero of the Cuban and Latino American Revolution, is the face of the struggles for freedom and self-determination in Latin America, he added.

“As an exiled person living in London and engaged in the political struggle in our countries, I witnessed, watching the news bulletins, with deep pain in my heart, the last days of the Tamils' fight and resistance against the oppressive regime. The same pain and sorrow that we had back home in Latin America during the bloody military dictatorships,” he said.

Dr Andrew Higginbottom, in his address urged Eezham Tamils to make strategic political connections with other oppressed peoples confronting racism, colonialism and imperialism.

The road to the “betrayal of the UN Human Rights Council in September was laid out well beforehand,” the British academic said.

Samantha Power, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, spent more time in in the island of Sri Lanka rather than India during her recent visit because of the strategic location of the island at the crossroads of the entire region, he said endorsing Professor Francis Boyle's comments on TamilNet that Samantha Power is a smooth operator whom cannot be trusted.

“I recognise the goodwill of the recent UN mission on disappearances, that last week exposed the underground torture centre near Trincomalee and denounced the continuing White Van enforced disappearances of Tamils.” But families who spoke to the UN investigators were being intimidated and harassed by the police within days, he said adding that there is still a huge problem when these investigations are taking place under Sri Lanka’s military occupation of the North and East.

“We must follow the example of resistance by civil society organisations, the Hartal general strike, we must embrace the spirit of A level student Senthuran Rajeswaran , we must support call for an amnesty for political prisoners and their immediate release. They were acting as defenders of the Tamil people,” Higginbottom further said.


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