The Tamil liberation struggle was established to counter the denial of the Eelam Tamils’ distinct national presence in Sri Lanka. Whilst such denial was initially instigated by the Sri Lankan government, it was later supported by various other international players through the means of genocide. As a result, the liberation struggle simultaneously enabled the protection and sustenance of a distinct Tamil identity thus strengthening Tamil sovereignty.
However, the agenda of Tamil genocide has been institutionalised by the oppressors, thus adapting a structural nature. Following the silencing of weapons in 2009, the absence of a centrally coordinated leadership for the liberation struggle has resulted in an increase in the efficiency with which such genocidal initiatives are undertaken, thus intensifying the subsequent psychological warfare.
Whilst the struggle was secular in nature, it also functioned to protect the Eelam Tamils’ methods and sites of worship from Sri Lanka’s systematic cultural genocide. The desecration of traditional Tamil sites of worship through Buddhicisation continues to be used by Sri Lanka as its primary tactic to implement cultural genocide. Moreover, the ramifications of Sinhala Buddhist supremacy through such desecration and land appropriation, furthers Sri Lanka’s genocidal agenda. This is enabled as such acts interrupt the Eelam Tamils’ territorial integrity which is often secured through the establishment of such distinct sites of worship, thus diminishing and eventually destructing Tamil sovereignty.
In the aftermath of the pinnacle of Tamil genocide in 2009 at Mullivaikkal, political spaces which cement Tamil sovereignty continue to deteriorate both within the occupied Tamil homeland and the diaspora due to Sri Lanka’s extended COIN operations.
As a result, there is a necessity to strengthen such political spaces through a multitude of political and cultural initiatives thus harmonising the distinct Eelam Tamil identity across various cross sections of the Eelam Tamil community. One such initiative includes the integration of signifiers of the Tamil identity and struggle within mass sites of congregation such as sites of worship. Such integration is quintessential to strengthen the cohesion that exists within the Eelam Tamil community and thus further the struggle for Tamil liberation. A detailed analysis regarding such matters will be explored in next month’s issue.
Bala Chanthiran
“Though the LTTE is an ardent advocate of the principle of secularism, it guarantees, the freedom of religious worship and will promote religo-cultural aspirations of the people of Tamil Eelam”
Socialist Tamil Eelam
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