Referendum deciding identity - 1, 2

Referendum deciding identity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 19:40 GMT]

Thanks Tamilnet.

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More than laying sound democratic foundations to the liberation struggle, the referendum will be deciding how the free Eezham Tamils and their descendants choose to identify themselves to the world – whether as ‘Sri Lankans’ or as Eezham Tamils, in the wake of international attempts to impose identity on them, commented Tamil circles in Canada on the on going referendum Saturday. Meanwhile, volunteers who worked for the referendum in France, especially the younger generation, shared their thoughts with TamilNet in a video interview.

By stating the Tamil aspirations democratically and in no uncertain terms, the referendum fills in the political vacuum of Eezham Tamils in the aftermath of war, says T. Thiruchchothy, a member of the formation committee of the Eezham Tamil country council for France, called 'The House of Tamil Eelam'. "We are now able to assess the pulse of our people to decide the future course of our politics, he further said.

International politicians as well as the public are not aware that majority of Eezham Tamils want Tamil Eelam. They are under an illusion that the Tamil Eelam struggle is only an agenda of Tamil militancy. They were sceptical whether small nations like that of Eezham Tamils need a political solution at all. We felt that it is our duty to demonstrate the truth and then we are now satisfied that we were able to convince them through our democratic exercise, says Kirushanthi Sakthithasan (Shalini) a medical student in the organising committee.

Speaking on follow-up she said that the formation committee is also working on establishing an all party group supporting Tamils among French and European Union parliamentarians, who will uphold the democratic will expressed by our people in such referenda throughout the world.

Akalya Aloysius, a marketing management student attributed the success of the referendum to the participation of youth. "We have been working on this for a couple of months, making door-to-door campaign, meeting parents and experimenting novel ways to attract youth participation. A stage came when youth and their parents were fully convinced in engaging in this social duty. We now realise that everything is ultimately in our hands. We, especially the younger generation, has to work for ourselves. We think even Tamil Eelam can be achieved by us if our generation is really determined about it," Akalya said.

When asked about financial support for this massive democratic exercise such as a countrywide referendum, N. Pratheepkumar, another young generation member of the formation committee of the country council said that they were fully depending on mass participation and contribution. For instance, in the case of referendum, he said that they started with nothing, but were able to meet the expenses through volunteering, in some cases full-time volunteering and through sponsorships.



Questions by TamilNet and responses from the organisers in Tamil follow:

இலங்கைத்தீவில் சுதந்திரமும் இறைமையுமுள்ள தமிழீழத் தனியரசு அமையவேண்டும் என்பதே ஈழத்தமிழர்களின் அரசியல் அபிலாசை என்பதை அளப்பரிய பெரும்பான்மையில் பிரான்சு வாழ் ஈழத்தமிழர்கள் ஜனநாயக ரீதியில் மீளுறுதிப்படுத்தியிருக்கிறார்கள். குறிப்பாக, முள்ளிவாய்க்காலில் ஆயுதரீதியான நான்காவது ஈழப்போர் சிறிலங்கா அரசினாலும் அதற்குத் துணைபோன சர்வதேச சக்திகளின் பல வலிமையாலும் முடிவுக்கொண்டுவரப்பட்டு ஆயுதங்கள் மௌனிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள சூழலில் ஈழத்தமிழர்கள் இந்த அபிலாசையை மீள வெளிப்படுத்தியிருப்பது குறித்து இந்த வாக்குக்கணிப்பை முன்னெடுத்தவர்கள் என்ற வகையில் உங்கள் கருத்து என்ன திரு. திருச்சோதி அவர்களே?

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இந்த வாக்குக்கணிப்பை முன்னெடுக்கும் போது, குறிப்பாக இப்போது மக்கள் மத்தியிலுள்ள ஒரு சோர்வு நிலையில் அவர்களின் பங்களிப்பு ஏதேனும் ஒரு விதத்தில் குறைவாக நடந்து அதனால் எதிர்பாராத விளைவுகள் ஏற்பட்டுவிடலாம் என்ற அச்சம் உங்களுக்கு இருந்ததா? அதை எவ்வாறு எதிர்கொண்டீர்கள்?




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