After a successful Breaking The Silence genocide awareness campaign, Barts Tamil Society held a screening of the Channel 4 Documentary, 'No Fire Zone' , followed by a question and answer session with director Callum Macrae. The documentary left a fully packed lecture hall stunned into silence for minutes after the end of the film. Responding to questions on what the outcome may have been for Tamils in the North-East if the LTTE had retained control of Vaani, Macrae said, "The peace process of 2002 was relatively successful, and the Tigers themselves were successful in improving in a number of human rights issues for their people, including eradicating caste, improving women's rights etc. However it is questionable if peace talks could have been successful considering the impact of 9/11. The event swayed the balance of support and the military campaign against the Tamils was seen as a 'war on terror; which allowed Rajapaksa along with complicit members of the international community to go on, with this rhetoric enabling what was seen as the final solution."
Taking place for the second year in a row, the inter-university competition ‘Kings of Gaana’, hosted by King’s College London Tamil Society, provided an explosive finale for the UK Tamil student calendar. Photograph - One One 7 Resonare
Following the success of the Breaking The Silence exhibitions at other universities such as LSE and UCL, King's College London held their exhibition on the 21st November to raise awareness amongst students of the on-going genocide committed against Tamils in Sri Lanka. The exhibition, held outside the main lecture theatre was run by members of the KCL Tamil Society. A mini-exhibition called ‘Why should we care?’ allowed students to express their reasons for taking part in the campaign. One student wrote: ‘As a human being it is the right of the human to care about someone else and, if you don...
After generating high levels of interest at 6 other London universities, the ‘Breaking the Silence’ genocide awareness campaign reached St George’s University on the 26th of November. Situated in a student hub outside St George’s Library, the exhibition attracted students and staff from all disciplines and members of the adjacent St George’s Hospital. Evocative paintings and posters outlining the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses of the Tamil nation caused many passers-by to stop and discuss the situation in Sir Lanka with members of the St George’s Tamil Society. Passers-by where...
Maaveerar Naal 2013 commemorated worldwide (Denmark pictured)
City University Tamil Society continued the ‘Breaking the Silence’ genocide awareness campaign last week. Holding the exhibition in the Main Building corridor, the Tamil society displayed posters that outlined the countless forms of genocidal abuses that the Tamil people face in Sri Lanka. The exhibition attracted much attention, with several students taking time to read through the posters and ask committee members questions. Students passing by signed petitions for an international independent investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka, and recorded their reactions in hand-prints to make a reflective poster on the ongoing atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka. Joint by City University’s Amnesty International society, members of Tamil society walked students through the Breaking the Silence exhibition.
'If Only Sharukh Khan', a play by Raani Moorthy, premiered in London yesterday, November 27th. Framed around three characters' love of the Bollywood actor, Shahrukh Khan, the play allows the audience enter the lives of three South Asian women including a former member of the LTTE. Watching the premier last night and reviewing the play for Tamil Guardian, was Sinthujan Varatharajah...
Updated 23:59 GMT with further photographs Thousands of Tamils gathered in London today to commemorate Maaveerar Naal. Taking place this year as one single event in the ExCel convention centre, the remembrance took place as Tamils in the North-East faced a severe clampdown on any attempts to mark the day.
A poem recited at Youth Maaveerar Naal held at Imperial College London earlier this week and written by a student at St George's University.
Following on from LSE and UCL, the ‘Breaking the Silence’ genocide awaresness exhibition travelled to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) earlier this week. Throughout the day a stall ran in the main building of SOAS’s Russell Square campus where students, lecturers and university staff visited the exhibition. The exhibition featured posters depicting the human rights abuses against Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka. Most students were aware that there was a conflict recently in Sri Lanka but many were intrigued on learning how far back oppression against Tamil people...