TamilCanadian was designed to provide information about the culture and history of the Tamil people from the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), specifically in regard to those Tamil's who are currently living abroad in Canada. The culture and history of the Tamil people of Eelam has a history traced back many thousands of years, and provides a wealth of knowledge steeped in ancient tradition and religion. Unfortunately due to the ongoing genocide perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil culture is on the verge of being destroyed. Our humble attempt is to broadcast to the world our struggle to preserve and save our culture from the Sri Lankan government's campaign of genocide against the Tamil people.
The island of Sri Lanka has historically been divided into two countries. In the South there was the Sinhalese kingdom, and in the North and East there was the Tamil Kingdom of Tamil Eelam. The two kingdoms lived together in peace for thousands of years up until the 1950's. It was at that time that rightwing Sinhalese nationalists seized control of the entire island and began their systematic attempt to destroy and remove the Tamil culture from the island of Sri Lanka. In the island of Sri Lanka, the Tamil population is a small minority, comprising only 20% of the total population of the entire island. Thus it was impossible for the Tamil people to resist the suppression perpetrated by the majority Sinhalese.
For three decades the Tamil people worked towards equal rights through the process of non-violent demonstrations, as taught by Mahatma Gandhi and other ambassadors of peace. But their nonviolence was directly answered with bloodshed by the rightwing Sinhalese nationalists. The Sri Lankan government organised anti-Tamil riots time and time again, in an attempt to break the back of the Tamil's struggle for equal rights. It was in 1983 that the government organised a massive anti-Tamil pogrom that finally tore the country apart. In the riots that followed, over 3,000 innocent Tamil civilians were burnt to death by government-backed Sinhalese mobs, for no other crime than belonging to the Tamil race. It was at that time that the Tamil people were forced to throw down their nonviolent struggle for equality, and take up arms to fight for a seperate Tamil homeland in which they could be guaranteed the right to life, liberty, and property. Thus began the struggle to re-establish the historical homeland of the Tamil people, the country of Tamil Eelam.
Our attempt in presenting this website is to give our readers a glimpse of the deep and rich culture and history of Tamil Eelam, and to show to the world the great injustice that has been carried on for nearly half a century by the Sinhalese nationalists in an attempt to destroy our ancient culture.
Since 1980 to the present, over 80,000 Tamil civilians have been murdered by the Sri Lankan government. The Sri Lankan government has reduced scores of Tamil cities and villages to dust and rubble through constant shelling and bombardment. The Sri Lankan government has constantly tried to silence the voice of the Tamil people. It is our humble attempt at TamilCanadian to provide a platform from which the voice of the Tamil people can be heard throughout the world.
This server is dedicated to the 80,000 Tamil civilians, till date, who have been murdered by the Sri Lankan government, and to the thousands more killed each year in the ongoing genocide. Their voices have been silenced, but we will continue to speak on their behalf until our last breath. The authors of this server do not want to make themselves appear more important than the genocide victims, thus they prefer to remain in the background. If you have any questions, or would like more information on these topics, please contact us at the address below. With your help we will be able to bring peace back to the island of paradise, and put an end to the senseless violence that has gone on for over 60 years. Let the coming millenium be an age of peace and prosperity for all.
TamilCanadian Administration...
December 1996 (edited in 2006)
Published: Aug 13, 2006 17:23:28 GMT