Nadesan Satyendra

What if I told you that it is not either or but both…

What if I told you that it is not US or ME but BOTH - That it is not Society or Individual but BOTH - That one does not exist without the other - That the inside and the outside always go together - That the relationship between the individual and…

The most surprising thing in the world...

It was related in the Mahabaratha, some two thousand years ago, that when Tharmar, the eldest of the Pandavas, was questioned as to what was the most surprising thing in the world, he replied: ‘The most surprising in the world is that man knows he…

Jayalakshmi Satyendra

Jayalakshmi Satyendra nee Rajandram was born on 12 September 1936, in Colombo, Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). She left the land of her birth in the aftermath of the genocidal onslaught on the Tamils in Sri Lanka in July 1983. In 1988 she was…

Tamils: a Nation without a State - living today in many lands & across distant seas...

Today, more than 80 million Tamil people live in many lands across distant seas. Given the armed struggle for Tamil Eelam in the island of Sri Lanka, and the two hundred and fifty thousand (and more) Tamil asylum seekers and refugees in many…

States do not have Permanent Friends: they have Permanent Interests

A long standing supporter of the Tamil Eelam freedom struggle and a friend wrote to me about a month ago -"I picked up the Pathmanathan Pages from tamilnation.org When I read the first piece it gave the impression that K Pathmanathan (KP) was trying…

Chief Minister Karunanidhi on the Art of the Possible - and Living in Hope

It should not come too much as a surprise that Chief Minister Karunanidhi who was vociferous in his support for an independent Tamil Eelam during the Indira Gandhi regime now tells his 'udan pirapukal' that they should follow in the foosteps of the…

TAMIL EELAM STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM - An Overview

Early Political History The island known to Tamils as Eelam (and known under British rule as Ceylon and under Sinhala rule as Sri Lanka) is about 25,000 square miles in extent, situated about twenty miles from the southern extremity of the Indian…

Confronting the Death of Prabhakaran

I have never met Velupillai Prabhakaran. Neither have I ever spoken to him. I did not know him personally. Again, it is not that I have agreed with everything that he said or did. Yet, when he died on 17 May 2009, I felt a deep sense of personal…

Understanding UK Foreign Policy & the Tamil Struggle for Freedom

"...... No one should underestimate the murderous damage done to Sri Lanka over the last 26 years by the LTTE, or the sheer hatred felt for its leadership. That is recognised in the international community, but while terrorist organisations work by…

The Politics of Humanitarian Intervention

"It was the Buddha who said that suffering is a great teacher. The Tamil people are being taught on the hard anvil of death and suffering appropriately enough in Buddhist Sri Lanka that human rights and humanitarian laws are more often than not,…

US - India - China: Changing Dynamics & an Emerging Bi Polar World ?

In 1983, I stumbled into a lecture on International Relations at Cambridge University. The lecture was by a visiting German Professor. I forget her name. But something that she said has remained with me over the past several years. She…

Ten Minute Read on Tamil Eelam

A Visitor from Australia wrote on 20 February 2009 - Vanakkam Mr. Satyendra. I read your articles almost as soon as they appear. They reflect many of the thoughts which come to me (but perhaps not in such a clear substantiated fashion). Your open…

'Recent Developments in Sri Lanka' : US Senate Hearing - An Open Letter to Senator Kerry

Dear Senator Kerry, The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee which you Chair has scheduled hearings on the 'Recent Developments in Sri Lanka' for 24 February at 2:30 p.m. Given these 'recent developments in Sri Lanka', which may be appropriately…

Concerning tamilnation.org

Mr. Rajdeep Singh [ hearmeloudnclear@yahoo.com ] wrote from Los Angeles USA on 10 February 2009 - "I chanced upon your website and found it very intense and informative. However you do not mention anything about the LTTE's terrorism and terrorist…

The Jeff and Mutt Act

"...The Jeff and Mutt act is also sometimes called the 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' role play. And given the recent Mutt like call by Norway, US, EU & Japan for the LTTE to surrender so that Vanni civilians may be saved from Sri Lanka's genocidal onslaught,…

Sinhala Sri Lanka's War Crimes: Genocide & State Terrorism

"...the international community will wait till Tamil resistance is sufficiently weakened or annihilated before it attempts to intervene 'on humanitarian grounds' and in seeming response to 'world wide Tamil appeals'. Meanwhile the IC will even…

Spirituality & the Tamil Nation

Gramsci was right when he said that man can affect his own development and that of his own surroundings only in so far as he has a clear view of what the possibilities of action open to him are. To do this he has to understand the historical…

'Indo-Lanka Relations Reaching Zenith' reports Sinhala Sri Lanka Daily News

"The arabic word for Zenith is Zawâl, meaning "decline", that is, when the sun ceases to rise and starts to decline." Wikipedia On 15 January Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon shamelessly declared in Colombo that relations with Sri Lanka…

Tamils are an ancient people...

The Tamils are an ancient people. Their history had its beginnings in the rich alluvial plains near the southern extremity of peninsular India which included the land mass known as the island of Sri Lanka today. The island's plant and animal life…

European Union & Listing of LTTE as a Terrorist Organisation - Some Reflections

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly, 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy..." One would imagine that after several decades of painful experience, the fly may have also worked out ways of negotiating spider…