Washignton Times,  Thu Mar 12 21:09:19 EDT 2009

    In 2006, Tasha Manoranjan decided to take a year off from school for an unusual reason. The 20-year-old Ohioan had read that violence had been escalating in northern Sri Lanka, the home of her Tamil ancestors, where she had spent the summer two years earlier.
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- The Academic

Hay!....she is not even born in SL....Just spent few years there...

We Sri Lankans born here and live here for over 35 years now and suffering from these baberic terrorists...

We all are glad that SLA has defeated them and soon the terror would be over....

Not only the tamils in North, but all Sri Lankans living in SL were (and are) suffering from LTTE terror...

No government in the world can win the hearts and minds of all the citizens in a country...

How about George Bush?? Did he win the hearts of 100% Americans? Go to hell...
We all have problems with all the governments we have had and there will be problems in the future with the governments to come as well... But we all, who are LIVING IN SL are glad that we can see an end to the terrorism....

Is Kadiragamar (former Foreign minister) a Tamil? Anandasangaree Tamil? How about Devananda (Minister), How about former LTTE Karuna? Pillayan?? Are they Tamils?
Who has won their hearts and minds? LTTE or GOSL??

It is so easy to talk to the media when you have all the comfirt in US....It is easy to some down to SL and have a vacation, time to time.....But living here with the baberic acts of LTTE is the most difficult part....that you people would never understand...so the whole country (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims) are with this government...just because they can defeat the LTTE terrorists....They may not fulfill all our dreams....but defeating LTTE is the solution for many many many problems in the country....

You better stay in US for the rest of your life as well......as you never understand what it means by living in SL...though you have a Tamil name, you are not a Sri lankan Tamil...


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mng

Potential problems for US from Terror-Friendly Tamils;

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-03-11-voa65.cfm

Quote:

In Washington, a Senate committee held a hearing Wednesday on Somalia, in particular, recruiting in America by the Islamist Somali militant group al-Shabaab. The US government has declared al-Shabaab a terrorist organization.

There is a similar characteristic between Somalian and LTTE Tamil community.  The most obvious one being they are not being well integrated to the American society.
The news they are getting are mostly from their own racist brainwashing media.


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"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl wrote:

Potential problems for US from Terror-Friendly Tamils;

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-03-11-voa65.cfm

Quote:

In Washington, a Senate committee held a hearing Wednesday on Somalia, in particular, recruiting in America by the Islamist Somali militant group al-Shabaab. The US government has declared al-Shabaab a terrorist organization.

There is a similar characteristic between Somalian and LTTE Tamil community.  The most obvious one being they are not being well integrated to the American society.
The news they are getting are mostly from their own racist brainwashing media.

I am being rather restrained but you are clutching at straws. The 2nd generation of Tamils in the US tend to be highly educated and well intergrated in to the US society. Unlike the Somalis the Tamil society in the US is not that stupid to allow the LTTE to recruit their Kids. They prefer the Kids of the poor Tamils in SL to do their fighting.


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'Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.'

- Henry David Thoreau

RJF, I agree with you however I have a feeling that that number is so small.

7000 Tamils came to protest at DC and if you read some of the placards, they sounded so silly.  It was like they had been brainwashed by their adults.  Thousands came to pay respect for the Tamil youth who burned himself t death in England.

If the majority of Tamils are well integrated to western society, it will be hard for LTTE to manipulate them.

The learning from 911 is that, when it comes to terrorism, anything is possible and nothing can be ruled out.

From my experience, Sinhalese in the west have sold out to west more than Tamils since there are lot more Tamils and opportunities for them to aggregate with each other.  The integrated Sinhalese will not go march around the white house.


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"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl wrote:

RJF, I agree with you however I have a feeling that that number is so small.

7000 Tamils came to protest at DC and if you read some of the placards, they sounded so silly.  It was like they had been brainwashed by their adults.  Thousands came to pay respect for the Tamil youth who burned himself t death in England.

If the majority of Tamils are well integrated to western society, it will be hard for LTTE to manipulate them.

The learning from 911 is that, when it comes to terrorism, anything is possible and nothing can be ruled out.

From my experience, Sinhalese in the west have sold out to west more than Tamils since there are lot more Tamils and opportunities for them to aggregate with each other.  The integrated Sinhalese will not go march around the white house.

My experience having lived in Europe and the US is that the first generation Tamils (Northern and Eastern) are more sympathatic towards the Eelam cause and the Tigers. I am pretty sure that most of the young protesters in Washington grew up in SL. This is without doubt true in Europe and Canada. In fact the majority of protesters you see in Europe and Canada are 1st generation Asylum seekers.

I am not so sure about the Sinhalese in the West selling out their culture. This maybe true in certain parts of the US. In fact I will agree with you that most Sinhalese living in Southern California try to ape the Suddha. A rather pathetic sight... like a Jew trying to be Italian.

PS: If only 7000 turned up in Washington... it's a small number. If you take Southern California alone there are around 20,000 ethnic Tamils. I am not sure how many Tamils live in the US but I suspect 7000 is less than 5%. This show that there is a rabid crowd that organises these type of protests and the same actors keep turning up at these events.


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'Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.'

- Henry David Thoreau

Tasha's parent is a strong  LTTE supporter  in Columbus, Ohio.  He had raised LTTE flag in heros day event in Ohio-

rfj, perl
re: your "ape the sudda" comment.. what do you mean ?

proximus wrote:

rfj, perl
re: your "ape the sudda" comment.. what do you mean ?

Aping the Suddha… trying hard to copy the perceived trendy ways of the White Man.

Sorry for getting off topic.. But the point I was trying to make was that there is a difference between integrating and even assimilating in to American Society vs. having contempt towards the culture you come from. Unfortunately some of the LA types that I have met don't like to even acknowledge that they can speak or understand Sinhalese. I think it is not only the Sinhalese who do this. It is more to do with the so called modern Colombo crowd.


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'Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.'

- Henry David Thoreau

But isn't even the decision to go and live in the West then, also a simian gesture . ? Personally, I disagree with that POV because by definition, any SriLankan living outside SL must needs be "aping".. otherwise, SriLanka should be jolly well good enough for them. Even exchanging ideas on this forum here, using the tools and language of the sudda - is aping...
But that,s a topic for another thread. Thanks for your reply

proximus wrote:

But isn't even the decision to go and live in the West then, also a simian gesture . ? Personally, I disagree with that POV because by definition, any SriLankan living outside SL must needs be "aping".. otherwise, SriLanka should be jolly well good enough for them. Even exchanging ideas on this forum here, using the tools and language of the sudda - is aping...
But that,s a topic for another thread. Thanks for your reply

Nope. Do not the Jews, Italians, Greeks, Indians etc keep the rich traditions of their culture while assimilating in to new cultures? I am strictly speaking about the US and I see that new immigrants who take on board what's best from different cultures tend to be the more successful. It depends which part of the Western culture you are trying ape. For example trying to copy the Gangsta Rap culture of LA, the vanity of Hollywood or the binge dinking pub culture of the British is not going to help you become a successful immigrant in the West.

My main point was that some Sri Lankans in LA with their get rich quick mentality are taking on the less attractive traits of the US society... vanity, superficiality, greed, selfishness etc.


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'Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.'

- Henry David Thoreau

Under educated immigrants usually tend to stay with each other and create ghetto cultures.

Most skill based immigrants usually to in to the hearts of mainstream cultures and assimilate.

The Somalians who were brought as refugees have never integrated to mainstream America and therefore they were the targets by extremists to recruit young ones to the war.  The same think can be applied to Sri Lankan society as well.


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"What is left when honor is lost?"