I'm sure everyone in Canada's heard about the situation in Sri Lanka by now, most likely for the first time. I'm also quite sure that no one in the US knows about it at all. The issue here, and why I think it's important I bring it up on a blog that boasts UNKNOWN news, is that this bit of news has been, for 30 years unreported, and now that it's in the news, endlessly misreported. So I'm setting the record straight.
Background:
For the last 2 months, Tamil protesters have had endless protests. More than 50,000 people surrounded Union Station in Toronto with a human chain to raise awareness about what is fast becoming a genocide in Sri Lanka. Of course, they stopped the chain at major intersections to avoid disturbing people making their way to and from work. Then 33,000 of them sat in front of Parliament in Ottawa waiting for someone to come speak to them about why Canada remains silent. Then they came to the American Embassy in downtown Toronto for 3 days with estimates of between 1,000 and 5,000 per day.
Why I'm writing about it:
No one seems to know why there people are out on the streets protesting! Someone at some point brought up the Tamil Tigers in the media, and suddenly all these people want is to remove the LTTE from the terrorist watch list. This is not what they want, regardless of how much the media insists on it.
What they want:
Economic sanctions similar to those enacted in South Africa during Apartheid. They want this because so far the government has only put pressure on one side (the Tigers), rather than putting a pressure on both sides to reach a ceasefire.
Want to know more?
This article is a good place to start
The background of the struggle
Photo courtesy of CBC News.
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