Canadian Tamil Youth declare uncompromising support for freedom at Tamil Eelam Sovereignty Conference

Canadian Tamil Youth declare uncompromising support for freedom at Tamil Eelam Sovereignty Conference

Written by: TYO-Canada

Canadian Tamil Youth activists from highschools, colleges and universities resolved to continue the struggle for Tamil sovereignty at a pan Canadian conference organized by the Tamil Youth Organization-Canada (TYO-Canada).

Student activists reaffirmed the principles enshrined in the Vaddukkodai Declaration of 1978 and the Thimpu Declaration of 1985. The conference consisted of three presentations followed by in-depth discussion.

Priyanth Nallaratnam, spokesperson of the TYO-Canada, delivered a presentation on the historical role played by Tamil youth in the liberation struggle. The presentation reviewed the genocidal oppression that gave birth to the liberation movement and the conditions that necessitated a political and armed struggle.

“Tamil students have always played a revolutionary role in moving the struggle for freedom forward. As second generation Tamil youth we have a duty to elevate the struggle for the liberation of the occupied state of Tamil Eelam,” said Priyanth Nallaratnam.

Samuel Nithiananthan, director with the National Council of Canadian Tamils, spoke about geopolitics and the contemporary Tamil struggle.

“Tamil student activists must develop a thorough understanding of geopolitics to effectively advocate for national liberation and avoid being deceived by the international powers into a mode of containment,” said Nithiananthan. “We hope that Tamil youth activists in Tamil Nadu and the Diaspora will organize similar Sovereignty conferences.”

Krisna Saravanamuttu, spokesperson of the National Council of Canadian Tamils, facilitated a discussion on the international legal principle of self-determination, the need to build solidarity with other oppressed nations and peoples’ seeking self-determination, and the internationalization of the Tamil freedom struggle.

“The responsibility for the Tamil struggle for self-determination now rests squarely on the shoulders of our generation in the homeland and the diaspora. Depending on how we the struggle forward, history will either absolve us or indict us in the genocide of our own people,” said Saravanamuttu. “The need of the hour is to build an international solidarity movement to counteract the ongoing military occupation of the Tamil homeland”

EELAM TAMIL YOUTH CONFERENCE DECLARATION – CANADA 2012

BE IT RESOLVED THAT on this day the representatives of the collective Eezham Tamil student movement in Canada adopted the following declaration as guiding principles in the Eelam Tamil freedom struggle:
1. Awareness of Eelam Tamil identity and the promotion of the same among the mainstream Canadian polity and society is vital for our authentic cultural life in Canada as well as for the restoration of our sovereignty in the occupied homeland of the Eelam Tamils

2. We welcome the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition as a principled approach to resolving the national question of Eelam Tamils in the island of Ceylon and recognize the declaration as a milestone following the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 and the Thimpu principles of 1985.

3. It is due to the global injustice that the genocidal war was made possible on the Eelam Tamils. The same global injustice prevails, politically privileging the perpetrators in the Sri Lankan establishment. Addressing this is a step to restore the lost power of balance.

4. The struggle of the Eelam Tamils, who are subjected in their homelands to a protracted, intended genocide carried out in various ways and kept under a system of colonization, militarization and Sinhalicisation, has been internationalized with overa million of them in the diaspora, and thus, a solution from a purely local approach is not only impossible but also unproductive.

5. We uncompromisingly uphold the legacy of the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle and its martyrs and shall endeavour to promote its political and cultural symbols, the Tamil Eelam national flag, national festivals, national culture to both local and global audiences and what we shall promote the ideals of the resistance and the freedom fighters in all spheres of Tamil life.

6. We reject the territorial integrity of the Sri Lankan state that occupies Tamil Eelam and we reject the imposition of the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity, politically and culturally on the Eelam Tamils

7. We will boycott any Tamil Diaspora organization that compromise the principles of Homeland, Nation and Self Determination and therefore lends legitimacy to the unitary state of Sri Lanka

8. As a practical next step to the TamilSovereignty Cognition declaration, we call on a new generation of Tamil leaders from Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eelam, and the Diaspora to challenge the international community to revaluate its approach to self-determination for unrecognized nations and peoples and to build solidarity with other peoples living under occupation to challenge the present geo political order.

9. We will resolve to raise awareness and educate Tamils and non Tamils about the ongoing internationally abetted genocide of the Tamil Nation. We will also seek to educate the international community on the legitimacy of the Tamil liberation struggle.



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