Book Launch and Public Presentation

The Left and the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Did the Left Movements Fail the Tamils?

Book Launch and Public Presentation
Saturday, December 8th 3.30 P.M. – 5.30 P.M.
Scarborough Civic Centre
Chair: Mr. K. Kanthasamy
Speakers: N. Sivahurunathan, Prof. Aparna Sundar, Prof. Chelva Kanaganayakam, Mark and Prof. Ravi Vaitheespara.

Ravi Vaitheespara, Theorizing the National Crisis: Sanmugathasan, the Left and the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, Colombo: SSA, 2007.

The book, which also includes a long introduction by the veteran Left academic Prof. N. Shanmugaratnam, explores the largely obscured history of the Left’s engagement with the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It both raises and tries to answer the question: “Did the Left fail the Tamils?” Commentators and experts will address the contribution of this book and speak to the questions raised by the book.

Scarborough Civic Centre
150 Borough Drive
(North-west corner of McCowan Road and Ellesmere Road)
Toronto, Ontario M1P 4N7

Phone (416) 224-0362
(416) 292-1295
kantha.ka@hotmail.com

Sanmugathasan, the Unrepentant Left and the Ethnic Crisis in Sri Lanka

Sanmugathasan, the Unrepentant Left and the Ethnic Crisis in Sri Lanka Ravi Vaitheespara
It is a daunting task to understand contemporary Sri Lankan society with all its contradictions. While there has been much theoretically sophisticated and often obtuse scholarship on the ethnic crisis, this paper presents a relatively simple and straightforward analysis of the conflict as provided in the 1970s and 1980s by a major trade union and communist party leader, N Sanmugathasan, which has turned out to be both prescient and insightful. more

TAMILS

TAMILS

Origins

The majority of Tamils are from south Asia, specifically the states of India and Sri Lanka (called Ceylon until 1972). Close to 60 million Tamils live in India (1991), primarily in the far southeastern state of Tamil Nadu (130,000 square kilometres) and in the small coastal Indian union territory of Pondicherry, both formerly part of the British colonial-administration entity called the Madras Presidency. The above figure also includes Tamils who live in major urban centres throughout India, including Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta. link to article