Appu's advice to the Tamils is to try something different.
You tried the Gandhian approach and got clubbed by the police from Galle Face to Jaffna esplanade.
You tried the Prabhakaran approach and met violence with violence and whilst it might have seemed a bit like David and Goliath for awhile, Goliath won. Surprised? Don't be. It was inevitable. Prabhakaran just didn't "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em."
In the end, what Rajapakse Inc. has done to the Tamils made JR's riots from '58 to '83 seem like walks in the park. Sad, but true. Worse, this time nobody really cares. Next week, the news will be about civillians being killed in Afghanistan.
However, there is a way forward to real peace and prosperity. One that comes easily to the stereotypical Tamil.
the economy!
the economy!
the economy!
If Mao's China can become the World's healthiest economy and Ho Chi Min's Vietnam can be a true leaping Tiger, then can your lot be far behind?
Invest in your people, your lands, your future. You work wonders for your employers in other parts of the World, now do it for yourselves.
To do that however, you need to walk away from the bitterness that you are entitled to feel.
Entitlement is debilitating - ask the Sinhalese University student who drinks from that poisoned chalice...
...but thats a different rant that Appu will get to one day soon.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
An open letter from Appu: Please pardon me....
An open letter to my fellow Sri Lankans:
I understand why you would want to celebrate Prabhakaran’s death but please pardon me, if I don’t join in…
Prabhakaran’s death, or that of some fat lookalike, doesn't hide the fact that Prabhakaran’s cowboy adventures have attracted unprecedented violence, hatred and misery for the Tamils – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
More civilians have died in the last four months than in 30 years of civil war – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
Prabhakaran’s death is not going to do anything for the thousands of young Tamil and Sinhala boys and girls who died a pointless choreographed death – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
Prabhakaran murdered all moderate Tamil leaders and left the Tamils in the custody of his old terrorist buddies ; Douglas, Karuna and Pillayan – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
There are over three hundred thousand innocent civilians trapped in barbed wired squalor with no hope of living normal lives – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
White van abductions, church attacks, murders, rapes, extortions and assaults are commonplace in Sri Lanka and it no longer resembles the paradise I was born in – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I have been disgusted by the shouts, the taunts, the insults and vitriol heaped upon the Tamils in the hours and days following the LTTE’s defeat – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I have been saddened by the flood of chauvinist emails, sms messages and blogs that have flowed in the hours and days following the LTTE’s defeat – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I’ve always thought that Prabhakaran was the ugly wound and not the cancer that plagued Sri Lanka and I am not convinced that his exit will cure the cancer that continues to fester within us – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
... & so if you don't mind, I'll sit this one out and save my pissu-double-naetuma for when somebody's 'Heladiva' becomes 'my Sri Lanka' again!
Your Sri Lankan friend,
Gini Appu
I understand why you would want to celebrate Prabhakaran’s death but please pardon me, if I don’t join in…
Prabhakaran’s death, or that of some fat lookalike, doesn't hide the fact that Prabhakaran’s cowboy adventures have attracted unprecedented violence, hatred and misery for the Tamils – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
More civilians have died in the last four months than in 30 years of civil war – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
Prabhakaran’s death is not going to do anything for the thousands of young Tamil and Sinhala boys and girls who died a pointless choreographed death – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
Prabhakaran murdered all moderate Tamil leaders and left the Tamils in the custody of his old terrorist buddies ; Douglas, Karuna and Pillayan – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
There are over three hundred thousand innocent civilians trapped in barbed wired squalor with no hope of living normal lives – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
White van abductions, church attacks, murders, rapes, extortions and assaults are commonplace in Sri Lanka and it no longer resembles the paradise I was born in – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I have been disgusted by the shouts, the taunts, the insults and vitriol heaped upon the Tamils in the hours and days following the LTTE’s defeat – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I have been saddened by the flood of chauvinist emails, sms messages and blogs that have flowed in the hours and days following the LTTE’s defeat – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
I’ve always thought that Prabhakaran was the ugly wound and not the cancer that plagued Sri Lanka and I am not convinced that his exit will cure the cancer that continues to fester within us – so please pardon me if I don’t celebrate.
... & so if you don't mind, I'll sit this one out and save my pissu-double-naetuma for when somebody's 'Heladiva' becomes 'my Sri Lanka' again!
Your Sri Lankan friend,
Gini Appu
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Prabhakaran captured alive!
Colombo -- The Mihin News Network announced that Prabhakaran has been captured alive! President Rajapakse is scheduled to hold a press conference to formally announce to the nation that the war on terror has been won and that Prabhakaran has been captured alive. A glorious future awaits...
Fact or fiction, the news of Prabhakaran's death, escape or capture is of little consequence at this point... the Tamils of Sri Lanka (diaspora included) would do well to reflect on the fact that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are suffering more (violence) now, than anytime in history.
They are also more vulnerable and subject to more discrimination, hate and contempt than they ever have been.
Furthermore, a political solution is now more remote than it ever has been
So it doesn't matter if Rajapaksa will parade Prabhakaran in chains or in a coffin. It doesn't matter what he says - the winner takes it all !!
Despite what the Rajapaksa propaganda machine says, the loser is not Prabhakaran. The losers are in those barbed wire camps.
Fact or fiction, the news of Prabhakaran's death, escape or capture is of little consequence at this point... the Tamils of Sri Lanka (diaspora included) would do well to reflect on the fact that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are suffering more (violence) now, than anytime in history.
They are also more vulnerable and subject to more discrimination, hate and contempt than they ever have been.
Furthermore, a political solution is now more remote than it ever has been
So it doesn't matter if Rajapaksa will parade Prabhakaran in chains or in a coffin. It doesn't matter what he says - the winner takes it all !!
Despite what the Rajapaksa propaganda machine says, the loser is not Prabhakaran. The losers are in those barbed wire camps.
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