The Big Picture gives an update on Sri Lanka
Back in February Taylor Burton gave us a quick rundown on the Sri Lankan Civil War between the coutry’s military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group fighting to create a sovereign Tamil state in the northeastern part of Sri Lanka. Here’s an excerpt from Taylor’s orginial article to explain the motivation […]
Back in February Taylor Burton gave us a quick rundown on the Sri Lankan Civil War between the coutry’s military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group fighting to create a sovereign Tamil state in the northeastern part of Sri Lanka. Here’s an excerpt from Taylor’s orginial article to explain the motivation behind the LTTE’s mission:
“Sri Lanka has an incredibly long history dating back to the 5th Century BC… involving colonization of Indo-Aryans, Dravidians, Portuguese, Dutch, and so on. But the main issue was initially brought about when the British (after conquering the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815) decided to colonize, bringing with them a large group of laborers from Tamil Nadu in South India to work on tea plantations. In 1833 the island was united under British rule, and this is where things start to get interesting. The Sinhala (an Indo-Aryan ethnic group originally from North India) majority, and the Tamil (Dravidian ethnic group from South India) minority coexisted rather peacefully under British rule, despite huge cultural differences, being that the Sinhala are predominantly Buddhist, while the Tamils are predominantly Hindu. After gaining independence in 1948, the Sinhala started a campaign of nationalism and disenfranchised Tamil plantation workers throughout the island, costing many of them their citizenship. Thus begins an ongoing rivalry between the Sinhala and Tamil communities that has led to what has now been deemed the Sri Lankan Civil War – a war that has claimed the lives of nearly 70,000 people…”
During the height of their power, the LTTE became notorious for recruiting child soldiers, suicide bombings, and assassinations of high-ranking Sri Lankan officials.
A few months after the article was written, the Sri Lankan military officially defeated the LTTE. Boston.com‘s The Big Picture has got some great photographic coverage (along with helpful information and links) on what things are like Sri Lankan now that the war is officially over, including the country’s efforts to rebuild its tourist industry and their treatment of Tamil refugees that some are callng “troubling.”
Check out The Big Picture: Scenes from Sri Lanka here.
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Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
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