#STATEMENT: Today is #MaaveerarNaal - Tamil National Remembrance Day.

While repression of memorialization was common in the past, this year, Tamil efforts to memorialize their dead have been met by an exceptionally vicious response.

#MaaveerarNaal2020 #Tamil #Lka

Today, even #Tamils remembering in the confines of their homes have been targeted by the military and the police, despite the court rulings allowing private commemorations. We are deeply concerned about the numerous reports of arrests and are closely monitoring events.

While the heightened repression is a consequence of the strengthened authoritarian regime, it is crucial to understand the fundamental Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist nature of the state, that enables the state to perpetrate repression and #genocide — across decades.

Anything that is a challenge to the #Sinhala supremacist narrative, be it the protests by the families of the disappeared, or as small a symbol as the lighting of a candle in remembrance, is a threat to the state’s narrative and therefore subject to repression. #MaaveerarNaal2020

Reforming the state in a way that respects the rights of all communities, including the Tamil nation’s right to self-determination, lies at the core of what is sought — an island that is sustainably peaceful and stable, respectful of its pluri-national character. #MaaveerarNaal

The international community’s tacit and overt support for Sri Lanka’s ethnocratic state, since colonial times and continuing till date, has enabled Sinhala supremacism. In the interest of sustainable peace, international engagement with the Sri Lankan state must be recalibrated.

Eleven years following the end of the armed conflict and thirty-three years since #MaaveerarNaal was first observed by the LTTE, November 27th marks the Tamil people’s unwavering commitment to honor their dead and reject the Sri Lankan state.

Today, we remember the thousands of lives sacrificed in the struggle for liberation and actively reaffirm their demands for #Tamil sovereignty, freedom, and justice.

#MaaveerarNaal2020 #MaaveerarNaal #SriLanka #Eelam #TamilEelamWarriorsDay #TamilEelam