Following a brief appeal to the Jaffna university students the university administration backed down and said they will allow building of the memorial for the fallen inside the campus. However we publish this appeal here for those who have not seen it. The small victory that students have achieved is temporary. They still may go back on their loose promises. We need more discussion on the way forward in building the fightback.
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As you know a memorial is not just a monument. It also represents the feeling that we will not forget those perished in the brutal massacre. Seeking justice for the genocidal slaughter is also a big part of this memorial. It is a reminder for the need to build a fightback against these oppressive forces that can commit heinous crimes.
The government and the University administration are aware that the students today will one day be the future and there are many examples to this if one simply looks back at the University’s rich history.
They want us to forget the rich history of protests for our rights. They want to instead celebrate the victory of destruction whilst categorising anyone who remembers the fallen as terrorists.
We should never give in to their agenda; instead we should learn the bitter lessons from these horrible experiences and build a strong fightback. This strong fightback should stand out as an unshakeable memorial amongst us. We humbly ask the students to move towards this path of building a fightback.
We should enter into meaningful dialogue with regards to the next set of plans and its implementation. Any set of goals without prior planning is bound to be broken by the ruling class and its forces.
The students do not have any real support. They can easily be subdued with a little bit of intervention from the military and the campus administration. The government will use the new emergency corona legislation to suppress any protests put forward by the students. They will go as far as bringing other students of the campus to break up protests.
Even the politicians will only look towards fulfilling their own political agenda using the protest as their tool. Their allegiance to the cause will only go as far as their vote bank. Once the protest dies down, these politicians are seldom seen. We are not asking to disregard them; however following them blindly in the hope of getting a solution to our problems is nothing but blind misguided faith.
Not falling prey to differences in ethnic background, religion and other differences between the students is the first and foremost important step. We ought to win the support of our Sinhalese and Muslim brothers & sisters at the campus. Our demands do not go against others, instead it wins our rights. Our demands stand against our real enemy- the oppressive capitalist class.
Our demands need not be isolated. The students should join hands with the various student unions to address our demands and thereby our rights. This will not only act as a catalyst to increase our strength -but it is also much safer.
The Jaffna University students should join hands with All Sri Lanka students union in addressing the protest. We should join hands with other Universities in addressing other issues that affect the students in general of that Island. This will further build the fightback for our demands in time. The discussion for this should begin without haste. The diaspora Tamils living abroad should also join hands with their student unions; link them together in identifying and putting the fight for achieving our rights collectively. The students should also engage with other powerful trade unions & other fighting unions and win their support.
We should never allow the Jaffna students to be isolated and then hunted down by the authorities. We need to work forward in joining forces with our natural allies. A divided nation –along national line – is bound to have its own set of problems ranging from various differences in opinion. However we ought to break those barriers while not compromising on our national aspirations. As we stand here with the support of many forces, our demands and our political activities should be geared towards our long term political agenda and this is vital. We ought to understand the society’s needs with a clear long term political process in place that can only be achieved via a clear planning process. This will then push us towards building a powerful fightback in the future.
We are ready to be of service with regards to the above mentioned. We humbly ask the students and youngsters to come forward for a discussion.
Tamil solidarity
