Sri Lanka

NOVANEWS Tamils living in Britain have reacted angrily to David Cameron’s vague promise to call for an ‘independent’ review of war crimes in Sri Lanka. The prime minister’s statement yesterday is seen as a cynical attempt to placate Britain’s 300,000 strong Tamil community – a significant electoral constituency. Tamils in Britain are outraged that the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) is going ahead in Sri Lanka this month and, even worse, David Cameron and foreign secretary William Hague have decided to attend. The Tamil Solidarity campaign rejects the claim that their participation will compel the government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of war crimes, in particular during the final months of the conflict which ended in May 2009. Many reports have detailed the ...

NOVANEWS Meena Kandasamy is a poet, fiction writer and an activist. She plays a crucial role in building campaigns such as Tamil Solidarity and has been a strong voice against the murderous Sri Lankan regime. 1. Thank you for giving this interview to the Tamil Solidarity. According to Indian media, Prime minister Manmohan Singh will not take part in the commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM). However rest of the Indian delegation will take part. Do you think Indian government is playing a ‘trick’ on us. While it is clear that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to not visit CHOGM in Sri Lanka is clearly a response to the protest movements in Tamil Nadu, and while it is also a decision made keeping in mind the elections early next year—we have to reiterate that this ...

NOVANEWS A curious and rather disturbing story in Haaretz: It is not easy to scare Simone Dinah Hartmann, but lately she has been fearing for her life. Although she resides in serene Vienna, Hartmann is not convinced the law enforcement officials in Austria are sufficiently aware of the dangers threatening her. Her concerns come in the wake of the racist and anti-Semitic neo-Nazi Web site alpen-donau.info (in German) recently posting her photograph accompanied by derogatory comments – basically marking her as a target for assassination. Hartmann, an energetic and opinionated woman in her thirties, is the driving force behind Stop the Bomb, an international organization which for several years has been waging an aggressive campaign against firms and governments in Europe that maintain com...