Tamil Tigers admit defeat after battle reaches 'bitter end'

[frigidmagi]

Time

[quote]The Tamil Tigers admitted defeat yesterday in their separatist struggle as hundreds of Sri Lankan government troops closed in on a diminishing patch of coconut grove where the last of the rebels — and possibly their elusive leader — were surrounded.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers’ chief of international relations, announced that the rebels were laying down their weapons after 26 years of fighting for an ethnic Tamil homeland. “This battle has reached its bitter end,â€

[LadyTevar]

I have to wonder if the Tamil youth see the fight as worth continuing now.

[Hadrianvs]

The Tamils have been in Sri Lanka since the Tenth Century, actually. The Sri Lankan Tamils compose 3.9% of the population, while the Indian Tamils, who are the ones the British imported (in the 19th century) compose 4.6% of the population (some of them also came in the 1960s and 70s looking for work). Most of the support for the Tamil Tigers comes from the Indian Tamils, who got used to lording it over Sri Lanka thanks to the British. The Sri Lankan Tamils, who have as much a right to be called native to the island as the Normans do to call themselves native French (read: a lot), seem to be more disinterested in the whole separatism thing.

[frigidmagi]

Either way the majority of the Tamils aren't native.

[Rogue 9]

Velupillai Prabhakaran has been killed by the Sri Lankan Army. May he rest in pieces.

[General Havoc]

Either way the majority of the Tamils aren't native.

Since you stated that the majority of them were brought over by the British in the early 1900s, then unless we're counting octogenarians, most of the Tamils in Sri Lanka are native to the island, in the same way that I am a native of the US despite my ancestors arriving here in 1910.

With the destruction of the Tigers and the end of the war, Sri Lanka has a chance to finally push past this whole mess. One hopes they do not choose to cement their victory by deciding that the Tamils are not natives...

[frigidmagi]

You're not part of a group that demands that 40% of your nation be split off to give you a homeland. So the comparison is less then valid. I'm not saying Tamils should be treated poorly, I'm just saying their claim for a separate homeland on Sri Lanka is on damn shaky ground and not very valid in my eyes.

[Stofsk]

I have to wonder if the Tamil youth see the fight as worth continuing now.

I read an interesting article about half a year ago that went into how terrorism seems to be a generational thing, and that usually conflicts tends to die down when subsequent generations inherit the mess. When a conflict becomes so distant that the youth of the day can't figure out why they should put their lives on the line for something their grandfathers took umbrage at, they decide not to bother.

[General Havoc]

I read an interesting article about half a year ago that went into how terrorism seems to be a generational thing, and that usually conflicts tends to die down when subsequent generations inherit the mess. When a conflict becomes so distant that the youth of the day can't figure out why they should put their lives on the line for something their grandfathers took umbrage at, they decide not to bother.

Not quite the case in Palestine, but then I suppose there's fresh grievances there.

[frigidmagi]

In places like Palestine, there's also nothing else to do but join up. Economic activity would rip apart HAMAS faster then a million man Israeli army. Course HAMAS does alot to choke out any economic activity that could occur through direct and indirect means.