Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka defies state repression

On May 18 2023, Eelam Tamils came together to commemorate Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, also referred to as Mullivaikal Remembrance Day, marking the end of the war between the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the North and East of Sri Lanka – the traditional homeland claimed by Tamils, stretching between Amparai and Jaffna – various events were held in schools, temples, churches and other public places. Kanchi, the simple rice porridge provided by the LTTE that gave meagre sustenance to those surrounded by state forces in the final months of fighting, was symbolically handed out to passers-by in coconut shells. In many places, these commemorations were met with harassment by the police and military forces. In Trincomalee, a court banned members of civil society from organising any events. All of this fits a familiar pattern: the destruction of Tamil memorials to those who died in the war, the arrests of organisers and harassment of participants at remembrance events, have continued year after year since the end of the war in 2009, and are intended to stamp out Tamil commemoration by increasing the risks of participation. 

The most prominent gathering every year happens in Mullivaikkal, the small hamlet on the coast of Mullaitivu that has become eponymous with the massacre that occurred here in 2009. Every year, attendees light flames and lay flowers at a memorial shrine located on a sandy clearing amid the thorny shrubs that dot the local landscape, a stone's throw from the beach. Amid the wails of the grieving, defiant songs are played over tinny loudspeakers, mourning the dead and invoking Tamil Eelam – the proposed state that the LTTE fought for. All of this is done under the watchful eye of the security forces. Plain-clothes informants are known to mingle in the crowds.