Isai Marijerla
The Sri Lankan government celebrated its ‘Independence Day’ as it normally does – repressing peaceful protesters and attacking the rights of the Tamil-speaking people.
Tamil Solidarity has been organising protests outside the Sri Lankan High Commission – saying that, for us, this is not an independence day but a black day.
We condemn the Sri Lankan government and its continuous vicious policies of attacking the democratic rights of the majority in Sri Lanka.
In Britain, other Tamil diaspora organisations called the protest appealing to ‘his majesty king Charlies III’ to win our basic democratic rights. We fundamentally disagree with this approach. No rights were ever just given by the capitalist state – they had to be fought for and won by the working-class masses and youth. For Tamil Solidarity, these are our natural allies.
We have no trust in the monarchy, a tool used by British capitalism, nor in the right-wing governments, including the Conservative Party in power. Their interests are in direct contrast to ours.
We need to organise collectively with our natural allies – which is why Tamil Solidarity took an independent position and organised a separate protest.
We demand:
- Repeal the draconian ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’ immediately, and all other oppressive laws
- Drop all charges on protesters
- Release all political prisoners
- Allow freedom of assembly and free speech
- Give back all the land occupied by the military and government authorities
- An independent war crimes investigation
- Withdraw troops from all occupied Tamil areas
- Stop privatisation in education and health
- Allow the right to self-determination for the Tamil-speaking people
