Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism

Tamil nationalism asserts that Tamils are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Tamil people. It expresses itself in the form of linguistic purism ("Pure Tamil"), nationalism and irredentism ("Tamil Eelam"), Social equality ("Self-Respect Movement") and Tamil Renaissance.

Tamils are one of the oldest civilisations in the world with a rich culture and language. Originally, Tamil people ruled in Tamilakam and parts of Sri Lanka. During the colonial period, the Tamil areas came under the rule of British India and Ceylon. This situation completely eradicated the sovereignty of Tamils and reduced them to a minority status under political model implemented by British on their process of granting independence to their colonies. Since independence, Tamil separatist movements have been suppressed in Sri Lanka and India.

A famous quote by Tamil poet Kannadasan about the Tamils as a stateless nation.

Since the Anti Tamil pogroms of 1983, known as Black July, Tamil nationalists in Sri Lanka attempted to create an independent state (Tamil Eelam) amid the increasing political and physical violence against ordinary Tamils by the Sri Lankan government which was dominated by Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. After the island's independence from Britain, the Sri Lankan government passed the Citizenship Act of 1948, which made more than a million Tamils of Indian origin stateless. The government also passed a Sinhala Only Act, which severely threatens the natural presence of minority language as well as damaging their social mobility.[1].

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