Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (13:25): Over the weekend of 18 May our Tamil community gathered to commemorate Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day here in Victoria and across the world. Mullivaikkal was our Rafah. In the final stages of a 30-year civil war hundreds of thousands of Tamils were told to shelter in no-fire zones. As people sheltered desperately in Mullivaikkal for safety as the war surrounded them, the Sri Lankan army bombed them from the air, land and sea. Between 40,000 and 70,000 people were killed. Tens of thousands remain missing. Fifteen years on we remember all those lives taken from our community and the scars that will remain. We will never be the same.

My family left Sri Lanka because of the war in the 1980s, but I returned in 2004 during the ceasefire to volunteer in Vanni in the north as the Tamil community were rebuilding and preparing for independence. I met the most remarkable and strong people. When war returned, some fled across the world, some had to remain. There are many who we do not know what happened to – up to 100,000 people remain missing to this day.

The Tamil community carries with it the responsibility to remember them and to stand against genocide anywhere and everywhere. That is why we speak up for the Palestinians and stand in solidarity with all oppressed peoples. As we speak, Rafah is being bombed. People who are sheltering in safe zones are being slaughtered, and we are seeing images of children burnt and lifeless. Many of you remain silent. Many of us will never forget those of you who did nothing as innocent people were being slaughtered. Free, free Palestine!