Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day
May 18th is Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. It also marks the anniversary of the Mullivaikkal Massacre where Tamils mourn the 70000 - 140000 plus lives lost at the height of the state-sponsored genocide of Sri-Lankan/Eelam Tamils. During the end of the three decade long civil war, Tamil civilians from the Vanni region, the largest region in the Nothern Province, were herded into Mullivaikkal (a small strip of beach land) with the false notion that it was a designated "no fire zone." There they were met with heavy government shelling, bombing, and grenades thrown into bunkers. They were shot down as they surrendered. Army trucks ran over wounded bodies. Girls and women were taken into questioning, raped, and killed. Food and other necessities were restricted. The injured were treated at Mullivaikkal hospital with watered-down anesthesia and butcher knives in desperation. Many went hungry for weeks and many died of starvation.
Community organizations risked their own lives feeding thousands of starving Tamils meals of "kanchi," a rice porridge which at the time could be made of only sea water and rice. Tamils were even mercilessly killed while waiting in queue for this meal. 12 years have passed yet the disappearances of our people remain unaccounted for, bodies have yet to be properly buried, and justice has yet to be served while the UN maintains neutrality, and thus inaction. Earlier this year, and recently as just a few days ago a memorial that was previously erected in memory of the victims of the Mullivaikkal Massacre, was demolished. To this day Tamils living in Sri Lanka are refused the right to mourn loved ones or commemorate the war dead in public.
Today many Tamils and their allies will eat one meal of Mullivaikkal Kanchi to honour the victims and survivors of the Mullivaikkal Massacre and Tamil genocide. As a collective, we are still experiencing the trauma arising from ongoing ethnic cleansing. The pain of our people mustn't be forgotten and the stories of our people must be passed down to our children irrespective of who tries to erase them.
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