Tribute by Athithan

Viraj Mendis: A beacon of international solidarity and a pillar in the Eelam-Tamil liberation struggle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 August 2024, 21:23 GMT]
Comrade Viraj Mendis, arrived in the U.K in 1973 as a student and were there until he was forcefully deported by the British government to Sri Lanka in 1989. During the course of these years, Viraj developed ties with revolutionary movements in the U.K and advocated solidarity towards the liberation struggle of the Eelam-Tamils. Likewise, he spent his one year of deportation in Sri Lanka to work towards building solidarity for the LTTE and the Eelam-Tamils amongst the Sinhalese. His efforts created the conditions for the emergence of a small number of Sinhala revolutionaries who would follow his path towards embracing the Eelam-Tamil liberation struggle. These Sinhala revolutionaries would also over the course of the years be forced into exile and have since worked alongside Viraj.

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Dr. Athithan Jayapalan

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In 1990 Viraj was granted refugee in the German city of Bremen and moved there. Viraj would subsequently dedicate 40 years of his life towards working politically for the liberation struggle of the Eelam Tamils. He worked during the 1990’s closely with the Head of LTTE`s international Secretariat the late Mr Lawrence Thilaker, amongst other to develop solidarity ties to other progressive and revolutionary forces around the world.

During this time, he also became a close friend of Sivaram Dharmalingam, and through him with TamilNet.

His tireless efforts towards building international solidarity for Eelam-Tamils culminated in the fruition of 3 Permanent peoples Tribunal on Sri Lanka.



He has also been a leading force behind numerous political and legal campaign in defense of Eelam-Tamils activists and refugees bearing the brunt of the EU ban on the LTTE.

The cases brought against dozens of Eelam-Tamil activists in Switzerland was defeated by a group organized by Viraj Mendis and marked the first time in history where Eelam Tamils defeated a case moved against them citing the EU proscription of the LTTE.

Viraj’s principled position and work towards the Eelam Tamils liberation struggle finds its righteous place among the heroes and martyrs whom populate the annals of Eelam Tamil history.

Heroes who held the burning desire of Tamil Eelam in their heart and committed their life for the cause of an oppressed nation. His courageous and unwavering support for the LTTE and liberation struggle of Eelam Tamils have instilled spirit in many who have worked with Viraj Mendis over the course of time.

In the period after the genocide of Mullivaykal, Viraj worked tirelessly to create political spaces internationally, to address the genocide of Eelam Tamils as well as their national liberation when the U.S and Sri Lanka went about to destroy the political spaces of Eelam-Tamils in the diaspora, as well as in the homeland.

The shock of the destruction of the LTTE, the efforts of the U.S and its allies to stifle Eelam-Tamil political expression and mobilization, ushered forth a paralysis and fear psychosis in the Eelam-Tamil diaspora.

Therefore, many organizations cowered away from supporting the work undertaken by Viraj and his comrades.

Nonetheless, Eelam-Tamils have been shown the path forward as reflected in the work, desires and commitment of Viraj Mendis.

It has come to my notice, that there are given sections within the Eelam-Tamil diaspora, whom holds a history of lack of transparency in accounting, whom have engaged in accusations against Viraj.

For the record, I want to put forward this material analysis of the context in which such dispute may arise. In the aftermath of Mullivaaykal, certain diasporic organizations whom held monopoly on community funds, failed to proactively organize against the U.S and U.K led political counter-insurgency marshalled against the Eelam Tamils spirit of national resistance and the political spaces, to address and advance the political struggle for self-determination.

Instead, they fell for the Geneva-trap orchestrated by the U.S and their allies.

Then, it relied heavily upon individuals and smaller networks amongst the Eelam-Tamils, as well the likes of comrade Viraj to provide a counter-narrative and alternative platforms for political struggle.

Viraj undertook such work with a revolutionary commitment towards Eelam-Tamils national aspirations.

In fact, Tamil diasporic organizations should have alleviated the task fallen upon Viraj and others by assisting and providing them with the human resources for the task of accounting.

Nonetheless, it is also not a secret that in a political struggle, which faces the might of U.S imperialism and the forces of the Sri Lankan state and their allies, transparency in the liberal sense of every penny, might be counterproductive to the struggle itself.

As it may put at risk the very structures that make possible organizing and advancing a struggle whilst avoiding the tentacles of the oppressor state and its imperialist masters.

During a book release in Oslo in 2019, comrade Viraj Mendis eloquently portrayed the U.S position towards the Sri Lanka and the Eelam-Tamils. He repeatedly reminded Eelam-Tamils that it was the U.S that endorsed the military solution against the LTTE and the Eelam-Tamil national question which amongst other led to the U.S orchestration of the EU’s proscription of the LTTE and the subsequent destruction of the Cease Fire Agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.

2019 December


“The way in which the international community looked at the Tamil struggle was in a completely militaristic way. In other words, the Tamil struggle had to be defeated militarily, a military solution was needed... The ones who dictated this was the U.S and the U.K.

“This was their paradigm... They gave advice and arms to the Sri Lankan state, to defend the Sri Lankan unitary state system. Which was actually introduced not by the Sinhalese, but by the British in 1833.

“The British designed and organized unitary state system; the Americans also accepted this as a correct way, since the Americans needed Sri Lanka as a military outpost. To have a Sinhala dominated unitary state system allowed them, as long as the Sinhalese was on their side, which they always were since the British period till now, they would have control of Trincomalee, despite that it was Tamils who lived there”

“First time in history, in 2000, 2001 and 2003, there was a part of the western alliance, that had another way of looking at it. That was they did not accept what we call a military or war paradigm. They said they think it is possibility to solve this through negotiation.

“Germany especially pushed for this inside of EU. All of EU supported the Peace Talks on the basis of parity of esteem, between the two sides. They did not go as far as calling it parity of status but they respected both sides equally. If the international community is to support a peace process you must treat both sides equally....

“By 2006, all of the 26 countries that previously opposed the military solution and supported parity of esteem in the negotiation process. They all suddenly decided to ban the LTTE, which means no parity of status. One side is illegal and the other we support with arms, and they basically supported the military solution. The EU said: ‘We think the LTTE should lay down their arms’.

“So, what happened? During this period when the EU took a position against the Tamil struggle and a position for the military solution [and] it was over. When all of the international community, the Co-chairs supported the ban on the LTTE, the criminalization of the LTTE, the world community politically took a stand against the Tamils.

“The political space for discussion was removed completely, so it was inevitable that it will go to its finish. If you ban one side and you arm the other side, what was going to happen? And the whole world went along it, it was the American and British who orchestrated it. After Mullivaykal, the criminalization against the Tamil people continued.”

Chronology: