Photo courtesy of Daily FT

Make it new. Renew. Look ahead. But

I cannot forget the murdered and burnt,

the Jaffna Public Library, the journalists,

the moderate and the fierce opposition

and soldiers and some inventors

of the hateful policies, eaten by genies

they released into our consciousness,

our fears and dreams. So much blood

spilled as a result of that infernal

language act which has engendered

now more than sixty five years of hurt

and sadness about the erstwhile paradise,

which in Black July 1983 exploded

island wide and led to the diaspora

that lives today in India, in Europe,

in Canada, Australia and America,

dreaming of returning to a land

where no group’s proscribed, where

the Prevention of Terrorism Act’s

modified, where we can walk

hand in hand without parasols,

where Jaffna and East Coast Tamils

are not surveilled at every gathering,

 burning candles and protests

outside barracks snuffed out. What

about the majority, fisherman

in Hikkaduwa, farmer in Anuradhapura,

office worker in Colombo, eating rice

and parippu under the penetrating light

of the Sun which shines without

discrimination on all island life along

with the water that laps on its shore,

elements everywhere asking why

did you allow greed and vanity

to overwhelm what was a quiet,

soporific, peaceful society?

What demons invaded your brain,

Mr. Sly Fox? What wild,

suicidal plans did you conceive

for the county you loved those

who inflicted war and “the unitary” state

on what was once three kingdoms

living and sometimes sparring

side by side? Let us recall

and celebrate our cultural and ethnic

mix today? Can we recover

the variety lost in the flames

of that July? Yes, we can. Yes,

we can move on. But let us

remember. and let those

who committed crimes against

our humanity be judged once

and for all, even if some have

since died, even if they appear

to have escaped scott free.

Not quite. The aragala,

the struggle, is still today’s

metaphor and applies

island-wide on this

anniversary of Black July.