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Who were the Tamil Tigers?

Lost in Context

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Between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka was engulfed in Civil War. There was one group above all who would dominate this conflict. Their name would become infamous around the world as they fought for a Tamil homeland on an island dominated by a Sinhalese majority. Using suicide squads and child soldiers they would fight the world’s fourth largest army to a standstill and assassinated presidents and prime ministers. Were they terrorists or were they freedom fighters? This is the story of the Tamil Tigers.

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"Correction:" , 03:43, Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'

Much video taken from Journeyman Pictures, who make incredible documentaries.‪@journeyman‬

Sources:
-A History of Sri Lanka, K. M. de Silva
-Elephant Complex; Travels in Sri Lanka, John Gimlette
-The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, Gordon Weiss
-The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Sanjeev Sanyal
-This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War, Samanth Subramanian
Various news sources, especially The Economist

00:00 Intro
00:54 Who were the Tamil Tigers?
04:58 Attacks
06:48 Diaspora and Funding
09:52 Truth Tigers
12:30 Tiger Divisions
15:19 Sri Lankan Army
17:00 Batticaloa to Trincomalee
17:48 Trincomalee
22:02 Pigeon Island
23:11 Football and Fuel

Correction: 03:43 Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'

"Correction:" , 03:43, Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'

20 Comments

@Lost_in_Context Creator 3 years ago (edited) Pinned

CORRECTION: At 3:41 I say that half the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese. This is incorrect. On looking back at my sources I found this from Gordon Weiss: "Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations". Other sources (e.g. Wikipedia) put the number lower than that. I've tried to put in a correction card on the video itself but it hasn't worked. My apologies and thank you to those people who pointed this out.

Secondly, there are many comments on this video accusing me of bias. While of course it is impossible to be completely neutral, and on such a sensitive issue it is probably inevitable that many people think I have a bias one way or another, the one thing I would point out is that this video is meant to be watched as part of a series. Of course this video focuses on the LTTE and what they did, and spends comparatively less time on the actions of the Sri Lankan army. That is because in the next few videos I will be focusing on the other combatant in this conflict. After that I will, no doubt, get accusations coming from the other side.

Ultimately, I hope, I will have achieved some sort of balance and, I must say, I still stand by almost all of the information presented so far in this series (with the exception of the correction above).

@nthurai6414 2 years ago

In 1981 Jaffna Library was burnt by the government forces. In this planned attack nearly 100000 Tamil books were burnt ashes. In July 1983 more than 4000 Tamils were massacred and all of their assets worth millions of dollars were burnt and looted by thugs backed by then president JR Jayawardene in Colombo. More than 60 Tamil prisoners were killed in Colombo prisons by the government in this planned attack by the government. Alex failed to mention these incidents.

@viduraherath4008 3 years ago

As a sri lankan who moved to Australia, i will tell you that while i may not have much understanding on the diplomatic and political environment of this war, as many people seem to call out misinformation and have different stories, that this is the problem with 3rd world and second world countries. The political figures can take advantage of the people and start meaningless conflicts for their own benefits. Neither the sri lankans nor the tamils benefitted from the war and deaths were caused for no reason other than to line the pockets or ego of some corrupt politician.

@mr.paanaa3765 3 years ago

நாம் சிங்களவராக இருந்தாலும் சரி, தமிழராக இருந்தாலும் சரி, நாம் அனைவரும் மனிதர்கள். நாங்கள் போரை விரும்பவில்லை. எங்களுக்கு ஜாதி வேற்றுமை வேண்டாம், மத பேதம் வேண்டாம்.

இதற்கெல்லாம் ஆரம்பம், அரசியல் விளையாடுபவர்கள், தேசிய நோக்கத்திற்காக வாக்குகளைப் பெறுவதற்கு, நாட்டின் ஒட்டுமொத்த சமூகத்திற்கும் கொடுத்த தவறான உதாரணம். நாம் சிந்தித்து, அவர்களின் தவறுகளை புத்திசாலித்தனமாகப் பார்த்து, இது போன்ற போர் இனி நடக்காமல் இருக்க ஒற்றுமையாக இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று நம் இதயத்தில் எடுத்துக் கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

இந்த நாடு நம் அனைவருக்கும் சொந்தமானது. சிங்கள, தமிழ், முஸ்லிம் மற்றும் கத்தோலிக்க நாடு. நாம் அனைவரும் மனிதர்கள். நாங்கள் சண்டையிட்டு பிரிந்து செல்ல விரும்பவில்லை. யுத்தம், பொருளாதாரப் பின்னடைவு, அப்பாவிப் பொது மக்களின் குழந்தைகள் அகால மரணம் என எதைப் பெற்றோம். அந்த அரசியல்வாதிகளின் பிள்ளைகள் போருக்குச் செல்லவில்லை. எங்களைப் போன்ற சாதாரண தமிழர்கள் மற்றும் சிங்கள மக்களின் பிள்ளைகள் கொல்லப்பட்டனர். இந்த வீடியோவை பார்த்து வெறுப்பை அடைய வேண்டாம். இந்த விஷயங்களை மீண்டும் வேண்டாம் என்று புத்திசாலித்தனமாக வேலை செய்யுங்கள். மதப்படி வேலை செய்யுங்கள்.

நான் சிங்களவன். ஆனால் எனக்கு தமிழ் நண்பர்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள். நாங்கள் ஒன்றாக சாப்பிடுகிறோம், ஒரே படுக்கையில் தூங்குகிறோம், ஒன்றாக பயணம் செய்கிறோம். எங்களிடம் தமிழ் அன்பர்கள் உள்ளனர், தமிழ் நண்பர்களுக்கு சிங்கள காதலர்கள் உள்ளனர். உங்களால் நேசிக்க முடிந்தால், ஏன் போர்? இலங்கை இராணுவம் மற்றும் விடுதலைப் புலிகள் இருபுறமும் எங்களுடைய சொந்த மக்களைக் கொண்டிருந்தனர். போர் முடிந்துவிட்டது. மீண்டும் போரை முடிவுக்கு கொண்டு வர மத, இனவாதத்தை தூண்டாமல், அரசியலில் ஏமாறாமல் பாடுபடுவோம்

@Neil00841 3 years ago

You missed the part where Indian government trained, armed and sponsored Tamil militants back in the 80's. Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) set up 32 training camps all over India to train 6 Sri Lankan Tamil insurgent groups.

@checkraiser100 1 year ago (edited)

Tamil Tigers randomly picked up arms one day to fight to the last man, woman, and child in order to control all of Sri Lanka, according to you. What amazing research and journalism.

@tonnylim4388 3 years ago

Some of my co-worker & customer from Sri Lanka's.. they're really very friendly peoples...I'm sad to see the situation there..and sincerely hope that no more war will happen again.. strongly suggest this document "No fire zone" you can have better understanding about the conflict about the Sri Lanka's

@assassinsbrotherhood4827 2 years ago

Bro hands down one of the best documentaries regarding the topic I’ve enjoyed watching after journeyman documentaries . Everything from narration , editing and the video shots you took were great and respect for visiting Sri Lanka . 🫡

@cliors200 3 years ago

You can make a similar story for Bangladesh as it has a diverse history from it's origins, to the British occupation to independence until now, there is a lot to cover 🇧🇩 🇧🇩 🇧🇩

@janithakumara8053 2 years ago

thank you for let the world know about sri lanka and Sinhalese.

@chasingnirvana4671 2 years ago

I'm reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and couldn't understand any references to the civil war, didn't understand the ideologies and perspectives of the sides, which led me to this series. I am so grateful. Being a Nepali, I was shamefully clueless about the sri lankan history but now I feel much more capable of understanding the context and situation. Love this series. So well made. Thank you so much Alex.

@pasindudineth3288 2 years ago

Respect sri lanka 🇱🇰 army ❤I love my mother sri lanka 🇱🇰❤️

@kalpaamarasinghe9149 3 years ago

What I can say is, we have lost so many talents cos of this brutal and unnecessary war. It could have been different scenario today if the war was not existed. All politics .

@jaysanjayan6134 2 years ago

This guy has no idea. There never existed 160 Tamil MPs. The entire Sri Lanka parliament only has 225 MPs.

@humanbeing-_-_- 1 year ago

Your videos are phenomenal. Your storytelling is excellent both visually and verbally.

@conroybogle3713 2 years ago

When I started my career I met a very cool middle aged woman. I was replacing her deck. They spent all day smoking cigarettes inside the garage. Her teeth were yellow but she was very beautiful. She had the demeanor of a woman with ties to a Mafia. She had a sense of humour. She dressed like a man, but with women's clothes. She spoke so calm, even when she was smiling with you. I took a long time on the job, but I never saw her angry. Even when we were making terms of the contract termination she at most stressed one or two words and it was never a competition to speak. I was so sad when I left that job.. I wonder where she is now

@Sllion-t3i 3 years ago

❤❤❤❤❤🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰

@SnapshotS2U 3 years ago

Very good documentary. Nice to see Trincomalee and Batticaloa after 10 years

@TamizhanCan 3 years ago

What is the root cause of the Tamil struggle for freedom? To gain a better understanding, we need to examine both sides of the story since independence from British colonial rule in the 1950s. In particular, we should explore the events surrounding the Black July riots in 1983. The government's perspective is not the only one, and it's essential to speak with local Tamils who have witnessed the true atrocities committed by Buddhist extremists. It's crucial to avoid bias and acknowledge the genuine pain and suffering that Tamils have endured, and continue to face today. In the north-east region, there is currently one army personnel for every five civilians. Tamils have demanded peace and equal rights since the end of British colonization, but these basic rights have been denied. Government forces have committed horrific crimes, including rape and massacres, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. As a result, Tamil women have taken up arms and joined the Tigers to retaliate. For them, it is better to die fighting for freedom than to suffer rape and murder at the hands of the ruthless Buddhist forces.