"Tamil Canada in the Media Lens" - notes from Prof. Sundar's presentation

Professor Aparna Sundar, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, has most kindly provided us with the transcript from her presentation at last week's panel - "Tamil Canada in the Media Eye: Protests Under Multiculturalism."

Each panelist spoke for about 5 minutes, after which they took questions from the audience.
Prof. Sundar covered some important points about the responsibility of the media and the boundaries of "Canadian multiculturalism."

Note: For those who are interested, I've added links to the various articles Prof. Sundar cites. Please note that these may not be the place the piece was originally published, and that the link may not always be active / accessible. -- Koko

Last week's panel discussion

The panel discussion at UTSC last week had great attendance, and generated some very interesting questions. I just want to mention something that stuck with me personally because it bothered me quite a bit.

Prof. Daniel Drache described immigrant activism as an uphill struggle, and he gave some important examples from recent Canadian history (the Italian and Japanese communities). He stressed the importance of educating the rest of the population, that this was the responsibility of the immigrant community if they wanted their struggles to be heard and understood; you can't expect things to be handed to you on a silver platter.

Some articles

A selection of articles from Jon.

1. Nirmaial Rajasingam, "The Tamil Diaspora: solidarities and Realities."
   
2. "Tamil national aspirations, TNA and transnational governance."
3. Tanuja Thurairajah, "what we need? Why we cannot wait?"
   
4. Meena Nallainathan, "Staring Down the Tigers."
   
5. A Sivanandan, "An Island Tragedy."
   

"Tamil Canada in the Media Eye: Protests Under Multiculturalism"

SAVAC is a supporter of "Tamil Canada in the Media Eye: Protests Under Multiculturalism" - a panel talk discussing media representations of the Tamil diaspora through the protests this year.

SAVAC will briefly introduce "Reflecting on the 2009 Tamil Diaspora Protests" at this event.

"We’re here. We’re Tamil. Get used to it"

This article was recently brought to my attention.

We’re here. We’re Tamil. Get used to it
After six months of relentless protesting, Toronto Tamils have become a serious political force. How a 20-year-old kid from Scarborough helped mobilize a generation
By Richard Poplak
Originally published in "Toronto Life" August 2009.

An online image archive of the protests in Canada

SAVAC invites contributions towards an online archive of imagery about the protests in Canada. This collective archive will serve as a starting point for the discussions (described below). Submissions may include photography, drawings or video.

To submit your images of the protests please visit
http://www.flickr.com/groups/toronto-tamil-protests/

About this project

[[ Invite your friends on Facebook ]]

Beginning in mid-2008, an extraordinary series of protests erupted in cities from Chennai to Ottawa against the escalation of the government military offensive in Sri Lanka’s north. These demonstrations, of which Toronto was a major epicentre, marked a critical moment in recent history and provoked vigorous debate. Information technology and new media provided both a stage and vehicle for these events; the production and circulation of digital information and images became a central organizing tool of the demonstrations. The “spectacle” of the protests – in Guy Debord’s sense of a spectacle being a “social relation mediated by images”– generated heated debate over the politics of immigration and citizenship, the occupation of public space, and the complexities of Tamil identity within the diaspora. To this point, however, much of this discussion has focused narrowly on Sri Lankan politics or questions of race and racism in Canada.

Through a series of artist-lead workshops, SAVAC seeks to initiate a broader dialogue concerning the social, political and performative efficacy of the 2009 Tamil diaspora protests. How can an examination of various images in the media enable a critique of the spectacle of the protests themselves? What voices and experiences have the dominant representations of these demonstrations silenced? How can the conceptual strategies of contemporary art provide new insights and an alternate language for understanding diaspora and transnational social mobilization?

This series will consist of three full-day workshops that will meet once a month from February to April 2010. The workshops will include several components, including hands-on exercises with the facilitating artists, and will address a wide-ranging set of issues: media representations of the protests, utilizations of digital media, the internet as an archive of current history, the centrality of sound and language, the contested nature of public spaces, and the intimate relationship between identity and modes of social performance. These conversations will also assist in organizing a SAVAC event for the 2010 Tamil studies conference at the University of Toronto.

We welcome all interested participants, including those with no artistic background. However, space is limited. Please send an email to register, including a short description of your interest in the workshop. A small number of selected critical readings will be circulated in advance. For more information, or to register please contact communication [at] savac.net