Empowering diasporas

In ”Empowering Diasporas: The Dynamics of Post-war Transnational Tamil Politics“, Luxshi Vimalarajah and R. Cheran analyse the current trends and the transnational politics of the Tamil Diaspora after the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. The main objective of the paper is to offer a nuanced understanding of the Tamil Diaspora politics as it is being currently expressed globally and specifically in the United Kingdom and Canada. This study examines the driving factors, the underlying change theory and the internal as well as external dynamics to shed light on the complex and multifaceted nature of Tamil Diaspora politics in the post-war era. The study aims to initiate a new discourse among policy, academic and diaspora circles by critically analysing the conventional understanding of the Tamil Diaspora. The authors suggest looking at the Tamil Diaspora as a rational political actor vested with interest and agency. The paper argues that the Tamil Diaspora will remain a critical factor in any conflict resolution effort, including those by host countries, due to its ‘homeland’ politics and its stance towards the domestic policies of the host, such as the United Kingdom and Canada. Hence, any political settlement of the ethnopolitical conflict in Sri Lanka will only be sustainable if the Tamil Diaspora is included as an essential stakeholder in conflict resolution efforts and their concerns are given due consideration. The paper emphasizes that the reorientation of Tamil politics after the war needs to be based on the insight that every new beginning must incorporate a critical evaluation of its own history and the errors of the past. The Tamil Diaspora can only remain a credible actor if it engages critically with its own stereotypes, its enemy images, and if it explores new ground in terms of new networks and strategic alliances that transcend ethnic boundaries. The success of Tamil Diaspora formations depends not only on their capacity to mobilize their own constituency and on the access they have to power-centres in the host countries, but also on how willing they are to assess their own strengths and weaknesses.