Vote Yes, Shander appeals to Canadian Tamils

"These are extraordinary times requiring extraordinary solutions made by extraordinary people. You are those extraordinary people. Tamils of Eelam unite! Step forward and say YES to the referendum of creating a separate state called Tamil Eelam," appeals Dr Ellyn Shander, a Connecticut Psychiatrist, a humanitarian worker and a critic of the Sri Lanka Government, on the Saturday referendum where Tamils will vote across Canada on the question of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam.

Dr Shander who visited Vanni on a post-tsunami help program, has been a moral force behind the American Tamils struggle to highlight the plight of the Tamils in the NorthEast. Indian embassy in New York denied a visa to Shander to travel to New Delhi to address the Delhi Tamil Sangam in September 2009.

Full text of Dr Shander's appeal follows:

To Canadian Tamils of Eelam:

American Tamils observe Tamil memorial day

Dr. Ellyn Shander, an American psychiatrist who went to Sri Lanka and volunteered services in the North, after December 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

These are extraordinary times requiring extraordinary solutions made by extraordinary people. You are those extraordinary people. Tamils of Eelam unite! Step forward and say YES to the referendum of creating a separate state called Tamil Eelam.

If you must come forward now and support the following statement based on the main political principles embodied in the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 that was mandated by Tamils in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka in 1977:

"I aspire for the formation of the independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east territory of the island of Sri Lanka on the basis that the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka make a distinct nation, have a traditional homeland and have the right to self-determination."

There are times in history that each of us are called upon to go outside our level of comfort and take a stand.

Translation in Tamil

This is the time to step up and be counted. Raise your voices high, and vote not with guns but with your democratic right and vote YES for a free homeland called Tamil Eelam .

I only wish that I had the privilege to vote YES

All of our efforts must be towards liberating a free Tamil Eelam. Because unless Eelam exists , slavery of the Tamil people will never be extinguished .

By voting YES,
Say no to Tamil subjugation
Say no to Tamil slavery
Say YES to a liberated Tamil Eelam.

Respectfully
Dr Ellyn Shander

Chronology:

19.12.09 Referendum deciding identity

19.12.09 Vote Yes, Shander appeals to Canadian Tamils

18.12.09 Tamil Nadu leaders wish well for referendum in Can..

18.12.09 BTF, TNC welcome referendum in Canada, urge full p..

17.12.09 Referendum to speak for themselves - paper

16.12.09 Yes or no to Tamil Eelam, referendum in Canada on ..

12.09.09 India denies visa to US rights activist