Since independence from the British in
1948 the majority Tamil population of Sri Lanka formerly known as Ceylon has
been facing systemic political and economic discrimination by the majority
Sinhalese government. These systematic discriminations over the years propelled
the formation of many Tamil militant groups. The most famous of which were the
Tamil Tigers. Many questions arise from these distinctive acts of oppression
and racism. The first and most obvious being, what was the reason for Sinhalese
oppression of the Tamils? In this blog post, the answers to that question are
traced back to the implementation of modernity during British colonial rule.
