On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan<[email protected]> wrote: [...] > I see this as very similar to the situation ongoing with religious and > caste minorities in parts of India.
I should hasten to add that this isn't restricted to India and SL. These patterns of cultural oppression and conflict can be found in almost all countries with a strong ethnic populace that has sufficiently reasonable or powerful claims of title to the land. Stark examples are the Bhoomiputras in Malaysia and Han Chinese in China. Where the wounds are less recent and the oppressors have tried hard to make amends it's harder to tell, but there is discontent even now. The Native American Indians, Maori and other indigenous tribes of the world have much to be upset about. African Americans too have for long felt pride in hanging on to an "African" identity as opposed to a white identity and shunning the idea of being labeled Uncle Tom. Ironically this behavior only helps to keeps them back, and prevents them from furthering their position economically and culturally in the mainstream. Cheeni
