According to the Sri Lankan government and photos of a pale-faced Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE has been defeated and all peace will be restored to Sri Lanka’s embattled civilian population. That’s obviously an exaggeration of the truth.

Perhaps the LTTE has been defeated once and for all. They have suffered major hits over the past 25 years but never have they completely collapsed. A high-ranking Tamil and former member of the LTTE (a long while ago, when they were non-violent and a group of just about 20, she said) said this morning on CBC radio (a major radio station in Canada run by our public broadcasting corporation) that she believes the majority of Tamils are sick of the Tigers and will not take part in a resurgence of the group, at least not any time soon. She believes the conduct of the LTTE has been particularly destructive to the well-being of the Tamil Diaspora over the years, especially now, when so many civilians have died and so many have been displaced.

We don’t know for sure if Prabhakaran is dead or if the Tigers have been defeated. Yes, the army showed photos of Prabhakaran’s corpse, eyes wide open, however, this is the same government that has been complicit in the killing of civilians. And because journalists and media have been banned from the region, we only have government accounts. Since when do we trust politicians to be truthful and not doctor images? Maybe Prabhakaran is dead and I’m being overly suspicious or cautious, but there is that possibility that it isn’t him.

One thing we know for certain is that neither peace nor humanitarian aid will be handed willingly to the displaced, injured and horrified citizens of the war-torn region. International bodies are hesitant to step foot in Sri Lanka. This lack of civilian aid and international apathy is the new topic for Tamil protesters.

The UN secretary general had condemned the army and the LTTE for ignoring the safety of civilians, the group the two bodies are supposedly trying to protect from each other. However, the government in Sri Lanka is not seeking a political victory. An all-out, definitive military triumph is the only thing that will please them, and it is the wrong thing for them to be pursuing.

The LTTE is trying to secede with the Tamils, but it’s causing so many civilian deaths, which can be blamed on both the LTTE and the government. Both blame each other and without reporters in the region we can only speculate.

Before their defeat, the LTTE were backed and cornered into a spot chock-full of civilians. By leaving the area they would die. By staying the civilians would die too.

So instead of sparing civilian lives, they stayed and civilians died as the LTTE and the government tread over the carcasses of their own people to kill each other. Neither cared much for their surroundings.

Now that it is over, there are scores of political options behind which the international community can voice their support. But the UN wants to allow reporters in to the region and chase a phantom political solution that, at this time, has no hope of being achieved.

Since 1977 have the Tamils been officially asking for a separate Tamil Eelam. They won’t throw that away now just because the LTTE has been stripped to the bone.

They may not back the reincarnation of the Tigers for some time, but they will rise again to fight for their independence from an oppressive government. Violence hasn’t worked, peaceful protest and requests haven’t worked and elections haven’t worked. But the downfall of the LTTE could spark a new generation of Tamils to demand their freedom.

The way they go about it is up to them.

Labeling the situation in Sri Lanka as bad is quite an understatement. It’s dire, dreadful and alarming. Even that’s an understatement. It’s hard to describe, through language, the emotional distress and pain Tamils are going through as their friends and families are being systematically killed back home. They’re a minority, it’s tough. The civil war between the majority Sinhalese government and the minority Tamil Tiger rebellion calling for an independent state has been going on for more than two decades. The end isn’t near.

Neither side is exactly peaceful. A recent attack, blamed on the government by the Tamil Tigers and the Tamil Tigers by the government, fired artillery shells that have killed 300, including more than 100 children, and injured nearly 1,000.

The government can be violent and the Tamil Tigers have been branded a terrorist organization in the U.S., Canada, India and 29 other countries. They’ve use child soldiers and suicide bombs. But their government kills their supporters too, so the real tragedy here is not the deaths of the Tamil Eelam fighters or soldiers, but of the civilians caught in the crossfire.

And while I’m not Tamil, I understand and recognize the hurt the innocent are going through, though I could never truly imagine or begin to comprehend the veracity of it. Hell, I can’t even describe it using language.

But here’s where it gets tricky. Some of you may have heard that a 2,000-strong five hour Tamil protest blocked off the Gardiner Expressway until midnight last night, the city of Toronto’s major highway which sees between 200,000 and 300,000 cars daily. It’s been called an artery at times as it transports citizens from the beating heart of the city out to the western suburbs, which are inhabited by more than 1,000,000 residents.

Imagine driving along a major highway when a Tamil mother and child suddenly pop up beside your car. Yes, they brought their children too. And yes, as you can see above, they actually walked up the ramp onto the highway. How? I have no clue.

At its height, the protest blocked off traffic in either direction for a few miles. It could have been quite dangerous if there had been a medical emergency, miraculously though, no ambulances reported to have been caught in the jam. No babies were delivered in taxis. Just some pissed off residents and a few missed flights (a friend of mine missed his).

Some might be saying, so what? How dare you compare a five hour inconvenience to the deaths of innocent Sri Lankans?

Well, I’m not doing that. But I am struggling to understand how in the world blocking off traffic and angering every Torontonian could possibly help the cause? Only those who hate Torontonians would laugh at us, and in Canada, there are a lot of those. But who cares about those haters, that’s beside the point.

Up to now, Tamil protests in Toronto have been pretty peaceful and sane. They walk down large streets in large numbers, disrupting traffic a bit in the downtown core but only for a little while. No big deal.

And I understand that the goal of this protest was to garner media attention so that the demands made would be heard by as many as possible. That’s fine.

But now everyone is angry at you. Torontonians are mad, many (as I read in the comments section on the CBC website) believe that the Tamils should respect Canadian society and protest in a way that doesn’t disrupt it. Or at least protest more at Parliament Hill, not downtown Toronto. Remember, the Prime Minister, that guy who runs our country (poorly) lives in Ottawa not Toronto.

The point of protesting is to get people to rally behind you and support you, not be angry with you.

And please, the next time you want to block off a highway or walk onto the court during a basketball game or something, don’t bring your kids. Someone could easily have gotten hit by a car last night, and the last thing anyone wants is to harm an innocent child.

I support the cause; the civil war should end or at least stop long enough to get the civilians out of there. Bring them to Canada, we’d love to take them. But seriously, angering Torontonians creates hate, and Torontonians are like the New Yorkers of Canada. Just waiting for something new to be pissed at.

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