Brexit:Sri Lanka deals with Britain

Brexit fallout: Lanka moving fast to strike deals with Britain
By Sandun Jayawardana
View(s): 948

Sri Lanka, facing the fallout of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, is set to negotiate a new trade agreement with Britain.

Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva, who played a prominent role in the Government’s ultimately failed campaign to persuade Sri Lankans in Britain to vote to remain in the EU, told the Sunday Times Sri Lanka would now look to finalise a new trade agreement with Britain soon.

Accordingly, a committee of experts would meet in the coming days to study the implications of Britain’s decision and what Sri Lanka could do to minimise the impact, he revealed.

The main problem for Sri Lanka was that about 40% of the country’s exports to the EU went to Britain. The deputy minister said the Government was finalising the application for resumption of the GSP+ facility for about 100 Sri Lankan export items to the EU.

Now, however, this facility would apply only to the rest of Europe and not Britain. “The loss will be significant,” Dr. de Silva said. Sri Lanka would move quickly to get this facility from Britain also, he said. “Britain will want to reach agreements with many other countries as well, so we’ll have to really focus on this now.”

Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim, meanwhile, claimed that the Government had sent ministers, deputies and others to Britain to campaign for the ‘Remain’ camp on a request by the British Government.

Mr. Hashim said Sri Lanka respected the decision of British voters, but move quickly to renegotiate its trade deals with the non-EU partners

Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, however, said Government acted in haste in getting involved in the UK referendum because of the United National Parties links with Britain’s Conservative Party rather than any concern over trade links with Britain.

He said such issues should be closely studied. “Rushing into the situation will not help Sri Lanka as this country itself is in economic crisis. 

We need to be careful and come to a consensus after properly studying these issues,” he added.

Minister Harin Fernando who also went to Britain said they spoke to Sri Lankans there on the need to vote to remain in the EU but he stressed that he went to Britain to take part in a Telecommunication conference while Deputy Foreign Minister se Silva went their mainly for a GSP + related issue.

Brexit: Victory for xenophobia, nationalism, exclusivity - EDITORIAL
2016-06-26 23:12:11
   
The referendum in the UK on whether the country should remain in the European Union (EU) or leave it –‘Brexit’ is over.

For better or for worse, the majority of UK’s voters opted to leave the EU. The campaign to leave the EU was not based on economics. The Bank of England had warned that leaving the union would have an adverse effect on the UK. The campaign to ‘leave’ initially led by Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) based itself on populist issues and roused anti-immigrant fears, disguised as a bid for independence from the EU.

In 2004 the EU began making efforts to rope in nations of the former communist bloc in an effort to isolate Russia. But the move backfired as citizens of the communist bloc, who were poor, began to move to richer countries like the UK, France and Germany, in search of employment.

They also began using the welfare-state facilities of these countries.

 The large numbers of people claiming welfare facilities soon brought the facilities to a breaking point. These events led to the growth of anti immigrant sentiments and hatred, which in turn, saw the birth of xenophobia among sections of the population in those countries. An example of this rise in migrant increase and parallel rise the rise in anti Immigrant political parties is best exemplified in the rising fortunes of the UKIP.

Between 1993 and 2014 the foreign-born population in the UK more than doubled from 3.8 million to around 8.3 million. In the past 10 years, UKIP’s poll numbers have soared: It got 4 million votes in the 2015 election, the third-largest national vote total in the country.

While The EU represented a coming- together of people open borders and an opportunity for the integration of people and a widening of horizons beyond parochial country and nationalistic boundaries, ‘Brexit’ is a victory for xenophobia, narrow nationalism and exclusivity among the British people.

Britain’s vote to leave the EU in fact only exposes the xenophobia, racism and exclusivity of the proponents of Brexit who do not see the role their own country played in creating the migrant crisis within Europe, nor do they recognise the role NATO and US played in their regime change schemes to control the mineral and petroleum resources of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria which led to a mass exodus of humanity from those countries.

Britain’s decision to leave the EU is also a leap into the unknown - with no plan to face the consequences of the breakaway. Brexit in fact appears to have triggered an impending implosion of the UK itself.

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted by almost a two-third majority to remain in the EU. In the aftermath of the vote to leave the EU,

Scotland’s First Minister said she would be calling for a new independence referendum to secede from the United Kingdom, within “...the next few months...”.

Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin Mc Guinness has called for a vote on Irish unity because Northern Ireland also voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.

Sadly the seeds of similar patterns of behaviour can be seen in other strong economies in Europe as well from PEGIDA in Germany to Marine

Le Penn’s National Front (NF) in France and the Freedom Party in Austria.

Sri Lanka too came close to falling prey to xenophobia during the regime of President Rajapaksa, who began making out that Muslims,

Tamils, Christians et al, as enemies, who were attempting to make the Sinhala-Buddhists second class citizens in their own land.

Mobs of opportunistic Sinhala-Buddhists in tow with Rajapaksa attacked minority communities with total impunity. Fortunately the Sri Lankan electorate proved more enlightened and at the presidential polls in 2015 cast Rajapaksa and his hangers-on into the dustbins of history  The Donald Trump phenomenon in the US today too is based on this same xenophobia, and promotion of a white supremacist agenda.

Trump’s call to build a wall along the Mexico-US border to prevent immigrants coming into the US from Mexico, a total ban of Muslim immigrants entering the US, and his sabre-rattling against China are but symptoms of the disease. Given the recent events of the June 24, 2016 in Britain, it is not difficult to see Trump being elected President of the US.  But, as the saying goes, in a democracy people get the government they deserve and perhaps the Americans deserve Trump.

Meanwhile the political editor of our sister paper the ‘Sunday Times’ emphasises that a fallout of ‘Brexit’ which will affect the country negatively is a possible rise in interest rates which could affect  the bond issue of US $2.5 billion due today (Monday). The funds are needed to repay outstanding loans and prevent “further deterioration of the balance of payments situation.

BREXIT: குடியேற்றவாசிகள் மீது தொடர் தாக்குதல்

Nigel Farage-UKIP- unveils his latest Brexit poster in Westminster 

வெற்றிக்குள் ஒழிந்திருக்கும் பிற்போக்கை முறியடிப்போம்!

இங்கிலாந்து எங்கும் பரவலாக ஆங்கிலேய பெருந்தேசிய வெறித் தாக்குதல்கள்!

*'Halal Kashmir butchers' is destroyed after thugs throw petrol bomb,

 *As it emerges race-hate crime soars by 57% days after Britain votes to quit the EU,

*Vandalising of Polish community centre in London among other incidents,

By SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 17:13, 28 June 2016 | UPDATED: 01:13, 29 June 2016

A Muslim halal butchers has been gutted by fire after thugs threw a petrol bomb into the shop just days after Britain voted to leave the EU.

It is the UK's latest suspected racist attack and follows the vandalising of a Polish community centre in west London and a BBC news presenter being called a 'P***' in her home town of Basingstoke.

Vandals are also said to have targeted every German-made car parked on one London street, scratching Swastikas and other offensive drawings into the bodywork.

It follows a 57 per cent rise in race-hate crime since last Thursday's EU referendum. In particular, police have been investigating a number of attacks on Poles and Muslims.

The horrific attack on Kashmir Meat & Poultry butchers in Walsall, West Midlands, happened at 5.25pm yesterday.

Police say a 6ft tall white man, who was wearing a blue jacket, walked into the halal butchers and threw a lit bottle of accelerant.

Luckily, a worker in the store managed to escape with just bruises after the attack.

But dramatic pictures show how the butchers was left completely gutted, with the front windows blown out and the walls covered in soot.

West Midlands Police said it was keeping an open mind over the motive of the attack.

However, locals living in the area said they were in no doubt it was related to Brexit, saying tensions are 'running high in the community'.

Police say a 6ft tall white man, who was wearing a blue jacket, walked into the halal butchers and threw a lit bottle of accelerant. Luckily, a worker in the store managed to escape with just bruises after the attackWest Midlands Police said it was keeping an open mind over the motive of the attack. But locals living in the area said they were in no doubt it was related to Brexit, saying tensions are 'running high in the community'

 Clean-up: Mary Walker, 67, from Pleck in Walsall, said tensions in the community had heightened since Britain voted to leave the EU. The scene at Kashmir Meat and Poultry shop is pictured today


A spokesman for the force said the incident is being investigated by officers, who are currently making inquiries and examining CCTV footage.

Detective Inspector Greg Evans said: 'The inquiry is at an early stage and I am keeping an open mind as to the motive.

'The man was not seriously injured but it could have been much more serious.'

Mary Walker, 67, from Pleck in Walsall, said tensions in the community had heightened since Britain voted to leave the EU.

INCREASE OF INCIDENTS OF HATE CRIME REPORTED IN THE WAKE OF THE BREXIT VOTE

We won -EU Referendum- now send them back

The UK has seen a 57 per cent rise in race-hate crime following the referendum decision to leave the EU last week. Among the dozens of reported incidents are:

Muslim halal butchers, Kashmir Meat & Poultry butchers in Walsall, West Midlands, left gutted after thugs threw a petrol bomb into the shop.

The vandalising of  Polish community centre in West London.

A BBC news presenter called a 'P***' in her home town of Basingstoke.

BMWs and Audis scratched by vandals in Hammersmith, west London, targeting German-made cars.

Polish student Agata Brzezniak, 25, told by a woman on a bus in Manchester to be 'scared' and 'prepared to have to get a visa to be able to stay in her country'.

Nanny Kimberley Roberts, 31, was called a 'C****' in London and told she would have to 'go back home soon' on the Tube in London.

Graduate Natasha Bandlish, 21, from Dulwich, London, was 'flabbergasted' after a group of construction workers on the train stared and laughed at her while shouting about British independence.

She added: 'It isn’t the nicest area around here and it does attract people with far right views.

'I have overheard people making comments to Eastern European residents and Muslims that they should go home now.

'It is a disgrace that these thugs are trying to intimidate people like this and think it is the best way to get what they want.

'Just because we voted to leave the EU it doesn’t mean we should only be a country of white Brits.

'I’m positive the man who runs it isn’t even European, it’s just mindless racism which people think is OK now just because we voted out.

'I am sure it will be related to the referendum result, I have no doubt.

'This poor butcher works hard for a living, which I bet is more than you can say for the idiot who did this.'

A Muslim grandfather, who didn’t want to be name for fear of reprisals, added: 'I was horrified when I saw the damage.

'We are thankful that no one was seriously hurt but we could easily have been looking at a death.

'My family uses the butchers and I know this will have shaken them up.

'Being a multi-cultural society is part of what makes Britain great and it should stay that way.

'The Muslim community around here is very much on edge at the moment.'

Meanwhile, in Dalling Road, Hammersmith, west London, residents say BMWs and Audis were scratched by vandals when only German-made cars were targeted last Friday night.

Police were unable to say at this stage whether the incident is being treated as race-related.

Elsewhere, a Polish student says he was abused on a bus on his way to university several hours after the referendum result.

Agata Brzezniak, 25, who is completing a PhD in chemistry at Manchester University, claims a woman told him to be 'scared' and to be 'prepared to have to get a visa to be able to stay in her country'.

Targeted: Police were unable to say at this stage whether the incident is being treated as race-related. One of the Audis damaged is pictured


He said: 'As many Polish people in the country I feared the EU referendum result would cause an increase in intolerance, discrimination and racism, but I didn’t think it would become so aggressive and be so immediate.

'The vicious smile and the way she looked at me brought me to tears. I always thought I would be able to stand up for myself and respond to discrimination but this situation left me feeling scared, sad and hopeless. I got off the bus and decided to walk the rest of the way to university.'

Mr Brzezniak added: 'Sadly, I think the result of the referendum has almost ‘empowered’ the people who already had racist views to openly express them.'

Kimberley Roberts, 31, originally from Chester, who works as a nanny in London, says she was called a 'C****' and told she would have to 'go back home soon' when travelling on the Tube over the weekend

Kimberley Roberts, 31, originally from Chester, who works as a nanny in London, says she was called a 'C****' and told she would have to 'go back home soon' when travelling on the Tube over the weekend

Meanwhile, graduate Natasha Bandlish, 21, from Dulwich, south-east London, said she was 'flabbergasted' after a group of construction workers stared at her on the train whilst shouting about British independence.

Ms Bandlish said: '(I’ve) never really experienced blatant racism. When I was a kid I had a few children refer to me as ‘P***', meant as a racial slur.

'I was born and brought up in London before moving to India when I was 10. I moved back to London at the age of 18 to go to the University of Westminster.

'On the day of the referendum result I was on a train in south-east London when a group of construction workers all started drinking in my carriage.

'They all looked at me and laughed whilst jeering and talking about how that day would be known as British Independence Day, and that next year it would be a bank holiday. One of them shouted it out and made direct eye contact with me and laughed.'

She added: 'I was just flabbergasted... It’s such a backward attitude to have, I was especially surprised that I experienced it in London.'

And Kimberley Roberts, 31, originally from Chester, who works as a nanny in London, says she was called a 'C****' and told she would have to 'go back home soon' when travelling on the Tube over the weekend.

She said: 'I felt hurt and confused at first. I wasn’t sure why he was saying this to me. I’m English. My parents are English and my grandparents are English. All born and raised in this country.

'When I got off the Tube I felt sick and anxious. I was concerned as to how many more people he had spoken to like this.'

The abuse comes amid a background of 'hate crimes' being probed by police across the UK with an increase in reports of attacks on ethnic minorities in the wake of last week's Brexit vote.

Reports to a police online hate crime reporting site increased 57 per cent between Thursday and Sunday compared to the corresponding days four weeks ago, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has said.
==========================
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UK ஓரடி முன்னால்

EU: வெளியேற வாக்களி!

Cluster bombs used in Sri Lanka's civil war

Monday 20 June 2016 05.31 BST Last modified on Monday 20 June 2016 16.26 BST

Cluster bombs used in Sri Lanka's civil war, leaked photos suggest

Exclusive: images appear to confirm use of the indiscriminate weapon in a conflict which cost the lives of at least 100,000

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Report : Emanuel Stoakes

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 Remnants of what appears to be an RBK-500 AO-2.5RT cluster bomb uncovered near Chalai, Sri Lanka. Photograph: Source

Images that appear to confirm the use of cluster bombs in the end stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war have been uncovered as new testimony emerged suggesting the country’s armed forces may have deployed the munition against civilians.

The revelations are likely to prompt serious questions for the current Sri Lankan government, which includes several senior members of the cabinet who oversaw army activity during the last days of the conflict.

The photographic evidence provided to the Guardian depicts cluster bombs uncovered by de-mining teams in parts of the country close to sites where fighting took place in late 2008 and early 2009.

The material is accompanied by the testimony of former de-miners, some of whom claim they identified munitions within government-declared “no fire zones” in which about 300,000 people were told to gather for their safety during the war’s denouement.

The Sri Lankan civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009, pitted the country’s military against the separatist rebel force known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had waged an armed campaign to achieve an independent state for the ethnic Tamil community in the north and east of the island nation.

The bloody conflict is estimated to have claimed upwards of more than 100,000 lives, many of them in the final months of fighting which occurred in and around the northern Vanni region.

 An image of what appears to be an unexploded AO-2.5RT cluster submunition found near Chundikulam.

The current president, Maithripala Sirisena, held the position of acting defence minister immediately before the war ended, taking over temporarily from Mahinda Rajapaksa who was abroad. Rajapaksa’s brother, Gotabhaya, the defence secretary, was regarded as having directed much of war strategy.

A leading member of Sirisena’s current cabinet, Sarath Fonseka, was commander of the army.

The photographs of cluster bombs were leaked to the Guardian by a former employee of the Halo Trust, the world’s largest mine clearance organisation. The images appear to show members of the trust digging out a large delivery missile as well as cluster submunitions, or “bomblets,” in different locations.

Independent corroboration of the nature of the weapons has been provided by a senior weapons researcher at Human Rights Watch who identified the material pictured as the remnants of Russian-made cluster bombs and unexploded cluster submunitions.

The revelations come as the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council opened last week in Geneva, at which the Sri Lankan government is to be questioned on its progress to provide accountability for alleged war crimes committed during the war’s close.

Reports produced by the United Nations and several rights groups have found that war crimes and possible crimes against humanity may have been committed by Sri Lankan forces; so far no senior member of the government or armed forces has been held accountable.

Towards the end of the war, while closing in on the LTTE’s last redoubts in the vicinity of Puthukudiyiruppu and Mullaitivu, the government advised civilians to gather in a series of “no fire zones” – areas which the Sri Lankan army promised it would not attack. The location of the safe zone shifted three times, moving from an initial 20-square-mile (52 sq km) block around the area of Suthanthirapuram to a narrow strip of coastland, which shrunk even further as the army made gains.

Reports by the UN and other agencies cite evidence and credible allegations of atrocities committed within these supposedly protected areas: government forces are accused of relentlessly shelling the zones, leading to up to 70,000 deaths, while the LTTE are alleged to have used human shields and shot at fleeing civilians.

The previous Sri Lankan government has denied allegations it used cluster bombs and Sirisena has maintained that the army acted in “adherence to international law”.

Cluster bomb image from Chundikulam, Sri Lanka. Human rights watch has documented their use in Georgia, Sudan, and quite extensively in Syria.

He has committed himself to holding a war crimes tribunal in Sri Lanka, but has so far resisted calls to conduct such a hearing in a “hybrid” court that would involve both Sri Lankan and international legal experts, as recommended by a UN report released in 2015.

Cluster bombs are distinguished by their capacity to explode and release smaller submunitions that scatter over a wide area. Their inherently indiscriminate nature means their deployment in populated areas could amount to war crimes, as the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, observed earlier this year, citing alleged incidents in Yemen.

In communications with the Guardian, a spokesperson for the Halo Trust acknowledged it had found a total of 42 cluster munitions in several sites around the Pachchilapalli area, near Elephant pass, slightly to the north of the Vanni region, in 2011 and 2012.

While Halo did not comment on the provenance of the weaponry, the area saw heavy fighting between government forces and the LTTE in 2009. The trust stressed it did not engage in de-mining within the “no fire zone”.

The source for the photographs, who now lives outside Sri Lanka, said the images depicted munitions discovered in the Kilinochchi district and also near Chalai, to the north of Mullaitivu. Both Chalai and parts of Kilinochchi district were also sites of fierce battles in the final months of the conflict.

During the war, allegations of the use of cluster bombs in several sites around the Vanni emerged, but were never proven; reports produced for the UN secretary general and the US government cited credible allegations of wartime cluster bomb use in several sites including the no fire zone.

In 2012, a leaked email from a weapons expert at the UN revealed the organisation had identified cluster munitions near Puthukudiyiruppu, an area in which a hospital had allegedly been attacked with cluster bombs by the Sri Lankan army in 2009.

Munitions found in a ‘densely civilian-populated area’

Further evidence suggesting government forces were responsible for the attacks has now been provided in the form of the testimony of former employees of three different de-mining teams who spoke anonymously to the Guardian.

Ex-workers at Mines Advisory Group (MAG), the Halo Trust and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (known by its French-language acronym FSD) have said they saw evidence of the use of cluster bombs in the final days of the war, with representatives from the final two saying cluster bombs were found in one of the government-declared no fire zones.

Only the Sri Lankan air force and army are believed to have had the capability to deploy cluster bombs in the no fire zone; the LTTE did not undertake aerial attacks in the area.

Their accounts are supported by those of civilian witnesses in Sri Lanka and abroad, as well as a former aid worker, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

De-mining agencies do not typically make their discoveries public, but they are required to report their findings to the the Sri Lankan national mine action centre, a coordinating body supported by the Sri Lankan government and the UN.

 Remnants of an AO-2.5RT antipersonnel submunitions being dug up in Kilinochchi district in Sri Lanka.

Former officials in two de-mining organisations told the Guardian that cluster munitions were positively identified.

An ex-employee at MAG, who asked not to be named for his own safety, told the Guardian the organisation encountered a munition in a “densely civilian-populated area” in one of the no fire zones near Puthukudiyiruppu, the location around which a UN Development Programme (UNDP) had reportedly found munitions in 2012.

Cluster bomblets were found, he said, recalling that “all the scattered parts were gathered in the same spot” however, MAG did not publicly share the information “because of their security concerns”.

Another former de-mining official, formerly with the Swiss NGO FSD, recalled that a “technical adviser confirmed [that they had found cluster bombs] ... but it did not publicise this.”

He said the weapons were discovered in 2010 in the area of the first no fire zone, by the village of Suthanthirapuram, also near Puthukudiyiruppu. Any move to make their discoveries public were inhibited by fear of retribution, he added.

Both demining groups were approached for comment: MAG did not immediately respond, while FSD declined to issue a statement.

The source who leaked the photographs from Halo alleged the de-mining team was extremely wary of reports of “cluster bombs” discoveries as they feared retributive action by the Rajapaksa regime.

A spokesperson from Halo said the organisation “strongly refutes any suggestion that any information of this nature would be withheld from the requisite authorities by its senior management.

“We take our reporting responsibilities extremely seriously. I can confirm that every item of ordnance found by Halo in Sri Lanka – and indeed in all the countries in which we operate – is itemised in our monthly reports, which are submitted to national authorities.

“This is the case now and always has been ...As a neutral organisation, Halo’s responsibility is to ensure the safety of civilians from explosive remnants of war.”

An NGO worker for an international aid organisation who asked for his identity to be protected told the Guardian he witnessed cluster attacks within the second and final no fire zone near Mullaitivu, and saw unexploded munitions which resembled a bicycle “dynamo” with a “small piece of ribbon also fixed in one side”.

“Most of the INGOs put the sample pictures of the cluster bomb in their notice board and [made their staff] aware ... about this risk,” he added.

A witness interviewed by the Guardian in Australia who claims to have witnessed a cluster bomb attack on Puthukudiyiruppu hospital recalled: “The cluster bomb would explode high up and small explosions would hit trees and people.” 

There would be a smell that would turn your stomach Cluster bombing witness

The witness described the sound as “like you’re hitting something repeatedly”, adding “there would be a smell that would turn your stomach. 

People would smell, there would be a burnt odour to it.” The source had previously testified to a UN war crimes inquiry and was deemed credible.

Another witness whose testimony was gathered for the UN’s 2015 war crimes investigation, told the Guardian that cluster bombing was 

“something that continuously happened in the protective [no fire] zones. This wasn’t fulfilling war purposes. It hit civilians.”

Sam Zarifi, regional director of Asia and Oceania for the International Commission of Jurists, told the Guardian: “These most recent allegations highlight the need for a credible, effective accountability mechanism.”

Jan Jananayagam, head of Together Against Genocide, a non-profit that also obtained the leaked photographs, said: “Seven years have passed and the government of Sri Lanka is still in denial about the types of weapons deployed on Tamil civilians.

“The denial of the use of cluster munitions and the destruction of forensic evidence over the past seven years illustrates exactly why it is critical that international investigators and forensic experts be included in any future war crimes prosecution mechanism.”

The Sri Lankan government was contacted in preparation for this article but did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


பிற்குறிப்பு: ஈழ இனப்படுகொலையை ஆவணப்படுத்துவதில்  ஒரு மைல் கல்லாய் அமையும் இவ் ஆதாரத்தை உயிரைப் பணயம் வைத்து திரட்டிய உறவுகளுக்கு தலைதாழ்ந்த நன்றி.

Ali Fought against Racism and War

Muhammad Ali: How the Greatest Black Athlete in History Fought against Racism and War

By Garikai Chengu
Global Research, June 09, 2016


Friday last week marked the death of arguably the greatest and most beloved Black athlete in history: Muhammad Ali.

No sport has exploited athletes, particularly Black athletes, quite like boxing. The very first boxers in America were African slaves. White slave owners would amuse themselves by forcing slaves to box to the death while wearing iron collars.

Even after the abolition of slavery, boxing became the first sport to be desegregated so that white boxing promoters could continue to exploit Blacks and make money from the deep racism in American society.

Eugenics was used to justified slavery, and the pseudo science of the time “proved” that Blacks were not only mentally inferior, but also physically inferior to whites.

Ironically, early white fight promoters unwittingly created a space where Black boxers could destroy white supremacist ideas of society and racial hierarchy.

The 1910 victory of Jack Johnson against “The Great White Hope” launched one of the greatest nationwide race riots in U.S. history. Out of that embarrassment, in which a Black man defeated a white man, Congress passed a law outlawing boxing films.

With a brief look at the history of boxing, it is abundantly clear that the races and cultures that have suffered the most at any given time always tend to produce the greatest champions.

Boxing has a tendency to both attract and indeed pray upon talent from underprivileged minority communities. Through boxing, one can read a direct chart of the underprivileged in America. The sport highlights the line of minorities who struggle to make it up the ladder, until they succeed, and then disappear from the boxing scene. Tellingly, the minorities that remain in the ring today are a consequence of still being on the bottom rung of America’s economic ladder.

You had the waves of underprivileged Jewish boxers, then Irish boxers, Italian-American boxers, African American boxers, and now, increasingly Hispanic boxers.

In a society that is so violently racist, the sport of boxing became an escape valve for people’s anger. Boxing symbolized a twisted manifestation of the American dream, where minorities have to, literally, fight their way out of poverty.

The modern image of Muhammad Ali, portrayed by the establishment, is one of a Black man dancing in the ring and shouting, “I am the greatest!” His image is now used to sell everything from luxury cars to soft drinks.

Despite the establishment’s whitewashing and Santaclausification of Ali’s image, history shows that the true Muhammad Ali was a staunch Black Nationalist, who was good friends with Malcolm X, and a member of the Black Power group, The Nation of Islam.

இடர்களை எதிர்கொள்ள துணிவில்லாத எவனும்,தன் வாழ்வில் எதனையும் சாதிக்க முடியாது.

Ali was unquestionably the best boxer in history, not simply because of his achievements in the ring, but because he brought the fight against racism and war into professional sports.

Muhammad Ali grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, as the Black freedom struggle was heating up and beginning to boil over. Born in Louisville as Cassius Clay to a house painter and domestic worker, Ali was immersed in America’s racist nature from birth.

After winning the Olympic gold medal at the age of 18, Ali was so proud of his medal that he said he wore it round his neck almost all the time. Fellow Olympian W. Rudolph remarked, “He slept with it, he went to the cafeteria with it. He never took it off.”

Days after returning from the Olympic games, Ali was eating in a restaurant with the medal swinging around his neck and he was denied service by the white restaurant owners. Ali then threw the gold medal into the Ohio river.

Ali found answers to America’s racism in friend and mentor Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. “X and Ali were one in the same,” journalist J. Tinsley wrote. “Both were young, handsome, intelligent, outspoken African American men who scared the crap out of White America during a time period when racial tension was the norm.”

With the Nation of Islam, Ali rejected the name Clay and explained how, “Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master.

Now that I’m free, that I don’t belong to anyone, that I’m not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.”

At a time when most of the country were in favor of the Vietnam war, Ali asked, “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

The typical sentence for refusing to go to war was 18 months, but an all-white jury convicted Ali and he was sentenced to 60 months, or five years, in prison for standing up to America’s most violent racism at home and abroad. Despite having been invited to the White House later in his life, the white establishment loathed Muhammad Ali and his phone was bugged by the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

Perhaps Ali’s greatest legacy is his voice. Ali’s voice was uncompromising in its Blackness. His voice was just as uncompromising in its rejection of the trappings of wealth and fame, as it was in the rejection of a system that unleashed German shepherds on Black children. Ali’s voice did not seek acceptance. It simply demanded to be heard.

To begin with, the American press viewed Ali’s voice as a refreshing change to professional boxing’s un-poetic violence. His antics and doggerel enhanced newspaper columns. However, that editorial stance suddenly changed in 1964 when Ali, immediately after claiming the heavyweight title, revealed that he had become a Black Muslim. The American press then began to use Ali’s voice to portray him as a racist hothead.

The New York Times continued to print the slave name Cassius Clay for years and called him a “nauseating and childish loudmouth braggart”. White sports writers certainly preferred their Negro athletes tough, quiet and docile.

White America hated his voice, the white press sought to denigrate that voice, and the U.S. government tried to silence his voice completely.

White America only embraced the most outspoken Black athlete in history after he was unable to speak anymore because of Parkinson’s disease.

Boxing changed American history. The sport of boxing had more to do with the advancement of the civil rights movement than any other sport, from Jack Johnson to Joe Lewis to Muhammad Ali.

History has never produced an athlete more persecuted by the U.S. government, more vilified by the American media, or more respected globally than Muhammad Ali.

Garikai Chengu is a scholar at Harvard University. Contact him on garikai.chengu@gmail.com

Australia paid 'people smugglers'

Australia 'paid off people-smugglers' to return boat with 65 refugees
Gianluca Mezzofiore By Gianluca Mezzofiore
October 28, 2015 13:00 GMT 129  

Australian officials allegedly paid off people-smugglers to divert dozens of New Zealand-bound asylum-seekers to Indonesia in May 2015, putting their lives at risk and potentially breaching anti-trafficking laws, a new Amnesty International report has shown. Witnesses say Australian officials working as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, a maritime border control operation, paid six crew members $32,000 (£20,000) to take 65 asylum-seekers to Indonesia, and even provided them a map showing where to land there.

While the Australian government has repeatedly denied paying people-smugglers, crew members of the boat and asylum-seekers confirmed to the human rights group that the transaction took place. Documentary evidence from the incident, including photos and a video taken by the passengers, seem to confirm it.

"Australia has, for months, denied that it paid for people smuggling, but our report provides detailed evidence pointing to a very different set of events," said Anna Shea, refugee researcher at Amnesty International. Indonesian police also showed Amnesty researchers the money the confiscated from the six crew. The boat's passengers were from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar, including four women, one of which was pregnant, two seven-year-old children and a one-year-old baby.

After two interceptions on 17 and 22 May, Australian officials transferred most of the passengers − who had paid $4,000 (£2,600) each for the voyage − into a Border Force vessel. During their time in the Australian ship, the asylum-seekers complained that they were held in small, cramped cells with no access to health care or doctors.

On 30 May, the passengers were transferred to different and smaller boats and the six-strong crew were given instructions to go to Rote Island in Indonesia. However, with little fuel aboard, the boats soon ran into trouble. It was then rescued by Indonesian police.

Amnesty also conducted research into a second turn-back incident in July 2015, in which passengers intercepted by the Navy and Border Force were put on a new boat bound for Indonesia.

The rights group called for a Royal Commission to investigate and report on allegations of criminal and unlawful acts committed by the Australian government officials. The report, which seems to fit a wider pattern of a "push-back" or "turn-back" policy pursued by the Australian government, comes out as former prime minister Tony Abbott called on Europe to take on the country's border security policies or risk "catastrophic error".

"The Australian experience proves that the only way to dissuade people seeking to come from afar is not to let them in," he said in London during the second Margaret Thatcher Lecture in his first speech after being forced out by his own party.

Abbott previously stated that the main purpose of Operation Sovereign borders, a military-led initiative to stop anyone from reaching Australia irregularly by boat, was to save life at sea.

But Amnesty have documented what they call an "alarming pattern" of illegal push-backs by the Australian authorities. "Operation Sovereign Borders, far from saving lives, has become synonymous with abuse of some of the world's most vulnerable people," said Anna Shea.

"Australia must once and for all start taking its international obligations towards refugees seriously. All people seeking asylum deserve to have their claims fairly dealt with."

In response to the report, the Ministry for Immigration and Border Protection told the BBC that "people on intercepted vessels are held lawfully in secure, safe, humane, and appropriate conditions by the personnel of the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF)".

"To suggest otherwise, as Amnesty has done, is to cast a slur on the men and women of the ABF and ADF," the statement said.

Australia's refugee policies

Australia's refugee policies: a global inspiration for all the wrong reasons
Antony Loewenstein

 ‘The sad reality is that Australia’s refugee policies are envied and copied around the world, especially in Europe, now struggling to cope with a huge influx of refugees.’ Photograph: Jure Makovec/AFP/Getty Images

Australia first introduced onshore detention facilities in 1991 at Villawood in Sydney and Port Hedland in Western Australia. Mandatory detention came in 1992. Bob Hawke’s government announced it was because “Australia could be on the threshold of a major wave of unauthorised boat arrivals from south-east Asia, which will severely test both our resolve and our capacity to ensure that immigration in this country is conducted within a planned and controlled framework”.

More than 20 years later, the rhetoric has only worsened against the most vulnerable arriving from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Policies that years ago seemed unimaginable, such as imprisoning refugees on remote Pacific islands, are the norm and blessed with bipartisan support.

The sad reality is Australia’s refugee policies are envied and copied around the world, especially in Europe, now struggling to cope with a huge influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa. Walls and fences are being built across the continent in futile attempts to keep out the unwanted. A privatised security apparatus is working to complement the real agenda. Australia is an island but it has long implemented remote detention camps with high fences and isolation for its inhabitants.

As a journalist and activist who has publicly campaigned against Canberra’s asylum policies for over a decade, this brutal reality is a bitter pill. In early 2014 I called for UN sanctions against Australia for ignoring humanitarian law and willfully abusing refugees in its case both on the mainland and Nauru and Manus Island. I still hold this view but must recognise facts; the international mood in 2016 for asylum seekers is hostile. As much as I’d like to say that my homeland is a pariah on the international stage, it’s simply not the case.

When Denmark recently introduced a bill to take refugees’ valuable belongings in order to pay for their time in detention camps, this was remarkably similar to Australia charging asylum seekers for their stay behind bars. Either directly or indirectly, Europe is following Australia’s draconian lead.

Consider the facts in Europe: after Sweden and Denmark reintroduced border controls, a borderless continent is now in serious jeopardy. The Schengen agreement – introduced in 1985 to support free movement between EEC countries – is on the verge of collapse. In early January, the European Union admitted it had relocated just 0.17% of the refugees it pledged to help four months earlier. In 2015 more than 1 million people arrived by boat in Europe.

This mirrors Australia’s lacklustre efforts to resettle refugees in its onshore detention camps. Figures released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection in December found that asylum seekers had spent an average of 445 days behind barbed wire. In both Australia and Europe there’s general acceptance of these situations because those seeking asylum have been so successfully demonised as potential terrorists, suspiciously Muslim and threatening a comfortably western way of life.

Germany, a nation that took in more than 1 million refugees in 2015 despite being unprepared for the large numbers, is now facing a public backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcoming stance, leading to fear and rising far-right support. Australia has taken far fewer people with little social unrest and yet still unleashed over two decades a highly successful, though dishonest, campaign to stigmatise boat arrivals. The result is the ability of successive Australian governments to create an environment where sexual abuse against refugees is tolerated and covered up. A politician is unlikely to lose his job over it.

Europe and Australia promote themselves as regions of openness. It’s an illusion when it comes to refugee policy. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, despite his bombastic and discriminatory attitude towards refugees and Jews, is increasingly viewed across Europe as providing necessary warnings of the continent’s struggles. EU officials in Brussels told the New York Times that Orban was often right but wished he hadn’t couched his comments in conspiracy theories. Too few in Hungary are publicly resisting this wave of racism.

“Whenever Hungary made an argument the response was always: ‘They are stupid Hungarians. They are xenophobes and Nazis,’” Zoltan Kovacs, a government spokesman, told the Times. “Suddenly, it turns out that what we said was true. The naivete of Europe is really quite stunning.”

Brussels has proposed an Australian-style border force to monitor the EU’s borders and deport asylum seekers. Germany and France support the move. This proves that the most powerful nations have little interest in resolving the reasons so many people are streaming into Europe (such as war and climate change) and prefer to pull up the drawbridge. Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott encouraged Europe to turn back the refugee boats and it seems Brussels is listening. Europe is also copying Australia’s stance of privatising the detention centres for refugees.

None of this worries Rupert Murdoch’s Australian. In light of the New Year’s Eve sex attacks in Cologne, the paper editorialised in early 2016 that Europe must avoid “reckless idealism” and embrace an “enlightened world” where gender equality is accepted by all. The outlet has not expressed similar outrage with the immigration department’s blatant disregard for refugee lives. It’s also unclear how pushing for military action in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and other Muslim nations, pushed by the paper for years, contributes to an “enlightened world”.

It’s comforting to think of Australia as a global pariah on the world stage, pursuing racist policies against asylum seekers from war-torn nations. But it’s untrue. Canberra’s militarised “solution” to refugees is admired in many parts of Europe because it represents an ideology far easier to process and sell than identifying and adapting to changing global migration patterns.

None of this should stop activists fighting for a more just outcome, in both Australia and Europe, but today it’s more likely European officials will ask Australian officials for advice on how to “stop the boats” than chastise it for mistreating a raped refugee.

Australia has become an inspiration for all the wrong reasons.

PFLP condemns Jo Cox assassination

PFLP condemns Jo Cox assassination

PFLP condemns the assassination of British MP Jo Cox and calls to confront racism and fascism Jun17 2016

jo-cox-pal The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the assassination of the British Labour MP Jo Cox at the hands of a British racist extremist, emphasizing the need to address the racist discourse of colonial powers, and to confront the growing threat of fascism and the extreme right in Europe and around the world.

The PFLP considers that the attack on MP Jo Cox, a supporter of Palestinian rights, and other progressive voices, as well as repeated attacks on refugee centers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, are not isolated incidents or mere security concerns, but rather reflect an intensified state of extreme right ideology and sharp polarization in the industrialized Western societies. The Front urges Palestinian and Arab communities to build broad alliances to confront these crimes and defend the people against attack.

The Front declared that the world capitalist system, led by the United States as the center of imperialism, is responsible for the rising manifestations of fascism in Europe. Capitalism and imperialism destroy communities, peoples and countries, and create millions of refugees and migrants from among the displaced popular classes, and then these same systems encourage a racist offensive and represses those who defend their human and natural rights.

The PFLP said that there is no difference between the racist criminal who killed MP Jo Cox and the Zionist criminal who ran over and killed the struggling American martyr for Palestine, Rachel Corrie, in Gaza in March 2003.

Jo Cox suspect had ties to pro-apartheid and neo-Nazi groups

 MP Jo Cox

Thomas Mair’s earliest apparent connections to the far right date back to a time when there were still parts of the world ruled by white supremacists.

In the mid-1980s, the man who is now suspected of fatally shooting and stabbing the Labour MP Jo Cox, was subscriber number 1,201 to SA Patriot, a magazine published by supporters of apartheid in South Africa.

Alan Harvey, SA Patriot’s editor now living in “exile” in the UK, wrote recently on an online newsletter that Londoners had “brought shame and humiliation” on Britain by “electing a non-white Muslim”, Sadiq Khan, as mayor.

He told the Financial Times on Friday that SA Patriot was “neo-imperialist” rather than “neo-Nazi”. “We were not rightwing enough for a lot of people,” he said. Mr Mair took only eight or nine issues before letting his subscription lapse.

By 1999, Mr Mair’s leanings appear to have shifted still further to the right. That year, his name appeared on invoices from the National Alliance, a US neo-Nazi group.

Among the texts Mr Mair ordered to be sent to his Yorkshire address were a book on improvised munitions and a copy of a Nazi Party pamphlet with a section written by Joseph Goebbels.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the US civil rights group that published the invoices on Friday, said its database indicated Mr Mair had sent $620 to the National Alliance in total.

There seems little to indicate whether Mr Mair had any links to the far-right in the years that followed. He lived in a nondescript semi-detached house on the Fieldhead estate in Birstall. He appears to have suffered mental ill-health. According to a 2010 local press report, he was referred from a centre for adults with mental health problems to tend a country park as a volunteer.

Duane St Louis, Mr Mair’s half brother, told reporters he had mental problems, which he believed to be obsessive compulsive disorder. Scott Mair, his brother, said Mr Mair was a peaceful man without strong political views. “My brother is not a violent man,” he was quoted as saying. “We don’t even know who he votes for.”

Two police officers remained on guard outside Mr Mair’s semi-detached house on the Fieldhead estate in Birstall. He lived in the red brick home on his own. The gardens are neatly maintained with topiary bushes and there are net curtains in the windows. There is a drive to the side with a row of garages. It backs on to an industrial estate.

Labour politician who was born and slain in the Yorkshire town she represented
Fieldhead was built after the second world war and is home to several hundred families. There is a row of shops and a primary school. The local housing association still owns many properties but some have been sold privately. An older three bedroom home costs around £90,000.

There are also newer homes. In 2011 a charity secured government funding to demolish 150 flats that were hard to let and had been plagued by antisocial behaviour. Kirklees Community Association replaced them with 77 family homes. Housebuilder Keepmoat built a further 62 homes for private sale.

According to unconfirmed witness accounts, Ms Cox’s assailant shouted “Britain first” or “put Britain first” during the attack. The far-right Britain First group said it was “obviously … not involved and would never encourage behaviour of this sort”.

Nothing suggesting Mr Mair was actively involved with a particular group has emerged.

Another Yorkshireman, a British National Party member and former soldier called Terence Gavan, was jailed for six years in 2010 over a homemade arsenal of explosives and firearms, including nail bombs and a booby-trapped cigarette, that could have been used to attack Muslims.

Gavan wrote in one notebook discovered by police: “The patriot must always be ready to defend his country against enemies and their governments.’’

The North Kirklees area, home to both Gavan and Mr Mair, was described as the “jewel in the crown” of BNP support in the mid-2000s by former leader Nick Griffin. It had three councillors there and captured 3,685 votes — 7.1 per cent — in Batley and Spen in the general election 2010.

However, the local BNP branch folded in 2013. David Exley, a former BNP councillor who lives in Birstall, told the FT that many activists quit because of Mr Griffin’s leadership. “He was just in it for himself,” he said. He said the killing of Ms Cox was “terrible”. “She was democratically elected and she should be allowed to do her job.”

Some BNP activists left for the English Democrats, he said, while others supported the UK Independence party. The BNP did not contest Batley and Spen, Ms Cox’s constituency, in 2015.
Source:FT

Suspected killer of British MP Jo Cox had ties to neo-Nazis in US
By Reuters and VICE News
June 17, 2016 | 3:20 pm

The man arrested over the shooting and stabbing murder of British parliamentarian Jo Cox had ties to a neo-Nazi group in the United States, and had bought guides on assembling homemade guns and explosives, according to a US-based civil rights watchdog that tracks hate groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published records showing that Thomas Mair, 52, who allegedly shot and stabbed Cox multiple times Thursday, was a "longtime supporter of the National Alliance" (NA), once known as the US's premier neo-Nazi organization.

Mair reportedly spent more than $620 on books and literature from NA, including guides titled "Improvised Munitions Handbook," "Chemistry of Powder & Explosives," and "Incendiaries," according to receipts published by SPLC.

The receipts also showed Mair purchased a copy of Ich Kampfe — German for "I do battle" or "I struggle," and an obvious reference to Adolf Hilter's Mein Kampf —a handbook issued to new enrollees in the Nazi party in the early 1940s.

Mair also subscribed to S. A. Patriot, a South African magazine published by pro-apartheid group White Rhino Club, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Cox, a 41-year-old lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party and a vocal advocate of Britain's European Union membership, died of her injuries on Thursday afternoon. She was attacked while preparing to meet constituents in Birstall near Leeds in northern England.

Media reports, citing witnesses, said the attacker had shouted out "Britain first", which is the name of a right-wing nationalist group that describes itself on its website as "a patriotic political party and street defence organisation".

Police said a 77-year-old man was also assaulted in the incident and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

Cox's death has caused deep shock across Britain and the suspension of campaigning for next week's referendum on the country's EU membership. The deputy leader of Britain First, Jayda Fransen, distanced the group from the attack, which she described as "absolutely disgusting". Leader Paul Golding also promptly condemned the attack.

One witness said a man pulled an old or makeshift gun from a bag and fired twice. "I saw a lady on the floor like on the beach with her arms straight and her knees up and blood all over the face," Hichem Ben-Abdallah told reporters. "She wasn't making any noise, but clearly she was in agony."

The lawmaker's husband Brendan said: "She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now: one, that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her."

The rival referendum campaign groups, Remain and Leave, said they were suspending activities on Friday. Prime Minister David Cameron said he would pull out of a planned rally in Gibraltar, the British territory on the southern coast of Spain.

Cameron said the killing of the mother-of-two, who had worked on US President Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign, was a tragedy.

"We have lost a great star," the Conservative prime minister said. "She was a great campaigning MP with huge compassion, with a big heart. It is dreadful, dreadful news."

It was not immediately clear what the impact would be on the June 23 referendum, which has polarized the nation into pro- and anti-EU camps.

But some analysts speculated it could boost the pro-EU "Remain" campaign, which in recent days has fallen behind the "Leave" camp in opinion polls.

Gun ownership is highly restricted in Britain, and attacks of any nature on public figures are rare. The last British lawmaker to have been killed in an attack was Ian Gow, who died after a bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded under his car at his home in southern England in 1990.

தமிழ் அகதிப் படகு நோக்கி துப்பாக்கிச் சூடு!

இலங்கை அகதிகளை அச்சுறுத்த இந்தோனேசியா  துப்பாக்கிச்  சூடு! 

மன்னிப்புசபை கண்டனம்

துப்பாக்கி சூட்டை நடத்தி, இலங்கை அகதிகளின் உயிர்களுக்கு ஆபத்தை உணர்த்தி அவர்களை படகுகளுக்குள் தள்ளிய இந்தோனேசிய அதிகாரிகளின் நடவடிக்கையானது, சர்வதேச நீதியை மீறும் செயல் என சர்வதேச மன்னிப்பு சபை குற்றம் சுமத்தியுள்ளது.

பெண்கள் சிறுவர்களுக்கு எதிராக இவ்வாறான அச்சுறுத்தல் தந்திரோபாயங்களை நிறுத்தி, அகதிகளை படகில் இருந்து இறக்கி, ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் அகதிகளுக்கான அதிகாரிகளை சந்திக்கசெய்யவேண்டும்.

சர்வதேச மன்னிப்புசபையின் தென்னாசிய மற்றும் பசுபிக் பிராந்திய பணிப்பாளர் ஜோசெப் பெனேடிக்ட் இதனை கூறியுள்ளார்.

அகதிகளை சந்திப்பதற்கு ஐக்கிய நாடுகளின் அதிகாரிகள் தயாராக இருப்பதாகவும் பெனேடிக்ட் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

படகில் இருக்கும் ஐந்து பெண்கள், படகில் இருந்து குதித்து கரைக்கு செல்ல முயன்றபோதே அச்சுறுத்தும் வகையில் துப்பாக்கி பிரயோகம் ஆகாயம் நோக்கி மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது.

On June 16, 2016 Tamil women refugees from Sri Lanka jump out from their stranded boat onto the beach in Lhoknga, Aceh province (AFP Photo/Prossa)

LHOKNGA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities in the Indonesian province of Aceh are preparing to tow a boat with more than 40 Tamil men, women and children out to sea Friday after rescuing it last weekend.

It would be the second attempt in the past week to remove the vessel from Indonesian waters after it suffered engine trouble and was discovered stranded last Saturday.

The migrants have been at sea for about a month and were trying to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

The province is refusing to let the migrants, which include nine children and a pregnant woman, land despite Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla asking Aceh officials to provide shelter. On Thursday, six women tried to leave the boat as it sat in shallow waters but police fired warning shots.

"We did not allow them to land because Indonesia is not their destination and they are fit," said Frans Delian, a spokesman for the Aceh government. "We advised them to not continue their journey to Australia but back to their country."

Immigration officials said the people were from Sri Lanka. Amnesty International said in a statement that the group left from India in an Indian-flagged boat and may have fled Sri Lanka, where members of the Tamil minority have suffered persecution.

Delian said their situation is different from stateless Muslim Rohingya boat people who were helped by Indonesian authorities last year after fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Southeast Asian nations including predominantly Muslim Indonesia were reluctant to help until facing international pressure over the plight of Rohingya adrift at sea with minimal supplies of food or water.

Rights groups urged the Indonesia government to let the migrants disembark.

"Indonesia won praise when it helped Rohingya refugees in Aceh," said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "It is a shame that the Indonesian and Aceh local government refuse to assist these Tamil boat people."

The International Organization for Migration has had a team at the site since last weekend including a translator and medical personnel and is prepared to provide temporary accommodation. However they have been denied access to the migrants.

Aceh police chief Maj. Gen. Husein Hamidi said the Tamil migrants have been given food, water and fuel. They could be towed out to sea at high tide later Friday, he said.

The boat was beached and heavy machinery was used to try and refloat it while all the migrants were still on board.

The vessel was first towed back into international waters on Sunday after repairs were made to its engine. It returned on Monday and the migrants asked for additional fuel, according to Indonesian authorities.

The office of Australia's Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment on the situation.

Australia has riled Indonesia, and been criticized by human rights groups and the United Nations, for its tough refugee deterrent policy of turning back asylum seeker boats that attempt to reach Christmas Island from Indonesian ports. Indonesia considers Australian warships towing foreigners in boats into Indonesian waters an affront to Indonesian sovereignty.
___
AP writers Niniek Karmini, Stephen Wright and Margie Mason in Jakarta and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia contributed.
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