Author | Roy Ratnavel |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Autobiography |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | Viking Canada |
Publication date | April 18, 2023 |
Publication place | Canada |
Media type | Print, e-book, audiobook |
Pages | 272 pp. |
ISBN | 978-0-7352-4572-3 |
Prisoner #1056: How I Survived War and Found Peace is a memoir by Roy Ratnavel, a Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian war victim and business executive. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Prisoner #1056 narrates Ratnavel’s immigrant story, fleeing from torture and imprisonment, arriving in Canada with $50 in his pocket, and then rising from the mailroom to the executive suite. [11]
CBC Books listed on June 20, 2023, 'Prisoner #1056' as one of the '15 Canadian books to read for World Refugee Day'; The United Nations has created this day in its bid to raise awareness how the refugees around the world are undergoing inhumanity and severe hardships.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil speaking immigrants who emigrated from their native lands in the southern Indian subcontinent to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, South Africa, North America, Western Europe, and Singapore. It can be divided into two main diasporic clusters, due to geographical, historical and cultural reasons, as Indian Tamil diaspora and Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
Black July was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on a Sri Lankan Army patrol by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 23 July 1983, which killed 13 soldiers. Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.
Sri Lankan Tamils, also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
Human rights in Sri Lanka provides for fundamental rights in the country. The Sri Lanka Constitution states that every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. And, that every person is equal before the law.
The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora.
Sri Lankan Canadians refers to people from Sri Lanka who have arrived and settled in Canada. Among these immigrants include members from the Tamil, Moor, Malay, Sinhalese and Burgher ethnicities. According to the 2021 census there are 136,240 Sri Lankan-born persons in Canada.
Tamil Canadians, or Canadian Tamils, are Canadians of Tamil ethno-linguistic origin. Much of Canada's Tamil diaspora from India and Sri Lanka then majority consist of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who sought to flee the ethnic tensions during the Sri Lankan Civil War between the 1970s and 2000s, while economic Tamil migrants also originate from India, Singapore and other parts of South Asia.
The Sri Lankan diaspora are Sri Lankan emigrants and expatriates from Sri Lanka that reside in a foreign country.
MV Sun Sea is a Thai cargo ship that brought 492 Sri Lankan Tamils into British Columbia, Canada, in August 2010. Following their arrival, the passengers—seeking refuge in Canada after the Sri Lankan Civil War—were transferred to detention facilities in the Lower Mainland, for which the Canadian Government would garner heavy criticism from various Canadian advocacy groups.
A Gun & a Ring is a 2013 Canadian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Lenin M. Sivam. The film explores the harsh realities faced by different generations of Toronto Sri Lankans. It was nominated for Golden Goblet Award at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival. It was also officially selected for the 37th Montreal World Film Festival (WFF) took place 22 August – 2 September 2013 to present under "Focus on World Cinema".
Solomon Arulanandam David was a Sri Lankan Tamil architect, activist and founder of the Gandhiyam Movement.
Antonythasan Jesuthasan, also known by the pseudonym Shobasakthi, is a Sri Lankan Tamil author and actor.
Sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka has occurred repeatedly during the island's long ethnic conflict. The first instances of rape of Tamil women by Sinhalese mobs were documented during the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom. This continued in the 1960s with the deployment of the Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, who were reported to have molested and occasionally raped Tamil women.
Contributions to popular culture involving direct reference to the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Indian cinema are listed below. All communities that speak Tamil and originally came from Sri Lanka are included. Tamils of Sri Lanka today are a trans-national minority and are found across the globe. While most films on the topic are made in Tamil cinema, there has also been Malayalam and Hindi content on the area.
Roy Ratnavel is a Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian business executive and the author of the book Prisoner #1056.