ABSTRACT
The case of the Tamils in Sri Lanka is a vivid one, illustrating how deep historical roots of difference survive into the present day, and are reinforced by a partly-invented history of heroic resistance to domination on either side. The divisions became the destructive origins of intense minority resistance to the overbearing control of the larger Sri Lankan state. The level of violence reached in the struggles of Tamil liberation organisations, especially the Tamil Tigers, with the government and army of Sri Lanka, have been truly horrific. The addition of a sharp religious divide to the ethnic division in Sri Lanka made it more difficult to incorporate Sinhalese and Tamils into one entity. The movement of protest against the reduction of opportunities for the Tamil elite, moved through a federal party to a number of divided organisations using ruthless violence to seek for independence.
