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TGTE Calls on Amazon Studios to Uphold New Inclusion Policy & Remove Family Man 2 for Biased Portrayal of Eelam Tamils

“The series stretches the limits of creative license to distort the history of the Eelam Tamil people’s struggle for their dignity, human rights, and justice"

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, June 18, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) sent a letter to Amazon Studios Head Ms. Jennifer Salke today urging the company, which seeks to position itself as an industry leader on diversity, inclusion and equity, to remove the streaming giant’s series Family Man 2from all Amazon Prime Video platforms, including social media, due to its demonization of Eelam Tamils (Tamils from the island of Sri Lanka) as well as issue an apology for the anguish and injustice the studio continues to inflict upon Eelam Tamils by continuing to promote and distribute Family Man 2 despite public outcry from global Tamils and leadership in Tamil Nadu, India for the series to be withdrawn, effectively further marginalizing an already marginalized and oppressed people. TGTE also sent the letter to Ms. Aparna Purohit, Head of Amazon Prime Video India.

“The series stretches the limits of creative license to distort the history of the Eelam Tamil people’s struggle for their dignity, human rights, and justice after enduring decades of systemic discrimination, pogroms, and brutal oppression, which continues today.,” Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of TGTE, states in the letter, “The norms held in any enlightened society in terms of the democratic space for people to exercise their freedom of opinion and freedom of speech have been far exceeded in this instance, causing much anguish and a moral anger on the part of the Tamils living around the world. As a manifestation of these sentiments, Mr. Mano Thangarag, Minister of Information and Technology of the State Government of Tamil Nadu, India has appealed to the Government of India in New Delhi to have the film banned from showing in India.”

Mr. Rudrakumaran stated in the letter, “One wonders if any sensible entertainment portal would allow one of their shows to depict members of the Jewish resistance against the Nazi regime in similar terms?” TGTE’s letter also calls attention to the fact that Family Man 2 violates Amazon Studios own codified standards and ideals.

“Only hours ago, Amazon Studios announced to the world its adoption of an enhanced Inclusion Policy and Inclusion Playbook that, according to Amazon Studio’s own website, was ‘created to help disrupt the biases that occur across the lifecycle of a series,’” Mr. Rudrakumaran notes in his letter. “And yet, Amazon Studios continues to promote and distribute a series that not only excludes Eelam Tamil voices but also perpetuates the harmful Tamil stereotypes that fuel anti-Tamil hate.”

“All the more condemnable is that it continues to do so despite the expressed pain and public objection of the Eelam Tamil People, as well as that of Tamils in India. This hypocrisy undermines Amazon Studio’s position as an industry leader on diversity, equity and inclusion and violates its own standard, also highlighted on the Amazon Studio website, to ‘move beyond good intentions to creating mechanisms that hold [it] to an accountable bar,” Mr. Rudrakumaran notes.

The TGTE concluded the letter calling on “Amazon Studios to make good on its commitments by issuing an apology for the insensitivity and injustice perpetrated against Eelam Tamils by streaming Family Man 2 and completely withdraw the series from screening across Amazon Prime Video platforms altogether.”

ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.

TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.

TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 135 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.

TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.

TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account. TGTE calls for a referendum to decide the political future of Tamils.

The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.

Twitter: @TGTE_PMO
Email: pmo@tgte.org
Web: www.tgte-us.org

BACKGROUND

Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka faced repeated mass killings in 1958, 1977, and 1983 and the mass killings in 2009 prompted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to report on the scale of the killings.

According to UN internal review report on Sri Lanka, over 70 thousand Tamils were killed in six months in early 2009 and Tamil women were sexually assaulted and raped by the Sri Lankan Security forces.

International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) in February 2017 handed over details to UN of Sri Lankan Military run "Rape Camps", where Tamil women are being held as “sex slaves”. Also, According to UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on April 2013, there are over 90 thousand Tamil war widows in Sri Lanka.

Thousands of Tamils disappeared, including babies and children. UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances stated in 2020 that the second highest number of enforced disappearance cases in the world is from Sri Lanka.

According to this UN report, the killings and other abuses that took place amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Independent experts believe that there are elements of these abuses that constitute an act of genocide.

Members of the Sri Lankan security forces are almost exclusively from the Sinhalese community and the victims are all from the Tamil community. A Buddhist Monk shot and killed a Sri Lankan Prime Minister 1959 for having talks with Tamils.

Tamils overwhelmingly voted in a Parliamentary election in 1977 to establish an independent and sovereign country called Tamil Eelam. This Parliamentary election was conducted by the Sri Lankan Government.

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam
TGTE
+1 614-202-3377
r.thave@tgte.org
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