Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students

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The Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students ( EROS , Tamil ஈழ புரட்சிகர மாணவர் இயக்கம் , "Revolutionary Student Association of Eelam ") or Eelam Revolutionary Organizers was a militant Tamil organization in Sri Lanka . In 1990 the group split up and the Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF) emerged as a political party , which however continues to use the old name.

history

EROS was founded on January 3rd, 1975 in London by Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy, Shankar Rajee, and Velupillai Balakumar, three Sri Lankan Tamil students. The group initially saw itself as a think tank and was one of many newly founded Tamil associations that dealt with the situation of the Tamils ​​in Sri Lanka. In addition to Tamil nationalism, the ideological basis was formed by Marxism , with EROS, in contrast to most other similar organizations, more focused on the latter. In contrast to the LTTE , EROS also aimed to include the Indian Tamils ​​in Sri Lanka in the Tamil state that was to be formed. After it was founded, the group made contact with other revolutionary and militant movements, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the African National Congress (ANC), and in the following years it transformed itself into an organization that promoted its political ideas in Sri Lanka by force of arms tried to implement. In 1979, a sub-group split off, which later formed the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). Of the larger Tamil militant political groups of the 1980s, the "big five" (LTTE, TELO , EPRLF, EROS and PLOTE ), EROS was the smallest and was considered the least militant.

EROS carried out its first terrorist attack on June 28, 1984 on the Oberoi Hotel in Colombo, where an intergovernmental conference was taking place. Two hotel employees died in the bomb attack.

One year after the anti-Tamil pogroms of " Black July " 1983, the big five Tamil militant organizations (LTTE, TELO, EROS, EPRLF and PLOTE) formed an arms alliance, the Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF). This alliance only lasted until 1986, however, mainly because the LTTE claimed absolute leadership in the fight against the Sri Lankan government and did not shy away from eliminating rival Tamil organizations. After the Indo-Sri Lankan peace agreement in 1987, EROS ran as a party in the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in 1989 and won 13 of 225 parliamentary seats with 4.11 percent of the vote. After the withdrawal of the Indian peacekeeping force stationed in Northern Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990, the future strategy broke out within EROS. Most militant activists switched to the LTTE, while a small part continued EROS as a political party called the Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF) in elections. The name "EROS" was continued to be used. In the parliamentary elections in 1994 EROS ran with PLOTE and TELO in an electoral alliance under the symbols of TELO, which won 0.48% of the vote and parliamentary seats. After that, the group largely lost its importance.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Mapping Militant Organizations. "Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students." Stanford University, August 2013, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  2. ^ Joachim Riedl: Expulsion from Paradise. Zeit Online, August 29, 1986, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  3. ↑ EROS files nominations for PC elections. Tamilnet.com, December 7, 1998, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  4. ^ Joanne Richards: An Institutional History of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) . In: The Center on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding - Working Paper . No. 10 , 2014 (English, pdf ).