Black July Remembrance Day

தமிழ். Norsk. English.

Black July Remembrance Day is a day to mark the anti-Tamil pogrom that lasted from 23rd July to 30th July 1983. It is remembered and marked by Tamils worldwide, including in Norway. It was a state-sponsored genocide. Sinhalese mobs armed with voter registration lists took at least 3,000 Tamil lives, destroyed 5,000 shops and displaced over 150,000 Tamils. At least 500 Tamil women were raped and many families were burned alive.

Black July is one of several anti-Tamil pogroms, which took place in Sri Lanka. The anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983 followed the anti-Tamil pogroms in 1956, 1958, 1977 and 1981.

The 39th anniversary of Black July in Oslo, Norway

The marking of the 39th anniversary of Black July in Norway took place beside the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo on 23rd July 2022. An art exhibition was organised by Tamil Coordinating Committee – Norway (TCC Norway) and Tamil Youth Organization – Norway (TYO Norway). Paintings by painter Pugazhenthi (ஓவியர் புகழேந்தி).
Photo: DiasporA Tamil Archives (2022)

The 40th anniversary of Black July and the Tamil diaspora

In the year 2023, Tamils all over the world are marking 40 years since Black July took place in Sri Lanka. Black July also led to the first major exodus of 500,000 Tamils from the island. Tamils who were forced to migrate due to the pogrom and the subsequent civil war became the seeds of the worldwide phenomenon “Tamil Diaspora”, including the Tamil diaspora in Norway.

Although the earliest diasporic Tamil communities developed in Singapore and Malaysia during the British colonial period, the forced mass migration around Black July created the identity “Tamil Diaspora”[i] into an internationally known phenomenon. Thus, the year 2023 marks 40 years for the identity “Tamil diaspora”. Today, this identity includes Tamils worldwide who migrated from both North-East Sri Lanka (Tamil Eelam) and South India (Tamil Nadu), regardless of migration causes.

Black July and the following civil war is a historic period for the Tamil diaspora. This is a story of a tremendous effort to transform pain and struggle to form a diasporic infrastructure to preserve, protect and practice the Tamil language, culture, history and heritage worldwide.

The marking of the 40th anniversary of Black July took place at the “Tigerplassen” in Oslo, Norway on 23rd July 2023. An art exhibition and an infographic exhibition were organised by Tamil Coordinating Committee – Norway (TCC Norway) and Tamil Youth Organization – Norway (TYO Norway). Paintings by painter Pugazhenthi (ஓவியர் புகழேந்தி).
Photos: Tamil Youth Organisation – Norway (2023)