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This is a guest post by YaliniDream. Please take a look at her beautiful newly-launched website at http://www.yalinidream.com!

When MIA drops in the club I rep hard. Growing up most my life in the US where few folx know the island Sri Lanka and my ethnic identity is seen ambiguous at the least, it feels good to pop my body to another Lankan Tamil’s Sister’s lyrics mixed over some sick beats.

But my props for MIA is perhaps as complicated and contradictory as the artist herself. As a Lankan Tamil Female performer, I know too much to love her without a good dose of haterade.

Dear LS Reader,

Having been poked and prodded into writing one of the inaugural posts for the Lanka Solidarity Blog, I finally relented out of my hope that this would in some small way contribute to making Lanka Solidarity fertile ground for debate and discussion among the diaspora, a place where progressive, open-minded individuals of all ethnic groups can exchange ideas about how to move our community forward.  It is also my hope that Lanka Solidarity can help articulate a vision of a Sri Lankan identity that transcends the differences that have been too-often emphasized between the ethnic communities, and instead focuses on the commonalities that we share.  This is no easy task, but a task that I feel is imperative if Sri Lanka is to move forward productively.

A letter that members of Lanka Solidarity sent to The Wall Street Journal. The letter, published in today's issue, was edited, so we circulate the full version here.

Dear Editor,

In his recent piece, "Sri Lanka Looks to the Future," (Feb. 4) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse correctly observes that his country's Jan. 26 presidential elections were historic.  With 25 years of conflict at an end, Sri Lanka has the chance to transform its political fortunes and ensure peace, democracy, and dignity for all its peoples. But if the rest of his blinkered piece is any indication, President Rajapakse seems poised to miss this historic opportunity.

Rajapakse gestures only vaguely toward a political solution and minority grievances, dwelling instead on Sri Lanka’s potential for investors and tourists.  Certainly, economic development is necessary for sustainable peace. This kind of growth, however, should neither substitute for nor distract from the critical challenges of reconciliation among the country's multiple communities, implementation of a permanent political solution, and the demilitarization and democratization of society.

Lanka Solidarity welcomes the United States' ongoing engagement in Sri Lanka, as that country continues its transition into what we hope will be a period of real reconciliation and political change.

Two staff members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations recently produced a report with recommendations regarding American foreign policy on Sri Lanka.  Media coverage of this report has suggested that the U.S. might shift its policy to focus on its own geopolitical interests to the exclusion of its humanitarian and human rights commitments. Lanka Solidarity believes such a shift would be premature and would hinder the U.S.'s effective engagement with Sri Lanka.

As such, we are glad to note that this is only one of a number of ways in which the U.S. government has chosen to study and engage Sri Lanka.  In particular, we welcome the reassurances of the U.S. State Department that human rights concerns remain central to U.S. policy. We also support the 2010 Appropriations bill call for a follow-up to the first State Department report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, as well as the suspension of military assistance until certain conditions are met.    

Further, we reiterate that when the U.S. has taken a principled stand on human rights and humanitarian concerns,  and applied appropriate pressure to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), this pressure has led to substantial progress in protecting human rights, improving humanitarian conditions, and promoting stability in Sri Lanka and the region.     

This moment in Sri Lanka's history presents an opportunity to support real political change and reconciliation. However, we suggest that constructive engagement can take a different shape than that recommended by the report.