Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students

The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students, also known as the Eelam Revolutionary Organisers, was a Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka.

Origins

The EROS was formed in London in 1975 by Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy and Nesadurai Thirunesan (also known as Shankar Rajee). It started as a think-tank, strongly influenced by Marxism, to analyse Tamil issues. Much of its early membership was drawn from the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai, and also the Jaffna peninsula. EROS was the first political group which recruited Sri Lankan Muslims as well and was more concerned with the question of the Sri Lankan Muslims than any other group had been. They drew up a four phase programme to co-opt the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the eastern province into the Eelam struggle, by working closely with them, and understanding and espousing their grievances.

Links with Palestinians

In 1976, the EROS established links with the Abu Jihad of the Palestine Liberation Organization and began planning the setting up of camps to train Sri Lankan Tamils in military and guerrilla warfare. EROS even opened up their training camp for the LTTE where Prabhakaran had his initial training. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), EPRLF and PLOTE sent their own men to the PLO's camps for training under the request of EROS, and EROS also organised for men of other groups to be sent. A number of Tamils, including many who would later form the core of the other Tamil militant groups, started their militant careers in these camps.

plinter groups

Despite being the most ideological of all the Tamil groups, and its strong revolunationary nationalism, the EROS never became as militarily active as later groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), largely because its leadership continued to be based in London. Their most notable military actions was the bombings in Sri Lanka in 1984 and 1985, and the kidnapping of British journalist Penelope Willis.

Partly as a result of this, differences arose in 1979 among the cadre in Sri Lanka. The result was that the student wing of the EROS, the General Union of Eelam Students, split away from the EROS in 1980 to form a new organisation, the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). EROS was also one of the main forces behind the attempt to form a united front, the Eelam National Liberation Front, in 1984, and remained the major driving force behind the front until it fell apart in 1986.

LTTE association

During the IPKF period, EROS was one of the few groups to support the LTTE and was in fact their main political advisory body as the EROS and LTTE worked in alliance with one another. In the late 1980s, EROS split over the question of whether or not they should militarily support the LTTE. In 1990, the group was effectively disbanded. One of its two top leaders, V. Balakumaran, together with a large portion of its members, left EROS to join the LTTE, saying it was a betrayal of the Tamil cause not to take up arms. The remnants of the group, led by Shankar Rajee, formed a political party, which they also called EROS. This party won 13 seats at the following general election, but steadily declined in through the 1990s as the party decided that they no longer had confidence in the Sri Lankan government. Following the death of Shankar Rajee (also known as Nesadurai Thirunesan) in 2005, Shankar Rajee's son Nesan Thirunesan took over as its new youth leader and is continuing his father's work and legacy by promoting peace and democracy amongst all the Sri Lankan Tamil and ex-patriate community and encouraging friendly and peaceful relations with the Sri Lankan Sinhala and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka and abroad.

NGO links

The late Shankar Rajee's son is popularly known as "EROS Nesan or Shankar Rajee Junior" plays an active role helping and assisting the Tamil community suffering in Sri Lanka through various charitable projects and NGO's. EROS Nesan remains neutral when it comes to politics and is a staunch advocate in supporting democracy, however he feels that the LTTE must continue to function in order to act as a deterrent towards the Sri Lankan army.

EROS in popular culture

Rapper Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., is the estrangedFact|Sept. 2008|date=September 2008 daughter of Arul Pragasam, a founding member of EROS. In her music, M.I.A. makes frequent references to the Sri Lankan Civil War and her father's participation in EROS.