"There is a systematic genocide going on in Sri Lanka at the moment and the world doesn't know about it. That is why we are trying to create awareness about the issue and help put a stop to this genocide."
This is how Sriharan Manogharan described recent events that has resulted in hundreds of Tamil civilians killed and thousands more injured. The Sri Lankan Army is pushing to wipe out the Tamil national liberation movement based in the northeast of the country.
"The mainstream media is not covering the truth and reality. There are a lot of issues going on in Sri Lanka that people don't know about", Manogharan told Green Left Weekly.
With the genocide intensifying over the last few weeks, young Tamils in Australia have been leading the fight here to put an end to these atrocities, organising hunger strikes, petition campaigns and street protests.
A member of the Sydney Tamil community, Manogharan, together with eight other Tamil youth, went on hunger strike in Martin Place between January 28 and February 1 to protest the Sri Lankan government's massacre.
Fred Fuentes, from the socialist youth organisation Resistance spoke to Manogharan and Sam Pari, two of the many inspiring young Tamils who have been spearheading the campaign to force the Australian government to act against the atrocities being carried out in Sri Lanka.
Both helped organise the 5000-strong rally held by the Tamil community on February 4 in Sydney. Resistance members proudly joined the protests.
Explaining the significance of holding the protest on February 4, Pari said "today is Sri Lankan Independence Day, and on this day, 61 years ago, the Tamils lost their independence.
"Since then, the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka haven't experienced peace, justice or freedom in 61 years."
Giving some context to the struggle, Pari argued: "When someone says the word Tamil, it is immediately associated with the word 'tiger'. It goes together the way crispy and cream does" explained Pari. "But the Tamil Tigers didn't just pop out of nowhere."
"The Tamil people have experienced discrimination day after day, year after year, under successive Sri Lankan governments.
"For 40 years following Sri Lankan independence, the Tamil people tried to ask for justice through peaceful means, through peaceful protests, through hunger strikes, by getting their political representatives to make requests in parliament.
"It was only after all of this was not recognised, and the Tamil people continued to face pogroms and anti-Tamil riots and discrimination in the education and employment sector, that finally a bunch of young people who were very infuriated, decided to embark on an armed struggle, which is what we hear about today.
"But one has to venture out and find out the real causes behind this armed struggle rather than simply … saying that this is something that is taboo, that this is something we don't want to find out about."
For Manogharan, it was the fact that "over 300 of our Tamil brethren were shot and bombed and killed and thousands were left bleeding to death on the streets and the world doesn't know about it" that drove him to go on hunger strike.
Manogharan said that the aim of the protest and hunger strike was "to help create awareness about the Tamil struggle, about what our Tamil brethren are going through and at the same time ask the Australian government to force a ceasefire by the Sri Lankan government".
"What we want" added Pari "is for the Australian government to recognise all of this and intervene and bring about a peaceful, political solution to the Tamils' grievances.
"We appreciate that Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith has stated that a political solution is necessary and that Australia is considering giving more aid to the affected northern parts of Sri Lanka.
"However, I don't think the Sri Lankan government is going to listen to a nice request. I want Australia to intervene, the way it did in East Timor, to ensure that more innocent Tamil lives are not lost," she said.
Asked if the protests would continue, Manogharan said that they would do "what ever it takes until we put a stop to the suffering. We will continue to protest until this happens. We will keep fighting, trying many different avenues, but we won't stop until we find a just solution to this problem."
As defenders of the rights of the Tamil people to their homeland, Tamil Eelam, Resistance will continue to fight side by side with these brave young activists until the Tamil people have justice.