Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America

The Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) is a non profit organization of Tamil organizations in the United States and Canada. It is a registered, non profit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization and founded in 1987 by five Tamil organizations: Tamil Association of Delaware Valley, Tamil Sangam of Washington & Baltimore, New York Tamil Sangam, Ilankai Tamil Sangam and Harrisburg Tamil Sangam. In July 2018, it stated that it represents 50 Tamil organizations based in America and Canada.

FeTNA organizes an annual North American Tamil convention. Established in 1988, the conventions are held during the 4th of July weekend, in a different city every year. Conventions can attract over two thousand attendees from all over North America. Invited guests typically include Tamil writers, actors, musicians, and politicians from a variety of political parties in India and Sri Lanka. The annual conventions were held jointly with the Indian American Tamil Nadu Foundation until 2002; the two groups have held separate conventions starting in 2003. The 32nd convention will be held along with World Tamil Conference during July 3–7, 2019 in Chicago. Year Location 1988 Broomall, Pennsylvania 1989 Washington, D. C. 1990 Staten Island, New York 1991 Hoffman Estates, Illinois (Chicago) 1992 College Park, Maryland 1993 Kenosha, Wisconsin (Chicago) 1994 Somerset, New Jersey 1995 Toledo, Ohio 1996 Stamford, Connecticut 1997 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1998 Edwardsville, Illinois 1999 Atlantic City, New Jersey 2000 Tampa, Florida 2001 Southfield, Michigan 2002 University Park, Illinois (Chicago) 2003 Trenton, New Jersey 2004 Baltimore, Maryland 2005 Dallas, Texas 2006 New York, New York 2007 Raleigh, North Carolina 2008 Orlando, Florida 2009 Atlanta, Georgia 2010 Waterbury, Connecticut 2011 Charleston, South Carolina 2012 Baltimore, Maryland 2013 Toronto, Canada 2014 St. Louis, Missouri 2015 San Jose, California2016 Trenton, New Jersey2017 Minneapolis, Minnesota2018 Frisco, Texas (Dallas)2019 Schaumburg, Illinois (Chicago)2020 Atlanta, Georgia

FeTNA sponsors visits from two Tamil scholars to the United States each year; as of 2006, it had sponsored a total of 24 scholars. It has also been involved in the sponsorship of a Tamil Chair at the University of California, Berkeley and the Tamil Studies program at the University of Toronto.

FeTNA plays an active role in fundraising for disaster relief work in response to crises like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 2004 Kumbakonam school fire. In June 2005, the group reported that it had raised $37,965.79 for tsunami relief (disbursed through the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Exnora International) and $16,020.43 for victims of the Kumbakonam school fire (disbursed through the Kumbakonam Lions Club).

The Federation was founded in 1987 by five American Tamil sangams: Ilankai Tamil Sangam, Tamil Association of Delaware Valley, Tamil Sangam of Washington & Baltimore, New York Tamil Sangam and Harrisburg Tamil Sangam. As of October 2010, FeTNA's website links to the websites of the following member organizations:

Austin Tamil Sangam, Bay Area Tamil Manram, Bharathi Kalai Manram, Boston Thamil Association, Los Angeles Tamil Sangam, San Diego Tamil Sangam, Canadian Tamil Congress, Chicago Tamil Sangam, Cincinnati Tamil Sangam, Columbus Tamil Sangam, Connecticut Tamil Sangam, Greater Atlanta Tamil Sangam, Harrisburg Area Tamil Sangam, Ilankai Tamil Sangam, Metroplex Tamil Sangam, Michigan Tamil Sangam, Minnesota Tamil Sangam, Missouri Thamiz Sangam, National Tamil Youth Organization, New England Tamil Sangam, New Jersey Tamil Arts and Cultural Society, New Jersey Tamil Sangam, New York Tamil Sangam, Oklahoma Tamil Sangam, Panai Nilam Tamil Sangam, San Antonio Tamil Sangam, Seattle Tamil Sangam, South Florida Tamil Sangam, Tamil Association of Colorado, Tamil Association of Greater Delaware Valley, Tamil Malar Manram of Cleveland, Tamil Sangam of Carolina, Tamil Sangam of Greater Washington, Tamil Sneham, Tamil Eelam Society of Canada, Tampa Tamil Association, Tennessee Tamil Sangam, North Carolina Cary TAMIL Sangam and the Utah Tamil Sangam.

The Federation's stated interest in doing cultural work in the "Tamil Eelam" region of Sri Lanka involved it with high profile legal challenges against the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) and the USA PATRIOT Act. In 1997, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright designated the LTTE as a "foreign terrorist organization" under the terms of the AEDPA, which, according to TamilNet, "criminalizes the provision of material support or resources to the lawful and non violent activities of any foreign organization designated as 'terrorist' by the Secretary of State." In 1998, FeTNA and seven other organizations joined the Center for Constitutional Rights in challenging the constitutionality of the AEDPA, which would make illegal FeTNA's attempts to do service around Tamil language, arts, and cultural institutions in the LTTE occupied "Tamil Eelam" region of Sri Lanka. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against the plaintiffs. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the Humanitarian Law Project took up a similar case challenging the AEDPA and the USA PATRIOT Act in 2003. In March 2004, Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the US Government from enforcing applicable sections of the USA Patriot Act against the plaintiffs; however, FeTNA was not covered by the ruling, because they did not provide the court with adequate details to prove that their proposed actions—doing cultural work in LTTE occupied parts of Sri Lanka—would actually be in violation of the law.

Some critics of the LTTE, consider FeTNA overly sympathetic toward or supportive of the group. FeTNA's public statements are primarily critical of human rights abuses attributed to the government of Sri Lanka. A July 2003 Times of India article based only on a prior article in Sri Lankan paper The Island called FeTNA "one of LTTE's front organisations," and referred to the annual FeTNA convention as an LTTE fundraiser. (The Island in a 1999 Asian Human Rights Commission statement was called "a Sri Lankan newspaper well known for its racist propaganda.") The accusation appears not to have been repeated in subsequent media coverage, and mainstream Indian political figures (e. g. Indian President Abdul Kalam) have continued to participate in FeTNA events. mentioned that his son, who attends middle school in California, did not feel insulted by the textbook's contents on Hinduism.

In a statement FeTNA has supported caste based reservation in India to 49.5% of the available seats in institutes of higher education and jobs. It has been critical of the demonstration again the proposed increased in reserved seats. The Tamil Nadu state of India already reserves 69% seats for specific castes.