HEY MAN!

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Photo courtesy Reuters Hey, MAN! Yup you. Got a minute? Because I would like to talk to you. Yup, to you. Because you whistled out a love song in my honour from your guard-post on Bauddhaloka Mawatha as I was hopping out of a tuk-tuk to get into work this morning. You were on duty. You and I are not in love. And you can’t hold a tune if your life depended on it. And so I am curious as to why you did it. Did the tune spring out from your lips and into your pants and give you the rise that eluded you earlier this morning? Did it score you points with your chums at the post? Did it make you feel good? Strong?  Manly? Did it make you feel like a MAN? Are you curious about how it made me feel? Well it didn’t make me feel too good to be honest. I felt small. I felt…

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Longing and belonging series: Diaspora shorts

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Editors note: Groundviews is very pleased to host the web premiere of Longing and belonging series: Diaspora shorts by Kannan Arunasalam. We’ve featured Kannan’s visually stunning and compelling work before in Koothu, kerosene and paper: portraits of resilience, part of the Moving Images series commissioned by Groundviews. Over the coming week we’ll progressively upload Kannan’s short videos, so check back often. Finally, if you have a good broadband connection, we highly recommend that in the trailer below, you turn on HD and view it full screen. ### August in Sri Lanka is a month of religious festivals in the north and also a chance for the diaspora to return and reconnect with their homeland. What better time I thought than to try and meet members of the diaspora returning to visit Sri Lanka. My own journey started six years ago, and since then I’ve made Sri Lanka my home, putting down new roots in the country of my birth. It’s…

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  • 25 Jan, 2012
  • 5 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Politics and Governance

Mahinda Rajapaksa as a Modern Mahāvāsala and Font of Clemency? The Roots of Populist Authoritarianism in Sri Lanka

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On 4th December 2011 the Sunday Island carried a headline: “Mahinda ready to meet General Fonseka’s family over pardon” — with a picture alongside showing President Mahinda Rajapaksa seated in an armchair perusing an official document – a document in royal red and marked by a recognisable state seal. It is the juxtaposition of the headline and image that drew my interest. In my reading as an analyst attentive to indigenous cultural threads, this combination suggested several interrelated motifs, namely, that President Rajapaksa is the epitome of sovereign power, vested with the rights of clemency on high, just like Sinhalese kings of the past who could be supplicated by condemned subjects who crawled on their knees to the palace gates (mahāvāsala) and begged for pardon for their evil-doings or crimes;[i] President Rajapaksa is akin to a manorial lord of the past, a patrimonial figure who is readily accessible on his verandah to subordinate officials, tenants and other people seeking favours from…

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Going beyond the 13th Amendment: Newspaper coverage of the Sri Lankan’s President’s assurance to India

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Our affiliate Vikalpa did a short media monitoring exercise anchored to the front page reportage of the Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka and the press conference in which the President’s commitment to going beyond the 13th Amendment was reiterated by him. The following is a translation of the report that first appeared on Vikalpa. In addition to the translation below, which deals with the Sinhala and Tamil media, it is interesting to note the differences in reporting the Indian FM’s statement regarding the 13th Amendment between the state-run Daily News and the privately owned Daily Mirror.  The Daily News does not have a single mention of the President’s avowed commitment to go beyond the 13th Amendment anywhere on the front page. The headline quoting the Indian FM, notes that the LLRC report is a basis for reconciliation. There is a photo showing the President, with both his hands, grasping the outstretched arm of the Indian FM. We…

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Mahinda, Marxism and Michael

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Photo courtesy Daylife. Activists of Sri Lanka’s opposition Marxist People’s Liberation Front, wearing masks that represent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers, walk in a protest against the government in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 2011. ### Michael Colin Cooke titles his response to my response “Once more into the breach”. If I may be permitted a quibble at the commencement, shouldn’t that read “unto” the breach? As Rooney Mara playing Lisbeth Salander in ‘Millennium’ says by way of greeting, “hey hey!” Let’s see what we have here. Having accused me of “idealisation of the current government of Sri Lanka” and in response to my challenge to come up with any evidence, MCC’s devastating riposte is that “By idealisation I mean Dr Jayatilleka’s exalting of President Rajapaksa above the normal run of Sri Lankan politicians.”  So, that’s MCC’s definition of idealisation. Now I just don’t have the time to ask him for examples of ‘exalting’ because he is bound to repeat…

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Once more into the breach

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“The bloody massacre in Bangladesh quickly covered over the memory of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Allende drowned out the groans of Bangladesh, the war in the Sinai Desert made people forget Allende, and so on and so forth until ultimately everyone lets everything be forgotten.” Milan Kundera[1] “…. Some [intellectuals] served as spokesmen for power or for a constituency, trimming their beliefs and pronouncements to circumstances and interest: what Edward Said once called “the fawning elasticity with regard to one’s own side’ has indeed “disfigured the history of intellectuals.” Tony Judt.[2] His Excellency Dr Dayan Jayatilleka has been good enough to respond to my critique of his position with regard to the merits of the current government of Sri Lanka.[3] Let me first deal with his view of my original comments on his intellectual and political practices; then I will go to the heart of his response.[4] Readers of Groundviews know, better than most, Dr Jayatilleka’s…

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Examining Sri Lanka’s Diplomacy Machine

Lankan Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe

Photo courtesy JDS As promised, the Sri Lankan government made the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) public last month. It has also recently released its “National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: 2011-2016.” The Action Plan was developed in accordance with a commitment the government had made in 2008, the last time Sri Lanka participated in the UN’s Universal Periodic Review. Both documents are part of the Sri Lankan government’s strategy to placate international observers and convince people that there is no need for any kind of international assistance because the country’s domestic institutions are working just fine. Like the LLRC report, the National Action Plan contains some decent ideas and recommendations, but it is replete with missing and false information. For example, the section on the Prevention of Torture is laughable and worrisome. The Sri Lankan government claims that it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy on torture.” This sweeping assertion directly contradicts…

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Examinations Department should pass the Integrity Test

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Image courtesy Asian Mirror Basic Questions to Answer In the late 1970s, a Deputy Commissioner of Examinations was prosecuted for interfering with the results of a son of a Minister and a son of a school principal. He was jailed.  It was possible to  prosecute him because the then Commissioner got wind of this illegal activity and moved for prosecution of this officer. Is this possible now? Can an officer who extends favours to a politician in power be ever prosecuted presently?  This is the question before you and me today. Let me also raise few other questions.  When credible foreign universities offer places to Sri Lankan students for undergraduate studies, they presume that the Advanced Level results reflect the genuine talent of the student concerned.  What would happen if the main foreign universities have doubts about the credibility of the A/ L examination results issued by the Department of Examinations?  If a list of students is given by a…

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The Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA): What implications for Sri Lanka?

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There are a lot of websites in the US that have gone black to protest against the proposed Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Wikipedia has gone to the extent of taking down its site for the day, and lists its reasons here. Action across such a large number of key internet companies based in the US is unprecedented, and demonstrates clear opposition to the two pieces of legislation. The White House has itself distanced itself from both in their current form. And yet, they remain for consideration by lawmakers. As Wikipedia notes, …neither SOPA nor PIPA is dead. On January 17th, SOPA’s sponsor said the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA may be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. In many jurisdictions around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement…

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Is Power Sharing in Land Administration Practical in Sri Lanka?

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Editors note: The author informs us that this Long Reads article is the result of many months of research, and aimed at promoting reconciliation. It is a dispassionate take on a vexed issue, and the author has in recent weeks shared it on a personal basis with selected political figures in the Government and Opposition. It is published on Groundviews with just a few edits. The author predicts that sooner than later negotiators in Government will come to terms with power sharing in land administration. The article is especially timely given the statement to media yesterday by Hon. S.M Krishna, the Indian Minister of External Affairs, that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the full implementation of the 13th Amendment plus, and that the Sri Lankan Government would deliver on its promise. The hope of the author is that his article lays the foundation for a progressive dialogue on this vital issue. Austin Fernando is the author of My Belly is…

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Curated updates from Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka

Tweets from Syed Akbaruddin, Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, India & other media reporting on Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka in January 2012. Note in particular the reference to the implementation of the 13th Amendment Plus by the Sri Lankan government. [View the story "Updates from Indian Foreign Minister's official visit to Sri Lanka" on Storify]

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Killing us slowly

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When we ask the question, who uses pesticides?  Followed by the question who promotes pesticides? It is relatively simple to see who gains and who looses by the promotion and use of these poisons. In Sri Lanka the farmers are asked to indulge in prophylactic spraying i.e. spraying in advance of any pest appearance. Such practices have to be held responsible for a sinister malaise that affects almost everyone; the malaise of Pesticide Accumulation. Pesticide Accumulation refers to the tendency of some biocides and heavy metals used in these biocides to concentrate along the food chain. The biocide residues that are diluted as they are washed by rainfall are slowly taken up by simple plants, which are eaten by small animals, which are in turn eaten by larger animals. The toxin concentrating more and more as it rises in the food chain.  This is particularly evident in aquatic systems, so producing or consuming fish from areas that have a large…

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Defending Sri Lanka: Response to Michael Colin Cooke

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Image taken from ‘Interrogating a public intellectual: Noted bloggers and youth activists engage Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka‘, published on Groundviews The phrase ‘a man for all seasons’ being a compliment -which is clearly not the writer’s intent- I find Mr Michael Colin Cooke’s sense of irony rather leaden (read A Man for all political Seasons: Dr Dayan Jayatilleka). No matter. I have two options in responding. One is to enter a slugfest of quotations and ideological polemic, for which I simply do not have the time, and nor I suspect, do most readers. The other route is to address the substance, with a view to advancing clarity and political discussion. MCC accuses me of “idealisation of the current government of Sri Lanka”. That’s plain silly, and he would find it impossible to back it up with a single quotation or example, while none of those he has furnished amount to anything remotely approaching idealisation. I do defend the Sri Lankan state, its…

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A Man for all political Seasons: Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

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  “… I remain passionately committed to the notion of universality and universal values which derive from our common human condition. The values of humanism are part of these universal values”. Dr Dayan Jayatilleka[1] “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.” Julian Barnes [2] On first reading Dr Dayan Jayatilleka one is seduced not only by his prose but by the battery of great names he uses to support his arguments: Edward Galeano, Mao, Gramsci, Che, Nietzsche, Camus and Sartre (and the list does not end there).[3] His political examples are drawn from Serbia, Rwanda, Burma, Pakistan and Mubarak’s Egypt.[4] He does not spare his opponents and their causes – “Red fascists,”[5] he cries; others are deemed: “Orientalist Western critics and their Sri Lankan spear bearers”.[6] When the occasion demands, he brings to the fore an incident where he was either a bystander or an active participant in the…

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Review of ‘Right of Way: A journey of resettlement’

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I was delighted when asked to review Right of Way: A journey of resettlement by Sharni Jayawardena and published by the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA). Sharni’s skill in photography is enviable, and was the co-creator of Walkabout: Slave Island, supported by Groundviews. At the time of review, the publication was not in the public domain, and given what I had seen of Sharni’s previous work, I expected it to be a largely photographic record, in a coffee table book format, of the human displacement that occurred as a result of the E01, Sri Lanka’s first highway. And yet the book features few photos. 72 pages long, the book has just 8 photos included in it. I’ll come back to why I think this makes for a less compelling way of grappling with what the book sets out to do. Thousands, since E01 opened late last year, have taken the highway to Galle from Kottawa. The focus when on the…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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