Archive for May, 2007

After the dragon has been slain

The Dragon, a drama written by the late Russian playwright Eugene Schwartz, is a modern day political fairytale. It tells the story of Lancelot, who on his quest to slay the dragon, stumbles upon a community governed by a hierarchy of bureaucratic clowns who are using the dragon to cover up their own desire for power. Sound familiar? It’s unlikely to be coincidental that the Sri Lankan Janakaraliya group of dramatists chose this piece as one of the adaptations that were performed when they took to the stage in Colombo, after two years of touring more remote areas of the island. In the same way that Schwartz himself demonstrated the repression, militarism, racism and brutality of his homeland under Stalin’s regime from the 1930s to 1950s, modern adaptations may be able to subtly highlight the same issues that continue to plague other parts of the world more than fifty years later. Fairytales, in a sense, are timeless in that they…

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Lisa Kois’s film The Art of Forgetting – A Review

During this year’s Vesak week in Sri Lanka, Buddhists celebrated the birth, life and death of their Lord. Principles were recalled: that it is a bad thing to drink alcohol, to eat meat or fish, to commit any crime against living beings. However, there were no messages about the protection of human life, or references to the principle of ahimsa for people; revealing a curious absence of concern or interest in the humanitarian disaster raging in the country. The last few months of undeclared war in the North and East have generated 300,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and, according to reports by human rights organisations, more than 4,000 people have been abducted and killed; while in the South families receive the bodies of their dead soldiers. These figures are escalating daily. There is no Vesak message for these people, a strange anomaly for this aggressively Buddhist state and predominantly Buddhist society. Considering this Vesak ceremony of denial, it is sobering…

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  • 28 May, 2007
  • 4 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict

Who gains by war in Sri Lanka?

By Kumar Rupesinghe Normally it would seem that nobody wants to have war. War is so horrendous and so devastating that nobody in their right minds would want a war. But unfortunately, this is not the case. There are those who benefit from war and make enormous amounts of money. They are called the Merchants of Death. Today, we will look at the Merchants of Death. These are companies and individuals who profit from war. They are very powerful in the world arena. There are large corporations and companies which focus on the manufacture of arms. These range from the Kalashnikovs to lethal weapons which can harm many. The range of weapons produced by the manufacturers is getting deadlier and more effective. Some of the weapons are built to hurt large numbers of people. There are numerous actors – arms manufacturers, dealers, brokers, financiers and traffickers – who stand to gain through the promotion of war. Amongst them, the so…

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Diaspora dilemmas: Australia and the Sri Lanka conflict

“Australia should add its voice to this call and put real pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to accept an international monitoring body. The conflict can only be resolved through dialogue, but peace talks won’t happen until there is effective and continued pressure applied by Australia and the international community to stop the human rights violations committed by all sides.” Sam de Silva’s article Diaspora dilemmas: Australia and the Sri Lanka conflict, first published by the Nautlius Institute at RMIT in Australia, sketches the background of the conflict in Sri Lanka and the Australian government’s increasing concerns. The Tamil diaspora in Australia, de Silva argues, “faces three main options: continue to promote their claim that the men were raising funds for humanitarian work and not the LTTE’s war machine; distance themselves from the arrests and remain silent; or to affirm the LTTE’s fight as a liberation struggle and argue that it is valid for Tamils in Australia to support that…

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  • 25 May, 2007
  • 5 Comments
  • Disabilities,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Puttalam

An encounter in Puttlam: Peace as seen by two youth who served in the Army

My article is based on an encounter with two Sinhalese youth in Puttlam recently. Both had served in the Army. Both had lost limbs, though we didn’t find this out till much later. We listened silently as we sat on the bund and they recounted their stories of war, and their aspirations for peace. When so many are clamouring for war and violence in Colombo, these two youth offered us a different viewpoint. Instead of hatred and violence, having seen enough of both perhaps, they told us they were sick of war and just wanted to live in peace. It’s a simple message, but are we listening? Read my article in Sinhala here. Repost This Article

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Sharing the burden

Information sharing on various levels has become something of a modern day phenomenon, no doubt fuelled by the extensive use of the internet. Perhaps it is also a result of a heightened sense of anxiety that has taken a firm foothold since September the 11th, but the premise that the sooner we are aware or informed, the better positioned we will be to preempt bad things from happening to us, is a notion that practically everyone is familiar with. Of course, information sharing existed long before this, but the incident certainly played a part in pushing it to the forefront on such a global scale. However, this tool is not only used by intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies, but is now firmly established within the corporate sector and humanitarian organisations have also followed suit. Last week in Sri Lanka saw the launch of the latest initiative in the quest for access to and dissemination of current, accurate and relevant…

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The brutality of our times: After the Delgoda massacre

The recent massacre of a family in Delgoda gripped the attention of the media recently. Reports today indicate that several houses of those suspected to be behind the massacre were torched by the local community. I link this senseless violence and brutality to society that is no longer moved by these events. Sensationalism aside, do we really care? The Delgoda incident, the numbers of those killed in the battlefield, criminals shot by the Police, those abducted and murdered by persons unknown – we seem to be drawn to the events themselves, but are unable to see the clear erosion of a larger humanity. All this, I argue, at a time when religious fervour is at unprecedented heights. This is a sombre reflection, that I toiled on for hours this morning – because it is difficult to really capture the loss of a humane, civil society and what it is today – a traumatised society where we are all aggressors, and…

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I am an enemy of the State

The full title should have read, “I am an enemy of the State as defined by the Rajapaksa administration”. Truncation was not meant for sensational optics alone. The accusation is increasingly made by those in government that civil society and rights activists who question its bona fides are enemies of the State. Branded traitors and pariahs, activists have over the past year alone faced not just a hostile government, but an increasingly hostile public in the South, who starved of information in the public domain on the actions of this government that have seriously eroded the democratic fabric, do not understand why we stand in opposition to it. To be an enemy of the State is clearly not the easiest case to advocate. However, the more this government uses a regressive Chintanaya to define and control the limits of what we should believe and how we should think and act, the more vital it becomes to resist self-serving narratives and…

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Journalist Pakkiyanathan Vijayashanthan who went missing reported to Badulla Police station

Update to the story published earlier. FMM is relieved to report that former Journalist Pakkiyanathan Vijayashanthan who went mission yesterday noon, reported to Badulla Police station some 200 KM away from Colombo. He had phoned his wife around 4.00 am this morning to say that he is at Badulla bus stand and colleagues who were waiting for nay news had advised him to report to the closest police station when he called again around 6.00 am. According to our information he had been abducted by a group of people in a van, but how he found himself at Badulla bus stand is not yet known to the FMM. FMM thanks government ministers, human rights organization here and abroad and especially media for their immediate response to the news of the abduction. FMM believes that quick a response saved the life of Pakkiyanathan Vijayashanthan. FMM hopes that open and transparent investigating into this incident will pave the way towards preventing this…

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Another abduction in Colombo

From a Free Media Movement statement released last night: Pakkiyanathan Vijayashanthan alias Vijayan, who had been a journalist and actor was reported missing today, 18th may 2007. He worked for a Tamil daily as a Trincomalee correspondent and later edited Samaadana Nokku, Tamil edition of Peace Monitor, a publication of the Centre for Policy Alternatives up to 2004. He was a part time actor, played a lead role in Tamil political drama. He left the country because of threatening environment and came back few months ago. Vijayan (32) is married and father of two children. FMM is shocked and dismayed that Vijayan who is a peaceful citizen, who was never involved in politics of violence, has been abducted in the broad daylight in the heart of Colombo city. He was last seen by a friend at Borella (Colombo 08) near YMBA bookstore. He told the friend he would go to YMBA then return to Law and Society Trust, which is…

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  • 17 May, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Human Rights,
    Human Security,
    Jaffna,
    Peace and Conflict

යාපනෙය්දි මිනිසත් බව දුටිමි

රාතුි ඝනඅන්ධකාරය කපා හරිමින් , අවට වායුෙගා්ලය ෙදදරැමි කවමින් පුනරින් පුෙද්ශයට ඵල්ලවු ෙෂල් පුහාරයත් සමග මාෙග් සිෙත් යමි බියක් අැතිෙනාවුවා ෙනාෙවි.ෙකාළඹ පුෙද්ශෙය් ජිවත් වන අපට ෙමම පුහාරයන් අඵත් වුවත්,ෙමම පුෙද්ශයන් à·„à·’ ජිවත් වන අපෙග් සෙහා්දර ජනතාවට ෙමම ශබිදයන් ඔවුන්ෙග් ජිවිතවල තවත් ඵක් ෙදයක් පමනි. මා ෙමි සිටින ස්ථානයට මිට සති ෙදකකට පමන ෙපර ඵල්.ටි.ටි.ඊ.සංවිධානෙය් ෙෂල් පුහාරයක් සමග ගුවන් යානයක් උපෙයා්ගි කරගනිමින් ඵල්ල කිරිමට දැරෑ උත්සහය ලත්තැනම ෙලාප් විය.ඵල්.ටි.ටි.ඊ.ෙය් ගුවන් යානයට ෙමම අධිඅාරක්ෂිත කලාපෙය් අසලටවත් පැමිණිමට ඉඩ ෙනාදූන් බවඋසස් හමුදා නිළධාරිෙයක් මාහා පවසා සිටින ලදි.මා ෙමි පැමින සිටින්ෙන් යාපනය යුධහමුදා සංකිර්ණයටය. අපෙග් ෙමම යාපනය සංචාරෙය් මුලික අරමුණ වුෙය් යාපනය වැසියන්ෙග් ඵදින් ඵදා ජනජිවිතෙය් පවතින ගැටලු ෙසායා බැලිම හා පුෙද්ශෙය අාරක්ෂක අංශ සහ මහජනතාව අතර අැති සමිබන්ධතාවය ෙසායා බැලිම ෙමම සංචාරෙය් පුධාන අරමුණ විය.ෙමම සංචාරය සදහා මා සමග විෙදස් මාධය ෙවිදින් කිහිප ෙදෙනක් සහ ෙද්ශිය මාධය ෙවිදිෙයක් සහභාගි විය. අපෙග් සංචාරෙය් පලමු දිනය අචිචුෙවිලි පුෙද්ශෙය් ජනතාවෙග් ෙතාරතුරැ ෙසායා බැලඳමට ෙයාමු විනි.අචිචුෙවිලි මංසන්ධිය අසල පිහිටි පුජා ශාලාව තුල යුධ හමුදාෙවි ෙෙවදය බලකාය විසින්…

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  • 17 May, 2007
  • 13 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

(non) Patriotic (non) Nationalism

These thoughts are triggered by the call for a Sri Lankan identity. I am not convinced that Sri Lanka’s problems will go away if the people who live there identify themselves as Sri Lankans first. In fact, I find that idea quite problematic. A society should be able to live peacefully, respecting their neighbours despite their cultural differences. In a past article on GroundViews, India was cited as an example of a ‘united’ people. I don’t know enough about India to comment too much – but I think in India, the critical mass (ie. population) of each of the cultural groups that make up the place ensures some kind of balance. And I bet there’s many small minorities that end up with an extremely raw deal. Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation on our planet, is made of a number of provinces and it’s questionable if all the people actually want to belong to Indonesia, or agree with the way…

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The New Terrorism

“But time is always guilty. Someone must pay for Our loss of happiness, our happiness itself.” (W.H. Auden, from ‘Detective Story’ in Collected Poems, 1991) It would be interesting to ask W.H. Auden, who called the 20th Century ‘the age of anxiety’ how he would have seen the first years of the 21st Century. While the possibility of a World War is remote, the world remains a very different place to what visioned as recently as 1992, in the UN’s Agenda for Peace. Today, fighting against terrorism has become the facetious couture of a seemingly bi-polar world which is either “with terrorists or against them”. Rhetoric and actions that claim to wipe and root out terrorism often disguise a vacuity in some of anti-terrorism’s greatest exponents, who, like weathervanes in a storm, like to self-importantly spin and rattle largely in a world of their own imagination. Root causes of terrorism are often ignored in the ‘wars’ against its manifestations. Parochial…

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Pressing for change

The general consensus at this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations was that there was, in fact, very little to celebrate. Instead, it was brought home once again how reporters, journalists and media personnel in this country continue to be assassinated and abducted and how not only individuals, but entire institutions are subjected to intimidation far too frequently. Four days before World Press Freedom Day 2007, at a time when journalists should have been reflecting upon achievements of the past year, Selvarajah Rajivarman, a journalist who joined the Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper four months ago as a reporter, was ruthlessly gunned down in the street. He had previously worked for Nawadu Eelanadu, which had to be closed down after its Editor in Chief, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, was shot dead in August last year. Media freedom is a concept which goes far beyond simply opening one’s mouth to speak, but refers to the structures making up an industry that provides a platform…

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Political solution or political illusion?

Pradeep Peiris, Anupama Ranawana, May 2007 The much awaited political proposal of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in now out. Even before the ink has dried it has attracted fierce criticism from every corner including the party’s past and present allies. Interestingly, and quite strategically, the government has attempted to present the proposal as something formulated only by the party – thereby distancing the administration from any kind of responsibility and/or blame. However, the JVP’s firebrand, Wimal Weerawansa has pointed out the pertinent fact that it is not only the SLFP’s proposal but also of that of the government as Rajapakse is the leader of both the party and the government. Some political analysts say that it reminds them of the LTTE’s ISGA proposal. In 2003, having walked out of direct negotiations with the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE put forward their ISGA proposal as a basis for future talks. This exemplified the LTTE’s totalitarian political mind set and…

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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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