Archive for December, 2007

Alliance Of Parties In The East?

It was reported today that an alliance of political parties plan to jointly contest local govt elections in Batticaloa, but a closer look is revealing. The report http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=2606 stated the following: “An alliance of Tamil political parties has been formed to contest the upcoming local council elections in Batticaloa, EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda said yesterday adding that a final decision on the party symbol and other details would be decided upon within the next few days. Minister Devananda said the alliance was formed between the EPDP, TMVP (Pillayan faction), PLOTE and EPRLF (Varathar faction) following an invitation extended by the EPDP and an agreement was reached to that effect at a meeting held in Batticaloa on Saturday. “The alliance was formed following the meeting held between the area political leaders of the Tamil parties in Batticaloa on Saturday. The alliance will focus on the rights of Tamils in Batticaloa and the development of the district,” Minister Devananda told…

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Poll results: How do you think we can end the war and attain peace in Sri Lanka?

The final results of the rough-and-ready Groundviews poll are now available here. The wording was taken from CPA’s Peace Confidence Index (PCI) poll, of which the ethnic breakdown for this same question from the latest report in November 2007 shows an interesting and significant divide between the Sinhala and the Tamil, Up-Country Tamil and Muslim communities. Image taken from PCI November 2007 report Some of the comments submitted to the “Other” field in the Groundviews poll were: change the face of politics in this country, and tempt the more conscientious. The International and the Sri Lankan government have to Listen to the Tamils Get a dictator who can get the politicians to listen to the peace negotiations Peace talks with limited military offensives AND big diplomatic effort Simple word – Sharing. IF we could learn t oshare this war will stop. Simultaneously, stop the war and stop all structural violence against the Tamil Only way to solve the problem is…

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To Jaffna and Back

[Editors note: Because of the length of this submission, readers may wish to use the Print Posts feature to create a fully formatted PDF of this article to read offline or in print. To do so, simply click on the Print Posts button on the right.] (Facts have been presented as related to me by the people I met in Jaffna without alteration or embellishment. The conversations I had with most of the people I met were in Tamil and have been translated here. Names of people and certain events have been omitted due to safety concerns) I write these events not as a criticism of any party or person but as an appeal to those concerned, to end the suffering of the people of Sri Lanka. I write under the encouragement of my friends and associates. Their words of support and concern tell me that there is still hope, despite the feeling of hopelessness concerning our collective inability to…

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Launch of Groundviews Facebook Fan Page

In a move to more fully integrate with the burgeoning Facebook community, Groundviews is pleased to announce the launch of the Groundviews Facebook Fan Page. Several months ago, Groundviews added a link at the end of every article allowing readers to post content directly to their Facebook profiles or send it around to their Facebook contacts. Our Fan Page is the next step in exploring the potential of content from this website, and also from Vikalpa and the Vikalpa YouTube Channel, feeding into debates and discussions within the Facebook community. The Fan Page features news feeds from all our citizen journalism sites, highlighted videos and other multimedia content, discussion boards featuring topical issues and wall posts, for you to share your ideas on our content or things you think demand our attention. Existing Facebook users only have to go here to sign up as a fan and join the on-going discussions. New users will need to create a Facebook account…

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A Fresh Solution to the National Question

A few days back, a big poster published by one called Kosgoda Gnanaseeha Thero (B.A. Honors) of Pahingamuwa Gangarama temple could be seen pasted in some places in Kandy area. Its headline was “Solution to the National Question in Sri Lanka- Evict Three Million Aliens”. It was so descriptive that it looked like a whole chapter of a handbook of patriotism than a normal poster. Therefore, only certain sections are quoted here, as would be necessary to understand its basic tenets. “We urge the UNO to evict three million aliens from Sri Lanka as an effective measure to prevent the conspiracy of exterminating the Sinhala race. The present war, the scarcity of food, obstructing development projects, murdering Sinhala leaders, anti-Buddhist campaigns led by Marxist movements, political instability, depriving Sinhalese of land, employment and business opportunities, mud slinging against Sinhalese throughout the world, the conspiracy to hatch an alien religious state in Sri Lanka, underworld gangs, promoting liquor, gambling and smoking,…

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What we can expect in Sri Lanka in 2008

It is impossible to prophesise political developments in Sri Lanka with any degree of accuracy. For starters, there is little that is logical about party politics and nothing that is principled. From the pathological condition of politicking for short-term and personal gain to random acts of terrorism and responses that change individual and communal fortunes overnight, Sri Lanka’s incredibly frustrating socio-political developments bedevils easy explanation or projections into the future. Some aspects of what we will see in 2008 are, however, blatantly obvious from developments the year before. For starters, the UNP will continue its downward spiral into monumental irrelevance. Without any real vision, a significant lack of appeal amongst Southern voters, no meaningful alternatives to the socio-economic policies and military strategies of the government and shackled by a marked lack of political imagination, the UNP is even today a tragic party struggling to come to grips with its rapid and significant demise. The mercurial Leader of the Opposition will…

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SRI LANKA: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The year 2007 in Sri Lanka began with little hope for a revival of the peace process, and therefore also for constitutional reform, and it ends with similar prospects on either of these issues in 2008. The military conflict has intensified between the government and the LTTE, with either side now seemingly committed to, for the want of a better phrase, a fight unto the death. For the government, this means an exclusively military policy aimed at the total defeat of the LTTE, including the elimination of its leadership. There is little sign that this policy also involves a political settlement addressing the core political causes of the conflict, entailing fundamental reforms to the constitutional order so as to remove the anomaly of the unitary State in a pluralistic society. It would rather be a victor’s imposition of a piecemeal settlement that may marginally, but more likely may not, go beyond the devolution scheme already found under the Thirteenth Amendment…

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Present situation in Jaffna: A video interview in English and Sinhala

A video interview on the present situation in the embattled city of Jaffna in the North of Sri Lanka with Ruki Fernando from the Law and Society Trust. Ruki recently wrote to Groundviews on his experiences from a trip to Jaffna (read Jaffna: Tears, blood and terror). For a Sinhala version of this video, please click here. For more videos, please visit the Vikalpa YouTube Channel. Repost This Article

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Is it a crime to be a Tamil in Sri Lanka?

“In the end anti black, anti female, and all forms of discrimination equivalent to the same thing- anti humanism” Shirley Chisholm- American Politician, the first African-American to win a seat in the United States Congress I like to share the daily experience of being a Tamil in Sri Lanka. The Tamils who are living in North and East of the country are subjected to various forms of discrimination. They feel utterly helpless due to fear. The civilians in these areas lead a horrible life beyond our imagination. Tamils who are living in Colombo for decades are not exempted from discrimination by various walks of life; may it be security forces or fellow workers or neighbours. Recently I drove to a five star hotel in Colombo to meet a foreign friend of mine. I was stopped at the main entrance of this particular hotel. The security guard who stopped me asked “where I was driving to?” I replied that I was…

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The killing of journalists and the Media Minister’s comments

My article published in Vikalpa, in Sinhala, deals with this government’s deplorable record of securing and strengthening media freedom in Sri Lanka in2007. My immediate response is to the Media Minister’s contestation of the recent PEC report that ranked Sri Lanka as the world’s 3rd most dangerous place for journalists. The Media Minister’s self-styled interpretation of journalists / journalism is pitifully blinkered and deliberately narrow. As I note, it is also an essentially inhumane stance as he, by extension, justifies the killings of media workers who do not fall under the Government’s definition of journalists. In this light, it is important to recognise that the Free Media Movement, along with four other leading trade unions and journalists organisations, recognised new media workers and bloggers as journalists as well. මුද්රිත, විද්්යුත්, හෝ අන්තර් ජාල මාධ්ය හරහා වෘත්තියක් වශයෙන් තොරතුරු එකතු කිරීමෙහි, සංස්කරණය කිරිමෙහි සහ බෙදා හැරීමෙහි සංවිධිතව හෝ තනිව යෙදී සිටින ඹ්නෑම අයකු ජනමාධ්යවේදයට අයත් ය. එපමණක් නොව අනෙක් අයට ද…

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Artists in a fractured, violent country

4 young artists in Sri Lanka respond, through their art, and are shaped by the zeitgeist of a country in conflict and a society in turmoil. Through their work, audiences enjoy and appreciate a new approach to art, one that reveals reality and questions issues of identity – aspects of a fractured society longing for change. Film produced by Young Asia Television. Repost This Article

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The General and his necessary evils

Pradeep Peiris, December 2007 Mahinda Rajapakse has won another decisive battle. At the last Presidential election, the LTTE, for reasons unknown, boycotted the election while the Marxist voices of the JVP waged a heavy pro-Rajapakse campaign. This JVP-LTTE combination turned up trumps for Rajapakse once again during Friday’s “Battle of the Budget”. While the LTTE played the role of the devil to be defeated, the JVP, cabinet ministers and those who voted in favour of the budget the victory hailed it one small step towards vanquishing the LTTE. Therefore, while the LTTE has been a strong factor in the president’s mass appeal, the JVP has always played the role of redeemer – with its constant desire for military solution and it’s UNP-phobia. This was further vindicated by the recent poll (27th wave, PCI November 2007) results of the Peace Confidence Index of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. According to the poll, two years into Rajapkse’s tenure as President, an overwhelming…

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  • 20 Dec, 2007
  • 5 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

Groundviews Person of the Year ?

A day or two ago, Time Magazine announced its Person of the Year: Vladimir Putin. I wonder, if this audience was to make a selection, who the Groundviews Person of the Year would be? This is how the Time Warner Inc’s publication describes its annual award: TIME’s Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership—bold, earth-changing leadership. The whole concept of a ‘person of the year’ is highly problematic, but it helps make news and create abstractions so that audiences can be made happier or angrier or just more confused. Putin is described by Time as someone who has chosen “Order before Freedom” and suggests that despite the “significant cost to…

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  • 18 Dec, 2007
  • 6 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Politics and Governance

Norwegian and British Interventions in the Sri Lankan Conflict: A Sorry Tale of Misinformation and Misunderstanding

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan I am not sure how and why Norway got involved in the Sri Lankan conflict. However, I have read in couple of academic articles that peacemaking in internal conflicts is a cornerstone of the foreign policy of the Royal Norwegian Government. It has been involved in several peacemaking exercises in Guatemala, Palestine, Sri Lanka and Sudan, inter alia. However, none seem to have borne fruit in a durable manner, except perhaps Guatemala. It is high time for the Norwegian Government and the people to realise why their efforts to make peace around the world have failed? From the experience of Norway in Sri Lanka this article postulates that the diaspora communities and the so-called Norwegian and Scandinavian experts on different conflicts around the world have misinformed the Norwegian people and the Government, and therefore misunderstanding (or misreading) of the conflicts and their key players have become the norm in the Norwegian-brokered peacemaking efforts around the world. Norway has…

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Until the Guns are silent

I set out to Jaffna last week hoping to report on the situation there. I got back yesterday but am still unable to put down anything on paper as I don’t know where to start. Do I start with the little boy I met who saved his baby brother’s life by scooping his intestines back into his torn belly and holding him till he was given medical attention? Or do I start with the little girl who saw a man on his knees begging for his life before having his brains blown out on the road in the middle of the morning? Or again should I start with the cousin of the Priest who was abducted, tortured and killed for daring to stand up to authority pleading for medical help for his parishioners? Or better still the wife and five children of the brave young man who shared the same plight as the priest? Or maybe I should begin with…

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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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