Archive for February, 2008

The Attacks on Civil Society Organizations

Sumanasiri Liyanage Dr Pradeep Jeganathan’s dinner experience in Delhi with a French anthropologist reminded me a recent meeting I happened to have with a European high level diplomat in Sri Lanka. Referring to the recent events in Sri Lanka, he said: “I would be worried if similar things have happened in Balkans or even in India, but I am not worried at all for what is happening in Sri Lanka”. Is this a difference between an anthropologist who in Dr Jeganathan’s account was superficially worried about Sri Lanka and a diplomat who has been here for quite a long time but least worried about the Sri Lankan events? The diplomat in my story was rather angry as international community failed to tame the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Did my experience contradict Dr Jeganathan’s dinner experience? I would say no. Two stories, in my view, reveal how the imperialist mind works with regard to the countries in the global South;…

Continue reading »
  • 29 Feb, 2008
  • 1 Comment
  • IDPs and Refugees,
    Peace and Conflict

Sri Lankan refugees in India: “Are we the ones to bear this shame, are they the sacrifice”

I remembered John Denver’s passionate song dedicated to the refugees called “Fallen leaves”, as I sat in the Chennai airport, trying to make sense of what I had seen and heard and my own feelings, recalling my visit to Sri Lankans who had fled to India in fear of their lives and live in camps as refugees. One of the lines from the song that kept coming back to me was what I had put as the title to this reflection. At the airport, I myself felt a bit of a refugee, having come to the airport from an overnight bus. It had not been an easy journey, traveling by a night train, and spending the day at the store house that now serves as a home to 26 families, and then taking an overnight bus back, straight to the airport. And several other train, bus and auto rides in between. But I guess the difficulties in my journey pales…

Continue reading »

Current situation in Jaffna, Sri Lanka: A resident speaks out

The current socio-economic, political and ground situation in Jaffna from a resident in the embattled region in the North of Sri Lanka as captured by Vikalpa Video. Also see Present situation in Jaffna: A video interview in English and Sinhala.

Continue reading »

How to kill innocent women and children

It’s easy. You just lead them a little less. It’s an old joke, born in the Vietnam War, and first recorded by Michael Herr, though Kubrick made it famous with his portrait of the crazed US Marine door gunner in Full Metal Jacket. In layspeak, a shooter “leads” a running figure so that he’s aiming at where the target will be when the bullet reaches it. Women and children run slower than an adult male. It’s not so funny anymore though, when we’re fighting a war in which the uniformed enemy often is a woman or a child. Earlier this week, a US military court sentenced Sgt Evan Vela, a 24-year-old Army sniper, to ten years imprisonment for killing an Iraqi civilian. Funnily/sadly, the reason he was convicted was because he lied about planting a weapon on the dead man. The Iraqi and his teenaged son stumbled into a sniper ‘hide’, where Vela and his team were sleeping. The Americans…

Continue reading »

Bala Tampoe on war and the erosion of democratic governance in Sri Lanka

Well known and senior trade union leader Bala Tampoe speaks on the war in Sri Lanka and the state of governance in the South. He notes that even militarily defeating the LTTE does not mean guerilla warfare or their terrorist attacks against civilians in the South will cease. He goes on to note that: “…on top of that they are talking about a political settlement. [The Rajapakse regime] can never achieve a proper political settlement till and until they recognise the right of self-determination, which is a democratic right, of the Tamil people and the Muslim people in the North and East, and establish some kind of proper constitutional basis for them to exercise that right within the framework of a democratic constitution. But they cannot have a democratic constitution in the first place when the rest of the country is under a Presidential Executive which amounts today to a virtual military police dictatorship under the Emergency.”

Continue reading »

Interview with Mano Ganeshan on abductions of Tamils in Colombo

Member of Parliament and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee, Mano Ganeshan, speaks about the rising abductions of Tamils in Colombo, Sri Lanka. For this interview in Sinhala, click here. For this interview in Tamil, click here. For more videos, please visit the Vikalpa Video Channel here.

Continue reading »
  • 22 Feb, 2008
  • 0 Comment
  • Peace and Conflict

GRIEVANCES OF AN IDP

Due to the civil war that erupted in the Trincomalee District between the LTTE and the Government forces, the families that had been living at Muthur and Sam poor areas had been displaced to different locations of Trincomalee District in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Due to this displacement the day to day life of these families had been affected badly along with Education, Culture, and Economy etc; a representative of CHA had visited one of the IDP’s camp on 12..2.2008 and they shared some of their pathetic stories with me. 1. I was able to meet Mr. P.Shanmuganathan who is the leader of the IDP’s camp at Konesapuri in the Trincomalee Town and Gravets D.S. Division. He told me “that due to the fight between the LTTE and the Government forces he had been displaced for more than a year, loosing all is basic facilities. To safe card my life and my family I was compelled to leave…

Continue reading »

A reponse to ETHNOS OR DEMOS? – QUESTIONING TAMIL NATIONALISM

Fashionable as any aspiring theoreticians, writer Publius with above article once again takes on a contemporary and important topic, yet with wider pseudo interpositions and an assumed role of political advisory. Following is a very short response. Those who know me will bear witness that I am neither an Eelamist nor a separatist. I envisage and endeavour for a normative multination democracy where the Thamil nation, legally, constitutionally and normatively will restore its nationhood with or without a state because all nations does not need to own a state (Taylor 1992,2004) ,but every nation needs to live in its fullest freedom including the right to self determination. (Connor 1990, 2002) The core of the argument forwarded by Publius is encapsulated ‘’…A debilitating weakness of Tamil nationalism, both in Sri Lanka and in the Diaspora, has been its proponents’ unwillingness to ask this question and engage the debates on this theme within liberal constitutionalist theory to suit their particular context. In…

Continue reading »
  • 21 Feb, 2008
  • 3 Comments
  • Batticaloa,
    Peace and Conflict

Batticaloa: Despair of the displaced and disappeared and the euphoria of elections and “liberation”

“Return my husband you abducted before you ask for my vote” (Plea to the TMVP-UPFA, from a Batticaloa women) The government had claimed it had “liberated” the East, completed a 180 days development program and had decided to hold elections as if to prove all is well there. Reports from the ground seemed otherwise. The Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), comprising UN and NGOs active in humanitarian work, reported on their 11th February update that “armed groups continue to operate in the area”. In their previous report of 5th Feb. 2008, the IASC had reported that the “The situation remains tense and that the looting of humanitarian assistance materials is leading to delays in programme implementation, with some agencies informing that they have suspended some work due to continued loss of material.” In a recent visit to Batticaloa with a group of friends and colleagues going to Batticaloa, I was able to see for myself, although what can be seen…

Continue reading »

A Day at the Cricket

By Mark Gereis True sub-continental cricket is a freak phenomenon that hits Australia’s shores once every two or three years. I deliberately use the word ‘freak’ because I can’t explain it – in truth, I don’t think anybody is able to explain it. A certain magic permeates the atmosphere as we crowd the family television set in the company of friends and family. We hang-off each delivery that Muttiah runs into bowl; each six that Sanna sends crashing into the fans; every word uttered by our adopted uncle – Tony Greig. Watching cricket is very much a mutual experience. Half of the atmosphere is created by those waiting in eager anticipation of another of Sanga’s centuries. “Aiyoooooo…” is as close to an expletive that you will get during the course of a match. This is often accompanied by quick-witted humour; then a sudden outburst of laughter. Only the little ones fail to grasp the irony of the situation. Their little…

Continue reading »

‘GSP PLUS’ PRIVILEGES: THE NEED FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

ROHAN EDRISINHA & ASANGA WELIKALA There has recently been speculation and media reports about the European Union’s system of tariff preferences known as the ‘GSP Plus’ programme, of which Sri Lanka is presently a beneficiary country. The tariff preferences create massive advantages in particular to our apparel industry, and have implications for the wellbeing and employment for thousands in that important sector of our economy. It is vital, therefore, that Sri Lanka retains this privilege. The controversy relates to the fact that Sri Lanka’s continued beneficiary status comes up for renewal later in 2008, and whether Sri Lanka continues to qualify for the GSP Plus benefits in terms of the requirements that are set out for this by the European Union. One of the important requirements to qualify is that the beneficiary country is placed under a general obligation to ‘ratify and fully implement’ a set of twenty-seven international conventions. One of the key international human rights conventions listed under…

Continue reading »

THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL: FROM THE LEFT FLANK

9 February 2008 2008 saw the second festival at Galle, “Let’s Play with Words.” Those present the previous year remarked that it was more varied and incorporated more Sri Lankan authors, both local and expatriate. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Equally implicit, is the bracketing out of social science productions in English or other languages (that “heavy stuff,” you know). Two blokes remarked that the whole affair was “colonial.” Yes, there was a distinct whiff of the colonial with the lucid British accents of Simon Winchester, Alexander McCall Smith, William Dalrymple and Simon Mitchell punctuating so many sessions. This was further underlined by the shining bald pates sported (unavoidably) by some of those named above; but, above…

Continue reading »

APRC and 13th Amendment: Video interview with Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne is a President’s Counsel in Sri Lanka and Senior Adviser to Sri Lanka Ministry of Constitutional Affairs & National Integration. See more at Vikalpa Video.

Continue reading »

Endangered: Our right to ’shoot’ in public

13 February 2008, Colombo: Earlier this week, a leading Sri Lankan photojournalist was detained, questioned and released by police for taking photographs near a well-known Colombo school. According to news reports, Associated Press (AP) photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe was apprehended by a group of parents who formed the school’s civil defence committee. They had handed him over to soldiers on duty near by, and he was briefly detained by the Narahenpita police. It is not clear exactly why the experienced and credentialed photojournalist had to undergo this treatment. This might seem a minor incident in the context of highly dangerous conditions in which Sri Lankan journalists operate today. It was only a few days earlier that the World Association of Newspapers ranked Sri Lanka as the third deadliest place for journalists (6 killed in 2007), behind only Iraq and Somalia. But Gemunu’s experience is highly significant for two reasons. Firstly, it is depressing that some members of the public have resorted…

Continue reading »

Mea Culpa

This year, I missed Ash Wednesday. I unconsciously avoided watching television or reading the newspapers. I didn’t call my family or friends. I felt it helped me stay slightly removed from the madness of military victories and resultant casualties or indiscriminate violence and the bitterness it left in its wake. I was only reminded that the season of Lent had begun when I received an email from a friend on how to make self-denial more meaningful than mere fasts and prayers. This time of the year usually brings back memories of crowded churches I attended as a child, and the people lining up to kiss the feet of the statue of the crucified Christ. However, for the last year or so, my memories have been of a service I attended in a church in Colombo. A member of the congregation spoke of Jesus’ long walk to Calvary bearing a 110 pound beam on which he was going to be nailed…

Continue reading »
Page 1 of 212

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!"

cezarneaga.eu
canakkale canakkale canakkale balik tutma search canakkale vergi mevzuati bagimsiz denetim vergi mevzuati ozurlu engelliler