Archive for February, 2008

R2P: The Chinthanaya Version

In recent weeks, the public at large has been treated to the unseemly saga of the sacking, reinstatement, cancellation of visa and departure from the island of the Executive Director, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Dr. Rama Mani. What began as a internal problem of succession and transition within that organisation took on quite sensational and sordid proportions in the ways in which it was handled and in the way in which an internal problem within a premier and long standing civil society institution in this country of international repute, culminated in an alleged threat to national security associated with the concept of the Responsibility to Protect or R2P. The internal problems of the ICES are not of concern here, except for the way in which they were dealt with, demonstrating the manifest incivility lurking in the bosom of what prides itself as the community of the sensitive. Be it greed or maladministration, it seems as if the prize…

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War on principles

I don’t oppose all wars… What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war… A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Speech by Sen. Barack Obama, delivered on 26 October 2002 at an anti-war rally in Chicago I’m often asked in person and through feedback on the citizen journalism website I edit, Groundviews , whether I am against war. By this most of my interlocutors implicitly wish to ascertain whether I am opposed to the war waged by Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration against the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE). Many have their minds already made up that I am a (Sinhala Buddhist) disbeliever in the government’s sincerity to wipe out terrorism from Sri Lanka. This is not kosher particularly in the South of Sri Lanka today. Partly because of the increasing hate I face online and in person, I have asked myself a…

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Lionel Bopage: Reflections on the Current Situation in Sri Lanka

Excerpt: In any conflict resolution exercise the main focus should be the pursuit of a political settlement. However, the APRC or the GoSL do not seem to have any urgency or seriousness of purpose. It has chosen to gamble on a military victory rather than meaningful power sharing as its formula for peace. The government’s only priority this year will be waging war in which one will be forced to become a patriot or a traitor following the Bush Doctrine. The LTTE itself never gave up its campaign in the pursuit of its maximalist demand of separation through violence. Both Sinhala and Tamil nationalisms in Sri Lanka and in the expatriate community suffer from the weakness of the exclusion of the other by pursuing an all-or-nothing strategy. The current situation arose due to the CFA not having any mechanism to deal with escalating hostilities and to enforce protection of fundamental and democratic rights by the parties to the conflict. The…

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ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

The rollercoaster’s rolling full throttle, has a new booster rocket not subject yet to safety experiment, riders thrown every few minutes, smashed to ground, publicists about to stop digging hands into steaming lampreys served with fresh lime juice to wonder perhaps that this rate of civilians hurled to earth must not agree quite with amusement park patterns in the fabled West where children go for rides not to die. February 5, 2008

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War Disguised in Peace Clothing

Recently I had the privilege of spending my Sunday morning with an eminent panel of academics discussing ‘Language, as a Pathway to Peace’. The Galle Literary Festival is an excellent event and its willingness to venture into the topical and relevant, is praiseworthy. Anyone who has followed the ethnic (or is it just ‘terrorist’) conflict in Sri Lanka will understand the hugely divisive role language has played in its history. It was interesting – although not entirely satisfying from a hopeful’s perspective – to hear the role of language as a tool for peace, being discussed by a host of reputed Sri Lankan minds. The panel consisted of Professor Neloufer De Mel, of the English Department of the University of Colombo, who has researched widely on the subject of language and integration, Paikyasothi Saravanamuttu and his protégé Sanjana Hattotuwa from the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), writer Jean Arasanayagam and Rajiva Wijesinha, head of the Secretariat for the Coordination of…

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OBSERVATIONS: INDEPENDENCE

Seven school boys, baseball players, coach, waiting for a train, at Fort Station, exploded; 18 passengers, pilgrims, Kandy to Dambulla, private bus, accompanied by parcel bomb;. grenade thrown outside bird cages Dehiwala Zoo, 7 injured. zoo closed; Anuradhapura, another 12 puffed out, don’t have details yet; SMS stopped on cell phones during Independence Day parade of heavy weaponry, Air force bombs communi- cations base according to Press Spokesman at HQ, no scribes allowed to verify, or human rights group to bring food or medicine; letter from home, husband, late to work, sleeping pill, maker of documentaries forbidden to screen his film, uncle gathering family passports, wedding snaps. Who in hell made this hell, muttered under a thousand tongues; shall we ascribe blame, ask for identity cards to be stamped, race unknown, then burnt, ashes flung into the Bay of Bengal? February 5, 2008 Editors note: Indran Amirthanayagam, as noted on his blog, writes poems in English, Spanish and French. He…

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Eastern elections

In the backdrop of a country at war and democracy that’s hostage to the whim and fancy of a President and his coterie of murderous brutes, it’s hard to be even cautiously optimistic about the upcoming elections in the East. For the average voters in the South however, the fact that they are being held at all is a marker of the success of this government in eradicating the scourge of the LTTE from the East. The East is a region of significant ethno-political and cultural complexity and violence where each community harbours grievances against the other. Even during the ceasefire, violent hartals and communal clashes coloured the social and political dynamics in the East (the extremely violent communal clashes in June 2002 in Muttur and Vallachenai is a case in point). There is evidence that youth in the region are alienated and easy pickings for radical, armed extremist groups. The documented emergence of a radicalised, armed Muslim youth in…

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THE APRC PROCESS: FROM HOPE TO DESPAIR

Rohan Edrisinha University of Colombo Centre for Policy Alternatives “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem” G.K Chesterton, The Point of a Pin The damp squib of an incoherent, vague and poorly crafted two page document that finally emerged from the All Party Representative Committee highlights two important and worrying lessons. First, it seems that in the area of constitutional reform in general, Sri Lanka is moving backwards rather than forwards. The two page document is clearly Thirteenth Amendment MINUS. Second, in the area of governance, it appears that the major party in the ruling coalition, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and some of its coalition partners, the LSSP and the Communist Party, despite the fact that they occupy nearly all the positions in the Cabinet of Ministers, have abdicated their powers of decision making on vital matters of war and peace, to a party outside the Cabinet of Ministers, the…

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Travels in a Militarised Society – 4

Human Rights Watchdogs, Neo-colonialism and the Stray Dog Population of Colombo International human rights organisations accuse the Sri Lanka government, the LTTE and the paramilitary groups operating under the aegis of government portfolios or official military protection—like the EPDP and the TMVP—of continuous violations and killings. The government and its supporters scorn these accusations as neo-colonial interventions in the affairs of the nation and counter that these foreign NGOs ignore LTTE brutalities. In public spaces, on Television and other media, a conspiracy theory is disseminated about these neo-colonial criticisms and outsiders’ attempts to undermine the progress of our war. In Colombo and island-wide a poster asks: “We ate budgerie (cheap grain) during the OTHERS’ war, why can’t we be patient with the hardships we endure for OUR war?” Another poster says, “This government fights Human Rights Neo-colonialism and LTTE Separatism.” In Colombo, Jaffna, the East, Vayvuniya, and elsewhere people continue to disappear. There are no investigations and no local or…

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ETHNOS OR DEMOS? – QUESTIONING TAMIL NATIONALISM

As the major military onslaught against the LTTE gathers pace to the accompaniment of increasingly jingoistic rhetoric of ruling party politicians, bureaucrats and military top brass, Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka finds itself at a critical crossroads. What may or may not happen in the battlefield this year is still a matter of conjecture, in spite of the bellicose rhetoric of both parties. Faced with the military resolve of the State and the seeming apathy of the international community in respect of any form of intervention, what is also clear, however, is that Tamil nationalism appears to be running out of ideas at the political level. The paucity of political ideas and their articulation in constitutional and legal claims to rights, including on the questions of self-determination and secession, is due to the primary focus on military means to achieve political goals that characterises the worldview of the LTTE, which has posited itself as the exclusive vehicle of Tamil nationalism…

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Travels in a Militarised Society – 3

In Colombo Again – November 2007 In Bambalapitya, I am texting a friend while crossing the road. A man in a new military uniform I did not recognise accosts me, “What are you texting?” “I’m just texting one of my friends.” “Show it to me. I want to see that.” I smile, “Okay, you can read it,” and hold out my phone to him. I notice how young he is, with just a small show of adolescent fuzz above his lip. “And what’s in your bag?” “My laptop.” “Can you switch on your laptop?” “Yes.” I switch it on, he stares at it. In a friendly tone I ask, “Why are you checking my phone and my laptop?” He explains that the Tamil Tigers are using “infra red technology” to trigger bombs and explosives, so they have been instructed to check all these devices when they see people using them in the streets. “Even the Sinhala Tigers are using these…

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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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