Archive for July, 2009

  • 6 Jul, 2009
  • 2 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Media and Communications

Interview with Bijayini Satpathy, Director of the Odissi Gurukul at Nrityagram

Bijayini Satpathy, for one of the world’s greatest living dancers, is disarmingly mischievous in person. And, as I have experienced with a few others closest to perfection in their chosen art, humble and approachable. She will readily admit to being quite mad and with a casual nonchalance say that she trains from dawn to dusk at Nrityagram. It is then you realise that this is no ordinary dancer, and Nrityagram no ordinary dance school. This interview was conducted at the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya. The ambient noise in the video reflects the noise levels in which students rehearse and learn dance at the Kalayathanaya, given the location adjacent to one of Colombo’s busiest roads and intersections. Although distracting for a viewer of this video, a live performance at the Kalayathanaya is so captivating that it very quickly transports the audience into a parallel world, where the only sound is the music that simultaneously frames the dancer and allows her, and us, to break…

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Beauty

What beauty in camps? I sit in my favourite chair listening to Beethoven’s last sonata, slient breezes in time. to the music. My world creates a sonata The other shatters all possibility of one. Guarded, malnourished; the beauty of rescue: possible? loudspeakers are silent. Waiting for a pass, a nod, family member to utter their name, to go back home to farm, toil, feed the earth feel the breeze of their own sonatas. Beethoven calms me. My children, near. one dressed. Pretty. Ready for her first ‘mixed’ party. The smaller cuddles her father, night air brings comfort. Smells of food. Dinnertime. Civilized. Red wine. Nourishment. No death here. just beauty and dignity. Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here.

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Exclusive video interview with Somawansa Amarasinghe, the Leader of JVP, in English

Two weeks after I had interviewed Prof. Tissa Vitharana on, among other things, the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, I spoke with the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe for his take on constitutional reform. During the course of our interview, Mr. Amarasinghe came out strongly in favour of the rights of all minorities, the need to meaningfully look into the well-being of Tamils interned in IDP camps and the importance of a secular State. Recalling the violent history of the JVP, he suggested that it was government that pushed the JVP to violence, yet saw little parallel between this violence and that of militant Tamil nationalism. Acknowledging that inequality, the marginalisation of Tamil youth and the denial of some of their rights led to the rise of violent conflict, Mr. Amarasinghe said the JVP accepted the historic repression of Tamil youth, but that this was justification for the violence to establish Eelam. On the other hand, he said…

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Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language

I began my conversation with Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chair of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) by asking him about the state of play in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Sri Lanka, and what exactly the declaration of 2009 as the Year of IT and English meant. We talked about work force development, business service outsourcing, the sustainability of nenasala’s (cybercafes) established by ICTA and efforts by his Ministry to promote IT across the island. Over half of the programme was devoted to Sri Lanka’s constitutional dynamics, and in particular, options for constitutional reform that included the full enactment of the 13th Amendment. I asked Prof. Vitharana what he felt about the success of the APRC process as it was nearing its end, and also talked in depth about the constitutional architecture the APRC would propose (referred to as 13th Amendment plus). For the Minister’s answer as to whether he had lost most…

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Liberation

You claimed to liberate hostages, to conduct the largest rescue operation in history. In other countries people robbed of freedoms, rescued, are treated by doctors, then sent home to be greeted usually by feisty and jubilant crowds. They are welcomed as heroes. Here, 100 Tamils share one latrine, women don´t eat so they will not defecate until night covers them squatting in bush by the perimeter fence conquering fear of snakes. Here boys and girls are picked up by goon squads who roam camps demanding bribes for teenagers they choose to leave alone for now. Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here.

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Sri Lanka: Spice Island or Bland Nation?

Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk and spice routes for millennia. It drew traders from the east and west for both business and pleasure. Notable among the attractions were spices, whose many aromas and flavours formed an integral part of the tropical paradise experience. The traditional Lankan curry contained up to 13 spices and herbs. Most plants were not native – cardamom came from South India, cloves from Indonesia and chilli all the way from the Americas. Cinnamon was Sri Lanka’s unique contribution to this delightful mix. The origins didn’t really matter: the islanders knew just how to mix the native and the foreign to achieve legendary results. As Sri Lanka embarks on national integration after three decades of highly divisive war, it is worth recalling these aspects of its heritage. For the war not only devastated our economy and blighted the prospects of a generation; it also nurtured high levels…

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Responses and clarifications on Sri Lanka: Is the war really over?

[Editors note: This is a detailed response to over 30 comments left on Sri Lanka: Is the war really over? and read over 2,500 times to date.] Though several comments made on my article were not directly related to the topic, I wish to respond to some of the issues that have been raised. The lop-sided comments about the JVP do neither take into account the context nor the causes for their insurrections. Political violence in Sri Lanka cannot be properly understood without recognizing its complex relationship with the socio-political establishment. When social groups vied for access to state power or when they demanded their just rights, the state used repressive and violent force against them. The political violence of the state was accompanied by a continuous march towards authoritarianism, in which people’s hopes, aspirations, human rights and civil liberties were increasingly curtailed. My argument was based on the fact that the ruling elite has cleverly manipulated the existing social divisions…

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An eye-witness account of IDP camp conditions in Sri Lanka

[Editors note: The dire conditions of internment in camps that are home to well over a quarter of a million fellow citizens are unknown to many. Fears of inflammatory and inaccurate journalism, as defined and seen by the government, debar independent media from access to these camps even after the end of war. Rohini Hensman's exclusive article to Groundviews on the plight of the IDPs and Malinda Seneviratne's pointed counter based on his experience in the camps, as well as the responses to both articles provide the framework of reference for this compelling eyewitness account of conditions in Menik Farm. This is an unedited account, posted here without verification. Corroboration and competing perspectives are invited from Government, I/NGOs that have had limited access to IDPs, the few journalists who have been to these camps and others who may know of other first hand accounts of camp conditions such as this one in Sinhala. Based on the belief that the free flow...

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Groundviews page on Facebook

Accessing content from Groundviews on Facebook is now as simple as typing www.facebook.com/groundviews. Join over 300 fans already part of our Facebook network.

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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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