Archive for September, 2009

Yellow Banana

[Authors note: This was written around 4 weeks ago; the result of 48 hours of shock and anger following an Honest Penman being "put into the 'Pen'". ] “Yellow Banana” (with apologies to the Beatles…) In this island where we’re STILL being torn Lived one man wrote a tale of Truth, you see. But THEY took 20 years of his life In this land of a Banana Republic So they sailed on (the King; & his Princes & sons) (Will they never be downed by the spineless Party of Green?) but those Blues live on, enjoying the people’s waves In their yellow banana …….. We all live in their yellow banana Yellow banana, yellow banana We all live in our yellow banana Yellow banana, yellow banana And THEIR friends are all aboard (Half the island just scared or bored – Many more just lie to the next doors) So please understand, I’m begging, what I say: THEY all thrive in…

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Two testimonies from families released from Menik Camp

[Editors note: Two short testimonies on the plight of IDPs released from Menik Camp sent to Groundviews highlight significant challenges facing reconciliation and resettlement in post-war Sri Lanka and the urgent need for psycho-social counseling.] Testimony #1 Around 50-52 IDP families from Zone 5, Menik Farm were brought outside the camp with their belongings and asked to leave without any assistance. No transport provided. No proper documentation was given to prove the release. The military brought our belongings in a tractor until the entrance of the camp and then handed over to us. We walked till the entrance. Once our belongings arrived, we were asked to go home. But we didn’t have any facility to go. We didn’t know where to go and how to go. This happened around 4.30 in the evening on 29th September. All families had a minimum of one pregnant woman in a family. The total number of individuals were around 170. 5-6 families went to…

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Sri Lanka is in fact a Gulag Island: A response to Dayan Jayatilaka and the mentality of the phantom limb

Dayan Jayatilaka begins his article with the words, “I am proud of my country, Sri Lanka.” To demonstrate the differences in our points of view I would like to begin by stating that, while I am proud of some aspects of Sri Lanka I am also very ashamed of many other aspects of my country, Sri Lanka. I have publically stated that many times, over many years, beginning particularly from the cruel repression of the innocent in 1971 under the pretext of dealing with the JVP insurgency. In my book of poems, The sea is calm behind your house, I have expressed many times that when a motherland turns into a ‘murder land’ it is a matter that the citizens should begin to recognize. This theme of the motherland turning into a cruel land towards its own children is also one of the themes in the Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenisyn (my book of poems is available at: www.basilfernando.net, kindly…

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Doing the Right Thing: Freedom for Vanni IDPs

[Editors note: An edited copy of this article appears in the Sunday Times of 27th September 2009. This is the full version.] It was a relief to hear that the government was at last responding to mounting domestic and international criticism, and had begun releasing the Vanni IDPs. Perhaps the shocking report in the Sunday Times on 6 September about human trafficking at the internment camps was partly responsible. An exemplary piece of investigative journalism, it revealed that up to 20,000 IDPs have been ransomed by desperate relatives who are able and willing to pay lakhs of rupees to secure their release, and have left the camps. This exposes so-called ‘screening’ for what it is: a cover for a lucrative flesh trade, carried out with the collusion of elements in the government and armed forces who get a cut out of it. It also explains why the camp authorities refused to release a one-year-old child to leave with its grandmother,…

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A response to Basil Fernando: Sri Lanka is not a Gulag Island

I am proud of my country, Sri Lanka, which has just been able to vanquish a formidable, ferocious and fascistic foe, despite its vast global network and in the face of considerable external pressure. I am proud that my country Sri Lanka has been able to restore its territorial unity and integrity and reasssert its independence and sovereignty. I am proud of the Sri Lankan armed forces which have achieved that which the armies of major powers have been unable to in many parts of the world. I am proud that Sri Lanka has been able to defeat not one but two armed totalitarianisms, South and North, Sinhala and Tamil — the JVP and the LTTE- while maintaining at least the rudimentary foundations of an electoral democracy. The very fact that I am able to express my criticisms on TV gives the lie to the description of Sri Lanka as a Gulag Island. In the first place, the defining characteristic…

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Rajani commemoration: An absence of actuality

The evening was good but perhaps Rajani deserved a bit better. She always told it like it was, named things by their name, confronted reality frontally. That quintessential spirit of Rajani, her courageous, critical, ‘concreteness’, was by and large absent in the 20th anniversary commemoration held at the BMICH on September 25th. It was only in the keynote speaker from India, our old friend Nandita Haksar, that one recognized a spiritual sister of Rajani Thiranagama. Even if a trifle protracted, the cultural component of the evening was beautiful, strong and poignant, with the singing voices of Rajani’s sisters (especially Nirmala’s opening dirge), Liyanage Amarakeerthi’s poetry reading and Rajani’s own writings being the high points. There was something missing though, an absent presence: the absence of actuality; of the core truth about the tragic event that was being commemorated. This, talented, sensitive, vivacious,  brave, and rights conscious woman with a toothy grin, Rajani Thiranagama, who left an indelible impression from our…

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Sacrificing essential liberty for temporary safety in Sri Lanka

Despite the successful military victory over terrorism, we continue to be warned by the state that a critical threat to national security continues to stalk the country. Consequently, we have passively assented to a persistent and invasive military presence in our daily life. Furthermore, over quarter of a million Tamils are continuing to be held by the state against their will in IDP camps as suspect terrorists until proved innocent through stringent government screening procedures implemented at a measured pace which appears insidious. The leadership of the country has assumed an overtly authoritarian and threatening stance in declaring that dissenting opinion against state policy is unpatriotic and subversive. Despite vehement denials, it is obvious that the government is guilty of suppression of media freedom and dissent through intimidation, threats, violence and extrajudicial acts which have seriously affected their credibility both nationally and internationally.  Society is rapidly losing its trust in the regime on account of the mere lip service paid…

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A Continuation of War by Other Means?

The war it seems is not over.  The international conspiracies to save Prabhakaran and the LTTE are now said to have morphed into a conspiracy to destabilize the government, initiate regime change and charge its leading lights and war heroes with war crimes.  The opposition and civil society activists are said to be key figures in this decidedly and dangerously unpatriotic exercise. A English language broadsheet during the week quoted the Minister of Transport and leading light of the current regime as saying this and in doing so making a link between the Channel 4 video and the fate of the GSP Plus extension.  Whilst the regime’s argument is that the sole purpose of this purported conspiracy is to destabilize and replace it, the question does arise as to whether the airing of such allegations in the first instance without substantiation with hard facts, is not destabilizing in itself?  Is there a conspiracy abroad as alleged or, is there a…

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The HOPE in Sri Lanka after war

Man on the end of rampart

“Where is the hope?” is a question that the writer encountered quite a few times when she asked people to pose with the HOPE board. The culture of impunity prevalent in post-war Sri Lanka paints a rather depressing picture of a country that has lost the ability to hope. Human rights continue to be violated, there is an upsurge in criminal activity, media freedom is severely restricted and nationalist rhetoric continues to be the theme of those in the highest echelons of power. Hope has been replaced with a sense of hopelessness and apathy that has gripped society. In order for positive change to take place the nation needs to regain their ability to believe in the power of hope. The Hope board was influenced by the statement of St. Paul in Romans, when he says “hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not…

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Happy International Peace Day

Separation Wall 2

Click for larger image. Photographs above are of the Separation Wall at the Bethlehem-Jerusalem border in Israel. When I took these pictures last year, I knew I was standing in front of what would be a perverse chapter in history. Then again, a few perverse chapters tends to always make history interesting for political scientists and historians, rather than for the humanitarians and peace activists. Earlier on this year, within the space of three weeks 1400 people died in Gaza due to what could only be logically perceived as the seemingly morbid intransigence of both Hamas and the Israeli government. Similarly, just recently a war that spanned six years ‘apparently’ ended in Darfur, with the UN stating that there had been 300,000 deaths, while the Sudanese government claims the figure was less, at around a generous 10,000. In 1994, a reported 800,000 Tutsis were massacred in Rwanda. Some sources, argue that the figure was much higher. During the course of…

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Delusions of (power) devolution: Searching post–Prapa possibilities

The elite based political debate in Sri Lanka once again appears to gravitate around the primordial issue of deciding the best mode of power-sharing between the centre and the periphery, primarily between the dominant majoritarian Sinhalas and the battle shamed minority Thamils. In a rather apolitical interventionist manner CPA has released an 800 page volume, a collection of related documents on the theme since 1926.  As a student of Political Science I look forward to having such a valuable collection in my library, irrespective of the possible biasness in justifying the selection as much as omitting process of any document, notwithstanding the order of chapter zing or the editorial preferences.  I have not seen the book yet. (My order inquiry has no reply yet) So this short essay is not about the book but on the paramount issue that precipitate around it: The need and the mode of Power Sharing. Why should States share power? The contemporary literature and the…

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  • 17 Sep, 2009
  • 11 Comments
  • Batticaloa,
    Peace and Conflict

Let Them Drink Rice Wine: Withholding Water as Punishment on the East Coast?

If you look at Batticaloa District on a map, you’ll see that in a sense there are two Districts. The first is the coastal strip, where you find Batti, Kattankudy, Valachchenai, and other towns and villages.  I’m only guessing, but it seems to me that some 90% of the Districts’ population lives in this narrow band of land. As you will see on your map, a long sinuous lagoon separates most of the coastal strip from the interior, which makes up the bulk of the District.  The interior is sparsely populated and there are no real towns to speak of; at best you could call them small villages or hamlets. I am most familiar with Mamunai West Division, which is located directly opposite the lagoon from Batticaloa town. I’m quite familiar with many of the farming hamlets that dot the area, and the people who live there. Incidentally, the Division extends west, and includes Unnichchai Tank, one of the largest…

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The Internment – A Collective Punishment?

The widespread indifference to the continuing misery of 280,000 interned IDPs, most of them already unlawfully detained for about four months without any charges, is a sad reflection on the moral values of our society. The reported release of a few thousand is most welcome, but what of the remaining 270,000? Attempts made to justify the internment on the grounds that some of the areas from which they were displaced may yet be land-mined is patently false, in that these internees could then be permitted to move temporarily to other areas to live with relatives or friends, or in accommodation provided by organisations that have already indicated a willingness to help. As in the case of other IDPs, the state could establish a few welfare (not detention) camps to accommodate the few who cannot find accommodation on their own. Any decision to move out should be taken by the IDPs solely on their own responsibility. Concern for the welfare of…

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A botched Tsunami Early Warning test – Lessons for the future

The following is an except from a letter I wrote about the recent Tsunami Early Warning Test last week.  I hope the readers of Groundviews find it interesting. I have to preface this by saying I am a Westerner, one of the few, living in Batticaloa, where I have been since shortly after the 2004 tsunami. The excerpt: The second exciting and panic-inducing event was the botched Tsunami Early Warning Test last Thursday, the 10th.  The papers had announced that the new warning towers would be tested on the 19th, so you can see the first problem.  Second, no one I talked to knew where these towers were.  Turns out that there are three in the District: one in Kallady, about a mile or so from my house, one in Kalmuai (technically in Ampara District but on the border), about 35km (20 miles) to the south, and at Passakudah, about the same distance north. (For reference on the date, please…

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Groundviews now on Yahoo! Meme

Groundviews on Yahoo! Meme

Select Groundviews content is now available through Yahoo’s new micro-blogging platform, Meme. Yahoo! Meme allows for in-line videos, photos and audio as well as more detailed updates per post in comparison to Twitter. Though still in beta, invitations to the platform can be requested by visiting its homepage. Unlike some mainstream media sites in Sri Lanka, Groundviews does not want all its readers to access content through its website. Groundviews already has over 300 followers on Twitter and over 550 fans on Facebook. Since updates on the site are reflected in the Facebook streams of each fan, content on the site reaches over 55,000 potential readers (calculated at the conservative average of 100 friends per fan) on Facebook alone. Our new presence on Yahoo!’s Meme is part of a strategy to broadbase the dissemination of our award winning content using social networks. Join us on Meme – http://meme.yahoo.com/groundviews Repost This Article

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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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