Archive for April, 2010

Revisiting the JVP: Will They Repeat Their Past?

It has been 39 years since the JVP’s armed insurrection. It was brutally suppressed and their ambitious project to light a revolutionary flame in Sri Lanka ended in a political and military disaster. But the JVP was not vanquished and its leader Rohana Wijeweera (RW) reorganized it. They launched their second military project during 1987-89 and the disaster they faced at this time was unprecedented. RW himself and the entire political leadership were decimated. The history of the party has been inseparable from his own political legacy as its leader and the inspiration RW has continued even after his death. The JVP have never managed yet to replace RW. Now they have given political refuge to the General who is not a JVPer.It is inconceivable that the military hero that led the security forces to defeat the LTTE has landed amongst the JVP which was the mirror image of the LTTE in the Sinhalese South. Will he try to fill…

Continue reading »

Curated list of best Twitter accounts by Sri Lankan bloggers

Visit http://twitter.com/groundviews/sl-bloggers to read updates from Sri Lanka’s leading bloggers. Resident in the country as well as in the diaspora, these Twitter feeds feature updates ranging from the quirky and personal to the incisive and political. This list complements our curated news sources on Twitter.

Continue reading »

Curated list of the best Twitter accounts on Sri Lanka

Visit http://twitter.com/groundviews/sl-news to access some of the best Twitter feeds on Sri Lanka, providing a range of news, analysis, situation updates, opinion and critical links. The list already features feeds from independent and citizen media in English and Sinhala, mainstream print media, leading journalists, youth leaders, academe and election monitoring updates (as and when elections take place). For a curated list of the best Twitter accounts by Sri Lankan bloggers, click here.

Continue reading »
  • 27 Apr, 2010
  • 28 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Language

Sri Lankan English: The state of the debate

In the two and a half years since I published my book, A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English, I have followed the ongoing debate on the subject with interest. The good news is that there is a debate, and it seems to have entered the public domain rather than being confined to academic circles. There seems to be increasing acceptance of the idea that such a thing as Sri Lankan English exists, that it deserves to be recognised as a valid variety of English, and that Sri Lankans can be proud to speak English “our way”. This opinion is nothing new in the world of English language teaching. “World Englishes” is a well-established and growing field – the plural “Englishes” says it all. And here in Sri Lanka ELT academics such as Professors Thiru Kandiah, Siromi Fernando, Arjuna Parakrama and Manique Gunesekera have all contributed to promoting the idea that the Sri Lankan variety of English should be validated alongside…

Continue reading »

THE OPPOSITION IN SRI LANKA: RESTORE VIABILITY, RESOLVE CRISIS

What prevents the ruling coalition from unveiling a new ‘first past the post’ electoral system and going for a mid–term parliamentary election?  Judging by current trends and data of a decade, the UNP, if it remains under Ranil Wickremesinghe, would be overrun and crushed to a pulp, not even reaching double digits in terms of seats. How can a UNP which is unable to ditch an ineffectual and effete Ranil Wickremesinghe, convince the majority of voters that it can dislodge an infinitely more popular and stronger leader, Mahinda Rajapakse or what it decries as ‘Rajapakse rule’ and the ‘Rajapakse dynasty’? How can a UNP which cannot dislodge Ranil from Sirikotha, convince the citizenry that it can dislodge an administration which dislodged Prabhakaran and his army from the North and East? For the present the country is in the best available hands. Mahinda Rajapakse won a thirty years long war and has been justly rewarded by the electorate, which had earlier…

Continue reading »

Smarter investing in Science and Higher Education

I experienced three disturbing scenarios within the last 5 months. In no particular order they are as follows. I recently visited Sri Lanka after seven years. End of it I was overwhelmed by nostalgia and wanting to go back home. When I left my country for higher studies I had plans to come back. Right after the PhD, I wanted to stay a little longer and get some more research experience. So I took a postdoctoral position at a prestigious university. Of course I had to give up my probationary lecturer position and pay back the bond. After coming back from the recent visit, I searched for suitable jobs with enough chance to do scientific research in Sri Lanka. I actually sent my resume (CV) out. I am still waiting to hear. No vacancies! I also looked into becoming a lecturer at a university. That is the only viable option for science graduates. Starting salaries of a senior lecture positions…

Continue reading »

War-footing after the aborted peace talks 15 years ago

Yesterday marked the ending of the fourth round of peace talks endorsed by the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, FM, in the Kumaratunga administration on January 08,1995. On the night of April 19, 1995, leader of the LTTE Velupillai Piraparkaran informed President Chandrika Kumaratunga that since the points put forward by the LTTE and agreed upon by the government were not fulfilled the ceasefire would be null and void or something to that effect. The Black Sea Tigers in their maiden assault blasted two naval gunships in Trincomalee and ended any talks with the Kumaratunga administration. The war had resumed. Chandrika was all washed-behind-the-ears enthusiasm when she wrested power from the UNP’s 17 year rule in August 1994. But before her presidential election in October 1994 the LTTE assassinated UNP’s key presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake and  LSSPer Ossie Abeygoonesekera among others in an election rally in Colombo as she prepared for talks with the LTTE in Jaffna on October 20, 2004. The…

Continue reading »

In conversation with Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. I begin this interview with a pointed question, asking Dr. Saravanamuttu to flag anything the government has done well since it assumed power in 2005, in the domains of governance and human rights. I go on to ask Dr. Saravanamuttu why it is that what he sees as enduring challenges to human rights, peace, development and governance are not issues the majority of voters agree with, or are able to discern. We also talked about the nature of economic activity and development in the North and the East, where Dr. Saravanamuttu noted that “economic development by itself cannot be the sole instrument of national unit, reconciliation, integration”. Sri Lanka’s political culture and the growing intra-party violence within the UPFA, the future of Tamil politics, reconciliation, the role of the international community, prospects for dissent and democratic debate post-war and modes of progressive engagement between the Tamil diaspora…

Continue reading »

Should we sacrifice progress for tradition?

Are we Sri Lankans laid back as a nation? I have a sneaky feeling that we are, particularly, during New Year celebrations. No doubt, it is a wonderful tradition for family and friends to get together and celebrate. But aren’t the celebrations carried too far, in terms of time! In fact, it has become an excuse for dragging the holiday period further by several more days on account of transport issues and fuel shortages. In our ancient past, life moved at an easy pace. There was adequate time for fulfilling customs and rituals according to astrological times such as ceasing work, ceasing cooking, lighting the hearth, partaking of meals, bathing, anointing with oil and starting work. Isn’t it a little anachronistic for us to continue celebrating New Year in an identical manner in this modern era when our economic and social patterns have drastically changed from a largely pastoral to an industrial setting?  – When the pace of life has…

Continue reading »

THE TRAGIC TRAJECTORY OF CHANAKA’S LIBERAL PROJECT

Some of us are born at the wrong time or in the wrong place or in both the wrong time and place.  Nietzsche said he was born posthumously. He meant that the world was yet to catch up with his thinking but would do so, in a time of great cataclysm and wars fought for ideas. With his values, ideas and style Chanaka should have come to adulthood in colonial Ceylon and joined the struggles for reform in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps been a member of the Ceylon League or the Ceylon National Congress. At any time Chanaka would have done well in Britain, as a Liberal or perhaps a Tory ‘wet’. One aspect of his tragedy was that in Sri Lanka, and in the Third world, a liberal could not survive in the form that Chanaka had embraced it and until his last years he was not the sort of liberal who would accommodate himself…

Continue reading »

A Liberal Dilemma

‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’ was the lead slogan of the French Revolution which has been an inspiration to many movements around the globe.  Many political initiatives have claimed to be based on Liberty and/or Equality. Several national constitutions and UN and other international agreements have upheld both Liberty and Equality as their guiding principles. The question arises: are Liberty and Equality fully compatible or is there a fundamental and inescapable contradiction between the ideals? Both the US and Indian Constitutions draw inspiration from the French Revolution and the concepts of Liberty and Equality, but with widely different emphasis. The Francophile Thomas Jefferson was pre-eminent among the US Founding Fathers. They were all white, upper class, Protestant Christian and slave-owning males. The Liberty and Equality they advocated was for that class.  They were committed to a free enterprise and capitalist society based on 18th century Liberalism and in which the role of the state was minimal. For them, universal adult suffrage was…

Continue reading »

The Psychological Impact of Political Violence in Sri Lanka

Of all the tasks of government, the most basic is to protect its citizens from violence – John Foster Dulles Commonly violence is defined as  the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi & Lozano, 2002). Political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the political objectives. Violence is a common means used by people and governments around the world to achieve political goals. In this context Sri Lanka is one of the countries that is highly affected by the political violence. The scale and intensity of political violence has increased in Sri Lanka over the past few decades. Mob violence have become a common occurrence during the elections in Sri Lanka. Violence pervaded Sri Lankan social and cultural life.  Although political…

Continue reading »

IN MEMORIAM DR. CHANAKA AMARATUNGA

I have been invited to make some comments on the late founder-leader of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka, Dr. Chanaka Amaratunga, on the occasion of the anniversary of his birth that falls on the 19th of April. I am pleased to do so. I had a bitter-sweet relationship with him, the bitterness arising only from our different political perceptions. The memories of our personal friendship shall always remain fragrant. Despite my political disagreements with him, I always felt, and continue to feel, that Chanaka’s untimely demise is a tangible loss to Sri Lanka as he had so much to give us. Thus my focus on our political differences in this brief essay is only to put the record straight and not to devalue Chanka in anyway. I joined the Council for Liberal Democracy (CLD) in 1984/5 when Rajiva Wijesinha introduced me to Chanaka Amaratunga and the rest of the stalwarts of the CLD. I was struck by the stimulating…

Continue reading »

TWO CONCEPTS OF THE CONSTITUTION: AN ESSAY IN MEMORY OF CHANAKA AMARATUNGA

19th April marks the 52nd birthday of the late Chanaka Amaratunga, the former leader of Sri Lanka’s Liberal Party, quondam Vice President of Liberal International, one of our foremost public intellectuals, and distinguished Old Thomian. I met Chanaka only on a handful of occasions, but they were all memorable mini-tutorials in the theory and practice of liberalism. At the time, I was a Thomian schoolboy with all the arrogant political prejudices that one now caricatures in that condition: roughly, no more sophisticated than the political propensities of a Whig aristocrat in the reign of George III. But the novel experience of being seriously engaged in political debate by someone like Chanaka, together with his admirable combination of passion and reason and his Oxonian facility with the English language, persuaded me that, perhaps, there was a more elegant, not to say grown-up, approach to liberalism that I should consider, and so began a journey of discovery into not only Mill, Hume,…

Continue reading »

Remembering Chanaka

Screen shot 2010-04-19 at 8.52.44 AM

The idea of liberalism in Sri Lankan politics is intimately associated with the life and writings of the leader and founder of the Liberal Party, Dr Chanaka Amaratunga.  He passionately believed in the liberal idea, hoped fervently that it would inspire the body politic and be integrated into it and the political culture of Sri Lanka.  His all too brief life prevented him from realizing this and from resisting as formidably as he could the equally passionate anti liberal forces and their opportunistic apparatchiks from enshrining a narrow, populist nationalism as the conventional orthodoxy of the day. Writing about Chanaka is not easy for me.  We were each other’s oldest friends – a continuous friendship, unbroken by political differences, of almost four decades.   Our friendship spanned St Thomas’ Prep to College to university – he at Oxford and I at the LSE, which he too later joined to do his doctorate – to Liberal International conferences in Europe and North America,…

Continue reading »
Page 1 of 3123

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