Archive for July, 2010

Low intensity evil in Sri Lanka

How can evil ever be low intensity? It is similar to a low intensity cyclone. It appears to be a misnomer. However it does really exist. A depression given the right conditions which causes spinning and convergence in the atmosphere becomes a highly damaging cyclone. Wisely meteorological institutions track depressions before they become cyclones due to their harm potential. Should not we be aware as to low intensity evil? The celebrated author Miroslav Volf refers to low intensity evil as a complete system, which prevents others, from obtaining economic, social or psychological necessities through domination. It is low intensity because it is not outright persecution. Sadly it has the ability to work subversively trapping a naïve populace into believing in its perverted logic. Saying it -simply watch out! There could be schemes being hatched, already hatched, in fact the chicks could be running about even now, they appear normal, but they are working towards making someone, some people dominant. The…

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Media Development Authority: Another name for media control in Sri Lanka?

The  recent announcement of Government of Sri Lanka’s (GOSL) intention to establish a Media Development Authority (MDA) in Sri Lanka could be taken as an indication of its approach towards media in the context of post-war economic development. An official  statement posted  on 25th July 2010 on a government news portal shows that the proposed authority will be modeled on along the lines of  the MDA of Singapore. The sections dealing with the policy of MDA SL is almost copied word by word from the wikipage on the Singapore MDA, which in turn is based on the official Singapore MDA site. Here are some examples: “MDA will play a vital role as an umbrella organization for all kinds of media in transforming Sri Lanka into a Trusted Global Capital for New Asia Media. MDA spearheads initiatives that promote industry growth in arts, film, television, radio, publishing, music, games, animation, Interactive Digital Media, internet, Satellite,  Cellular Mobile Services, software & IT…

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  • 26 Jul, 2010
  • 12 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Identity,
    Sport

THE POLITICAL LESSONS OF THE SMILING ASSASSIN: MURALI, CRICKET AND SRI LANKAN IDENTITY

muralidharan

Photo credit: Associated Press, published in Sydney Morning Herald Savouring the richly deserved cascades of press coverage last week of Muttiah Muralidaran’s retirement from Test cricket on the magnificent record of 800 wickets, it is difficult to resist a surge of heart-warming patriotism. It was not only the doosra-like sequence of events in the last day of the Galle Test against India – wholly implausible had it been a fictional plot – that precipitated this onrush of Sri Lankan pride in your columnist. For once, international media coverage was depicting Sri Lanka, due to the achievement of a man who epitomises the best in it, as it always should be: for world-conquering talent, effervescent spirit, generosity and humility in public, ebullient camaraderie in private, and unflappable good manners throughout. In the field of Test cricket, we shall never experience again that delightful frisson of pregnant expectation in the images of Murali’s impish smile and devious, quizzical glances, disconcerting last minute…

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Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Is there a way forward?

Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen and dear friends I want to start my talk by bringing to the fore the experiences of another, which was seen as an intractable conflict – the apartheid struggle in South Africa. In 1984, Mandela single handedly launched negotiations with the Afrikaner government. His reasons were simple and unambiguous. There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence — against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people. And I think the time has come for us to consider, in the light of our experiences at this day at home, whether the methods which we have applied so far are adequate. He knew that for lasting peace he had to focus on what he had in common with those who were persecuting him. Mandela said: We need to make peace with our enemies and not with our friends….

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Final report of All Party Representative Committee (APRC)

Screen shot 2010-07-21 at 9.00.47 PM

Released exclusively on Groundviews, this is a composite document compiled by Yogarajan and Kariapper and made public by them (read the full background to this document in their introduction). Please note that as Nizam Kariapper pointed out to Groundviews, there is a mistake in the first page of this version of the report – the reference to June 2010 should read as June 2009. Download the complete report here. Download the executive summary of the report here. Repost This Article

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Any inspiration Joanna?

Some excellent goals scored, some unbearable moments of anguish celebrated as teams win and lose in an imperfect system, some stunning comebacks, terrible bouts of pain vanishing instantly once the arbitrator with a whistle awards a free kick, the tears of the Japanese, the despair of the Ghanians’, incompetent referees sent out to save face, all making a wonderful festival of sport.  All in all we have been witness to a wonderful world cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter called it an emotional one. Emotional because we saw more than soccer in South Africa. We saw a nation healing. We witnessed what could be an answer for the modern tribalism, which is engulfing our world. It was seen in a flag being celebrated equally by all races. Don’t be mistaken. A black and an Afrikaner were not spotted hugging each other, but the unity can be felt. Not pumped up, not voiced through news conferences and loud mouths in august assemblies. …

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All Party Representative Committee (APRC) Final Report: Executive Summary

Groundviews received the executive summary of the APRC’s final report today. Download the report here. Salient features covered in the Executive Summary include: Nature of the State Form of Government Status of Buddhism Official languages and national languages Use of the English language Supremacy of the constitution Safeguards against secession Electoral system Power sharing Senate Community Council Distribution of powers between central and provincial National and provincial higher appointments council Amendment procedure Repost This Article

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Interview with Dr. A. C. Visvalingam, President, CIMOGG

This interview features Dr. A. C. Visvalingam, President, Citizen’s Movement for Good Governance. I ask him about his advocacy and activism in Sri Lanka, both during war and post-war. Mr. Visvalingam bemoans the fact that a number of articles, despite close ties to Editors and journalists, did not appear in the newspapers, and also speaks of the corporate sector’s risk averse nature especially around content produced that is critical of government and governance. He also speak about the need to introduce civic education in schools to bring about a greater awareness over the role and responsibilities of citizens. He goes on to articulate how he feels a change in Sri Lanka’s structures of governance can be brought about, what urgent constitutional reforms are necessary and what CIMOGG is doing in this regard. Repost This Article

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Getting lost in The Hague: UN, Sri Lanka and an ICJ-Advisory Opinion

Dr. Lakshman Marasinghe (Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Windsor) in an article titled ‘Some Random Thoughts on the UN International Advisory Panel’ (Daily Mirror, 14 July, 2010), makes a serious suggestion to the Government; i.e. to obtain an Advisory Opinion (AO) from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, to determine “whether it was within the power of the Secretary-General to appoint an Advisory Panel mandated as he has when appointing it.” He admits that he is “unable to suggest a political solution” to what he considers to be a matter which raises an “interesting point of international law.” Dr. Marasinghe’s suggestion, in turn, raises greater problems, and is a risk that Sri Lanka cannot afford to take at this stage. The unresolved ‘problem within a problem’ An AO from the ICJ, even if it is to be ‘favourable’ to Sri Lanka, would not be one which addresses the root of the problem; the problem of accountability…

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NATION-BUILDING: WHICH PROJECT FOR THE NORTH & EAST?

When faced with challenging human rights and humanitarian law issues who should we seek out for advice but a celebrated former Vice President of the International Court of Justice? Faced with the task of peace building after a Thirty Years war, to whom should we turn to spearhead a state-aided national effort, or at the very least, for ideas and guidance, but the sole Sri Lankan to win the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education? If the Sri Lankan state and society have done neither, what does that say about us, where we are at and where we are headed? One of the more refined gratifications in my life is the friendship of a few renowned intellectuals like Richard Falk, Emeritus Professor of International Law and Policy at Princeton, and the occasional receipt from him of work in progress. The other day’s email contained three scintillating draft essays, two of which I have finished reading and one that I have commented…

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Random musings on Sri Lanka today

The swift annihilation of the Tamil Tigers was a surprise to me. A war that was 30 years long, finished so quickly with an undignified death for the leader of the LTTE. Yet, so many unanswered questions. The man on the street, people like myself, we’ll never know the whole truth. Some of us don’t care, terrorism, the LTTE were wiped out. That’s all that matters. We celebrated the great victory. In my corner of the stix in England, I celebrated the new sovereignty of my motherland, my country, my Paradise Island. My tears of joy like acid on their faces for the Tamil Diaspora. It’s easy for me, for I don’t live there anymore. I am but the tourist who returns thrice a year. But I celebrate my roots, I celebrate that I am Sinhala Buddhist. I see beyond my birthright, but my eyes and ears remain closed. The conflict within is clear. A world in recession, a world…

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Beam Me Up to Planet Football!

football planet

If you’re an alien planning to invade the Earth, choose July 11. Chances are that our planet will offer little or no resistance. Today, most members of the Earth’s dominant species – the nearly 7 billion humans – will be preoccupied with 22 able-bodied men chasing a little hollow sphere. It’s only a game, really, but what a game: the whole world holds its breath as the ‘titans of kick’ clash in the FIFA World Cup Final. Played across 10 venues in South Africa, this was much more than a sporting tournament. It’s the ultimate celebration of the world’s most popular sport, held once every four years. More popular than the Olympics, it demonstrates the sheer power of sports and media to bring together – momentarily, at least – the usually fragmented and squabbling humanity. Indeed, the exuberant and vuvuzela-blaring spectators flocking to South African stadiums make up only a small part of the global audience following these games. Far…

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A public apology to Michael Meyler

Michael Meyler is an innocent Britisher going about being innocent with respect to language and language politics, he would have us believe.  He is good hearted and generous.  This is why, we are made to understand, he writes an article titled ‘Sri Lankan English: the state of the debate’, where he says (generously) ‘the level of debate on the issue in the public forum remains simplistic’.  As such, he ‘welcomed’ (his words, not mine) my response (‘Sri Lankan English: another snooty English speakers’ project?’) in his subsequent response, ‘A snooty English speaker’s reply’, where he says (yes, Meyler’s descriptive, not mine) that I have presented my case ‘forcefully’ and that ‘it can only be a good thing for the state of the debate’.   I am sorry. In his response, Meyler confesses that he is on ‘dangerous ground’, being a non-Sri Lankan English speaker and a citizen of a former colonial power. He admits that he is a prime example of…

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Making Foreign Policy on the Street

The declared threat, the demonstration, siege, fast unto death outside the office of the UN in Colombo by the Wimal Weerawansa led National Freedom Front, raises interesting and alarming questions about policymaking in our country. Wimal Weerawansa announced that he would call upon his supporters to surround the UN office until the UN Secretary General disbanded the advisory panel he has set up on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.  It was reported that the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) had informed the UN that these were the views of an individual and not that of the GOSL.  Days later, Weerawansa, a cabinet minister and key supporter of the president and regime, leads a demonstration of hundreds to the UN office, blocks the entrances and exits to the building, declaring that they will not move until the panel is disbanded. It has also been reported that the police attempted to disperse the demonstrators but were withdrawn, according to one report…

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Managing diplomacy with melodrama: Sri Lanka’s Madness

Wimal fast

Photo courtesy Vikalpa’s Flickr photostream on the NFF protest The point of departure for this note is the fast unto death by a government (cabinet) Minister, hereinafter referred to as VW, in front of the UN’s Colombo office. The protest campaign launched by the said individual, and his decision to fast, are meant at demonstrating his party’s (and, being a vocal member of the governing coalition, the present government’s) opposition to the investigative panel appointed by the UN SG on alleged war crimes during the last phase of civil war in early/mid 2009. The UN SG has been functioning under prerogatives accorded to him in his mandate. The most recent precedent for a panel of this nature is that on Israel’s thoroughly questionable conduct in the Gaza strip, and its recent atrocities over a humanitarian vessel. Let’s not forget that this panel is chaired by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN. How can Sri Lankan diplomats currently posted to…

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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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