A candle-light vigil by a small group of citizens was held today in Colombo against the 18th Amendment. We dispersed to news that it was passed, 161 to 20. Created from Vikalpa’s photo set.
Continue reading »â€œI define Justice or Right as what is in the interest of the stronger party – the ruling class in any state, but I can see you don’t agree” says Thrasymachus, the sophist to Socrates in Plato’s – The Republic. The sophists dismissed conventional morality as a sham and substituted self-interest. In Sri Lanka today might has been proved right in several instances. The forces that Lasantha Wickramatunga continued to criticize in his regular columns were definitely stronger and he was easily eliminated. The fact that he was brutally slaughtered in a high security zone in broad day light shocked only a minority. The majority continued to remain silent. Might was proved right. Not so long ago Eknaligoda was abducted, again for his critical writings and made to disappear. General Sarath Fonseka who saved the country from the terror of the LTTE is today stripped of his rank, denied his pension and incarcerated. Not many people even want to point…
Continue reading »Photos taken today by Vikalpa at a demonstration against the 18th Amendment in Colombo organised by several civil society organisations, members of Left political parties and some Provincial Council members of the UNP. Created from Vikalpa’s photo set.
Continue reading »Lakshman Gunasekera is a senior journalist in Sri Lanka, former Editor of the Sunday Observer and head of the Sri Lanka Chapter of the South Asia Free Media Association. Groundviews interviewed him at a protest rally in Colombo today on the 18th Amendment.
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Groundviews received a statement against the proposed 18th amendment to the Constitution by law students from the Faculty of Law University of Colombo, the Sri Lanka Law College and the Open University of Sri Lanka. As noted in the email we received, “The English copy has more names in it since we had some last minute additions and could not add them to the Sinhala copy. All students are registered students of these educational institutes and have agreed to both versions.The undersigned to the statement have consented for their names to be added.” Download the statement in English as a PDF here. Download the statement in Sinhala as a PDF here.
Continue reading »Photos taken on 7 September by Vikalpa at protests against the 18th Amendment held in Colombo by lawyers. Also listen to a statement by Chrishmal Warnasuriya, Bar Association of Sri Lanka on the Eighteenth Amendment. Created from Vikalpa’s photo set.
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See a larger version of this letter here. After a discussion on the 18th Amendment, a group of citizens from Batticaloa had faxed this letter to Parliament this morning and sent it to Groundviews as well.
Continue reading »About 3500-4000 JVP supporters marched to Parliament on 7th September to demonstrate their opposition to the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It was reported that many of the protestors had come in from around the country and the protest itself was one of the largest and most vociferous this year. The following video was produced by Vikalpa.
Continue reading »Photos taken by Vikalpa at protests against the 18th Amendment held today in Colombo organised by the JVP. Created from Vikalpa’s photo set.
Continue reading »Chrishmal Warnasuriya, Attorney-at-Law and member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka speaking to media today during a protest held by lawyers near the Supreme Court around half past noon.
Continue reading »We, the undersigned academics attached to different universities in Sri Lanka, call upon the government to re-consider the proposed 18th Amendment to the Constitution for the reasons set out below. Constitutional reforms, like elections, go to the heart of what it means to be a democracy in the modern-day world. Any changes that are introduced to a country’s constitution should be undertaken after due deliberation and consultation while having at its centre, the will of the People. In a pluralistic society such as Sri Lanka, ascertaining the will of the People can be a time-consuming and complex exercise. While the will of the People must be given due consideration, the essential features of a democracy, such as the rule of law, accountability of the government and transparency must be preserved and promoted through any constitutional reform. By choosing to amend the constitution through an urgent bill the entire process of reform has been expedited, if not short-circuited, and no room has been…
Continue reading »â€œThe death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” Robert M. Hutchins It is indeed terrifying and demoralizing to see the backward slide of our nation from a democracy to a dictatorship. We have never seen, in the course of our history, the likes of such unprincipled governance and self seeking deception by a leadership cloaked in the finery of patriotism and national interest. Even more distressing is the timidity and servility of the majority of the legislature, judiciary, public sector, private sector, religious institutions and media in expressing their very serious misgivings over the craftily concocted interpretations provided by the state in defending the proposed changes to the Constitution. All power blocs have been effectively silenced, through intimidation and sabotage, into a forced consensus with the leadership who has effectively declared a ‘fait accompli’ on the matter. Through our silence and inaction, we have…
Continue reading »All MPs as well as Supreme Court judges of Sri Lanka should watch Stanley Kramer’s 1961 film ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ before the vote on the 18th Amendment. It tells the story of the trial of four German judges guilty of complicity with the Nazi regime. One of them, Ernst Janning, was once a champion of justice, yet played a major role in turning the German legal system into an instrument of Nazism. How could these eminent and apparently decent men have been complicit in the ghastly atrocities committed by the Nazi regime? The mystery is solved only when Janning makes a statement, showing how actions which at first seemed trivial and innocuous – like swearing an oath of allegiance to the Nazis – lead to deeper and deeper entanglement with the regime. Even when the full horror of Hitler’s agenda became clear to them, they justified staying at their posts with the argument that they were trying to prevent matters…
Continue reading »Organised Left parties in 2005, “THE Group of Five Left Parties (Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party and Democratic Left Front) consider that the Manifesto of Presidential Candidate – Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse titled “Mahinda Chinthana” a pro-people manifesto, although these parties have certain reservations in regard to some of its contents, the parties said in a statement issued yesterday. The statement said: “The Five Left Parties are specially appreciative of the pledges contained in the “Mahinda Chinthana” in respect of strengthening democracy. The commitment to abolish the executive presidential system and to draft a new constitution is one of its important aspects.” Emphasis ours. Vasudeva Nanayakkara in May 2010, “The socialist parties are opposed to the rescinding of the constitutional restriction for an incumbent president to contest for more than two terms. The Common Left Front comprising the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Sri Lanka Communist Party (SLCP) and…
Continue reading »The 18th Amendment I don’t know whether I’m more angry or sad at the way in which patently undemocratic constitutional amendments are being rushed into law. I feel as if I’m watching my country being strangled, slowly, in the grip of self-serving and short-sighted men who have little love for Sri Lanka or its people. I don’t believe that the changes to the constitution will immediately make themselves felt in our daily lives. In some ways, the will simply legalize many unconstitutional practices that are currently in place. However, the changes in law will solidify these and establish new, even lower norms for the way Sri Lanka is governed. My fear is that by the time the implications of the proposed 18th Amendment will become fully apparent, it is likely that many of our fellow-citizens, our friends, co-workers, relative and frighteningly perhaps our children may have come to have such low expectations of their rights as citizens that they can’t…
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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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