Archive for September, 2011

Why The Diaspora Must Return To Sri Lanka

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Image from Himal Southasian, Sri Lanka’s alternatives abroad, December 2010 | By Sworup Nhasiju [Editors note: Also read The Disillusionment of the Diaspora and Two years after war’s end in Sri Lanka: What can the Tamil and Sinhala diaspora do? that offer context and counter-points to this article.] In a recent post entitled “How The Diaspora Can Overthrow The Government”, blogger Indi Samarajiva put forth the notion that all the Diaspora needs to do to claim Eelam (or whatever solution it wants) is to come back. As idealistically narrow as this claim may be, it does bear a certain logic. As Indi puts it, radical change requires radical sacrifice. For many, the idea of returning to Sri Lanka is a fantasy but not a practical reality. There are limits to what one is able to do. Those who have children and extended families to support cannot afford to drop everything. And deeper still, the idea of returning to the devastation of what once was…

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Crossing Red Lines: The New Tamil Consensus in Sri Lanka

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R Sampanthan is a Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil National Alliance and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. Photo from vivatamils.2009 on Flickr. A visit to the Mayan exhibition in Paris tells the tale of a splendid ancient civilization with an advanced mathematics, now reduced to marginality by colonial conquest. It also reminds one that the civilization of the Sinhalese, whose language is distinctive, whose collective existence is not far flung and whose state is in a strategically hostile situation or environment, can be reduced to an exhibit in an ethnographic museum, if it is not collectively strong, adaptable and very smart indeed. This must not be taken as a chauvinist, racist or ethnocentric sentiment: for example, I am neither Mayan nor Guatemalan, yet I am anguished by their fate. An American witticism attributed variously to Dr Henry Kissinger and film director Oliver Stone says “just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you”….

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SEC must safeguard credibility of CSE to build investor confidence in Sri Lanka

Investors and brokers monitor the market at the Colombo Stock Exchange

Photo courtesy JDS We understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs 10 million and compound an offence related to securities trading. While the nature of the fraud has not been made public it was well known that the SEC was investigating ERI for trading and disclosure related matters. While the SEC is yet to make an announcement on this matter and acknowledging that this statement is based on media reports we nevertheless believe it is the SEC’s duty, as the regulator, to take swift action against fraudulent activities under the SEC Act.  The Act calls for prosecution. If ERI has not committed any fraud they will be found not guilty but if convicted the perpetrators shall be imprisoned and fined accordingly. The…

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Post-war, is the Sri Lankan Army going on a rampage in the North?

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The Sri Lankan Army: Humane or heinous? Photo from Now Public [Editors note: Also read JAFFNA: BRUTAL ASSAULT OF CIVILIANS IN NAVANTHURAI and The attack on TNA Parliamentarians in Jaffna: A timeline of outrageous denials (Updated)] These days, the Sri Lankan Army appears to be somewhat bored. Despite increasing post-war forays into urban development, vegetable transportation and tourism – wonderfully captured in this cartoon – the Army appears to, unsurprisingly, seek more exciting peacetime pursuits. Fortunately, this appears to be quite easy in post-war Sri Lanka, where there are plenty of Tamils to expend excess testosterone on, who as an added bonus, are eternally grateful to the Army for eradicating terrorism and very unlikely to raise too much of a ruckus. A detailed report of the violence in Navanthurai was posted on this site a few days ago. Tamil media now report even more heinous violence from the North, framed by growing fear on the ground over the ‘grease devil’…

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Should Sri Lanka’s Youth Get Ready To Confront Armed Intervention Two Years After The War?

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Image from Radio Netherlands Worldwide The proposal (decision?) made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to repeal the Emergency Regulations (ER) was a hopeful one. It was a significant proposal (decision?) which marked a significant moment in Sri Lanka’s post-war history. One’s heart swelled with joy; the rain had ceased, it was bright and sunny, there was a rainbow somewhere in the distance too. But then, the real news strikes you: there is what is known as ‘The Emergency Consequential Provisional Bill’ which is to be presented to Parliament soon. Until then, new regulations have been introduced to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to legalize the continuation, for instance, of the High Security Zones (HSZ). The ER was repealed, but there were provisions which couldn’t be repealed too. So, the proposal (decision?) not to extend the ER was, in the end, not so problematic, not so praiseworthy, for there was a rush, unknown to many, to re-introduce some of those provisions…

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The ‘Grease Devil’ Phenomena in Sri Lanka: A Brief Collation of Reports

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A ‘snapshot’ visualized version of the ‘Grease Devil’ phenomena that emerged in Sri Lanka from the 7th of July 2011 to the 29th of August 2011. Incidents concern; sightings of Grease Devils, community reactions, conflicts and security force reactions. This is an ‘evolving document’ to which all are welcome to add, suggest and discuss. Sunday Times, Grease Devils Graphic. Until the 14th of August 2011. Google Earth Area Photos of Concentrated Grease Devil Sightings See Below: (1) Jaffna, (2) Mullaththivu, (3) Trincomalee, (4) Batticaloa & Ampara, (5) Puttalam, (6) Sabaragamuwa, Kurunegala & Up Country Sources Statement by Women on the Attacks on Women, Impunity and the Lack of the Rule of Law, issued by the Women’s Action Network JAFFNA: BRUTAL ASSAULT OF CIVILIANS IN NAVANTHURAI, http://groundviews.org/2011/08/25/jaffna-brutal-assault-of-civilians-in-navanthurai/ Grease Devils at Navanthurai: People with military-Confrontation, Author confidential Internet News Sources http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14704906 http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/08/21/grease-devils-busting-the-myth/ http://sundaytimes.lk/110814/News/nws_15.html Grease Devil Incidents via GIS (Google Earth) Note that D Indicates Alleged Devil Sighting and V Indicates Violence or…

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Libya, Sri Lanka and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi Meets Silvio Berlusconi

Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader, speaks at an equestrian show at the Tor di Quinto cavalry school in Rome, Italy, on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Italy’s 2008 apology to Libya for three decades of colonial rule is paying dividends for Italian companies including Eni SpA and Finmeccanica SpA. Photographer: Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg via Getty Images Libya is the model of the new interventionism and is the latest, successful mode of application of the doctrine of R2P says Paddy Ashdown, writing in The Times. “…This is what the future probably looks like. Better get used to it” according to Mr Ashdown, who posits it as “a new way of intervening and giving strength to a new strand of international law… Many of us thought R2P would never be more than a piece of well-meaning rhetoric. But Libya has given R2P both form and precedent… Now Libya has offered us a third option. Support R2P with force where it’s possible. Find other means where…

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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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