For the record: Full text of Supreme Court judgement on 18th Amendment
To view this full-screen, click here. To download this judgement as a PDF click here. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Archive for the ‘18th Amendment’
Content digest: Full coverage of the 18th Amendment, 1 – 9 September 2010
Groundviews was read well over 22,000 times from 1 – 9 September, when content and debates around the 18th Amendment to the constitution reached their peak. Over 170 comments were featured in the site during this week alone, totalling around 65,000 words. In addition to the content on the site, our Twitter feed posted well over one hundred and fifty updates during the course of the week. Content on Groundviews was republished or referred to by the Sunday Leader, the New York Times, Le Monde Diplomatique dozens of other local and international Twitter accounts of leading journalists and others, Livemint.com published by the Wall Street Journal in India and a range of other blogs and websites. Around one hundred highlights from our tweets anchored to the 18th amendment are now archived in four parts. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 A full list of content on the 18th Amendment published on Groundviews can be accessed by clicking here,…
Continue reading »Finding a Moral Compass: Citizenship After the 18th Amendment
Loss of Moral Certainty It’s often seems hard to find a reasonable discussion in Sri Lanka about right and wrong, especially when it comes to questions of how our society is governed. Â I wonder if part of the reason is that too many of our social institutions and frameworks that shape how we draw our ethical judgments have been compromised for decades. Â Our religious institutions have been debased by hateful politics of various forms, offering interpretations that often run counter to core doctrinal values. Â A cowed and complicit media distorts more than it reflects realities of Sri Lankan life and its polity. Â Educational institutions peddle dogma rather than foster the capacity for even-handed critical thinking. Â Law enforcement often itself operates outside the law, and there is little confidence that legal judgements are independent of political influence. Â Communities and workplaces are rife with mistrust and animosity that makes it hard to believe that others say what they mean. Â In the absence…
Continue reading »Photos of candle-light vigil against 18th Amendment (Updated with video)
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Might is Right in Sri Lanka today
“I 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 from demonstration against 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »A senior journalist and rights activist on the 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Law students write against 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Photos from protest by lawyers in Colombo against 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »A letter from Batticaloa against the 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Videos of JVP protest against 18th Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Photos from demonstrations in Colombo against 18th Amendment
Photos taken by Vikalpa at protests against the 18th Amendment held today in Colombo organised by the JVP. Created from Vikalpa’s photo set. Repost This Article
Continue reading »Statement by Chrishmal Warnasuriya, Bar Association of Sri Lanka on the Eighteenth Amendment
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. Repost This Article
Continue reading »University academics: Statement on the Proposed 18th Amendment to the Constitution
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 »The Death of Democracy in Sri Lanka
“The 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…
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