Archive for the ‘International Relations’

Once more into the breach

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“The bloody massacre in Bangladesh quickly covered over the memory of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Allende drowned out the groans of Bangladesh, the war in the Sinai Desert made people forget Allende, and so on and so forth until ultimately everyone lets everything be forgotten.” Milan Kundera[1] “…. Some [intellectuals] served as spokesmen for power or for a constituency, trimming their beliefs and pronouncements to circumstances and interest: what Edward Said once called “the fawning elasticity with regard to one’s own side’ has indeed “disfigured the history of intellectuals.” Tony Judt.[2] His Excellency Dr Dayan Jayatilleka has been good enough to respond to my critique of his position with regard to the merits of the current government of Sri Lanka.[3] Let me first deal with his view of my original comments on his intellectual and political practices; then I will go to the heart of his response.[4] Readers of Groundviews know, better than most, Dr Jayatilleka’s…

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Examining Sri Lanka’s Diplomacy Machine

Lankan Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe

Photo courtesy JDS As promised, the Sri Lankan government made the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) public last month. It has also recently released its “National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: 2011-2016.” The Action Plan was developed in accordance with a commitment the government had made in 2008, the last time Sri Lanka participated in the UN’s Universal Periodic Review. Both documents are part of the Sri Lankan government’s strategy to placate international observers and convince people that there is no need for any kind of international assistance because the country’s domestic institutions are working just fine. Like the LLRC report, the National Action Plan contains some decent ideas and recommendations, but it is replete with missing and false information. For example, the section on the Prevention of Torture is laughable and worrisome. The Sri Lankan government claims that it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy on torture.” This sweeping assertion directly contradicts…

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Curated updates from Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka

Tweets from Syed Akbaruddin, Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, India & other media reporting on Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka in January 2012. Note in particular the reference to the implementation of the 13th Amendment Plus by the Sri Lankan government. [View the story "Updates from Indian Foreign Minister's official visit to Sri Lanka" on Storify]

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Defending Sri Lanka: Response to Michael Colin Cooke

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Image taken from ‘Interrogating a public intellectual: Noted bloggers and youth activists engage Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka‘, published on Groundviews The phrase ‘a man for all seasons’ being a compliment -which is clearly not the writer’s intent- I find Mr Michael Colin Cooke’s sense of irony rather leaden (read A Man for all political Seasons: Dr Dayan Jayatilleka). No matter. I have two options in responding. One is to enter a slugfest of quotations and ideological polemic, for which I simply do not have the time, and nor I suspect, do most readers. The other route is to address the substance, with a view to advancing clarity and political discussion. MCC accuses me of “idealisation of the current government of Sri Lanka”. That’s plain silly, and he would find it impossible to back it up with a single quotation or example, while none of those he has furnished amount to anything remotely approaching idealisation. I do defend the Sri Lankan state, its…

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THE NORWEGIAN STUDY: A CRITIQUE

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The Norwegian (NORAD) commissioned study ‘Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009’, is useful and good, but analytically flawed at its very core. It is useful because it shows us how the ‘liberal peace’ discourse goes and how that constituency views the conflict in retrospect. This does not mean that this perspective has it all wrong. Indeed the study has quite a few things right. In any case it is crucial that the Sri Lankan readership sees how our contemporary history is perceived and reconstructed. It is useful to look into a mirror, while being conscious as to whether it is a slightly or greatly distorting one. Taken as a whole, the Norwegian study is a valuable and welcome addition to the growing literature on the war and our times—with the strongest part being the analysis of the International Dimension in Chapter 7. In the interest of transparency I should add that I am one…

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CHOGM-2011: HOW DIPLOMATIC VICTORIES END IN DISGRACE

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[Editors note: As noted by the author below, an example of the distressingly bad propaganda of the Sri Lankan Government, attributed in some websites to the Director General of the President's Media Unit, Bandula Jayasekera. It's not the first time an airbrushed image of CHOGM involving the President has been published in Government controlled media. This image appears on the website of the state owned newspaper, and may have appeared in print as well. The original URL is www.dailynews.lk/2011/10/31/news00.pdf, but it may be taken down anon. Download the PDF here.] ### The 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) raised renewed concerns about the ability of the Commonwealth to tackle human rights problems concerning its 54-Member States. CHOGM-2011 is being hailed by Sri Lanka as another diplomatic victory. Amnesty International slammed the Commonwealth, calling it an ‘absolute disgrace’ that the countries agreed to hold the next CHOGM in Sri Lanka. There was a particularly interesting human rights issue which came up during…

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Australia’s Tamil Eelam Lobby and CHOGM

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Photo credit AFP via Haveeru Online Introduction The war on the battle field may be over, but the propaganda war is alive and well. The Australian news media, particularly the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, were in an uncontrollable frenzy two weeks before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) by the predictable lobbying against Sri Lanka. There are legitimate issues that Australia must and did raise with Sri Lanka during CHOGM 2011. Unfortunately, these publicity stunts risked derailing and overshadowing those conversations and hardening the stance of some of the non-Western members of the Commonwealth. The first was John Dowd’s submission of a brief of evidence to the Australian Federal Police. It was timed conveniently just prior to the questioning by the Greens Senator, Lee Rhiannon, at the Senate Estimates hearings. The other was the war crimes charges by Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran, also known as Jegan Waran, against Mahinda Rajapaksa. The latter is frivolous and vexatious, but the…

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Authoritative Ethical Realist Reads Rajapaksa’s Role

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The Pope with Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Though my political approval of and personal liking for Mahinda Rajapaksa, (certainly in relation to his competitors and immediate predecessors) are shared by nine out of ten Sri Lankan citizens (according to the Gallup poll), it is not comfortable to be alone in one’s analysis and evaluation, among one’s own social stratum, the intelligentsia, especially the English-speaking and writing urban intelligentsia. It is therefore a good feeling when you discover that your views coincide with someone who stands above the fray, and cannot but evoke respect from all rational people. Nicest of all, is when the public personage with whose views your own coincide, has achieved a status and recognition that is truly global. My perspectives on Mahinda Rajapaksa, his administration, Sri Lankan politics and the issue of accountability and international pressure have been denounced by political partisans of almost all sides. The Tamil Diaspora accuses me of Sinhala chauvinism or neo-nationalism (as Taraki put…

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A Kunanayakam by any other name?

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Mercenaries with misplaced consciences appear to be leading Sri Lanka’s latest band of apologists. Seldom does a hired hand leave such a damning trail as does Tamara Kunanayakam, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland. During the General Debate under Item 2 at the 18th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 12 September 2011, H.E. Kunanayakam criticized the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay for her apparent ‘partiality’.[1] One is at a loss to comprehend what ‘partiality’ the Ambassador alludes to, except perhaps the fervency in which the High Commissioner has thus far discharged her mandate. In any event, there is no doubt that the High Commissioner will wear this curious brand like a badge of honour. The Ambassador goes on to state: I must also observe that it appears that the High Commissioner does not have the will to even acknowledge a…

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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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Trail Sri Lanka: Pressure by the International Community may have made a difference?

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Photo courtesy Iromi Perera Some argue that International pressure will not change Sri Lanka for the better; however, recent evidence reveals the contrary. D.B.S Jeyaraj in a recent blog post argued that international pressure could not encourage progressive change in Sri Lanka. As he stated, “I don’t want to speculate about the possible turns and twists in International relations concerning Sri Lanka because I know there will be no real big change whatever the current excitement”. However, the recent Trail Sri Lanka fundraising initiative, which has slowly gained momentum on the Island, over the last few weeks, seems to disprove Jeyaraj’s pessimism. Trail was initiated by an international non-governmental organization Colors of Courage Trust, which is based in the United States. The international effort has successfully gained a strong Sri Lankan corporate backing.  It has MAS Holding, one of Sri Lanka’s largest garment manufacturing companies, as a prominent sponsor. I joined one of the smaller zones in Colombo, which ran from…

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Sports and Governance: A Look at what the Doping Scandals means for International Politics in Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka opening batsman Upul Tharanga, who was found guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation. Photo courtesy International Cricket Council (ICC) In the world of international governance and law, where definitions of human rights, sovereignty, and even war are hotly contested, one rulebook is quite definite in denotation and rather absolute in punishment. An athlete has either been using performance-enhancing drugs, or he has not; he can compete and retain the titles he has won, or he cannot. The punishment for infraction usually entails a stripping of awards and banishment from international competition, while a clean test means business as usual. And Sri Lanka is no stranger to the world of international sport scandal. Enter the accused: boxer Manju Wanniarachchi; weightlifter Chinthana Vidanage; rugby players S Swarnathilaka, Keith Gurusinghe and Saliya Kumara; and cricket player Upul Tharanga – all Sri Lankan and all found to have been using banned substances during international competition. This series of scandals and the…

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The war that confronts us: Looking at Sri Lanka’s official responses to Channel 4 video

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Image courtesy Channel 4 Channel 4’s Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields is anything but understated. It is designed to shock, even if you are the most hardened of viewers. Images of blood-soaked bodies assail you from every angle. As a cellphone camera jerks around, you see the bulging eyes of a man-turned-killing machine. He appears to be enjoying himself. You feel disoriented. When you think you cannot take it anymore, there it is: Another body eviscerated, another child screaming for her mother, another man’s eyes tied shut, another gunshot through the head, and still another naked body piled atop a truck laden with violated human flesh. And then you are left with nothing but darkness. And silence. That silence lingered as the lights went up on the UN Church Center, where NGO workers and UN staffers, reporters and diplomats attended a subdued screening of Channel 4’s controversial (and at times sensationalist) documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields. Though the screening was punctuated…

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Provoking, persecuting and pushing Sri Lanka: Enough!

Special Forces Combat soldiers ride in a parade during a war victory ceremony in Colombo

Photo credit REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte: Special Forces Combat soldiers ride in a parade during a war victory ceremony in Colombo May 27, 2011. Sri Lanka holds a military parade and memorial for fallen soldiers on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, which ended a quarter-century civil war in the Indian Ocean nation. “Revolution is not a dinner party, not an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be advanced softly, gradually, carefully, considerately, respectfully, politely, plainly and modestly”. – Mao Ze Dong The matter is rather simple really. What do you do, or more correctly, what does a state do, and what does a leader at the helm of state affairs do, when faced with a situation of a heavily armed movement dedicated to dismembering the country through secession; a movement which has repeatedly resorted to terrorism; has repeatedly returned to war after episodes of ceasefires and negotiations with successive…

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Checkmate, Rajapakse! The UN Report, Militarism and Public Religion in Sri Lanka

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The author of this article, in January 2012, wanted us to take it down. Although published under a pseudonym on Groundviews, the real name of the author and the full content of the article is available online on a number of websites.

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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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