Archive for the ‘Lasantha Wickremetunge’

Killing dissent: Lasantha, violence and impunity

In a country where, it seems, shooting the messenger has become the norm, yet another journalist who sought to highlight everything that is wrong with Sri Lanka today, has been brutally gunned down. Lasantha Wickramatunge is the latest victim of a long list of assassinations of media personnel in Sri Lanka, yet another sorry statistic which has made Sri Lanka one of the most dangerous countries for journalists to practice their profession, according to Reporters without Borders. My obvious political differences with Lasantha do not prevent me from appreciating his personal, political and journalistic qualities as a leader in the island’s media industry. He was fearless and was willing to boldly uncover and critically expose in no uncertain terms what he believed to be the truth. His assassination is a tragic loss to the people of Sri Lanka as a whole. I take this occasion to convey my deepest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues. In the outstanding contribution…

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Death at Noon

Today dawned Like any other morning At the other end of the world My sister sits nursing a cup of coffee Her fingers numb From minus twenty Mind numb with shock. Here, I drive to work Still swear under my breath at the driver of the truck that cut into my lane Nearly killing me, Plan my day Tick off the list of things to be done: A listening test to be recorded A lecture to prepare for A report to write A professor to be contacted Before lunch. But more than four of my colleagues Are in black and white And I realise that includes me. We stand around the Water filter Discussing ‘heroism’. And no one is in a mood to work today Even those joyous about captured Territory. Maybe we are numb too Though it’s warm and all we have today Is a cloudy sky [Editors note: A comment left on a blog I read regularly regarding…

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For Lasantha and others

Murder is a moment to point fingers Murder is a moment to crawl into shells. But moments don’t forbid, there is no opportune time, nothing auspicious about standing up, speaking out. Speaking of Lasantha now, he was not the just-another-guy not because he was right (he was wrong a lot of times; hard to agree with too), but he wrote his politics regardless he made his allegiances clear protected friends (and some of them were unsavoury creatures too); it does not matter, though. He was flawed as the next person but was more a citizen than many of us, he spoke his mind, he screamed. And I, hardly a friend or fellow-traveller, salute him, for I prefer word to silence in the matter of political engagement. There is a finger that is itching to point, let us point it at ourselves at least in the manner of a question. Who are we, who am I in these times of omission…

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The murder of Lasantha Wickremetunge and Sri Lanka’s future

Watch reactions to Lasantha’s murder in Sinhala here. The Editor in Chief of the Sunday Leader and one of Sri Lanka’s best known journalists Lasantha Wickremetunge was murdered this morning en route to work. He was shot repeatedly and succumbed to his injuries at around 2.15pm. The murder of Lasantha comes just two days after after the arson attack against private TV broadcaster MBC / MTV networks that destroyed their Main Control Room and studios. On both counts, the Rajapakse administration points to some mysterious armed force hell bent on discrediting the government. It has done what it does best – expressed outrage, ordered a full investigation and appointed a committee to investigate the attacks. Yet it conveniently forgets that the Cabinet subcommittee to look into the grievances of journalists set up in June 2008 is largely forgotten today. No one knows whether it exists, how to reach it, what it does, or came up with as recommendations to protect journalists….

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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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