Archive for the ‘Media and Communications’

Homosexuality, Buddhism and Sri Lankan Society

By Bellanvila Sudaththa Thero and Cecil J. Dunne Before we discuss what Theravada Buddhism says about homosexuality, it is important to understand that in Buddhism people are encouraged to look inwardly when seeking guidance or a solution to a problem. In the words of the Lord Buddha himself “be a lamp to yourself” which simple means do not search for wisdom outside of yourself, rather you should let your conscience be your guide and it is here that the teachings and scripts of Lord Buddha can be of assistance. Generally speaking Lord Buddha did not anything specifically about homosexuality because it has never been an issue, however this is not to say that that there was no homosexual activity in the time of the Lord Buddha. There Tripitaka (Buddhist scripts) refer to incidents of homosexuality and transexuality. Specifically the Tripitaka highlights the case of a bhikku (monk) Wakkali who became a monk purely because he was physically attracted to how…

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Manufacturing claymores in the Sinhala media – Media ethics withering on the vine

The 14th of August was an eventful day. According to the Sinhala media, the Police “discovered” claymores and explosives at the Ideal Lodge in Wellawatte on this day. As was discovered later, Ideal Lodge is also where 7 of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case against the unlawful and reprehensible eviction of Tamils from Colombo by the Chief of Police and this government reside. Several interesting aspects of the Sinhala media coverage of this incident are evident to the keen reader. As noted in my article in detail through direct quotes from headlines, the reporting was overwhelming sensational. Four leading Sinhala dailies stated that the LTTE was responsible for the explosives that were “discovered” without quoting a single source. What is more, there were several discrepencies in the reporting. Lankadeepa said the suspect did one thing. Dinama says another. Lakbima contradicts both. Divaina contradicts all of them. So much for the suspect! But there’s also huge variance in the…

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The Chief Justice and Intelligence

Copyright: The Economist Recently our Chief Justice averred that one does not need intelligence to get into Parliament. I fully agree. But I have a further point to make to the Chief Justice. Read it on Vikalpa. Repost This Article

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In conversation with the Chitrasena – Vajira Dance Foundation on theatre in Sri Lanka

VOR Radio interviews Heshma (grand-daughter of Chitrasena and Vajira) and Rukshana, a senior dancer at the Chitrasena – Vajira Dance Foundation. The conversation deals with Kumbi Kathawa (Ant Story) – a children’s ballet – the challenges facing the Foundation and the state of theatre in Sri Lanka in general. Please read the related article here and listen to the podcast here. Repost This Article

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A brief glimpse of “Kumbi Kathawa” (Ant Story)

“We give you something that is very traditional and something that at the same time is not. This is discipline. You cannot do this without thinking.”€ Chitrasena, quoted in Bandula Jawayawardhana’s essay ‘€œThe Meaning of Chitrasena’ To witness first and then attempt to write about a production by the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya is a humbling and daunting experience. It is humbling because the writer soon realises the inadequacy of verbal and written expression to capture the exhilaration of dance performed with a vigour and technical precision not often found with such effortless abundance elsewhere. It is daunting because one attempts to capture a movement so mellifluous, rhythmic and disciplined that the rigidity of words necessarily alienates the writer from the performer and the performance. It is with these thoughts in my mind that I pen this short review on my experience with a preview of Kumbi Kathawa, the Kalayanthanaya’™s latest production slated to go on the boards at the Bishops College…

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Daratt (Dry Season) – Realistic and Symbolic drama in a post-war terrain

What can we learn as Sri Lankans from this excellent Chadian film that deals so profoundly with the social and personal consequences of civil war, difficulties so similar to our own? With all the ‘solutions’ offered for Sri Lanka being top-down technical fixes; the piles of bodies, the traumatised population and the sufferings of individuals and their communities remain largely ignored. Persistent ultra-nationalist political propaganda and a feudal obedience to the directives of their rulers appear to have hypnotised much of the population and deprived them of independent thought. Fantasies about ‘peace building’ that were never grounded in practical political mobilisation have not prevented the slow slide back into civil war for over a year now, albeit not yet formally acknowledged. What is desperately needed in the Sri Lankan context is a resurrection of moral responsibility, of conscience and recognition of what we have done to ourselves and to each other. Daratt, the third feature from Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun,…

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  • 18 Aug, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Human Rights,
    Human Security,
    Media and Communications,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Trincomalee

Mistaking Night for Day in the New Dawn of the East: A Review Article of the al-Jazeera Documentaries, ‘How the East was Won’ and ‘Monks of War’

Reporter, Juliana Ruhfus, Director, Dom Rotheroe and Researcher, Aloke Devichand, have two films scheduled for broadcast on the al-Jazeera network which will be of interest to all those with an abiding interest in Sri Lanka both within and without the country. The first, “How the East Was Won” deals with the contemporary context and consequences of claimed military victory over the Eastern Province and the second, “Monks of War”, focuses on the political ascendancy of the JHU and the resurgence of the Sinhala Buddhist nationalism which has been the central ideological legitimation for the return to a military solution to the ethnic conflict. In that sense both documentaries are mutually illuminating of the political crossroads that Sri Lanka currently finds itself in but which is unfortunately also exemplary of the tragic and endless recurrence of attempts to pursue the same policies in the past albeit within the changed historical circumstances of the post-9/11 global dystopia. Despite the constraints of the…

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Dismissing inconvenient truths – The Divaina’s take on Groundviews

Clearly, Groundviews seems to be doing something right in highlighting the plight of IDPs and refugees in the embattled North and East of Sri Lanka through stories such as I pray God that no one in this world should face the hardships, faced by my child and me and We are nobody’s children… and others. The Divaina, a Sinhala daily published by the Upali Newspapers Group, had this to say on our recent story on IDPs in Trincomalee: “මෙයට සමගාමීව කොටින්ට පකෂපාතී ස්වෙච්ඡා සංවිධාන අලුතින් අන්තර්ජාල වෙබ් අඩවි ආරම්භ කරමින් ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ අවතැන්වූවන් අතිශය දුෂ්කර ජීවිතයක් ගත කරන බවට ප්‍රචාරයක් විකාශනය කර ඇත. මේ අන්තර්ජාල වෙබ් අඩවිය ආරම්භ කළ තැනැත්තා කවූරුන්දැයි දැන් හෙළි වී තිබේ. ශී ලංකාවේ පූරවැසි මාධ්‍යවේදියා නමින් හඳුන්වා ගනිමින් ආරම්භ කර ඇති මේ කොටින්ට පකෂපාතී වෙබ් අඩවියෙන් පවසා ඇත්තේ හමූදාපති ඝාතන ප්‍රයත්නයෙන් පසූ යූද හමූදාව ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ එචිලන්පත්තු ගම්මානයට මෝටාර් සහ රොකටි ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කළ බවයි. මින් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ වන්නි කොටි බේරා ගැනීමට මෙරට ස්වෙච්ඡා සංවිධාන විශාල මෙහෙයූමක් අරඹා…

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A Donkey doing a Dog’s work: The Grade 1 entrance fiasco and the Chief Justice

This author is gobsmacked by the recent edict by the Chief Justice on school admissions to Grade 1. It is an affront on equality and human dignity. What is more, as a journalist, I am appalled at the silence of the media regarding this issue. “මෙම නිර්දේශ මගින් සමහර ජනයා වඩා වටින්නේ ය යන දුර්දාන්ත අදහස තහවුරු කරන බව බැලූ බැල්මටම පෙනේ. මේ තාක් අප රටෙහි පැවැති සෑම පුරවැසියකුටම සමාන ලෙස සැළකීමේ පිළිවෙත අගවිනිසුරු විසින් ම මෙමගින් අහෝසි කිරීම එක එල්ලේම සමානාත්මතාවය කෙළෙසීමකි. සෑම පුරවැසියකුට ම සෑම අයිතිවාසිකමක්ම යන ලොව පිළිගත් මූලධර්මය මෙම නිර්දේශ මගින් යන්නේ කුණු කූඩයට ය. අනෙත් අතට මේ වනාහී උපහැරණයකින් කියන්නේ නම් බල්ලාගේ වැඬේ බූරුවා බාර ගැනීමකි. අධ්‍යපන මනොවිද්‍යඥයින් විසින් තීරණය කළ යුතු දරුවාගේ බුද්ධි මට්ටම මැන බැලීම වැනි කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් තීරණ දීමට අධිකරණයකට ඇති සුදුසුකම කුමක්ද? බුද්ධියෙන් වැඩි යැයි මැනෙන දරුවන්ට සුපිරි පාසැල් සහ බුද්ධියෙන් අඩු යැයි මැනෙන දරුවන්ට පහසුකම් අඩු පාසැල් ලබා දීමේ පිළවෙත සාධාරණ වන්නේ කුමන සමානාත්මතා ධර්මය අනුව ද?” It is not…

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The Press and Politics

Speech by Bradman Weerakoon at DR Wijewardene Memorial Award 2007 31st July 2007 at the BMICH D.R. Wijewardene The subject Ranjit Wijewardene prescribed for me was The Press and Politics and I am thankful to him for his instruction that I could use as broad a brush as I wished, roam as broadly within the prescribed subject as I cared or even to tread (warily) outside it. Bearing in mind the nature of the occasion, the distinguished audience- and the time – I propose to limit myself to some general reflections on three points; Firstly the interesting and perhaps well-known nexus between the Press (ie the Owners/ Proprietors and decision makers)and what is broadly described as Politics – ie the people who practice the art of managing political power in Sri Lanka. As I survey the scene over the many years that I have been privileged to have a ring – side seat mainly from the Prime Ministers Office, I…

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  • 28 Jul, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Ampara,
    Media and Communications

The forgotten: Sriyanie’s story from Welikanda

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි. අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිතුමනි විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කොමිසමේ සභාපතිතුමනි විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට යෑමට සියලූ සුදුසුකම් තිබු මේ දැරීයට එය අහිමි වුයේ පදිංචි දිස්ති‍්‍රක්කය වැරදීම නිසාද? එය මකා දමා හෝ නැවත අයදුම් පතක් ගෙන්වා ගෙන හෝ මේ තරුණියව විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට ගන්න යුතුකමක් අදාල නිලධාරීන්ට නොසිතුනේ මන්ද? මෙවන් දුප්පත් දරුවන්ට මේ රටේ ඇති එකම අවස්ථාව ඉගෙන ගැනීම නොවන්නේ ද? ගුරුවරු රැුකියාවට නොයන ඇගේ ප‍්‍රදේශයේ දරුවන්ට ඉගෙන්වීමට ඇයට හෝ අවස්ථාව නොදෙන්නේ වැලිකන්දේ ඊළඟ පරම්පරාවන් නුගත් කමේ ගිල්ලවත්නට ද? නො එසේනම් ඔවුන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා ලෝකය පිළිබඳව අවබෝධ වූ විට මේ රටේ බලධාරීන් ලෙස ඔබලා ඔවුන්ට කළ අසාධාරණය ඔවුන් තේරුම් ගත්හ නිසාද? මේ අහිංසක දැරිය වෙනුවට කාගේ හෝ හෙංචයියෙකුගේ නුසුදුසු කෙනෙකු අද විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය තුළ ඉගෙන ගන්නා බවද අපි දනිමු ඇයට ඔබලා සාධාරණය ඉටු කරන තෙක් අපි බලා හිඳිමු. එසේම මේ රටේ තවත් දුප්පත් දරුවන්ගේ ජීවිත බලධාරීන්ගේ හෝ ක‍්‍රමයේ වරද නිසා මෙලෙස අනාත වන්නට ඉඩ දෙමු ද? ශි‍්‍රයානි තවම බලන් ඉන්නම් ඇයට සාධාරණය ඉටු කරන තුරු. අපි ඇයට එසේ ඉන්නට ඉඩ හරිමු ද? නැත්නම් ඇය වෙනුවෙන්…

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  • 27 Jul, 2007
  • 2 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Media and Communications

An inconvenient history: A reply to Victory Ivan’s viewpoints on criminal defamation

වික්ටර් අයිවන්ට පිළිතුරක් : තවත් බොහෝ දේ තිබේ උවිඳු කුරුකුලසූරිය “සාපරාධී අපහාස නීතියට එරෙහිව මෙන්ම ජනමාධ්‍ය නිදහස වෙනුවෙන්ද වික්ටර් අයිවන් විශාල වැඩ කොටසක් කර ඇති බව අවිවාදිතය. එහෙත් ඒ සියල්ල තමන් තනිවම කළ ඒවා ලෙස සැලකීම හොඳ නැත. අනෙක් අතට පසුගිය වසර වන තෙක් වික්ටර් අයිවන් නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරයේ ලේකම්, කැඳවුම්කරු, උපලේකම් ආදී විවිධ තනතුරු දරා ඇත. එමෙන්ම කර්තෘ සංසදයේද සාමාජිකයෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කර ඇත. ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා පුවත්පත් ආයතනයේ අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කර ඇත. මාධ්‍ය සංවිධාන යමක් නොකළා යැයි කියමන සත්‍යයක් නම් එයට ඔහුද වගකිව යුතුය.” My article is a response to Victor Ivan’s recent spate of letters in Ravaya on criminal defamation in Sri Lanka. I suggest to the reader that Mr. Ivan’s submission that he was the sole voice of dissent and protest against criminal defamation charges against media personnel to be untrue. From memory, I list out the many ways in which indvidual journalists, including myself, the Free Media Movement, other journalist organisations and civil society organisations…

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Let’s stop corruption in Sri Lanka!

A litany of socio-political problems we face today can directly or indirectly be traced back to the existence and growth of corruption. Bordering on criminality, exacerbating extreme poverty, stifling economic development and ultimately frustrating democracy and good governance, corruption – from bribery and extortion to fraud and nepotism – is a wretched phenomenon that progressively wastes Sri Lanka’s social, economic and political potential. Addressing it requires a holistic approach that looks at the interdependence of the Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, public institutions, private interests and civil society initiatives. This video, part of a larger media campaign conducted by the Anti-Corruption Programme of ARD has details of a national anti-corruption public exposition from 27th to 29th July 2007 that may prove to be a useful foundation in building public awareness on and against corruption. What are your ideas to help combat corruption in Sri Lanka? Repost This Article

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Song of the Sleepless River: Music, racism and resistence

In the past two months Hugh Masekela and Afroreggae have given sold-out concerts in the Barbican. But this note is not about jazz or reggae; it traces some reverberations and reflections these events evoked. Hugh Masekela, the famous trumpet player, used his music as a channel of contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. He was a significant figure in the group of exiles who brought the evils of apartheid to world-wide attention. His rhythms, derived from South African traditions and integrated into jazz, were a soundtrack for the decades of resistance and rebellion that finally brought freedom to South Africa. Now 68, his passion and commitment have not declined and that spirit continues to resound powerfully through his presence and his music. Hugh Masekela with Paul Simon Afroreggae, the favela-based Brazilian project, has trained young people from impoverished and violent communities using percussion, dance and song, bringing the energy and creativity of these abandoned youths to new options…

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Groundviews YouTube video channel

All videos posted on Groundviews (and hosted on Youtube) can now be found at Video Stories. We will add new content to the Groundviews channel regularly from videos uploaded by other content providers as well as those created specifically for Groundviews. Stay tuned! Repost This Article

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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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