Archive for the ‘Peace and Conflict’

Addressing Greg Sheridan’s Review of the Tamil Lobby and Australia

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Greg Sheridan’s articles on the Tamil lobby in Australia and the workings of the Australian state are something of a breakthrough because the media coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict has been chequered and influenced by the naïve perspectives driven by the liberal ideologies which dominate some sectors of the fourth estate. Sheridan, in contrast, is on the conservative far right, so readers must attend to this circumstance when evaluating his reportage.[i] However, this orientation and his senior position as Foreign Policy Editor for The Australian render his intervention significant. There are two areas addressed by his article, “Criticism of Sri Lanka ignores Tiger threat.” One relates to his clarification of the reasons why the Howard government did not follow other Western countries in proscribing the LTTE in 2005. In sum, his amplification is quite revelatory. But one governmental consideration is astonishing: “the bureaucracy was hesitant about designating the Tigers as a terrorist organisation because it might lead to retaliation…

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Post-war situation in Northern Sri Lanka & Prospects for Reconciliation

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Changes since the end of the war: 30 months after the end of war, more people travel between the once off limits North[i] and the South and many of the travel restrictions have been eased. The dreaded Medawachiya checkpoint is no more, and since 2010, we have not taken a flight or ship to Jaffna, travelling by road instead. Displaced people who were detained for about 6 months have now been allowed freedom of movement and many have been allowed to go back to their places of origin. Many youth detained in “rehabilitation” centres have been released and allowed to go back to their families and communities. Death certificates have been issued to few of the people killed during the war. Few schools, hospitals, and some main roads and bridges have been built and glamorous ceremonies held to open these by government and military officials. Three major elections have also been held in the North. But much remains to be…

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  • 16 Nov, 2011
  • 10 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Photos,
    Post-War

Equilibrhythm: How home-grown music is giving Colombo some much needed harmony

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Our serendipitous isle is blessed with the gift of rhythm and a rare few who understand it so infinitely that they create music that transcends simplistic notions like preference and prejudice. This is an eye-witness report of sorts, of what young, home-grown talent is doing for a nation and its development. Sri Lankan originality has begun to thrive at unexpected levels in recent years and our media is laced with names and faces of many more artistic pioneers than the handful we used to have along the lines of Martin Wickremesinghe or Geoffry Bawa. Home grown talent has become a buzz phrase with talented groups and individuals wanting to push the boundaries of their art or skill. It’s no wonder that this wave of change found its way into, or was possibly manifested by, the local music scene itself. The crux of this story happens in Colombo, where entertainment and night life have spilled over their habits to other parts…

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Importance of psychosocial interventions in post conflict Sri Lanka

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Network | Home (20111115)

Editors note: The issues addressed in this article, plus psyhco-social and mental health related topics are covered in more detail on the MHPSS Network is a growing global platform for connecting people, networks and organisations, for sharing resources and for building knowledge related to mental health and psychosocial support both in emergency settings and in situations of adversity. The network aspires to build and shape good practice in support of people affected by difficult events or circumstances. ### The war ended in May 2009 saw over 280,000 people being displaced for about one to two years largely in IDP camps before returning to their original villages in north and east of Sri Lanka. The returning process is not yet fully completed as pockets of IDPs still lingering in smaller IDP camps due to issues such as their lands being allotted for high security zones, and slow de-mining process, among other things. Before May 2009, over half a million people had been…

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The Story of a Drunken Tamil Man’s Diary

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Assume, like me, you are one of those expatriate Sri Lankans, living far away from home, often feeling the remorse of a guilty thief. You took a lot from there, particularly in the form of free education, but never gave anything back. Say your daily rituals include reading infolanka.com, kottu.org, uthayan.com, groundviews.org etc., and getting depressed by the barrage of unfortunate happenings back home: amendments to the constitution, deaths in police custody, legislation rushed through, beating up of the student union leader and murder of the politician. Worry no further! The Sri Lankan Tamil fellow, Sivapuranam Thevaram, of whom I have told you much in these pages, has a cure for such depression. Bookmark these pages: (a) “My Own Obituary” by Lasantha Wickrematunge; (b) “The Captain’s Speech” by Kumar Sangakkara; and (c) “…they are all calling and asking who is Lionel, and where he went” line in the Pusswedilla satire, and visit them daily. The therapeutic power in these masterpieces mitigates any…

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Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka

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Norwegian Development Minister Eric Solheim with Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva. Image courtesy Colombo Telegraph Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka have been the subject of heated debate and controversy, ever since they became public in December 1999. This debate has spawned many different stories about Norway’s involvement in Sri Lanka, some of them very critical. The evaluation entitled “Pawns of Peace”, which is presented in Oslo today, attempts to provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of Norway’s role as a mediator, as well as a ceasefire monitor and aid donor, from 1997 and 2009. Based on a combination of interviews with key protagonists and archival research at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our report provides a detailed narrative of the rise and fall of the peace process and it draws conclusions and lessons about Norway’s involvement. The report criticizes several aspects of this involvement, but it also underscores that the tragic story of Sri Lanka’s peace process and the…

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Ari of Sarvodaya: Conscience of a Bruised Nation

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Photo courtesy Sarvodaya Media Unit When Dr A T Ariyaratne, founder and president of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, turned 80 years on 5 November 2011, felicitations poured in from all over the world. This spontaneous act was an indication — if any were needed — of how much and how widely he has touched the lives of millions. For someone with global stature, Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne is completely devoid of pomposity. In a career spanning six decades, he has received some three dozen awards and honours — including the ‘Asian Nobel’ Magsaysay Award (Community Leadership, 1969), honorary degrees and doctorates, and the highest national honour from his own country, SriLankabhimanya (Pride of Sri Lanka). But he remains a simple and amiable man. He is still ‘AT’ to contemporaries, ‘Ari’ to us fellow travellers, and ‘Loku Sir’ (Master) to all at Sarvodaya – the largest development organisation in Sri Lanka. The apolitical people’s movement has a presence in…

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Women Left Behind: Truth Commissioning in Sri Lanka

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A mother displaying the photographs of his sons which are missing during the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) session in Trincomalee, December, 3-5, 2010. Photo courtesy Centre for Human Rights The power and promise of national exercises like the LLRC lie in the way that they can access the voices of those who have not traditionally been heard, and use them to build a more representative and inclusive collective memory. Yet for Sri Lanka’s Tamil women, the LLRC simply reaffirms bad old habits, writes Jo Baker [i] In the lead up to the release of the report by Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), strong concerns have been publicly raised about the value of a process that aims to build a clear picture of the conflict, without fully including or representing those who were most directly affected. This has led to important questions regarding who has been heard, how their concerns have been addressed, and whether they will…

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A Fisherman Testifies

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I learned from Sri Lanka to go overboard, to flounder in the deep ocean while Navy sailors beat me with sticks, and cut my nets, and round me up as the country’s diplomats meet my Indian representatives with elaborate denials of mistreatment on the high and most domestic seas. I want to feed my wife and children, return to Tamil Nadu with my catch. I have not been re-schooled as a farmer or an errand boy. Will the United Nations take up my case? The International Criminal Court? My Chief Minister protests and protests but the Center is deaf and keeps speaking with the devil. How can we calm his temperature, cool the beast, teach the tyrant that he cannot stifle Tamils beyond the nautical limits of the Sri Lankan island?

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  • 8 Nov, 2011
  • 21 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

Web censorship in Sri Lanka: Documenting a growing trend

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Over the weekend, a press release issued by the Director General of the Department of Government Information noted that all ‘websites carrying any content relating to Sri Lanka or the people of Sri Lanka… uploaded from Sri Lanka or elsewhere’ to ‘register’ for ‘accreditation’. Several websites Websites including www.lankanewsweb.com, www.srilankamirror.com, www.srilankaguardian.org and www.lankawaynews.com were blocked on the day the press release was issued. Web censorship has grown apace since 2007, when the pro-LTTE Tamilnet.com was first blocked, without any court order. The following Bundlr collection flags some key incidents and concerns regarding the growing censorship of online expression and content. It is also a record of how supine Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are in Sri Lanka when complying with arbitrary orders issued by the government for the blocking of websites. We will continue to curate this bundle with new developments.

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State Capitalism: Revitalising under performing businesses the Mussolini way

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The factory of Sevanagala Sugar Industries Limited. Government supporters have stormed and occupied the factory earmarked for nationalisation under a controversial law. PHOTO/ THE ISLAND via Haveeru Online The media these few days, especially the English media, provides unusually high anti government coverage to the government’s latest move to push through a bill, classified as urgent. Titled “Revival of the Under performing and Under utilised Assets Bill”. This bill sent many stories spinning round Colombo circles. More politically savvy circles talked about pressure on the government from permit holders for spirits and the politicians who control those permits. Eau de Cologne is not the issue, eau de Kelaniya is what matters, the spin caught fast and over 35% of the countries consuming alcohol is outside official production it said. There was also talk of political vengeance, but then why Harry, asked the same confused talk. Meanwhile the bill came under the scanner of the business community. Usually competing and undercutting…

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Destroying monuments for those killed & disappeared: The Catholic Church and the Sri Lankan Government

H.M Ranjith

On the evening of 26th October 2011, Fr. Srilal Manoj Perera (appointed by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to be in charge of land issues for Archdiocese of Colombo), Fr. Prasad Perera, Parish Priest of St. Cecelia’s Church, Raddoluwa (in the Colombo Archdiocese), members of the Parish Council and a lawyer representing them, took the  unprecedented step of requesting that the Police destroy a nationally and internationally recognized monument for disappeared persons situated in the Raddolugama-Seeduwa junction in the Gampaha district in Sri Lanka. This was on the eve of the 21st annual commemoration for disappeared persons held annuallyon the 27th of October at the site of the monument, with the participation of families of disappeared persons, religious leaders, political leaders, human rights activists and concerned citizens. This request to destroy the monument was preceded by several attempts by Fr. Prasad and the Parish Council to disrupt and discourage the use of the monument and the commemoration. These attempts included the construction…

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Facades of Development: Of Commonwealth Games and Drag Racing at Green Path

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We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of screeching tires, booming exhausts and the smell of burning rubber recently. My cousin’s children had nightmares and could not get back to sleep when the test runs were done. Calls to police emergency numbers were ignored: there seemed to be official patronage for speedsters and noise polluters – including of course the daily Presidential convoys in the area. Residents of Green Path and its environs, one of Colombo’s posh residential neighbourhoods, are worried about the latest sports extravaganza planned by the ever entrepreneurial Rajapaksa Bros Inc. Earlier this year they ran a weekend “Hawkers Street” there with loudspeakers blaring till the wee hours, but that was not a commercial success, so drag races are planned to bring in the crowds in November. Drag racing, however, can drive local communities up the wall, and there have been several fatal accidents recently in high profile races. Why inconvenience and…

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Peace, Military and People: Are non-military engagements of the military valid?

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Sri Lankan Army selling vegetables. Photo: Ministry of Defence – Sri Lanka War or internal armed conflict in the North and East was over; Emergency is no more; but still the military is everywhere. The military is now engaged in peacetime police-work, whale watching, selling vegetables, agriculture,  cleaning, constructions and many other non-military activities. Yet why isn’t there sufficient public debate on this? In this article I endeavor to briefly analyze some of the issues that need attention in the public interest. Engaging the military for non-military duties is regulated under the law. For example s.23 of the Army Act authorizes the President to order all or any of the member of the Regular Forces to perform certain non-military duties, provided the President is satisfied that there is an immediate threat of action to deprive the people of Sri Lanka of essentials of life by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel or light or with means of…

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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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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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