Archive for the ‘Peace and Conflict’

Why do Sri Lankan ‘patriots’ love Social Polarisation?

ALeqM5hAsbptnPPlV4qYQxTKia02jcu6aA

Photo by AFP, via Sri Lanka Brief Since the end of war in 2009, Sri Lanka has become a country full of zealots and patriots singing the song of country first, religion first and race first. Imponderably, the result that reaped due to this zealotry and patriotism is a fragmenting country along religious and racial lines, religions being hijacked by extremists and rising racial discriminations destabilising a once homogenous nation built on centuries of religious, ethnic & social harmony and pluralism. Sri Lankan society is homogenous though religious and ethnic diversities are present. This is due to the centuries of cohabitation of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims contributed to by cross pollination of values and ethos that homogenised heterogeneous grouping as Sri Lankans. Ethnocentric identifications as prevalent now or identity as homogenous Sri Lankan were non-existent prior to the advent of the colonialists. In the pre-colonial Sri Lanka, identity did not matter for recognition but allegiances in the feudal setup…

Continue reading »

Stratfor and Sri Lanka: An initial study of ‘The Global Intelligence Files’

gifiles

Groundviews and Wikileaks Groundviews has in the past published two key article based on content obtained through Wikileaks. Wikileaks on Sri Lanka: A breakdown and implications was the first article on the unprecedented release of US diplomatic cables, and published just hours after the tranche was made available on the now well known, and much attacked website. Groundviews was told some time ago that the US Embassy in Colombo used this article as a key resource in going through the tranche of material on Wikileaks as it pertained to Sri Lanka. From draft to official text: Wikileaks reveals the US response to the end of war in Sri Lanka was a more specific piece, that looked at the drafting process of official statements in general by the US Government and in particular, a statement by the US State Department dealing with one of the most important events on Sri Lanka in 2009. This article was tweeted by the official Wikileaks…

Continue reading »

A brief note on Buddhism, Ethnicity, and Peace

chakra

A walk through the archeological and artistic ruins in the North central province is not complete without a stop by the Sandakada pahana (the moonstone) that gives an artistic depiction of the milestones one may go through while practicing the eightfold path. The outer ring of flames depict what we experience in the society – sense of insecurity, urge to become something else, paranoia, jealousy, hatred, etc., that are wrapped up in one word called suffering. The next ring of animals depicts the causes of these sufferings. The convoluted ring of vines below it illustrates the illusive and confused state of mind that underpins the first two layers. The next layer of swans represents a state of wisdom in the mind that allows one to separate the good from the bad. The next layer of orderly vines illustrates the state of mind in harmony with the world-giving rise to a sense of comfort. The final lotus refers to the ultimate…

Continue reading »

A former Ambassador speaks out: Interview with Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

Screen Shot 2013-02-15 at 10.27.22 PM

In his first interview for public television in Sri Lanka upon his return to the country after his stint as Ambassador to France and UNESCO in Paris, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka talked about a number of issues related to governance, foreign policy, devolution, the growing Islamophobia in the country, his work with youth and the critique that he is “a skilful, eloquent, erudite proponent… of the status quo”. We begin by exploring why he submits, in a recent article to the media, that Sri Lanka suffers from a ‘garrison State delusion‘. He notes that once the war was won, the administration’s stripes – both neo-conservative and ethno-populist – has led to a model of over-securitisation and quasi-occupation. Given what Dr. Jayatilleka sees as a catastrophic failure of foreign and strategic policy in Sri Lanka, he then looks at where the country could head into over 2013 and beyond, given failing, strained relationships with India and the United States, a seriously flawed…

Continue reading »

Civil Society Organisations Condemn Anti Muslim Rhetoric and Attacks in Sri Lanka

Screen Shot 2013-02-15 at 4.35.23 PM

Image taken from Protect the Buddhism – බුදු දහම ආරක්ෂාකරමු Facebook group. In recent months there has been an increased outpouring of virulent anti-Muslim sentiment by persons claiming to speak for all Sinhala Buddhists. Organized groups led by Buddhist monks have held public meetings, distributed pamphlets, and made press statements. Articles in mainstream Sinhala and English newspapers have propagated ethnic and religious hatred. In addition, there have been hate campaigns via SMS, email, and face book. The consequences of this rhetoric were most apparent in the Dambulla Mosque incident where a group led by a Buddhist Monk threatened the mosque with destructionon the 20th of April 2012. More recently there have been attacks against Muslim businesses. On 24th January this year, for instance, a “demonstration” in Kuliyapitiya was orchestrated; it seems, for the sole purpose of insulting and inciting a reaction from Muslims. The attacks on Muslims have been directed at everything: the certificationof food products as halal; the practice of hijab,…

Continue reading »

Feminism bottom-up: Women’s Support Networks in the North and East

Before, during and after the three decade long conflict, women have played a major role in supporting their families, community support systems, and the economy. This video highlights the stories of women groups that set up successful support networks in the north before the war, through which they addressed various community and livelihood issues, as well as violence against women. During the war these networks disbanded, and many women lost network members and vital assets. In a post-war context, these women are going back to their villages and are starting from scratch again. As these women share their experiences pre, during and post war it also creates a discussion around what feminism really is?  The video reflects on successful grassroots activism and challenges the popular notion of feminism being western and top to bottom or elite.  It also highlights the obstacles these activists face due to various social norms and oppressive structures. Repost This Article

Continue reading »

“Building the base”: An interview with Sunila Abeysekara about post-war Sri Lanka

DSC04978

Sunila, how do you look at Sri Lanka today?  There are different interpretations ranging from a constitutional dictatorship to clan- run ‘deep state’? And you have decades of human rights activism behind you; you have been to the Geneva Human Rights council for nearly a decade to campaign for rights in Sri Lanka, but today Geneva has become the “f word” in dominant political discourse in Sri Lanka? Why?  Indeed it is true to say that President Rajapaksa, his brothers and son and nephews, whatever you know, they constitute a block, a family block that actually controls the political and economic future of our country at this moment. So definitely it is not a democracy. Definitely what has happened in the past months have shown us that there is no rule of law and the constituent features of any democracy; the independence of judiciary, the freedom of the press, all these, do not exist in Sri Lanka. So, at least…

Continue reading »

A simple experiment to highlight ingrained racism in Sri Lanka

Screen Shot 2013-02-14 at 3.35.58 PM

When Etisalat dreams of a Sri Lanka where everyone is connected, it’s clearly thinking only of the Sinhalese. Why else would the company’s website feature, so prominently, a Lion to depict ‘everyone’ in Sri Lanka? In popular media, corporate marketing and government output, there are numerous other examples of a racism so deeply internalised and ingrained in Sri Lanka that even when flagged, it is dismissed as unimportant or at best, of marginal and passing interest. As we tweeted, @30streetstudio @etisalatsl It’s this that’s most worrying about #srilanka – ingrained racism, so normalised it is, to most, invisible. #lka — Groundviews (@groundviews) February 13, 2013   Another particularly revealing example from Government recently came in the form of the Police spokesperson’s comments over an ill-thought out and executed census of vehicular traffic coming into Colombo. As reported in Ceylon Today, the forms handed out to motorists in light vehicles were only in Sinhala, raising the ire of the Government’s own…

Continue reading »

ANTI-MUSLIM EXTREMISM & DILEMMAS OF DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKA

Dilemmas of diversity, postwar identity and nation building (14)

Opening presentation at 2nd in Discussion series on Constitutional Reform organized by The Liberal Party) Having come out of the war, a war which I for one am glad the Sri Lankan State won, Sri Lanka as a State and a society had one of several directions in which it could go. Whilst being happy that the war ended with a certain outcome, we could have asked ourselves why we had the war in the first place. Why thirty years of conflict? What needs to be done to prevent such conflict? To the extent that that question had been asked, it seems to me that the answer –and I do not mean only within the Government but outside in civil society as well– has been that the way to prevent another cycle of conflict is to tighten up, to pre-empt, and to securitize. I am Realist enough to admit that, that in certain areas it is necessary to be more…

Continue reading »

The Sri Lankan President’s Twitter archive and Propaganda 2.0: New challenges for online dissent

Screen Shot 2013-02-12 at 3.47.40 PM

The President enters Twitter Last month, the President of Sri Lanka began tweeting officially as @PresRajapaksa. The account is already authenticated by Twitter. Though @PresRajapaksa’s profile notes that “tweets from the President are signed MR.” there is, to date, not a single tweet penned by the President himself. The launch of the account was instructive in how the regime is perceived online by voices not usually openly vocal about mainstream politics. Under the hashtag #PresidentTweets, dozens of voices on Twitter openly poked fun at the President’s entry to Twitter. The tweets, only a fraction of which are captured below, poked fun at the President’s closest political associates, his role in the impeachment of the Chief Justice, his violent, autocratic tendencies and the Rajapaksa family’s nepotism. An inauspicious start then to what objectively is a welcome development – the entry of the President to a medium that is now used by so many leading political figures around the world. For those…

Continue reading »

Sri Lanka’s National Plan of Action vis-à-vis Reconciliation

5379918361_e5466a5c26_z

Image courtesy Centre for Human Rights “Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action” – Malcolm Fraser Once again Sri Lanka is in the thralls of yet another ethnic conundrum.  It would seem that Sri Lankans like to live dangerously, in the midst of controversy, conflict and violence.  Why else will we on the eve of the Human Rights Commission sessions coming up in March 2013 impeach our chief justice raising issues of the independence of the judiciary followed much too soon by sundry chauvinist organizations such as the Bodhi Bala Sena, Hela Sinhala Hiru mushrooming and being dialogued with at the highest political levels.  Even more disturbing is the police inaction in the face of communal agitation lending credence to theories of compliance at high political levels.  It is a tragedy that many of these organizations with offensive and objectionable agendas that create ethnic and…

Continue reading »

Interview with Alistair Burt on Sri Lanka

4606004237_1ca8b4987d_b

The BBC’s Charles Haviland interviewed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Minister Alistair Burt on 1st February 2013, during an official visit to Sri Lanka which saw the Minister meet with a range of stakeholders including the government, TNA and civil society as well as travel to the North of the country. Groundviews recently participated in and archived a Twitter interview with Minister Burt on Sri Lanka, conducted after he returned to the UK. The interview with Charles Haviland is vital record of the Minister’s thoughts on Sri Lanka, including comments, in his official capacity, on the government’s human rights record, progress of reconciliation post-war, the prospects of a political settlement and concerns over the independence of the judiciary and arising from this, the question of whether Sri Lanka is suitable as a venue for the CHOGM meeting. Since the interview has not been published anywhere else to date, including on the BBC, Groundviews is pleased, with…

Continue reading »

Mixed Messages and Bland Oversimplification in President Rajapaksa’s Independence Day Speech

37-Chicago_Maaveerar_Naal_USA1_21081_435

In a significant act of outreach the Independence Day ceremonies were held in Trincomalee, a provincial city with a pronounced ethnic mix; while President Rajapaksa presented one part of his message in Tamil, repeating what he had said earlier (in English?) and then reiterating the same points in Sinhala. In keeping with the occasion and location, he referred to the Dutch and British interests in Trincomalee during the imperialist past as a prelude to his argument that Sri Lankans “have had to face continued challenges to protect the freedom and independence of our motherland.” In line with this emphasis, he also reminded the UN and the West of the obligations within the UN Charter which enjoin member nations to refrain from “interven[ing] in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.” It is the latter emphasis which has attracted local newspaper headlines. However, to my mind what was more significant and heart-warming was his criticism of religious…

Continue reading »

Memes and the Art of Majority Placation in Sri Lanka

Meme

The thing about Social Media is that it gives people a shot at engineering their identities without much effort. A simple ‘like’ or ‘share’ of a particular picture can easily give the impression of an aware and concerned citizen, and so the proliferation of such images in such a politically-charged climate is not surprising. This picture, posted on the Sri Lankan Memes Facebook Page, is a fascinating example of minority damage control. Given the anti-Muslim sentiment simmering around the country right now, this picture ostensibly has one aim; the appeasement and placation of the moderate Sinhalese majority. Consider first the choice of platform – Sri Lankan Memes, the place where the Colombo elite (for the most part) choose to humorously highlight the passions, characteristics and quirks that make us ‘Sri Lankan’, while bashing the Indian Cricket Team (apparently another important part of our identity). Posting this picture here is an attempt to remind people that Muslims are Sri Lankan too….

Continue reading »

Alistair Burt: Archive of Twitter interview on Sri Lanka

4606004237_1ca8b4987d_b

Photo credit FCO [Editors note: Also listen to Interview with Alistair Burt on Sri Lanka] On 5th February 2013, UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt hosted a live interview session via Twitter. Alistair Burt is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs. At the time of the interview, the Minister had recently returned from an official visit to Sri Lanka. Twitter interviews are not new. The first international diplomat to do so on Sri Lanka was US Assistant Secretary of State and former Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake, in April 2012. Sadly, save for Groundviews, no one else from Sri Lanka or interested in Sri Lanka posed questions to him. The second Twitter interview of importance was with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Baroness Valerie Amos in December 2012. Though not specifically anchored to Sri Lanka, the interview was an unmitigated disaster for OCHA, with vital questions around the UN’s possible complicity in…

Continue reading »
Page 5 of 114« First...34567...102030...Last »

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!"

cezarneaga.eu