Comments on: Sri Lanka is in fact a Gulag Island: A response to Dayan Jayatilaka and the mentality of the phantom limb https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb Journalism for Citizens Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:16:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 By: smoulderingjin https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9554 Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:16:27 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9554 Also let me add to President Bean’s book recommendation – George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. Amazing prophetic bits of writing – “1984” and “Animal Farm”.

They bring the realisation that history does the rounds through time and space! And that some fundamental aspects of humanlife and nature do not change. Especially the obsession with power, the lulling of conscience, the construction of state machinery, the destruction of communities, the betrayal of trust, the twisting of words…

He could almost have written these for our times!

]]> By: aadhavan https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9550 Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:40:37 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9550 I’m not surprised at the whole Stalin-supporter thing. Dayan, who claims to be a proponent of equal treatment of people of all ethnic groups, has employed classic racist rhetoric from time to time as well. This quote for instance, from a piece he contributed to GV not a long time ago, referring to the Sinhalese

“Though it (Sri Lanka) does not belong only to us, it is the only place that really belongs to us and in the final analysis, the only place we really belong to. It is not only ours, but it is ours. We must protect it and ourselves, for no one else will.”

The duplicity is stunning. He really does believe that the Sinhalese bear the sole burden of protecting the country, because, in his words “no one else” (i.e- Tamils, Muslims and other ethnic minorities) will. If that’s not racist, someone tell me what is.

]]> By: smoulderingjin https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9548 Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:24:49 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9548 I cannot for the life of me understand *why* intelligent people who have the best of their nation at heart stoop to insults and snide remarks. The future of our country is at stake, and all people can do is throw mud at each other?

Disappointing…really.

]]> By: dhamalanka https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9546 Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:18:03 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9546 “the permanent self-exile Basil Fernando, with his bitter hatred of our country”

what a sad come back from Dayan. He cannot deal with the critic so he relies on personal attacks on the writer. Looks like he is still writing his CV …

]]> By: Basil Fernando https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9473 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:11:32 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9473 I have received the following comment from a reader which demonstrates that Dayan knows what Gulags are and is a defender of the Stalinist style repression:

Well done! Excellent response to Dayan. Thank you! Of course you know that Dayan, in his Leftist past, used to be proud ‘Stalinist’ and openly defended the Gulags. When he in Premadasa’s favour, he once wrote a centre page article in the Daily News all about why Stalin’s repression was fully justified.

]]> By: bottle https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9470 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:35:42 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9470 I don’t think it would serve Dayan’s purposes to actually tackle the issues in detail, Undergroundview. It’s far more politically advantageous to talk in broad generalities and be reactive; if he actually systematically addressed all the issues Basil is bringing up, instead of defaulting to being embarrassingly pompous and crassly patronising (lower than the lowest form of wit), he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

]]> By: undergroundview https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9463 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:04:53 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9463 Are any of the people quibbling about the term Gulag actually disputing that the underlying problems Basil Fernando highlights with society and the law really exist? Or disputing that they are a problem?

]]> By: President Bean https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9458 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:28:24 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9458 Would be quite grateful if Dayan and Indi could enlighten us on ‘State Terrorism.’
(…that is if there is such a thing in Sri Lanka.)

]]> By: President Bean https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9457 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:24:54 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9457 Dayan and Indi should also read George Orwells ‘1984.’

]]> By: Silap Adikaram https://groundviews.org/2009/09/28/sri-lanka-is-in-fact-a-gulag-island-a-response-to-dayan-jayatilaka-and-the-mentality-of-the-phantom-limb/#comment-9451 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:14:45 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/?p=1730#comment-9451 I am not sure if these lenghty ping-pong exchanges are leading anywhere. The cost at which ltte (and the jvp twice before that) was put down, the subsequent treatment of displaced people, the corruption in the system, the centralization of power in the hands of just a few (in one family) and the inability to implement even existing provisions of the constitution (13) in the interest of long term political stability should worry us all. Saying that does NOT make me a sympathiser of the ltte — I am not. LTTE was evil, we all know. But we have a right to demand higher standards of behaviour from our government. I fully share the view: “I am proud to be Sri Lankan, but there are things that are going wrong, and if not fixed will take us down a nasty path”

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