Monthly Archives: August 2013

Sinhala colonization in Mannar and large scale militarization of civil administration

REPORTS FROM THE GROUND

Some staff members of the Sri
Lanka Telecommunications had told Women’s networks working in Mannar that many i thier offices and especially those from the deep South have been offered relocation option with housing, relocation allowance and government job opportunities in the north.
Attached in this article is a letter sent by the new […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on August 22, 2013 at 2:38 am

UN must investigate the TGTE and its call to create an Independent State of Tamil Eelam

Let the memory of these dark days of Black July instill in us the conviction that the one and only means by which Tamils can reach a life of safety and dignity would be the creation of an independent State of Tamil Eelam. With that same conviction, let us rededicate ourselves on this day to […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on August 22, 2013 at 2:01 am

Grandpass, and the tolerance of religious intolerance

At a recent press briefing the new Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya reportedly warned of attempts by the Tamil diaspora to tarnish the country’s image ahead of several important events — the impending visit of Human Rights chief Navi Pillay, the upcoming Northern PC elections, the UNHRC session and CHOGM.
In view of recent […]

By | Published on August 22, 2013 at 1:50 am

Rethinking Patriotism; Re-imaging the Patriot

In honour of ‘Shanie’ (Lankanesan Nesiah)
“There can be no patriotism without justice… As soon as the right of one individual is violated, the right of everyone is jeopardised”.
– Georges Clemenceau
In the morning of January 13th 1948, Mahatma Gandhi began the final fast of his life.
The target of Gandhi’s last fast was not the Colonial rulers […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on August 22, 2013 at 1:45 am

Opposition unity and the return of the uncle nephew party: Can Mangala work his magic of building alliances that matter for the beleaguered Ranil as he did for Mahinda

The assessment of the UNP
The jury is no longer out on the UNP-led protest rally in Colombo last week and what it revealed about the state of
that party. The Sunday Times (Colombo), the newspaper least sympathetic to the government, most hostile to the UNP’s dissidents and the most charitable to the existing opposition leadership carried […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on August 22, 2013 at 1:38 am

Internal change is the best and maybe only hope

“The government’s strength as a political force is that it has within itself all shades of political opinion from within the ethnic majority Sinhalese community. It is dominated by leaders who hold to nationalist positions, but it also has the religious extremists, liberals and leftists within its ranks. The government has also been able to […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on August 22, 2013 at 1:17 am

CPA on new laws seeking action against publications that ‘defame the original teachings and traditions of the major religions’

21 August 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned by reports that the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs is to introduce new laws seeking action against
publications that ‘defame the original teachings and traditions of the major religions’. These reports state that as a first step, a draft […]

By Centre for Policy Alternatives | Published on August 22, 2013 at 1:04 am

Burqas and empire, again

The lead up to the Afghan war in post-9/11 used the rhetoric of “women’s rights” to mobilise the American public. We were supposed to save their women from the Taliban and their “backward ways”. Laura Bush used the language of women’s rights to wrap the bombs of war with supposed democratic purpose. But not then, […]

By ZIllah Eisenstein | Published on August 22, 2013 at 12:55 am

Reflections of Buddhist intellect: A light in dark times

nguished Sri Lankan, Dr Thakshan Fernando, died last Thursday in New Zealand at the age of 81. A Muslim place of worship was attacked on the day after Eid, in Grandpass, Colombo, on Saturday. What is the connection?
Dr. Thakshan Fernando
The distinguished Sri Lankan in question, a former student of Ananda College and a Buddhist of […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on August 22, 2013 at 12:28 am

From Weliweriya and the marauding army to Grandpass and the saffron robed thugs

“A five-month old baby-girl had been raped, in our Sri Lanka – a horror symbolic and symbiotic of the moral-ethical malaise affecting our society. That is a non-political issue, one which should concern all of us, irrespective of every difference. The fact that it has not engaged the attention of political and civil society and […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on August 22, 2013 at 12:08 am