CIRCLES OF VIOLENCE : A Return to Sri Lanka is film that about which Sam got in first got in touch with me around two years ago.
He filmed 3 - 4 times in the intervening years and I got to see the final product last night at Barefoot, along with around 150 - 200 others who were present at the screening. Perhaps more than the film, a preview of which I had seen earlier, I was interested to listen to those in the audience discuss Sri Lanka’s conflictual social, economic, political terrains through their own experience. Some, who had returned to Sri Lanka like Sam after spending many years abroad, others who had lived through it all, and many …

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Bad news is good news: The notion that disaster and despair are more newsworthy than peace and harmony is widely known. Countries like Columbia, Israel, Northern Ireland and the Philippines have had their fair share of disaster and despair, but this is not what the Peace Counts project is focusing on. The photographic exhibition arrived in Colombo last week for the beginning of an international tour. Peace Counts portrays the work of people from all over the world who have successfully promoted peaceful co-existence in their community, often in unusual and creative ways. One of the images tells the story of how deadly gang warfare in Cape Town prisons has been drastically reduced as a result of a project encouraging …

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- More Information Added Feb 28 -
Two students are missing in Vadamaradchi. P.Yaseetharan and K.Sivaruban, who are Uduppidy American Mission students, are missing since Sunday afternoon. Their parents have made a complaint at the Human Rights Commission Jaffna branch. Both of them went to private tuition by motorbike and so far they didn’t come back to their homes, their parents said.
The information available is that 584 persons went missing in Jaffna last year. 158 persons under the security forces custody. There is no information about the other 416 persons. So far 62 people have surrendered at the Human Rights Commission Jaffna branch due to death threats.
Another example is Subramaniam Ramachandran the Thinakkural and Valampuri newspaper Correspondent in Vadamaradchi who …

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Photo credit: Christian Northeast

Chatroom, directed by Tracy Holsinger and produced by Mind Adventures Theatre Company, was a refreshing departure from banal productions that usually feature in Colombo. Dealing with suicide and online communication, the script by Enda Walsh, an Irish playwright, explores the understanding of and responses to depression, suicide and ultimately, human relationships of six teenagers brought together in Internet chat rooms.

The deplorable and never to be repeated, I hope, projection of commercial advertisements before the commencement of the play aside, Chatroom was, as is to be expected from Tracy Holsinger, engaging theatre and personally, a deeply fulfilling return to her directorial style after 3 Star K at the Wendt …

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The statement of the LTTE marking the unhappy 5th Anniversary of the CFA is a remarkable document. Admittedly, one has to get used to the slightly disconcerting effect of talon, tush and claw of the snarling Cholan tiger that leaps at you through a ring of bullets and rood of bayonets from the top of every page. But as necessarily a partisan account, it is rather a well-stated case.

It seeks to give a comprehensive account of events of the past six years or so; engages international humanitarian law in its critique of the conduct of the government and the international community; reiterates central principles of process such as parity of status, balance of power, and international guarantees (and also, by …

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One of the warnings sounded by ex-minister Samaraweera was about the certainty of the international isolation of Sri Lanka if President Rajapaksa did not move to address the culture of impunity and the deterioration of human rights protection in Sri Lanka.  This too has the hallmarks of the Premadasa regime when populist authoritarianism was laced with nationalist bombast and insecure xenophobia.  The war against terrorism today will mark us out as a country with an abysmally poor human rights record as did the counter terror of that time.  The question though is at what cost and with what consequence in the world today.

There is still a human rights resolution sponsored by the European Union pending at the Human Rights Council …

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-நாரதர்-

கடந்த ஒரு தசாப்தகாலத்திற்கு முற்பகுதியில் இலங்கையின் உள்நாட்டுப்போர் தீவிரமாக இருந்தபோது விடுதலைப்புலிகளுக்கு எதிராகவோ இராணுவத்திற்கு எதிராகவோ (அரசாங்கத்திற்கு) வாய்திறந்து தமது உண்மையான விமர்சனங்களையும் நடுநிலைமையான கருத்துக்களையும் தெரிவிக்கமுடியாமல் தினறின அப்போதைய ஊடகங்கள்.விசேடமாக தமிழ்.

ஆனால் நவீன ஊடகங்களின் வருகையினால் இந்நிலைமை தகர்த்தெறியப்பட்டுள்ளது.உதாரணமாக விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் செயற்பாடுகளை முன்பு விமர்சிக்கமுடியாததொரு சூழ்நிலையே காணப்பட்டது.அவ்வாறு செயற்பட்டால், ஊடகங்களின் வாய்கள் துப்பாக்கி முனையில் நிறுத்தப்பட்டு அவை வரலாற்று சான்றுகளாகியுள்ளன.

இருந்த தமிழ் ஊடகங்களும் பெரும்பாலும் விடுதலைப்புலிகளுக்கு சார்பாகவே செயற்பட்டும் வந்துள்ளன.

இணையத்தளங்கள், இணையத்தள வானொளிகள் மற்றும் இணையத்தள தொலைக்காட்சிகளின் வருகைகளினால்; ஒரு பக்க கருத்துக்கள் மாத்திரம் வெளியாகுவதனை தவிர இவற்றில் பலரது கருத்துக்களும் ஒலிக்கத் தொடங்கின.

அவற்றில் ஒரு விளைவாகவே விடுதலைப்புலிகள் அமைப்பிலிருந்து விலகிச் சென்ற கருணாவிற்கு சார்பாக மட்டும் இன்று 14 இணையத்தளங்கள் கருத்துக்களை பிரசுரித்து வருகின்றன. இது ஒரு உதாரணம் மட்டுமே.

உண்மையில் சைபரின் வருகையினால் ஏற்பட்ட விளைவுகள் தான் இவை.(நவீன ஊடகங்கள்).(இவை நன்மைக்கும் உபயோகப்படும் தீமைக்கும் உபயோகப்படும்)

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For the past three decades, journalism in Sri Lanka has been dominated by men, and as a career it has generally been discouraged amongst women. Things are changing and female journalists are now employed in nearly all newsrooms in print, broadcasting, as well as electronic and online media. Furthermore, the issues covered go far beyond food and fashion: Women are now taking an increasingly active role where issues such as education, conflict and human rights are concerned.

However, the number of female journalists in high ranking, decision making posts is still alarmingly low. According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), even though women make up 40 per cent of Sri Lanka’s working journalists, they only make up 3 to 5 …

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An article in Sinhala that examines the fate of Mangala Samaraweera - how he got where he is and the (significant) challenges facing him in the future.

Download and read the full article here.