Nalaka Gunawardene is a science writer and media watcher. He writes a blog on media and society. This article is adapted and expanded from the author’s panel remarks made during the OUR Media 6 international conference held in Sydney, Australia, from 9 to 13 April 2007 and was first published on Media Helping Media.

On May 3, the annual World Press Freedom Day will once again be observed worldwide, focusing public attention on a multitude of threats to freedom of expression through the mass media.

But amidst the extremely relevant and necessary slogans, we are unlikely to hear this slogan: Hands off our spectrum. Yet saving our spectrum is critical for ensuring media freedom.

The electro-magnetic spectrum has been …

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A.Vaitheeswaran

In 1984 (remember George Orwell’s Animal Farm?), in an interview given to Anita Pratap of India Today (popular monthly news magazine published in New Delhi), Veluppillai Pirapakaran admitted that he was a flaming fan of Clint Eastwood and watches his films to get clues for daring guerilla attacks against political opponents and Sri Lankan security forces. Thus, Pirapakaran confessed that his role model was not M.G.Ramachandran (a popular film idol turned politician of Tamilnadu state in India), but Clint Eastwood (a heroic villain of Hollywood fame). In cinema M.G.Ramachandran portrayed himself as a do-gooder whereas Clint Eastwood portrayed himself as a violent heroic villain. Therefore, true to his confession, Pirapakaran, in real life, has emulated Clint Eastwood and always …

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The plight of the Sri Lankan tea plantation worker is a well known issue in the country, and even though the law now grants them with full citizenship rights, the real story is that these rights are very often not realised.

Plantation workers are mainly Tamils of Indian origin who were brought to the island in the late 19th century by the British. Being largely confined to the tea estates on which they earned their pitiful living, workers formed their own communities. Being so heavily dependent on the tea estate owners for most of their basic needs such as healthcare, housing and water access, these communities have almost always existed socially and economically isolated from the rest of the country. As …

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In this article I explore two issues. One, the murder of Don Bolles in America and the other, the recent virulent verbal attack by the Defense Secretary against Champika Liyanaarachchi, Editor of the Daily Mirror, on the 17th of April.

The first section is in essence a paean for investigative journalism that’s instructive for those in the media field in Sri Lanka. The second section explores some of the recent disturbing trends that colour media freedom in Sri Lanka, and increasingly, the lack thereof. I note that it’s two years since Sivaram was brutally killed, with no investigations active to bring the culprits to book. I end on a solemn note, lamenting the strangulation of free media …

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Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, and first published in the Hindustan Times.

The flipside of Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka

PK Balachandran
Kattankudy (Eastern Sri Lanka), April 24, 2007

Islamic fundamentalism in Kattankudy in the Eastern Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa, is multifaceted.

It has both regressive and progressive aspects, though to the naked eye of the fleeting visitor, only the former is visible.

Fundamentalism has united previously disparate entities while creating new barriers. It has infused intolerance of some types, but at the same time, liberated sections of society from the thraldom of traditional practices and ideas described as “outdated”, “un-Islamic” or “superstitious”.

Strange though it may seem to outsiders fed on Afghanistan’s medieval Talibani fundamentalism, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism …

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The infamous telephone call by the Defence Secretary to the Editor of the Daily Mirror and its fall out is most revealing of the times we live in and the regime we live under.  Whilst the defenders of the Defence Secretary’s actions contest the abusive and threatening nature of the call, they leave unanswered the question of as to why the call had to be made in the first instance.   Given the government /media relations in recent times, it is difficult to imagine how even a polite telephone call from the defence establishment can be construed as not carrying with it a hint of menace, a trace of threat.  Just as important though is the propriety of the action of …

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Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario, Canada, submitted this article to Groundviews. It was first published in the Globe and Mail on 4th April 2007.

To honour the memory of Kethesh Loganathan and others assassinated before him, we can’t allow the world’s indifference to continue

Kethesh Loganathan was my friend. The last meeting I had with him was a memorable one: He provided me with information about a colleague whose life was at risk, he believed. Thanks to his intervention, his friend was able to take refuge away from Sri Lanka.

I knew Kethesh as an intense man, a thoughtful man ready to speak ironically of his Marxist path, of the twists and turns of his life. A …

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වර්ෂ1996ෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාවට එෙරහිව ශුි ලංකාව ලද ෙලා්ක කුසලාන ජයගුහණය දැන් දැන් අපෙග් මතකය අඑත් කරනවා ෙනාඅනුමානයි.ෙමි දිනවල බටහිර ඉන්දිය ෙකාෙදවි දුපත්හි පැවැත්ෙවන 9 වන ෙලා්ක කුසලාන තරගාවලිෙය් අර්ධ අවසන් තරගය සදහා ෙමම මස 24 ෙවනිදා ශුි ලංකාව සහභාගිවන තරගය පැවැත්ෙවන ෙහයිනි.
තත්වය ෙමෙස් තිබියදි සුපුරැදු පරිදි ශුිලංකානු කුිකටි කණ්ඩායමට එෙරහිව ෙකරිෙගන යන උද්ෙඝා්ෂණයන් සහ මඩ පුහාරයන් අාරමිභවි තුිබිම අප කවිරැත් පුදුමයට පත් ෙනාවන බව මාෙග් අදහසයි.1995 වර්ෂෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාෙවිදි පැවැත්වු ෙබන්සන් ෙහජස් තරගාවලිෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියානු විනිසුරැ ඩැරල් ෙහයාර් විසින් මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන් පන්දුව දමා ගසන්ෙනක් බව පුකාශ කරන ලදි. අවසානෙය්දි කුිකටි කවුන්සිලය පැවැත්වු පරික්ෂණයකින්්් පසුව මුරලිදරන් නිෙදාස්කරන ලදි.1999 වර්ෂෙය්දි එංගලන්තය ෙටස්ටි තරගයකින් පරාජය කිරිෙමන්පසුව එංගලන්ත පුවත් පත් වලට සහ කුිකටි ෙලා්ලින්ට පින්සිදු වන්නට ශුි ලංකානු …

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An article sent to Groundviews by Rajan Philips, that is slightly revised from an earlier version published in the media in Sri Lanka recently.

Newspaper reports have given prominence to the latest Peace Confidence Index (PCI) survey carried out in February 2007, by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The media reports have highlighted that 59% of Sinhalese agree with the proposition that “the government should expand its military action including all out war in order to weaken the LTTE.” There is also an apparent weakening of support among the Sinhalese for the ‘peace process’ evidenced by the drop in support for it from 57% in the PCI survey of November 2006 to 46% in the February survey. During the same …

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While meditation may appear to be irrelevant in times of political and social unrest, there are some who believe that this ancient practice could contribute towards transforming violent conflicts, such as the one that has been burdening the people of Sri Lanka for decades. By changing the individual consciousness, those who participate in meditative exercises are able to look at a situation in a different light, from multiple perspectives and with increased empathy and tolerance, and it is believed that the collective consciousness of an entire community or nation can also be transformed in this way.

Meditation has long been practiced in Sri Lanka by those in pursuit of physical, mental and spiritual health and has always been central to Buddhist …

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The AI campaign ‘Play by the Rules’ is a trailblazer (http://web.amnesty.org/pages/lka-020407-petition-eng), in marketing terms AI must be exultant with the publicity that it has received globally and especially in Sri Lanka. For a campaign of this nature nothing is negative publicity and so counter pressure in the form of agitated Sri Lankan government officials and Ministers referring to this campaign and calling it blasphemous, Southern based political groups taking to the roads and disquietened Sinhala diaspora must only add to the number of balls signed or the hits on the AI website.

According to AI the campaign ‘Play by the Rules!’ is to remind stakeholders in Sri Lanka that,

All parties involved in the escalating armed conflict in Sri Lanka need to …

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“The SLFP, and the millions who support it, will never be a party to robbing the people of Sri Lanka of their sovereignty.”
Lakshman Kadirgamar, 4 November 2003

It is only through a willing suspension of disbelief that one expects anything genuinely progressive from the proposals the SLFP will submit to the APRC in early May. Sri Lanka’s dilly-dally with all manner of constitutional proposals aimed at a just and equitable resolution of Sri Lanka’s ethnic question has to date, and perhaps unsurprisingly given the actors involved in such efforts, failed to put an end to the continuing misery that’s the result of violent conflict. However, in spite of the history of failed attempts, or because of it, we need to …

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The website preview feature on Groundviews, powered by Snap Shots, is now enhanced with a bigger preview screen. Hovering on a link such as this results in a pop-up window with a picture of the webpage the link points to.

If you find this feature particularly annoying, you can easily turn off the feature by clicking on the Disable option on the upper-right hand corner of the pop-up. You can also customise the size, the delay before the pop-up appears and access other features by clicking on Options, also located on the upper-right hand corner of the pop-up window.

Bear with me and read the following carefully:

“The problems of the Tamil community are best known to the Tamils than any others. Any solution to our problems put forward by us should be taken into consideration by the other two communities – the Muslims and the Sinhalese. Furthermore the Tamils problems must have a Tamil solution and not a Sinhalese imposed solution. Even veteran politician Annan (eldest brother) V. Anandasangaree, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front and senior cabinet Minister Douglas Devananda , leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, too has said time and again that they are for an Indian model.

It must be pointed out that today a federated unitary form with secularism enforced vigorously keeps India …

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Recently, I noticed an Q&A style article titled “India Is Colonising Itself” by Arundhati Roy and Shoma Chaudhuri.

I thought the first Q and A was very interesting, and perhaps parts of it are applicable to Sri Lanka. So, I have cut and pasted it below, and look forward to any comments about “we’ve begun to eat our own limbs”, or anything else that might grab you!

There is an atmosphere of growing violence across the country. How do you read the signs? Do you think it will grow more in the days to come? What are its causes? …

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A lot of heat and indeed anger has been generated by the Amnesty International campaign  – Sri Lanka: Play By the Rules – timed to coincide with and targeted at the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Amnesty has made clear that the campaign is not targeted at the Sri Lankan cricket team and in response to criticisms of this nature made the point that the issue is not cricket but human rights and that all right thinking and mature adults will not mistake the campaign as in any way making a comment on or seeking to undermine our cricket team.

The criticisms against the Amnesty campaign come from a number of quarters – the government and political parties, local …

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TMVP is remembering their 3rd year of separation from the LTTE on April 10th 2004 when 175 Karuna cadres, including female cadres, were massacred in Verukal in an attack by the LTTE to prevent the separation.

Regarding the separation V. Muralitharan (Karuna amman) has given statement to their web site. “Earlier it was seem as a single person’s problem with the LTTE. Now there is more clarity on the extent of the problem after we got strength through military wise and political wise with support of eastern people”.

However they reached this position with help of few cadres and supporters. Now the situation is that those cadres are being sidelined and being dominate by some others.

After the separation TMVP had only around …

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இலங்ைகயில் இடம்ெபறுகின்ற இனப்பிரச்சிைன பல உயிா்கைள பலிெகாடுத்து பல இழப்புகைள சந்தித்துள்ளது.இந்த வைகயில் இனப்பிரச்சிைனயால் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மாவட்டங்களில் ஒன்றாக மட்டக்களப்பு காணப்படுகிறது.இம்மாவட்டம் சமாதான காலத்திலும் கூட மிகவும் ேமாசமாக பாதிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு பிரேதசமாக காணப்படுகிறது.சமாதான காலத்தில் மக்கள் ஓரளவு சுமுகமாக வாழ்ந்தாலும் அச்சத்துடேனேய தங்கள் வாழ்க்ைகைய கடத்தி வந்தனா்.
இந்த வைகயில் மட்டக்களப்பு மாவட்டத்தின் தற்ேபாைதய நிைலைய எடுத்து ேநாக்குேவாமாக இருந்தால் யுத்த சூழல் நிைறந்து பயங்கரமான ஒரு பிரேதசமாக மாறியுள்ளது.நாலா புறங்களிலும் இருந்து தாக்குதல்கள் ேமற்ெகாள்ளப்படுவதால் மக்கள் ெசய்வறியாது மிகுந்த அச்சத்துடன் வாழ்ந்து வருகின்றனா்.
ஒவ்ெவாரு நிமிடமும் குண்டுச்சத்தங்களும் துப்பாக்கிச்சத்தங்களும் காைத பிளக்கின்றன.இதனால் சிறுவா்கள் அதிகம் பாதிக்கப்படுகிறாா்கள்.இேதேபான்று நடத்தப்படும் குண்டுத்தாக்குதல்கள் மக்கள் வாழும் பகுதிகளில் வந்து விழுவதால் உயிருக்கு உத்தரவாதம் அற்ற ஒரு நிைல காணப்படுகிறது.ெசாற்ப காலம் மிகுந்த சந்ேதாஷத்துடனும் நிம்மதியுடனும் வாழ்ந்த மக்கள் தற்ேபாது அடுத்த நிமிடம் என்ன நடக்குேமா!அடுத்த நிமிடம் நான் மரணிப்ேபேனா என்று ஏங்குவைத காணக்கூடியதாக உள்ளது.
ேமலும் உயிா்களுக்கு உத்தரவாதம் இல்ைல என்ற நிைலயும் காணப்படுகிறது.இைதவிட ேமலாக …

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When looking at the root causes of the Sri Lankan conflict, one issue that comes up time and time again is language. According to The Constitution, Sri Lanka’s national languages are Sinhala and Tamil but it seems that ‘national language’ and ‘official language’ mean different things. The Constitution has two separate sections for these, the latter of which reads “The official language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala. Tamil shall also be an official language. English shall be the link language.” From the wording alone, it is not surprising that this is still a very problematic area where discrimination and inequality prevail.

Today, Sri Lankans have the right to an education in either Sinhala or Tamil, but they are not required …

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Gun-point robberies have increased in Jaffna. Town area houses are robbed day or night and even during curfew time. Last week some robbers went to a house during the day, introduced themselves as being from the CID dept and said they wanted to search the house. After they left a camera, money and a mobile phone were missing.

Day before yesterday some robbers went to a restaurant and robbed at gun point. Sometimes the robbers sexually harass women as well.

One month back some robbers robbed a house in Kalvianakadu. The house owner shouted thief and neighbours gathered and chased them away and caught one of them. The villagers assaulted the robber and he died as a result.

A Jaffna library laborer is …

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