In Many 1980 a number of innocent civilians and students were massacred by the military in the southern city of Kwangju in South Korea. Family members of those who died kept the memory alive by way of commemorations, which eventually lead to reinstatement of democracy in Korea. In 2002 I was at the cemetery where those victims were put to rest. On the day the massacre took place, 18 of May, I saw teachers brining pre-school children to this cometary. Children were being taught at such a young age about a tragedy their society has witnessed. The message was clear — this should never happen again and children should make sure that.

My thanks to my good friend Anoma for this initiative. Let this initiative of Anoma inspire many younger people to repeat what she has done, to relive painful tragic memory, so that we could avoid such tragedies.

When people of different origins, speaking different languages and professing different religions inhabit the same country and live under the same political sovereignty, ethnic and racial conflict is the usual outcome. More often than not, this happens when the majority tries to impose its language, religion and cultural values on the minorities!
There is an old saying: If your only tool is a hammer, then all your problems look like nails. In the ‘Aluth Sri Lanka’ that we live in today, our tools for problem solving consist of multi-barrel rocket launchers, migs, kafirs, white vans, goon squads and rigged elections. And the Tamils in the north and east and other parts of the country including journalists and the general public at large are the nails that are bombed into submission, abducted, beaten, killed and terrorized!
The ‘Maanushika Meheuma’ or ‘Humanitarian Operation,’ an euphemism for the ongoing war is fought today as a scared and justifiable war! A war of good against evil, black versus white! But let us not forget the many shades of grey in between!
’Fighting for peace is like copulating for virginity,’ is a pithy saying attributed to an American GI during the Vietnam war. This saying describes Sri Lanka’s predicament in a nutshell! Using military might to settle a dispute might seem logical in the short term, taking the peoples minds off the rising cost of living, but in the long term we are all losers!
Maximum devolution of power is the only way forward. In Sri Lanka’s 60 year history, agreements were made but not implemented! Pacts were signed and abrogated! This time around, if the majority community does not agree to devolution, the country’s future will be quite bleak, and it will not be the beginning of the end, but the end of the end, and Sri Lanka will meander along as ‘A can’t be developed country,’ the ‘Sick man of Asia.’

Excellent work. It took me more than 2 hours to come to a pause in my journey with your photographic stories. But it didn’t come to an end. I felt it was only a beginning of another. I had the opportunity to have a discussion with the victims of 83, on the bridge you made on your portrays. It was so interesting and I had to admit my ignorance about them. You are a great engineer of bridging gaps. Lady, keep up the good work, because you are one of kind!!!

Rajitha Amarasinghe

Were SWRD Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike worth the dust beneath farmer Ratnayake’s feet?

Mhhh… Anoma’s work should/could be the starting point for the rest of our history.

The civil space for youngsters growing up ina world of growing consciousness of international human rights norm and humanitarian law must be honoured and cultured.