The growing use of SMS for information dissemination was discussed earlier on Groundviews, and I would like to mention a recent development.

At least one government department has been pro active and is now making use of SMS for communication with media. The Media Centre for National Security obtained an application to send out SMS to journalists from a four-digit number. They started on Dec 5th, as far as I know.

What I hope now is that the Met Department, Disaster Management Center and other central authorities follow suit and send out quick SMS messages to reporters during an impending or occurring natural disaster. The message could also guide reporters towards a detailed announcement on a website.

It could be a short line …

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Lets talk about white vans, disappearances and abductions. How much do people who don’t speak in Tamil know about these subjects, and conversely how much do people who speak in Tamil know about these things? I will get to these odd questions in a bit.

Being a Colombo-based Sinhalese person, I found the occasional reference to white vans, in the last year or so, curious but I didn’t come across a clear description of what it was in the media. The media and people I talk to are my only sources of news about the world.

My best guess and reaction was “ah, the van was used in an abduction! I wonder why the vehicle was a white van. Don’t …

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I would like to throw out a few ideas for those who come from a peacebuilding paradigm for discussion if possible.

My recent chat with a long-time supporter of the JVP, now aged about 50, driver of a three-wheeler who had two children, helped me see more clearly his point of view.

After working at a ceramic factory for 20 years, where he progressed to being a skilled operator of the kiln, he was layed off along with everyone else at that plant with little compensation. He received a salary of under Rs10,000 a month at the time he was layed
off.
He didn’t find an opportunity to use his skills elsewhere and after being treated badly by another employer, he resorted to driving …

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