Aachcharya writing from Jaffna

I wrote on the 30th of December in a post to Groundviews (and republished in the Daily Mirror) that the assertion that the Tamil people would be deciders in the Presidential election would be a myth. There was nothing brilliant or extraordinary about what I said at that time, but it was contrary to public perception that was prevalent all over the country and in international media circles. What I suggested was that for the Tamil people to be deciders two conditions have to be fulfilled. I wrote:

“For the Tamils to be the deciders in the election (like they could have been in the last) they have to vote as a whole, to one candidate …

continue reading

“Of all the pleasant sights they see, which the Piper also promised me. For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, joining the town and just at hand, where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew, and flowers put forth a fairer hue, and everything was strange and new.”

- The Pied Piper by Robert Browning

Political commentators seem to have run out of superlatives when attempting to describe the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Academics have joined the fray, falling over themselves to award him honorary degrees while Business Schools have attempted to analyse the crucial elements of his leadership style.

All are in agreement that his leadership is unprecedented in history and has no parallel elsewhere.

Even for keen observers of history it …

continue reading

The big day is fast approaching, and every water-cooler, tea/cigarette break, meeting intermission is a hive of discussion on the latest thoughts on the election. But the whole run up to the election seems familiar, ridiculous and sad. For Sri Lanka there will never be change we can truly believe in. It will always be politics as usual.

Sarath Fonseka (SF) has said he will abolish the executive presidency, but is now flip-flopping on that too, and said the country may need it for a while longer, and may decide to hold some key powers if he wins, including keeping some key ministries for himself. After the war ended it was SF who said we need to keep the IDPs locked …

continue reading

Part 1
The presidential election manifesto of the opposition Common Candidate General (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka was released on 7 January, 2009 at a media launch in Colombo, titled “Believable Change”.  He says “I am different. I am change. I will bring about believable change” writing for himself, in the manifesto in which he tries to spell out his vision.

Why this manifesto of Gen (rtd) Fonska is singled out for this short dissection, with no comparison with the “Mahinda Chintanaya” of President Rajapaksa or with what he keeps blurting out at dinners and luncheons, at public rallies and public gatherings, is because of just one reason.

There was consensus among democratic forces that Rajapaksa needs to be opposed, long before elections were declared. …

continue reading

In the upcoming presidential election a new voter base will be in play. A generation of first time voters whose futures will depend on the winner of next month’s election, are faced with deciding which candidate has the right vision to take this country forward and more importantly the credibility that would ensure the implementation of that vision. Even with all the lofty rhetoric being spewed by the front runners, their past actions have left many unconvinced that either of them will set and abide by the necessary measures to bring about stability in the country.

In a list of concerns that young voters feel need to be addressed, freedom of expression is front and center. This demographic, who were born …

continue reading

Last Christmas, together with few friends, we prayed desperately, hoping a bloodbath would be avoided

This Christmas, we prayed and lit candles for the thousands killed and missing during the war, the ones who doesn’t have a grave as their family members had to run over the dead (and sometimes dyeing) bodies to save their own lives.

Last Christmas, we prayed for a stop to political killings, disappearances, forced recruitments, unjust arrests and torture. And for families of those detained, disappeared, killed.

This Christmas, we did the same.

Last Christmas, we prayed for easing of government restrictions on food, medicine, shelter and access for aid agencies to help the people affected by war.

This Christmas, we prayed for those injured & sick – as they …

continue reading

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou, 4 April 1928

Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai in Saainthamaruthu

Today is the 5th anniversary of a tsunami that devastated our country.Five years on, but how many of us still care for the people who suffered?

The tsunami hit the Indian Ocean, killing nearly hundreds of thousands in eleven countries and inundating coastal communities with waves unto one hundred feet. According to experts, it was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India were the hardest hit.

About thirty thousand people were killed in tsunami, millions injured and many more left homeless …

continue reading

“Governments usually don’t take notice of silent majorities” says well known investigative and environmental journalism Dilrukshi Handunnetti in this video interview with Groundviews.

To commemorate Human Rights Day 2009 (falling on 10 December) Groundviews interviewed a number of leading activists in Sri Lanka to find out their perspectives on current challenges facing human rights in post-war Sri Lanka. In general, activists featured were asked to comment on the Sri Lankan State’s protection of human rights, the nexus between human rights and human dignity and opportunities for greater human rights protection over the coming years.

Dilrukshi is a lawyer by training having specialized in international law. A journalist for over 17 years, she has extensively covered the areas of politics, conflict, environment, …

continue reading

The first opportunity that the population of this island had to vote in an election based on universal adult franchise was in the State Council elections of 1931 under the Donoughmore Constitution. The people of the other communities voted with much enthusiasm but two large segments of the Tamil population did not. One segment, led by the Jaffna Youth Congress boycotted it because they wanted immediate Independence. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was in Jaffna on the invitation of the Jaffna Youth Congress when the boycott decision was made, prophetically warned of the likely ill-consequences of a boycott which could be misinterpreted in the South. Some of the more responsible local leaders also opposed the boycott but the radicals succeeded in getting …

continue reading

Obligingly recorded by Young Asia Television at the request of Groundviews, we are pleased to present a full-length video recording of a technical rehearsal / run-through of The Travelling Circus, produced by Mind Adventures, directed by Tracy Holsinger and recently staged in Colombo.

An in-depth review of the production is published on Groundviews here.

Total playing time is 52 minutes.

The production divided opinion, with some liking it and others, with equal passion, disliking it.

This full-length video of the production (even though it is a technical rehearsal) records for posterity one of the first theatre productions …

continue reading

To commemorate Human Rights Day, falling today, Groundviews interviewed a number of leading activists in Sri Lanka to find out their perspectives on current challenges facing human rights in post-war Sri Lanka.

This is the first video in a series we will publish over the coming week.

After asking each of them to define human rights as they saw and understood it, Groundviews asked the activists to comment on the Sri Lankan State’s protection of human rights, the nexus between human rights and human dignity and opportunities for greater human rights protection over the coming years.

Featured in this video are:

• Deshamanya Bradman Weerakoon
• Dr. Paikiasothy …
  continue reading

The late review is at an advantage, in that it is informed by the published critiques of others and subsequent responses online and in print. In this respect, watching Tracy Holsinger’s The Travelling Circus on the last day of its run was to juxtapose the live performance against reviews that dismissed the production as highfalutin nonsense and others that praised it as compelling theatre.

Tracy’s attempt at devised theatre is without, to my knowledge, precedent in Sri Lankan English drama. With roots in commedia dell’arte, devised theatre is a difficult form, which even seasoned actors balk at since it involves co-creation and improvisation instead of the comparatively more straightforward interpretation, direction and delivery of a script. This dramatic inflorescence requires a …

continue reading

There is much  controversy over the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), whom I wish to refer as internally detained persons. In essence, this controversy revolves around the nature of the LTTE, the counter-insurgency strategy of the GOSL, and its criminal effect on over 200,000 detainees. The question of the fate of some 10,000 Tamil political prisoners who are yet to be charged, also hovers in the background. To get some rationality and clarity on these issues, we should raise and answer one fundamental question.

Do the Tamil people who consider the North-East as their areas of historical habitation (homeland) constitute a nation? This question cannot be resolved by piling up archaic archaeological or historical evidence. It is not a …

continue reading

For a long time I didn’t think of myself as being a part of the Tamil Diaspora. I had this vague feeling that I was going to go back home some day.  Even when it was pretty obvious that I was not going back, I still didn’t want to identify myself as a member of the Diaspora.  For me, acknowledging that I was a part of the Diaspora meant closing the door on my life in Colombo.  Forever.  After this past year, I am humbled and grateful to be able to call myself a part of the Diaspora (and furious, sad, and horrified, like much of the Tamil Diaspora, by the plight of Tamil citizens callously sacrificed to the Sri …

continue reading

Groundviews recently spoke to Tracy Holsinger of Mind Adventures and Mike Masilamani (Masii) about the upcoming production of ‘The Travelling Circus’, devised and adapted from Mike’s short story, ‘The Boy Who Spoke in Numbers‘. Tracy’s adaptation of the short story for stage deals with the political and social problems in Sri Lanka at present and also ventures, comprehensively, into the subject of IDPs.

Tracy and Mike highlighted the importance of theatre in engaging with the narratives of the country as well as …

continue reading

Last week a group of us got very rare access to some of the resettled areas in Mannar and Killinochchi. I also visited the different zones in Manik Farm (used to be called Manikkam Pannai). As we get to Vavuniya something that strikes me was the number of vehicles (buses and lorries) moving about with IOM stickers. IOM is the only agency that is allowed to shuttle the IDPs from Manik Farm to either to Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) ground or to the resettlement areas or to yet another transit center for further screening.

We reached Vavuniya around 10.30pm on Saturday. It was raining heavily and we witnessed IDPs, who have been brought from Manik Farm to be sent to their …

continue reading

Intellectuals in India have unfortunately not played positive roles in building good relations with its small neighbors.  For the most part they ignore all neighbors other than Pakistan.  In the few cases they do not, they tend to do active harm.  The recent article in Forbes.com on 9 October 2009 (http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/08/tamil-tigers-rajiv-gandhi-opinions-contributors-sri-lanka.html) by Professor Brahma Chellaney exemplifies the latter.

Justifying cross-border terrorism
India is a country with many minorities.  Would it like an external power describing one of its minorities as its “natural constituency” as Professor Chellaney does?  I do not know quite what to make of this excerpt from his article:  “India already had alienated the Sinhalese majority in the 1980s, when it first armed the Tamil Tigers and then sought …

continue reading

If I only knew
you were all right
or even just okay
or less than all right
but alive
I could survive
in this -
this place
where there are shops
clinics
even makeshift toilets
and tampons distributed
by companies with
corporate responsibility

If only I could imagine we
found each other
down a de-mined
stretch of parched
road
on a thirsty day
I could swim endlessly in
this river of pity and
not drown in the monsoon shit

If I saw you
I would recognise you
I’m sure, I’d know that skin
those bones
if only I knew you were
alive somewhere
then I could wait forever
to be out of
here:
where kindness
is injected in small doses
and love is
a warm cup
of nestomalt
offered by bewildered hands.

But I don’t
and my love for you
is a bullet lodged
deep in the belly
and sometimes
when I sleep
I dream we are
making love
and waking up
is barbed wire
slicing the lips….

continue reading

It is worth clarifying here the situation regarding the EU GSP+ facility, given the confusion prevailing in the mainstream media.

The EU has NOT threatened trade sanctions against Sri Lanka. The GSP+ facility is an extra privilege granted to developing countries which abide by certain human rights norms. If it is withdrawn, the EU will continue to trade with Sri Lanka, but its imports from Sri Lanka will have to compete with imports from other countries likeIndia and China which do not enjoy the GSP+ facility. This means their quantity will decline, and there would be job losses for workers and revenue losses for the government.

Is this fair? The lengthy EU report on Sri Lanka produces mounds of evidence that Sri Lanka is not complying with the human rights norms which are …

continue reading

The recent Amnesty International sponsored forum “Sri Lanka: Human Rights Issues and Media Representation” held last week in Melbourne was a missed opportunity. The forum could have signposted the strategies needed to pressure the Australian Government to do more to improve human rights and freedom of expression issues, and to bring the Sri Lankan Government to account on its horrific human rights record. Instead, the forum ended up painting an ‘us versus them’ picture and pitting the Tamil diaspora against its Sinhala counterpart.  This could have been avoided if the presenters were more mature and more informed about the situation in Sri Lanka.

The majority of the people in the room were from the Tamil diaspora, who along with …

continue reading