Archive for Media
July 3, 2009 at 10:19 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Foreign Relations, Human Rights, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk and spice routes for millennia. It drew traders from the east and west for both business and pleasure. Notable among the attractions were spices, whose many aromas and flavours formed an integral part of the tropical paradise experience.
The traditional Lankan curry contained up to 13 spices and herbs. Most plants were not native – cardamom came from South India, cloves from Indonesia and chilli all the way from the Americas. Cinnamon was Sri Lanka’s unique contribution to this delightful mix. The origins didn’t really matter: the islanders knew just how to mix the native and the foreign to achieve legendary results.
As Sri Lanka embarks on …
July 1, 2009 at 4:57 am · Categories: English, Media | by groundviews
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June 28, 2009 at 4:34 pm · Categories: English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Post-War | by Lionel Bopage
The end of the conventional war in the north and the east of Sri Lanka witnessed the almost total annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) including its leadership. However, the Government forces are still carrying out clearing up operations throughout the island. Tens of thousands have been slaughtered; many thousands wounded; hundreds of thousands expelled from their habitats and many hundreds of thousands interned into camps. The deaths of the militants have been celebrated by the overwhelming majority of the Sinhalese and some of the Tamils and Muslims. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is allegedly engaged in destroying any incriminating evidence of its culpability in war crimes. The fate of three doctors, who were earlier praised …
June 15, 2009 at 6:35 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Post-War | by Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
Both in life and death, Veluppillai Prabhakaran divides rather than unites the Tamils in particular, Sri Lankans as a whole. Therein lie the enigma of Prabhakaran (Thambi Anna to me), whom I first met almost thirty years ago in August 1979, and the Tamil Tigers.
“Assuming the LTTE finished is fantasy masquerading as fact”, exclaimed a self-styled ‘leftist’ academic (Sri Lankan born American), namely Qadri Ismail, on March 1, 2009. Qadri Ismail is not alone in fantasizing about Prabhakaran and the Tamil Tigers. Anita Pratap, a veteran Indian journalist, too fantasized about the invincibility and immortality of Prabhakaran and the Tamil Tigers in an article published on May 03, 2009 claiming that the Tiger is just “crouching”, not dying. …
June 14, 2009 at 4:02 pm · Categories: English, Foreign Relations, Media, Post-War | by Sanjana
In what may be a first for a Sunday newspaper in Sri Lanka, a reference from Wikipedia is used to buttress a case for the alleged pro-LTTE bias of Canadian Liberal MP Bob Rae, recently deported from Sri Lanka after first being issued a visa to enter.
The Sunday Times has a full page devoted to a rather long-winded story titled Lanka’s dual track foreign relations. My interest here is not to debate Bob Rae’s real or perceived partiality to the LTTE, but to briefly look at the manner in which a lengthy excerpt from Rae’s wikipedia entry is used to frame a flimsy argument.
The Sunday Times notes that,
…it was public knowledge that Rae had periodically …
June 13, 2009 at 12:44 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Post-War | by Sanjana
Jagath Weerasinghe is one of Sri Lanka best known and most influential artists (see bio here). He was commissioned by the Sri Lankan government to design the monument ‘Shrine for the Innocent’ as a remembrance for the innocent victims of the ruthless violence that the southern part of the country experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was completed in 1999.
Jagath and I talked about art and politics, how for example the experience of witnessing the Tamil pogrom in July 1983 and being abducted in the late 70’s shaped his political consciousness and in turn influenced his creative output. We …
June 4, 2009 at 11:04 am · Categories: English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Post-War | by Rukmankan Sivaloganathan
The ongoing campaign by The Times to discredit the recent military victory by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces over the LTTE seems, at times, relentless. Not a day passes by without Jeremy Page, Marie Colvin or Catherine Philp lecturing on alleged war crimes by Sri Lanka. I usually despise the shrill hysteria and the ‘me against the world’ mentality that envelops my countrymen when faced with criticism, but on this occasion I feel it is warranted. In a world where innocent Afghan and Pakistani tribals are killed on a regular basis by unmanned Predator drones in the name of fighting terrorism, the West, quite unbelievably, finds the moral high ground to preach to Sri Lanka. No matter how …
May 22, 2009 at 4:15 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Jaffna, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Nazeeya Faarooq
A group of men are standing in an outdoor location. They are grinning and laughing and are triumphant but most importantly of all, they exude an air of victory. The camera pans out to reveal four or so neatly arranged bodies on the grass in front of them. The men pass a dog tag amongst themselves, they finger it, look closely at it and ask an unseen photographer to take photographs. There is an air of jubilation.
I have seen this sort of picture before. Old photographs of colonial masters in Asia and Africa holding rifles aloft, an air of triumph and victory on their faces, their trophies displayed before them. Often there are two native bearers, flanking the …
May 19, 2009 at 2:38 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Religion and faith, Trincomalee, සිංහල | by groundviews
Vikalpa Video asked Ven. Prof. Bellanvila Vimalarathana Thero for his opinion on whether the LTTE was really finished and the war over in Sri Lanka. Ven. Prof. Bellanvila Vimalarathana Thero is the Chief Priest of the Bellanwila Rajamaha Viharaya.
This interview was recorded one week ago, before the dramatic events over the past few days. An English transcript of the short interview is provided below for those who can’t understand Sinhala to interrogate the Thero’s opinion on the conduct of war and plans for development and humanitarian assistance to the Vanni, which mirrors that of the Buddhist clergy writ large in Sri Lanka….
May 19, 2009 at 9:45 am · Categories: English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews
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May 19, 2009 at 8:26 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics, සිංහල | by groundviews
Video shot on the streets of Colombo and its suburbs on 18th May 2009.
For related videos, please visit Is the LTTE really finished and the War over? on Vikalpa’s YouTube Channel.
For live and regular updates from the ground in Colombo and for live soundbites from the President’s speech on 19th May 2009 (Tuesday), check out our Twitter feed.
May 13, 2009 at 6:42 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Dhammika Dharmawardhane
Double standards as it may seem Lasantha’s murder was a rude awakening for many, including me. Why I call it a double standard is that many lives were previously lost and I chose to ignore it under the justification of national pride and war for the sake of our country’s sovereignty. Well at least I confess to be guilty as I did. However, as I have always said, I am loyal to my country, I am a nationalist, a patriot, but I refuse to be a blind one.
The latest development where the Government of Sri Lanka has requested for public information on any dissent to the war effort strengthen what I would call fear psychosis. Journalists, bloggers, key decision makers …
May 12, 2009 at 2:59 pm · Categories: English, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Satire | by Banyan News Reporters
12 May 2009, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The International Community is expressing its concern over the deaths of thousands of civilians including at least one hundred children who are caught between the crossfire as fighting raged between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) an internationally proscribed terrorist outfit. In light of the recent developments in the tiny island off the southern tip of India, a recent survey conducted by CNN on whether the International Community should intervene in the conflict has produced an inconclusive and convoluted set of results.
A Brazilian farmer whose coffee beans where brewed at the recent UN security council meeting told CNN that the …
May 11, 2009 at 7:23 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Human Security, Media, Peace and Conflict | by Sunanda Deshapriya
The police informed courts they have no charges against Mr. Vithyatharan the Editor of both Sudar Oli and Uthayan news papers, after detaining him for two months. On 24th of April, he was acquitted by Courts. He was taken in for investigations by the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) in relation to the suicide air attacks by the two LTTE aircraft that flew into Colombo and was questioned on the telephone calls taken by him that night.
His family members told me, he was treated fairly well by the CCD police officers who took him into custody. They also believed he would be released in another day or two, as investigations were over within about a week from detaining. But the Defense …
May 6, 2009 at 11:26 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict | by groundviews
May 4, 2009 at 6:57 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by U-No-Hoo
Not too long ago, my Sunday mornings used to be so enriched by the Sunday newspapers. They informed me, intrigued me, tickled me with laughter and occasionally even exasperated me. I spent the better part of my Sundays going through their diverse and stimulating news, features and opinions.
How I miss those Sundays – and the Sunday reading that I can no longer find in our Sunday newspapers! For sure, we still have half a dozen Sunday newspapers coming out in English, but much has changed. I can predict the content in most newspapers even before I open them on any given Sunday.
So I now buy only two Sunday newspapers (you can soon guess which), and get through them in a …
April 26, 2009 at 12:55 am · Categories: Constitutional Reform, English, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Sanjana
I recently interviewed Dr. Jehan Perera, Executive Director of the National Peace Council. Jehan is also a columnist for the Daily Mirror and the Lanka Monthly Digest in Colombo. He holds a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law School and a BA in economics from Harvard College.
Based on his significant experience as a civil society activist, I asked Jehan whether NGOs in particular had fostered any appreciable difference in the quality of governance in Sri Lanka. Jehan stated that after a quarter century of working in civil society, he was acutely aware how little impact it had in shaping the …
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