Archive for Polls
May 31, 2010 at 9:36 pm · Categories: Advocacy, Colombo, Identity, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls | by Samanmalee Unanthenna
Nationalism in our post-modern era is an extremely suspect concept. It smacks of homogeneity, patriarchy and insularity; all ideas and concepts that our generation has learned with good reason to suspect. Most difficult of all, it has often been anti-minority. My intention in this article is not to defend nationalism but rather to inquire into the particular characteristics of Sinhala nationalism and to interrogate the relationship of Sri Lankan civil society organisations and movements with it. I would also like put forward some ideas regarding ways of engagement as part of civil society in these times of totalitarianism and government supported racism. By civil society organisations and movements I mean those that purport to …
May 24, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Colombo, End of war special edition, Human Rights, Human Security, Identity, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls, Post-War | by Kumar David
Is the world coming unhinged? In Spain a judge is on trial for a technicality relating to his attempts to go after war crimes committed by Franco’s fascist regime. The Sri Lankan government’s close buddy the Burmese guerilla dictatorship in preparation for the election, Burmese style, has forced Suu Kyi’s NLD into dissolution. Panama’s ex-dictator Noriega having done 17 years in US prisons for drug trafficking has been extradited to France to face money laundering charges and possibly an additional prison term. Meanwhile prosecutors in Panama, where his most execrable crimes were perpetrated still await him – pity if the monster dies in a French prison. At home President Rajapakse assigned ministerial oversight of the media to Lanka’s equivalent of …
May 19, 2010 at 11:30 am · Categories: Colombo, End of war special edition, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls, Post-War | by Dayapala Thiranagama
In advising political leaders the Italian historian and political advisor Machiavelli (1469-1527) offered the following words which have a relevance to the current predicament of the Sinhala political leadership after the war victory.
“But when states are acquired in a province differing in language, in customs, and in institutions, then difficulties arise; and to hold them one must be very fortunate and very assiduous…He should also take precautions to check an invasion of the province by a foreigner as powerful as himself. Invariably, the invader will be brought in by those who are disaffected because of excessive ambition or because of fear” [1] The North and East could be said to broadly resemble the province that Machiavelli refers to here. When …
May 17, 2010 at 7:52 pm · Categories: Batticaloa, Elections, Human Rights, Human Security, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls, Post-War | by Sanjana Hattotuwa
Shanthi Sachithananthan, the Chairperson of Viluthu, has been featured several times on Groundviews in the past, including an interview two months ago looking at significant developments in Sri Lanka after the demise of the LTTE and her views on the July 1983 pogrom against Tamils.
In this recent interview, Shanthi, who recently campaigned for political office in the parliamentary elections in April 2010 after forming an independent political party, speaks about her experiences interacting with voters from the Batticaloa district – the issues they confront, their aspirations and the extremely poor awareness of governance, representative democracy and electoral processes. Shanthi’s …
May 9, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Colombo, Elections, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Polls, Post-War | by Z. Zubair
Approximately one year ago on May 18th 2009, I wrote an article on Sri Lanka’s second “independence”, the spirit I fostered at the time is not reflected in this article one year later. On April 8th 2010, Sri Lankans went to the polls to vote.
Yet I did not vote. Many others did not as well. It is clear cut that Sri Lanka’s population did not feel that their vote counted, and rightly-so. Yet, was it wise NOT to vote? Perhaps if one thinks of it as legitimizing an increasingly theocratic government by participating in the hopelessly flawed façade of democracy, then it makes sense not to be a party to it. Post-conflict human societies are usually vacuums for militant or …
January 20, 2010 at 12:57 pm · Categories: Colombo, Elections, Politics and Governance, Polls | by C A Saliya
There was a survey on the next presidential election conducted by an Indian firm-Viplav Communications Pvt Ltd during January 6-13. They say the sample size is 10,225 and forecast “The poll shows Rajapaksa (MR) leading in all provinces other than the Tamil-dominated north and multi-racial east and enjoying a 12 percent lead over his opponent in the island as a whole.”
I got two feedbacks from two prominent personalities in Sri Lanka on this survey;
Response 1: “Cannot go by Indian survey as it is, because most people who have changed their minds after PC elections do not reveal the change unless the one who is interviewed is personally known to the officer carrying out the survey, due to sheer fear. Environment …
