There "is" hope for Peace in Sri Lanka - Article on: People to People connectivity in Peace Interaction

I wanted to share an amazing article which is a transcript of a speech on "People to People connectivity and Peace interaction: redefining heritage for conflict resolution" by Sudharshan Seneviratne - an University of Peradeniya Scholar.

It was sent to me a few weeks back and I have now finally gotten around to finishing reading it. The persons ideas are very interesting and positive and I have included a few excerpts to give the gist of the article (otherwise you might be like me and not get around to reading it for ages). It was a speech delivered 2 years ago, but it's message is timeless.

I think it is very worthy to send this message at this point in time because I believe there really is hope for Sri Lanka to address the most important issues that have lead to this ethnic conflict in the first place - namely a lack of appreciation of how we are all connected no matter who we are.

I feel the contents of this article help - because it highlights that the solution is already written in our collective cultures and the history of Sri Lanka.

Here are just a few excepts from attached document (it is better that you read the whole thing rather than just this - i don't want to change the overall tone of the prose by presenting excepts, however hopefully this will catch your eye and wet your appetite to want to read more : -

"While South Asia celebrates a vibrant history of cultural pluralism and diversity, there is a tragic contradiction posed by conflicts triggered off on the basis of imagined racial lines."

" Heritage in the main is viewed as a source of people to people connectivity in conflict resolution. It seeks to understand the Pre Colonial heritage and question exclusiveness against inclusiveness; grassroots level peoples’ connectivity cutting across ethnic, language, religious and political divides juxtaposed to divisions imposed from above by Colonialism and later by local decision-makers. It looks at heritage as an idiom that expresses a common language of humanity where people reach out to each other for understanding, sharing and co-existence."

"Towards an alternative dialogue: heritage and conflict resolution
The cultural landscape of South Asia essentially represents a habitat of multi-cultural and varied biological identities. In contemporary South Asia we possess ethnic, language, religious and religio-cultural diversity providing its regional society with multiple identities."

"While Archaeology and history are subjects that are effectively used by all contending parties in conflicts where the past is subverted in creating imagined identities, conversely archaeology and heritage studies are perhaps the best avenues that could rectify the process of cultural plurality and demythifying all forms of parochialisms in a scientific manner and place alternative histories before the next generation for a better and rational understanding of the past. The mind set must be reoriented beyond the mono country and monoculture and be exposed to cross-regional and cross-cultural horizons."

"In order to further activate a dialogue with the past supporting conflict resolution, the Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya took cognizance of this situation and structured its curriculum in training the next generation of archaeologists and heritage managers in the most professional manner in reading the past devoid of any inhibitions and parochialisms.....The aim of this program was to familiarize the young archaeologists on the common heritage south India and Sri Lanka shared and to negate the fallacy of considering south India as the ‘other’ region and Tamil speaking people as enemies due to activities of the LTTE. "

" In spite of recurring upheavals I am positively optimistic about the wisdom of the people in our region to rise above abysmal parochialisms and reach out to each other with sanity and understanding on cultural connectivity and our shared heritage as a point of convergence “beyond the bloody dances of death” (Bhan 2006:99). "

If you found this article as interesting and as inspirational as I did then please pass it on.

A truly Unified Sri Lanka need the work of us all

There is still much hope for a unified and diverse Sri Lanka - however it is not going to fall on the table - We all have to contribute to help CREATE IT and PROMOTE THIS.

I have noticed that there are presently many LTTE Diaspora overseas are waving LTTE flags and seemly don't really understand what who this organisation is who they are supporting, nor do they understand the situation in Sri Lanka. They are also posting inflammatory and ill-informed statements on internet discussion groups.

Sadly i do not think this activity will act to help "heal sri lanka" which is what I believe is needed.

Similarly many Ultra -Nationalist Sinhalese are not helping the situation (who also post inflammatory statements on the internet and egg-ing on further meaningless debate).

Now is the time for the moderate peaceful people to speak out. Now is the time for people who care about Sri Lanka not to just focus on what is going wrong - but to create more of what is going write. I believe this group is just one group that is http://srilankan-diaspora.org/

[excerpt]

"Vision:
Making peace is more difficult than making war. But a start has to be made somewhere. It is hoped that this dialogue will be one of many endevours leading to a road map for all communities in Sri Lanka to co-exit in a non-violent environment."

When i see something that makes sense - I like to promote it.

Again these are just my thoughts, hopes and aspiration for a Unified Peaceful Sri Lanka that i'd like to share with you. I would like to hear your positive view on this suggestion.

Take care and stay in touch.

Please share your thoughts either with me or my blog

It's time to start the process of unity in diversity!

God Bless
Theruwan Saranai
Om Shanti
Inshalla

Love and Peace

Bishan :)

There "is" hope for Peace in Sri Lanka - Article on: People to People connectivity in Peace Interaction

I wanted to share an amazing article which is a transcript of a speech on "People to People connectivity and Peace interaction: redefining heritage for conflict resolution" by Sudharshan Seneviratne - an University of Peradeniya Scholar.

It was sent to me a few weeks back and I have now finally gotten around to finishing reading it. The persons ideas are very interesting and positive and I have included a few excerpts to give the gist of the article (otherwise you might be like me and not get around to reading it for ages). It was a speech delivered 2 years ago, but it's message is timeless.

I think it is very worthy to send this message at this point in time because I believe there really is hope for Sri Lanka to address the most important issues that have lead to this ethnic conflict in the first place - namely a lack of appreciation of how we are all connected no matter who we are.

I feel the contents of this article help - because it highlights that the solution is already written in our collective cultures and the history of Sri Lanka.

Here are just a few excepts from attached document (it is better that you read the whole thing rather than just this - i don't want to change the overall tone of the prose by presenting excepts, however hopefully this will catch your eye and wet your appetite to want to read more : -

"While South Asia celebrates a vibrant history of cultural pluralism and diversity, there is a tragic contradiction posed by conflicts triggered off on the basis of imagined racial lines."

" Heritage in the main is viewed as a source of people to people connectivity in conflict resolution. It seeks to understand the Pre Colonial heritage and question exclusiveness against inclusiveness; grassroots level peoples’ connectivity cutting across ethnic, language, religious and political divides juxtaposed to divisions imposed from above by Colonialism and later by local decision-makers. It looks at heritage as an idiom that expresses a common language of humanity where people reach out to each other for understanding, sharing and co-existence."

"Towards an alternative dialogue: heritage and conflict resolution
The cultural landscape of South Asia essentially represents a habitat of multi-cultural and varied biological identities. In contemporary South Asia we possess ethnic, language, religious and religio-cultural diversity providing its regional society with multiple identities."

"While Archaeology and history are subjects that are effectively used by all contending parties in conflicts where the past is subverted in creating imagined identities, conversely archaeology and heritage studies are perhaps the best avenues that could rectify the process of cultural plurality and demythifying all forms of parochialisms in a scientific manner and place alternative histories before the next generation for a better and rational understanding of the past. The mind set must be reoriented beyond the mono country and monoculture and be exposed to cross-regional and cross-cultural horizons."

"In order to further activate a dialogue with the past supporting conflict resolution, the Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya took cognizance of this situation and structured its curriculum in training the next generation of archaeologists and heritage managers in the most professional manner in reading the past devoid of any inhibitions and parochialisms.....The aim of this program was to familiarize the young archaeologists on the common heritage south India and Sri Lanka shared and to negate the fallacy of considering south India as the ‘other’ region and Tamil speaking people as enemies due to activities of the LTTE. "

" In spite of recurring upheavals I am positively optimistic about the wisdom of the people in our region to rise above abysmal parochialisms and reach out to each other with sanity and understanding on cultural connectivity and our shared heritage as a point of convergence “beyond the bloody dances of death” (Bhan 2006:99). "


If you found this article as interesting and as inspirational as I did then please pass it on.

A truly Unified Sri Lanka need the work of us all

There is still much hope for a unified and diverse Sri Lanka - however it is not going to fall on the table - We all have to contribute to help CREATE IT and PROMOTE THIS.

I have noticed that there are presently many LTTE Diaspora overseas are waving LTTE flags and seemly don't really understand what who this organisation is who they are supporting, nor do they understand the situation in Sri Lanka. They are also posting inflammatory and ill-informed statements on internet discussion groups.

Sadly i do not think this activity will act to help "heal sri lanka" which is what I believe is needed.

Similarly many Ultra -Nationalist Sinhalese are not helping the situation (who also post inflammatory statements on the internet and egg-ing on further meaningless debate).

Now is the time for the moderate peaceful people to speak out. Now is the time for people who care about Sri Lanka not to just focus on what is going wrong - but to create more of what is going write. I believe this group is just one group that is http://srilankan-diaspora.org/

[excerpt]
"Vision:
Making peace is more difficult than making war. But a start has to be made somewhere. It is hoped that this dialogue will be one of many endevours leading to a road map for all communities in Sri Lanka to co-exit in a non-violent environment."


When i see something that makes sense - I like to promote it.

Again these are just my thoughts, hopes and aspiration for a Unified Peaceful Sri Lanka that i'd like to share with you. I would like to hear your positive view on this suggestion.

Take care and stay in touch.

Please share your thoughts either with me or my blog

It's time to start the process of unity in diversity!

God Bless
Theruwan Saranai
Om Shanti
Inshalla

Love and Peace

Bishan :)

A great step in the direction of "lasting Peace" in Sri Lanka

Dear friends

Asia tribune has written an article about latest developments in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Diaspora abroad have held talks in Colombo with officials - with resultant positive outcomes at this early stage (see below). I have supplied the link below, as well as the entire transcript at the end of the email. There is a call upon all who are willing to help to do so, with many suggestions of how included.

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/16728

Also the link to the website called "The Sri Lankan Diaspora - dialogue for peace"

http://srilankan-diaspora.org/

Below i have also included excerpt from an interview with a Leader of the Tamil Diaspora - with a very insightful interview into one perspective of a Tamil Diaspora group

This interview and perspective illustrates that journey to peace is not going to be easy - but I believe with open communication and effort on both sides (as I believe is already starting to happen) it will be possible.

Please forward this email to spread these important articles which offer real hope of how peace and understanding can be spread with regards to Sri Lanka - as I believe these articles aim to do.

Peace in Sri Lanka
and Peace on Earth

love
Bishan

ps sorry to bombard you with emails in the last few days - I will not be sending more group emails for some time! (I just felt that this was an important one - if you are interested in the development in Sri Lanka the asia tribune article is important to read, and the sri lankan diaspora website is worth checking out!)

http://peaceandunity-bishan.blogspot.com/

“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong”

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected”

(quotes by Mahatma Gandhi)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that"

(Martin Luther King, Jr.)



Asia Tribune article - 11-4-09

Thousands of lives would have been saved if Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora were invited long time ago

Sat, 2009-04-11 05:11

By Henry Sathananthan from Australia

Twenty one of us went to Colombo to get help for our refugees (IDPs) in the North by invitation of the foreign minister, the Hon. Mr. Bogalagama. This was the first time a foreign minister invited the Tamil Diaspora for direct talks in a 2 day conference organized in Colombo, for which we are very thankful. The Government listened to us, one to one, each with diverse opinions and we initiated a constructive dialogue.

This should have been done a long time ago and would have saved thousands of lives. We opened the door for further negotiation for anyone who wants to go and we will facilitate this to the best of our ability.

The talks were cordial and various matters were discussed including the rehabilitation of the IDPs, devolution, discrimination of Tamils by successive governments, safety of the people in the war zone, resettlement, medical aid etc., focussing on the immediate future of the Tamils.

We also met four other ministers and their secretaries, including the Basil Rajapakse, who elaborated at length about the rehabilitation of the East, which was impressive. Dr.Tissa Vithana spoke to us about devolution which was most encouraging. We also met some Tamil politicians but not the TNA who were conspicuously absent, and asked them to help the people in the North. We believe that the TNA must go to their electorates and help the IDPs, which is their responsibility.

When I met the foreign minister in October 2008 in Melbourne with Dr.Nadesan, I requested him to open up the roads and allow our IDPs to go anywhere they like to settle, which he agreed to in Colombo among other concessions, which will be elaborated in our website in due course by other members of our team.

We represented ourselves as individuals members of the Diaspora and seek nothing in return. I represented my forefathers and my father, the late C.Arunachalam. We hardly knew each other before we met in Colombo.

Since our mission was primarily to help the IDPs, I undertook urgent medical needs for the IDPs and met the Secretary Health Ministry on 30th March 2009, in keeping with my expertise, which was agreed to at the conference. We will do our best to help these people who have nothing left, except maybe there homes or land.

The government has given them shelter, food and some medical aid and now it is our turn to help, irrespective of our political affiliations. The government cannot do this alone, since they have to look after, the soldiers, as well. The news this week has not been good. We have lost more innocent lives and a generation of youth on both sides in this conflict, our own children - a tragedy indeed! We may be able to stop this by further negotiation, if the Tamil Diaspora all over the world are willing to do so now.

Here are the stats:-

* 60,000 IDPs in government welfare camps – more coming day by day- many injured or maimed

* 60,000 or more trapped in 20 sq Km in the “safety zone” under LTTE control (Peace Council)

* 14 IDP camps in Vavuniya (see table attached) – one was visited by some of us

* 1 camp in Ambepussa – 39 youth who surrendered – we saw it and were impressed

Urgent needs from Health Ministry:-

* Anaesthetists

* Orthopaedics surgeons

* Psychologists

* Physiotherapists & Occupational therapists

* Drugs and bandages (drugs approved by Ministry – are cheaper in SL)

* Cheddikullam hospital – equipment and doctors – instruments cheaper in SL

* Upgrade Mannar and Vavuniya hospitals

* Nurses and Counsellors

* Tents for refugees and doctors in camps

Sri Lankan, Indian and French doctors are already there plus 14 NGOs - local and international

Doctors need to work at least 1 month – security, transport in SL and house? will be provided.

So I appeal to all doctors and paramedics in the Diaspora – Tamil, Sinhalese, Burgher, Muslim and also Australians. We have to work closely with the Health Ministry and Sri Lankan doctors

Other needs for IDPs. These will be addressed by other members of our group eventually

* Food and nutrition

* Beds and sheets

* Schools, teachers, books

* Computers and CDs, DVDs, PPTs

* Prostheses

• Toys

Yes we can :-

* Sponsor a student or orphan in a school

* Sponsor a family for rehabilitation

* Rehab a whole village – build homes

* Ask your relatives in SL to give a home to a family – anywhere in Sri Lanka

* Contribute funds to ICRC or camps, churches, temples or open your bank account in SL

I urge the Tamil Diaspora and all Sri Lankans to come forward in the darkest hour of our tormented history. Don’t take a back seat now, politics apart. The IDPs of all communities need your support, now or never. They have suffered long enough. They are our own people – not so fortunate as we all are. They have to be resettled and cannot live in camps for the rest of their lives. This is their hour of greatest need. Please visit http://srilankan-diaspora.org/ for images of refugees and other information

We lived as one not so long ago, remember our school and university days and the free education we had? Lets work together to help our motherland and our peoples.

Arunachalam Henry Sathananthan Professor, Monash Immunolgy & Stem Cell Laboratories, Monash University

- ASian Tribune -


(excerpts from ) "The Sri Lankan Diaspora - dialogue for peace"

http://srilankan-diaspora.org/2009/04/bridge-the-trust-deficit-a-tamil-diaspora-leader-tells-president-rajapaksa/#more-36

Bridge the trust deficit, a Tamil diaspora leader tells President Rajapaksa

By K.T.Rajasingham

mathiandvathanan1img_assist_customCopenhagen, 06 April, (Asiantribune.com):

‘My eldest brother must pave the way for the Tamils living abroad to come back and work for Sri Lanka’, Mathi Kumaraturai (38), a leader of the Tamil Diaspora from Denmark, told the Asian Tribune, saying ‘For me Sri Lanka President is my eldest brother. He must remove the trust deficit that is responsible for the ethnic divide in the country’.....

Even in the conference in Colombo, Government leaders avoided the existence of an ethnic issue in the country. They very tactfully gave prominence to fight against terrorism and once the battle to defeat the terrorists is over then they will endeavor to bring about solutions to issues confronting the Tamil community. They just simply lectured to us.......

But I wish to point it out to the President of Sri Lanka and the people of Sri Lanka that the Government without bringing a reasonable and acceptable solution to the issues affecting the Tamils, it will never get either my support or the support of the entire Tamil Community who are in Sri Lanka as well as from those like me living in foreign countries.......

No one should think that I am saying this with some ulterior motives. I just expressed, as a Tamil, the views of Tamils.....

We consider the President as an honest person. We observed that he wanted to solve the issues and win the hearts and minds of the people. Unfortunately he hasn’t got one right thinking Tamil man as his advisor to advice on the Tamils’ mentality......

It is unfortunate. All those surrounding him wanted to make him an uncrowned leader of Sinhalese, but they failed to advise him to be a Sri Lankan statesman. We are thankful to the President for making some portion of his address also in Tamil language in the last UN General Assembly......

I would not have addressed him as “Excellency”. Because as a President, I consider him as my “Elder Brother”. Therefore it is his bounden duty to treat the Tamils as his own brothers and sisters and win their minds and hearts.

He should understand that outside Sri Lanka there are thousands and thousands of Tamil who are professionals who can help him in building the country and also invest in the infrastructure of the country. These Tamil professionals are itching to come to Sri Lanka and build it with all the others. But it is the moral duty of the President, Government and the people of Sri Lanka to make these Tamils living abroad to feel that Sri Lank as their home."

Melbourne Riots

Beyond the pain of this ongong conflict here in Sri Lanka, I have know that there has been tensions flaring between the Sinhalese and Tamils diasporas in places much more close to my other homes in Australia and New Zealand.

However it was with great saddness that there was a clash between a group of Sinhala and Tamil people peacefully protesting in Melbourne.

The google search for melbourne riots and Sri Lanka picked up

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/tamil-peace-march-attacked-sinhalese-melbourne#comment-337820 (1st hit)

http://sinhale.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/melbourne-tigers-become-violent-attack-people-and-damage-shops/ (3rd hit)

There are quite disparaging reports available on the internet as to who started the brawl, I have my suspicions based upon what I have read. However, who started the clash is not what matters the most to me (although it is of some significance), but rather it is the the discussion that follows by expatriats who have grown up as citizens of the same country - ie Australia.

I really think it is time for us to use our "intellect" and "compassion" to approach this terrible escalating situation of hatred.

I posted the following comment just now after reading some of the 21 comments written after the posting of the article (mine is the 22nd comment on the first link, but reproduced here for you). I really feel it is time for us to start expressing our views (with care). I would love to hear your responses to what I have said from all my friends and others who i don't know for that matter. Please speak your mind, but do so gently for everyones sake - i like dialogue, not destruction!

Start of comment

0

• reply

Bishan Rajapakse (not verified)

at 11:01 on April 6th, 2009

Dear friends

I am a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese person who was born in Sri Lanka but left there at age 6 months of age. I've lived most of my life in New Zealand during which time I had equal numbers of Sinhalese and Tamil friends - we all had amazing times growing up together but never really talked about the politics of Sri Lanka. Some of my Tamil friends were, and still are, the the closest friends I have, and the most amazing people I have met. Similarly some of my Sinhalese friends from NZ and Australia are the most amazing people in the world to me. And to add to this I am fortunate to have wonderful friends in Sri Lanka from all races - however the purpose of this post is not to talk about my blessings of having good friends - there is something important I want to communicate.

I returned to Sri Lanka 3 years ago, carrying my western background on my shoulders as I have been doing a PhD here which has taken me all around the island, from Anurahdapura, to Polonnaruwa, to Chillaw, to Kandy, to Galle, to Beruwalla and hopefully soon to Jaffna and Kilinnochi.

During this journey I have seen such cultural diversity and learned that the people of Sri Lanka are amazing in so many ways.

I have also learned Sinhalese during my time here and am currently learning Tamil. There are many problems with the Sri Lankan government such which are found in this region such as corruption and lack of accountability (however there is that also in countries such as western countries). Sri Lanka has witnessed terrible atrocities against the Tamil people for which I personally feel sorry for despite having no connect. However I also feel very sorry for the countless suicide bombings that have killed so many innocent people

I have one question, one statement, and one plea for the people in this forum

1 Question : Can you not see that we are all one race - the human race. Brothers and sisters? The sooner we realise this at every juncture - even when writing in forums like this the better. We all have mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. WE all have children in our communities. Children a beautiful gems of innocence - can you not see that it doesn't matter where they come from they are the same. When i treat a patient it doesn't matter to me if they Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim or Burgher - i know this is the case for the docotrs that I have worked with in Sri Lanka - How do I know because I have worked with them - not because i'm chanting someone elses mantra - are you? I know that direct experience is the closest to the truth that I can get.

1 Statement: The Sri Lankan government is "not" having a war on Tamil Civilians, and is not trying to wipe out a race. I believe there is discrimination against (all) minorities in this country, and that situation needs to be improved here (just as discrimination against minorites has to be addressed in all countries around the world) , however, Sri Lanka it is "not" trying to wipe out Tamils in this country as many people in this forum are stating.

This is simply not true

This war is terrible and I am not for it, and i never have been (because for me it means we just haven't explored enough other possibilites). However, not being for the war does not mean I support the blatant lie that the current war is targetting Tamil civilians. It is a war against the LTTE a bonified terrorist organisation - or even a Freedom fighter movement (entertaining alternative perspectives as I like to) that is continually trying to paralyse the running of the country with suicide bombings.

There is clear evidence that LTTE have been and are currently using the civilians as human shields often against the will of the very people they claim to support.

There is no comment about this, in this forum, from those who are so vehemently in favour of this group.

The LTTE is even shooting at their own civillians when they want to leave to government safety. I know this because the civillians from the northern province sometimes come to the Anuradhapura hospital for treatment.

And who are the LTTE soldiers on the battlefield? 12-16 year old girls who have been forcibly conscripted and trained as snipers. I met soldier who had just been discharged out of hospital two days ago after being shot by one such person, telling how they have to shoot because these children are sent to the front line with the orders to shoot. They were given the option of surrendering by they army but they are not permitted by the LTTE.

It is a terrible thing this war. Imagine the psychological scars off all people considered.

These soliders I met had no malice against the Tamil people. I have no direct experience with the LTTE cardres., but certainly I have heard many reports amongst Anuradhapura doctors about conversations with patients who had come from the wanni who were convinced that Sinhalese because they all want to kill them - and this is the doctrine of the LTTE.

Sri Lanka is not performing Genocide

In the last year I have lived and worked closely with people from all the racial and religious minorities in Kandy and Polonnaruwa. We all shared our stories, food, knowledge of cultural practices, we all worked as one. Where I work at the moment sinhalese doctors are trying to attend classes to learn Tamil in their spare time (and it is a government requirement for them to do so to progress to the next level. When travelleing in Wellawatte in Colombo right now the predominate language you hear spoken is Tamil - is this a country that is trying to wipe out a race - why would they want to? Tamils are part of the community and the cultural diversity that makes up Sri Lanka. The day before independance day (3rd Feb 2009) there was a Hindu festival down our street where the Hindu community (predominantly sri lankan tamils) where proudly parading down the street in full costume, with smiling onlookers of other ethinic and religious backgrounds - the way it should be - and the way it "is" - please open your eyes. I am not saying there are no tamil grievances - but this idea of genocide that or that sri lanka is against tamil people is completely wrong.

I challenge anyone who says otherwise to state what their "direct" experience of Sri Lanka right now in 2009 April is in relation to their view?

Are you living in Sri Lanka ?

I would love to meet you and have a cup of tea if you are, and hear your pain, which I know is real, but maybe this is what is needed - for all of us to hear each others pain and share our love and forgiveness (I am serious), rather than throw around liberal helpings of hatred.

And if you have not direct experience, "please" consider the "range of altenatives" to your strongly held belief that Sinhalese hate Tamils, and that Sri Lankan Goverment want to wipe them out. Try reading both the lanka defence website as well as Tamil net - also how about reading the Sri Lankan Government's peace website (http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/peace2005/Insidepage/SCOPPDaily_Report/SCOPP_report240309.asp) - I know many suppporters of the Sri Lankan government who still read Tamil net to know what is being said from a different perspective - I wonder if many LTTE supporters have actually read the Governemet of Sri Lanka's websites for a different perspective?

And finally - 1 Plea

Please, please, use "intellect" and "love" together and then we, together will find a way out of this mess.

The people caught in the conflict now are suffering and we can pool together to help them instead of slinging around our own versions of hatred.

I know of a gorup of academics from Peradeniya University who are organising Aid - for those people who are adamant that nobody in Sri Lanka cares about Tamils (which is not the case - as shown by the altruism of this particular group as just one example - all Sinhalese that, and endorsed by the university and government), why not put your compassion where your mouth is and help these people. Post on this blog your interest and I can organise the dissemination of more information about this mission that is headed to Vavuniya on Thursday.

To all my brothers and sisters whatever your background. Have courage to consider other possibilities to your own, and regardless, the courage to forgive and move forward.

Let's not hate each other. Let's Help each other out! It's much more pleasant that way!@

Peace on Earth

love

bishan

ps one more thing - to my friends from Sri Lanka who also feel the way I feel, please share you comments and make it clear that Sri Lanka "does" care about the Tamil people . Don't be put off by the comments of others. Don't fall into the trap of the hatred game. I liked your comments Deshi

pps also the language we use to communicate is very helpful, why not use "non violent communication" (http://www.cnvc.org/)

0

• reply

Bishan Rajapakse (not verified)

at 11:12 on April 6th, 2009

Pps. Speaking of considering alternatives to any peace of information - when i googled "Melbourne riots, sri lanka" this "now public" blog was the first hit, however 3 hits down was another report which gives quite a different perspective which I think ought to be considered by all who read this article - if nothing more than to gain quite a different perspective.

http://sinhale.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/melbourne-tigers-become-violent-attack-people-and-damage-shops/

take care

bishan

Images from "Sri Lanka and its long war"

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/sri_lanka_and_its_long_war.html

This link is a worthwhile link to images of the conflict that a friend sent me today.

The comment I left on this blog was:-

Thank you for presenting these photos. They avoid being too political but show the harsh reality of this conflict. There terrible methods of the LTTE (depicted in 21 which many have commented on), as well as the sad, sad consequences of war for the civilians, shown in photos of the civilians who have escaped the LTTE. It also shows how brutal war is - the picture with the tank destroying what is in front of it. Does the end justify the means? This conflict is so difficult to pass judgment on - however the pictures bring to light the common humanity we have - it doesn't matter if you are tamil, sinhalese, muslim or other - we are are all human beigns - if we concentrate on this then it will will bring real peace - my prayer

Posted by Bishan Rajapakse March 15, 09 03:18 PM

M.I.A. and the Bogey of Genocide in Sri Lanka (part 3)

mY reflections on MIA's interview:

I think that MIA is just expressing her views that she's fully entitled to. Regarding most of the facts regarding the conflict I believe she is either misinformed or aware of the incorrect information that she is providing for a political reason. The first of my posts (Part 1) was a transcript of an article published in the Sunday Leader by Dr Muttukrishna Sarvananthan which clearly outlines the error or lies in some of these statements. I feel Dr Muttukrishna gives a very balanced and factual account of some of the innacuracies of MIA's interview here.

With this post I would cover three themes that MIA talks about in her interview which have caused me to further delve into and reflect upon, and give my own commentry:-

1) the situation in Sri Lanka right now is dire
2) "Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing"
3) "I wanted to become a musician and help, like, some sort of change ....music was also used for social change"

1) the situation in Sri Lanka right now is dire

This is the truth from my perspective - but not for the reason that M.I.A. states.

There is no Genocide against the Sri Lankan Tamils (this is my opinion, but also the opinion of others).

However, for the group of civillians caught in the conflict (likely to be 100,000 - 150,000) the situation is dire, and has been dire for months. There is no nice way to dress this up - war is war, something that I am not in favour of (regardless of the situation see - www.warisaracket.com )

The reason the situation is dire is because of the war between the Government and the LTTE, ie the ongoing attacks and LTTE targeted shelling that is occuring. However, the dire situation is largely because the LTTE are using the civilians as human shields and will not let them cross over to government safe zones. In addition to this the LTTE have been opening fire on the very civilians they claim to represent (http://www.nowpublic.com/world/tamil-tigers-shoot-civilians-al-jazeera-english). I know this for a fact because I work in Anuradhpura and the Civilians who have been shot at are treated at Anuradhpura hospital. Often the care of these civilians necessitates the transfer of Army casualties to other centres. Clearly the Army would not be shooting at the very people who are then going to displaced their fellow soldiers in hospital beds. However the important fact is often glossed over by pro-ltte propaganda.

There have been many appeals made to the LTTE to release civilians they are using as shields such as this letter by V Anandasangaree the TULF (Tamil United Liberation Front) leader in the Sri Lankan government on March 14th ( http://tamilaffairs.com/news/the-last-chance-to-save-our-people )

The situation is dire also because of the huge number of IDPs (internally displaced persons)

The pro LTTE reports talks about the civilians being raped and murdered in the IDP camps as reasons for civilians not crossing to the goverment, yet what is shown on TV is army soldier looking after Civilians and giving them food etc. I do not believe that this is simply acting for the camera's

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/20092215405218943.html

I know from my contact with doctors who have been part of public health assesment teams that have visited such camps that the conditions of sanitation and health meet international standards presently. However they did mention the problem was that the residents couldn't move freely in and out of the camps (which has been covered by other media sources ). This is largely because of the risk of LTTE infilitration, but nevertheless a terrible situation.

Other reports say there is shortage of food and medicine, and I am currently trying to make donations of milk powder to help out with this shortage - so a situation of food shortage is a reality for at least part of the IDP population. However non governmental agencies are in operation to fill in the shortfall. This may not be as efficiently as one would hope for, but from the comments of one lady who is in charge of organising a charity mission to deliver food items to the Wanni - the response from the Sri Lankan communities in Colombo and elsewhere is very favourable. Her email (included below) shows what I have been observing for the last 3 years whilst living here that a large nubmer of SRI LANKANS CARE SINCERELY about the plight of Thamil citizens and the particularly the Thamil people currently caught in the crossfire or the IDP camps. This information is again contrary to the pro-LTTE propaganda which wants to create an image of Sri Lanka being a genocidal nation against the Thamil population)

excerpt from the email from a independant person organising a charity drop off of food to the civilians caught in the conflict :-

"Hi - Since this last mail to you, we have got approval from the government to ship this stuff out to the people in Mullaitivu. Please see attached the approval letter. Thank you to those of you who responded and brought in your contributions. The response was truly amazing. As you know we need quite a lot of milk powder so please continue to pass this on to your friends and their fiends because that is how we have managed to get so many contributions.

The revised list is as follows:

Lactogen – under 6 months
Cerelac 6 months – 1 year
Anchor + 1 – 3 years."

Large Number of IDPs

Because of the huge numbers of IDPs that have resulted from this conflict - the demand has outstripped the ability to provide. This is why there I believe there must be truth to many of the reports about the conditions of the IDPs.

The government is putting large resources into services that will ensure that these IDPs are looked after. Many cry that the government is doign this to hood wink the media - but as far as I can see - hoodwink or not they are "organising services", and rapidly doing so.

I was due to conduct a workshop in Padaviya Hospital (a provincial hospital at the northern boarder of the North Central Province) in a weeks time yet will probably have to cancel because the doctors and nurses are expected to be overwhelmed with the IDPs who are comming from the north to be treated starting tomorrow. They are transferring 400 IDPs to be treated at a time. So we have experienced a lag in service to what the demand was. This situation as terrible as is it is for the civillians has been manipulated by the LTTE propaganda movement to try and show that Sri Lankan government doesn't care about the Tamil Civilians which is not the case.

2) "Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing"

This is the second point that i have picked from MIA's interview which struck a chord with me. Living most of my life off the shores of Sri Lanka - I have always felt bad as to how Tamil Sri Lankans are constantly being with the Tamil Tigers (ie the LTTE) by default which is incorrect. I have always made it a point to correct non-Sri Lankan people when they just substitute the phrase "the Tamil Tigers" or "Tamils" (insinuating that they are referring to the Tamil Tigers) by telling them that they are two separate entities which may coincide in certain cases where Sri Lankan Tamils support the LTTE movement and their methods.

I was glad to see that MIA clearly expressed the same view.

When i first came to Sri Lankan in 2006 January, i was really interested in the the level of genuine support there was amongt the Thamil community for the LTTE. It is an increadible difficult thing to gauge, because there is support and non-support at so many different levels. For example one might align with the view that there are legitimate Tamil Grievances that the LTTE originally brought to the limelight with some vigour and they support the LTTe in this way, discounting the rest of what they stand for. They may support in the sense that one of their family members was a supporter or received some help, education or other support for a period of time. They may be fully aligned and active in all their causes, or perhaps (which is a situation I commonly come across) - they have been out of Sri Lanka for such a long time, after a very traumatic departure for terrible crimes against the Tamil Sri Lankans as a group committed by a minority of sinhala extremists (such as in the 1983 riots) that they clearly distrust the Sri Lankan government and will support the LTTE by default no matter what means they use to achive their objective of Eelam or a separate state.

I think question of how widespread and how firm the allegience of the Thamil Sri Lankans as a group is still a very important question (as I expressed recenty i a Ground views discussion on "Calling a spade a spade: Michael Roberts' 'moral relativism'") I was very frustrated with the way that sweeping statements about people allegiences are often made in disucssion forums where there is no firm evidence to back up their own strongly held beleifs. (I would like to make a point that anything i write here I am willing to be enlightened and educated to the contrary)

previous statement in Ground views discussion:-

“I am no admirer of the LTTE or of its ideological and military tactics, but I do not hesitate to recognise that it does represent a sizeable proportion of Tamil political spectrum and aspiration."

"bishan said,

March 7, 2009 @ 7:49 am

I have been reading these articles with interest. Thanks for all your viewpoints and perspectives.

There seems to be a simple difference of opinion her as to what the majority of the Tamil population feel with regards to the LTTE. Surely a more scientific answer to this question would be the best solution.

"but I do not hesitate to recognise that it does represent a sizeable proportion of Tamil political spectrum and aspiration."

Perhaps this is true, but please define "sizeable" and please let me know how you make this judgment? What is the sample you used to survey opinion of Sri Lankan Tamils? (please send a link to the study and methodology if it is available) Without a systematized well designed survey we are often left with "convenience sample" - ie people we move with, and not the people who we don't generally associate with - and we assume that this judgment is generalizable.

Agreed, that such a survey would be difficult to carry out, especially given that LTTE is a proscribed terrorist organisation in most countries and now Sri Lanka also. However, with a little ingenuity and if it were recognised to be important, I think a more scientific answer to the question of Tamils Sri Lankan's allegiance with the LTTE and or their views would be possible.

Otherwise the crux of this argument consists of largely speculation and opinion

thanks
bishan"

So again back to MIA - i think she clearly expressed her feeling that she did not like to be automatically associated with the LTTE

"So human beings around the world have to be taught to go Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing. And both of those groups are different. It's like a square and a circle."

This adds just a little bit more information to that important question of what do Sri Lankan Tamils think of the LTTE, or what does anybody think of the LTTE for that matter, as we are all affected by their activities (often negatively, with their associated extortion and crime) in any part of the world.

Just so there is no confusion this Aljezeera clip is a must see for any person who lives overseas and supports the LTTE. It illustrates the extortion that is going from the very people who they claim to be representing (LTTE terrorising UK Tamils Part 1-3)


3) "I wanted to become a musician and help, like, some sort of change ....music was also used for social change"

Finally, this is the element of the MIA interview really appeals to me - despite what she has incorrectly stated. All things said and done, i feel she is standing up for what she believes is correct, and is not afraid to express her views. There is great potential to be used for peace here.

I belive every post about the conflict in Sri Lanka should really end with a suggestions for peaceful solutions to this mess that we live in. Here i use the plural because I believe it will take more than just one solution to really make a difference.

I think music and the arts are key, and as MIA states - i think the music medium is powerful. I myself am a musician and have dreams of creating songs that will tie together our similarities rather than our differences in opinion.

Basicially we are all part of the human race, right? We live on the same planet - so we've got to share it.

It doesn't matter to me whehter you are Tamil or Sinhalese, Palastinean or Isreali, Afrikkaans or Black - we are all on bound by our desire for for peace and love, only we don't realise it.

MIA's message in the interview was political I feel, and many argue so is her music. This will naturally encourage a counter argument to be expressed

De Lon a westcoast rapper who is an ethnic Sinhalese Sri Lankan American makes this point is a "diss rap" of MIA's paper plane. Here he hightlights some very important facts about the LTTE atrocities ( M.I.A. Paper Planes Diss By DeLon - Nb there is some gruesome footage of LTTE suicide bombing in his video so please don't watch if you are not willing to see this)

I feel that De Lon has done well with this video, and I commend him for expressing his opinion musically, and effectively.

However, watching this video (as with MIA's original video) somehow did not make me happy, as there is still the bitter tast of conflict in the tune.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Delon and MIA could actually meet - have a meaningful dialog - and actually talk about peceived misconceptions and create a kick ass rap together about peace in the future - about how if we really put our hearts together, embrace compassion for humanity and "forgiveness of all sides", instead of hate of one another we can overcome this conflict ?? - now that would be something to really rave about?

True peace will only happen when we all fight for like it's the oxygen we need to breath.

I guess that's all from me

Peace out

M.I.A. and the Bogey of Genocide in Sri Lanka (part 2)

I have included the relevant transcript from the interview for anyone who is interested with some of my comments following.

excerpt from the interview:

M.I.A.: This is a good luck baby for me, and all the events, the way it's been happening, the way I've been sort of seeing it, is that being the only Tamil in the Western media, I have a really great opportunity to sort of bring forward what's going on in Sri Lanka. Like my success, it just seems to parallel the situation in Sri Lanka -- the more successful I'm getting, the dire the situation in Sri Lanka's getting.

And there's a genocide going on, and it's kind of -- it's ironic that I am the only Tamil, and I've turned into the only voice for the Tamil people, the 20 percent minority in my country. And yeah, it's weird that I'm being given the opportunity.

Tavis: This platform.

M.I.A.: Yeah, a platform.

Tavis: Since you've been given the platform, take it for just a second. For those who may not be familiar with Sri Lanka and the Tamil people, tell me the top line of who the Tamil people are, what's happening in Sri Lanka, now that you have this platform to talk about it.

M.I.A.: Well, Sri Lanka is an island off the coast of India. There's two ethnicities there; one the Sinhalese, which is the majority and the government, and the minority, who are the Tamils. That's where I'm from. And my lifetime sort of began there, I spent 10 years, and I was there during when the war started and fled as a refugee to England.

And basically since I fled till now, it's -- there's been a systematic genocide which has quiet thing because no one knows where Sri Lanka is. And now it's just escalated to the point there's 350,000 people who are stuck in a battle zone and can't get out, and aid's banned and humanitarian organizations are banned, journalists are banned from telling the story.

It's just, like, one-sided, 100 percent, and I think it's just escalated because Obama was coming into power, because only under sort of Bush's presidency that you could get away with doing as much as that.

Tavis: When you say there's genocide happening there, what's your sense for why a story of genocide isn't being covered more in the media? Why don't we know more about this?

M.I.A.: You don't know more about it because due to the propaganda -- when you think Tamil, you automatically thing tiger, and that is completely disproportionate. So human beings around the world have to be taught to go Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing. And both of those groups are different. It's like a square and a circle.

And the thing is there's only 4,000 Tamil Tiger soldiers in Sri Lanka, and if you want, you could just sneeze and wipe them out in a day. They're not that sophisticated with their weaponry and stuff like that -- the Sri Lankan government, which is a million soldiers big, can handle that.

But using those people, we're managing to wipe out the whole Tamil population, the civilians, and that is why you don't hear about it, because the propaganda in the media, because if you're a terrorist organization, you don't have the right to speak, that is passed on to the Tamil civilians. The Tamil civilians don't have the right to speak or right to live, they don't have any liberties.

So that's been the key thing, that when you think al Qaeda, you're not thinking Afghanistan. That if you want to go and fight and kill al Qaeda, then you can, but you can't wipe out Afghanistan. And that's what's happening in Sri Lanka, and I think it's really important for America to understand that, because they set the precedent on how you fight terrorism around the world.

And it's really important that just that sort of throwaway comment, "Oh, Tamil, she must be a Tamil Tiger," actually, the repercussions of that is killing people back home.

Tavis: And offensive, I would assume.

M.I.A.: Yeah, definitely.

Tavis: I'm glad we had a chance to talk about that. I learn something on this show every day, so I thank you for indulging my questions about that. You mentioned -- we were talking about your country you mentioned that you sort of grew up there and you were there for at least 10 years. There were some other years when you weren't there, and I was reading about your background -- you've lived, like, a lot of places. How has that impacted your music, your sound, your style, the fact that you --

M.I.A.: Well, I've lived in India, too, and --

Tavis: Right. And London, and --

M.I.A.: Yeah. I've just always traveled because that's what you do when you're a refugee, and I think it's just impacted me because I'm not judgmental, and I like to hear things from the horse's mouth and I use my own brain to make judgments about what the truth is and what isn't, and I know it from my own experiences what that is.

And I think it's always been that's the thing about my music. Like, I wanted to become a musician and help, like, some sort of change, or stand up for what I believe in, or use music for what it's supposed to be for. And so it wasn't really about getting fame and success and becoming a celebrity and selling records, it was more about bringing together an opinion or a point of view of the other that doesn't usually get heard in the mainstream.

Tavis: You know there are a lot of artists who shy away from that; they don't want to bring their truth, whatever that is, into their music. They just want to entertain people.

M.I.A.: I know, but music was also used for social change. It's not a bad word. And I think we just kind of shy away from it because the pressure of being successful and the pressure of being sexy and standing up for nothing is just so big, you know what I mean? (Laughter.)

Tavis: Yeah, I like that.

M.I.A.: Yeah, so I think that is -- you have to be pretty tough to, like, fight that, and the fact that I kind of had the experiences that I had made me so tough and thick-skinned that it didn't matter what anyone put onto me, but it was more about the people that I was representing.

Tavis: Tell me about the song for which you were nominated for this Academy Award.

M.I.A.: It's kind of stirred up some emotions. I feel like people either love me or hate me, which is good, because that was the point of what I do. The point of M.I.A. is to be -- it's either to be loved or hated. At least you evoke that much of a strong opinion about music.

And "Paper Planes" I think is one of those songs that did that, and people couldn't work it out, and I think it was subversive for some people and it was too obvious for other people. Everyone constantly asks me what it's about, and like, "Are you a terrorist?" And it's like, "No," that has nothing to do with it.

And it could be about gun corporations selling guns and making billions of dollars, or it could be about immigrants coming over and being the scary other that's going to take everyone's jobs. And I kind of want to leave it ambiguous for my fans.

Tavis: Well, you picked the right soundtrack to be on.

M.I.A.: Yes.

M.I.A. and the Bogey of Genocide in Sri Lanka

Mathangi (aka Maya) Arudpragasam is a hip hop artist who was recently interviewed on controversy over her statements about the Civil war in Sri Lanka on Tavis Smiley's Public Service Broadcasting (PBS)

Most of the interview was grossly factually incorrect and this has caused a big stir amongst many Sri Lankan's, many of which have been expressed succinctly by Dr Muttukrishna Sarvanathan a Fullbright Visiting Research Scholar who himself is a Sri Lankan Tamil from the north of Sri Lanka. He recently wrote an article published in the Sunday Leader, a local Sri Lankan news paper, which I have reproduced with permission below (http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090301/Issues-1.htm)

M.I.A. and the Bogey of Genocide in Sri Lanka
Muttukrishna Sarvananthan

I listened to the interview of Tavis Smiley of the Public Service Broadcasting (PBS) with Mathangi (aka Maya) Arudpragasam ; a hip-hop artist (stage name M.I.A. – Missing in Action) who has been nominated for Grammy and Oscar awards for 2009. Maya was born in Sri Lanka, so she claims, (though I cannot confirm this fact but give her the benefit of doubt) but lived most part of her life first in India and then in the UK and currently a British citizen, to the best of my knowledge. I don’t think she has visited Sri Lanka ever since her family migrated to India in the early-1980s (and later to the UK), to the best of my knowledge.

Most of what M.I.A. said about the civil war in Sri Lanka during the course of the aforementioned interview was misinformation at best, blatant lies at worse, either due to ignorance or deceit. “It is ironic that I am the only Tamil, turn out to be the only voice for the Tamil people in the western media” thundered M.I.A., a claim that smacks of self indulgence and echoes the claim of the LTTE that it is the sole representative of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka; a claim accepted by very few Tamils in Sri Lanka or in the diasporas.

“There is a genocide going on………systematic genocide since 1983…. Tamils being twenty percent of the population getting wiped out…. 350,000 stuck in the battle zone getting wiped out…. one-sided, one hundred percent…. there are 4,000 Tamil Tiger soldiers but the Sri Lankan government, a million soldiers big, wants to wipe out the whole Tamil population” claims the self-appointed spokesperson and saviour of the Tamils in Sri Lanka . I can forgive M.I.A. for her lack of understanding of the meaning of ‘genocide’ because she is not educated enough to understand such terms. I can refer her to an elaborate recent interview with Dr. Franklin Lamb by International Lawyers Without Borders . According to a statement issued by the United Nations on February 16, 2009, the LTTE is (ab)using Tamil civilians in the conflict zone as human shield and shooting and killing civilians attempting to flee the conflict zone. The UN also highlighted the fact that children under the age of fourteen are continued to be forcibly recruited by the LTTE to fight this futile war . Is not the sacrifice of the Tamil children for lost cause genocide of the next generation of the Tamil community?

When and how did M.I.A. count 350,000 Tamils in the battle zone? How did she know that there are one million soldiers in the Sri Lankan armed forces? As a person who has undertaken post-conflict needs assessment in the conflict zones in early 2003 and post-tsunami needs assessment in early 2005 for the UN (mostly in LTTE-controlled territories), I can authoritatively say that there are only about 100,000-150,000 people in the battle zone (i.e. LTTE-held area in the Vanni) as of mid-February 2009, which amounts to a mere 0.50 - 0.75 % of the total population of Sri Lanka (circa 20 million) . So, how on earth she claims that Tamils accounting for 20% of the population are being wiped out? Of course, unacceptable numbers of innocent Tamil civilians are being killed in the past few weeks by both sides of the war, which is certainly a cause for grave concern. To the best of my knowledge, there are only about 300,000 personnel in the police and three armed forces (army, air force and the navy) of Sri Lanka, and not a million as M.I.A. claims.

M.I.A. also claimed that there are “two ethnicities – majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils” in Sri Lanka, which is factually incorrect. There are, in fact, several ethnic communities living in Sri Lanka – Sinhalese, Tamils of North & East, Muslims (though bulk of them speak Tamil they prefer to be identified as a separate ethnicity), hill-country Tamils (migrants from Tamilnadu state in India during the British colonial rule), Malays, Burghers, Chinese, Veddahs (indigenous people), Sindhis, Bohras, Memons, etc.

The self-professed “only voice for the Tamils in the western media” left out some other “truths” of the civil war in Sri Lanka. Perhaps, because she has been traveling around the world as a “refugee” she has not been in touch with what was happening in her imagined homeland. Cannot she remember the truth that LTTE massacred hundreds of Muslim worshipers in two mosques in Eravur and Kattankudy in the Batticaloa district (Eastern Province) in 1990? Cannot she remember the truth that innocent Sinhalese villagers were hacked to death by machetes and swords by the LTTE throughout this nasty civil war in the Eastern and Northern Provinces? Could not she remember the truth that nearly 100,000 Muslims were evicted from their homes at gunpoint in the Northern Province by the LTTE in 1990? Muslims were given only seventy-two hours (in many cases only twenty-four hours) notice to vacate their historical habitats and were not allowed to take their furniture or consumer durables along with them. Was not the massacre at the mosques genocide? Was not the forcible eviction of Muslims from the North ethnic cleansing?

“Tamil civilians do not have the right to speak or right to think, right to live”, so goes celebrity untruths of M.I.A. who has not even visited Sri Lanka in the past twenty-five years or more to make this sweeping claim. I myself (a Tamil from Northern Sri Lanka) have been criticising the Sri Lankan Government on matters of economic policies, human rights violations by the security forces, corruption, transparency and accountability of public finances, etc, in public forums such as the media. Of course, I am fortunate to be still alive, but not many other critics of the government were, particularly media personnel, in the past three years. These excesses by the security forces are nowhere near a genocidal situation.

Whether M.I.A. wins the Grammy and/or the Oscar or not; certainly, M.I.A., an epitome of the art of deception by some impervious and insular Tamils among the diasporas, deserves a naattu patrallar (person affectionate to the country or patriot) award from the demon god of the Vanni. In any event, poor civilians caught up in this vicious civil war would have never heard of M.I.A. or hi-hop music, nor are they interested. This kind of celebrity untruths will boomerang on the worldwide Tamil community as liars of the first order. Even the actual truths will be construed as untruths or at least suspected by the international community. As an ethnic Tamil myself, on the one hand I am proud of M.I.A. being nominated for the Grammy and Oscar awards, on the other hand I am disgraced by her blatant lies on television on behalf of “all Tamils” in Sri Lanka (and beyond), whereas nobody has given her permission to represent all Tamils.

As a learned person I have bit of advice for M.I.A. and the like members of Tamil diasporas around the world;

“It is preferable to tell the truth, small in its dimensions, than a large lie artfully embellished.” (Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, 1985, Guerrilla Warfare, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp146)

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi), hails from Point Pedro, Northern Sri Lanka, and is the Principal Researcher of the Point Pedro Institute of Development http://pointpedro.org and a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.

references
Smiley, Tavis, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), January 28, 2009, New York, USA. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s1ddeq6f6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g
Reiterated by Bruce Fein in The Boston Globe on February 15, 2009 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/02/15/genocide_in_sri_lanka?s_campaign=8315
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/175370-Israel-s-Attack-on-Gaza-Legitimate-Self-Defense or-War-Crime-
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=76378
In 2004 there were 378,000 people living in LTTE-controlled territories in the North, almost 90% of which have been taken over by the Sri Lankan security forces in the past fourteen months of fighting. (See Sarvananthan, Muttukrishna, 2007, “In pursuit of a mythical state of Tamil Eelam: a rejoinder to Kristian Stokke, Third World Quarterly, 28 (6), September, p1187)

Is there Genocide in Sri Lanka?

Whether there is Genocide against Sri Lankan Tamils is such an integral issue to this conflict I thought it was worth me highlighting my view on this topic again as a separate post even thought this was taken from an internet dialogue that I had.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_definitions

To me the word genocide is one that depicts hatred by the inciting party, but in addition to this the list of definitions involve the concepts of "intent to destroy"

Wikepedia's definition is:

"Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide

For those who accuse Sri Lanka of Genocide - really believe that the Sri Lankan nation is trying to deliberately and systematically destroy the Tamil culture and ethnicity?

I am speaking honestly and asking you "honestly" do you think this is what the Sri Lankan nation is doing or wants?


It greatly disturbs me that people have been so deeply affected by their direct experiences, or perhaps just the information that has been given to them, that they believe this.

In short to those who are reading this and have not made up their mind - please don't - don't make up your mind always keep it open, as a closed mind lends itself to the violence that currently perils Sri Lanka and it people.

From my experience, as person who has been living and working in Sri Lanka for 3 years, in places as far south as Galle, and north as Anuradhapura, central as Kandy and East as Colombo and Puttulum, someone who has talked to associates of the UN, Human rights organisations, Diplomats from various countries and members of civil society, including journalists film makers, and most importantly, from someone who has a deep respect and compassion for ALL people in this country. I do not believe there is "Genocide" of the Tamil people either now or in the past (at least in Post independance past that is)

There HAVE been terrible atrocities of and violations of human rights that makes us all sick, both currently and during JVP times. There have been heinous riots targeting Tamils (carried out by minoritiy of sinhala extremists), such as in the black July Pogrom of 1983 - but no Genocide as the commonly claimed by LTTE supporters.

Even in 1983 when the Sri Lanka saw it's darkest day in modern times - do we think that there was a systematized drive to eradicate the Tamil people and remove all traces of their existance?

Who then were the poeple who protected those perpetrated and risked their own lives in the process? What of the MP's who spoke out against this (they were a minority but there was at least one Kandy MP who fought against the rights, and i have spoke to personally about this)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_July

Black July was a terrible event that occurred because of a minority of Sinhala thugs murderous actions after the LTTE's provocation of killing 12 Sinahalese Army soldiers in a time when killing wasn't as commonplace as it sadly is today. The lack of response by the government of the time, was appalling. But as Chaminda mentioned we are still all suffering for this.

I am sorry for this - for the suffering that occurred. We all are sorry for for what happened. The Sinhalese, and the whole of society. Perhaps not the perpetrators.

Only in Sri Lanka people are not good at saying sorry. It's not just Sri Lanka. When i lived in Australia in 2000 we walked across the Harbour bridge in protest for John Howard (the Then Prime Minster) not saying "sorry" for the treatment and annihilation of the "forgotten generations" of Australian Aboriginies,

http://www.unolympics.com/reconciliation/sorry.shtml

Anyway back to my original question - is there genocide in Sri Lanka?

If there was why does the government forces not just kill all the people in the No Fire zone.

There are no human rights groups, there are no reporters. Why don't they just "exterminate them" as is constantly being accused?

The reason is that these people are human beings like you or I ,and they DO NOT WANT TO KILL Tamil people.

I know first hand the effort that has gone into saving lives of casualties of war, in Wanni civilians, who have received intensive surgery after transfer to Anuradhapura from the north - Why would they put all this human resouce and opertating theatre time ( a limited resource) in to saving the lives of people they were categorically trying to kill?

It is clear to me that this drive to lead the publlic at large, particularly people who live out of Sri Lanka , who don't have the luxury of knowing that Sinhala, Muslim, Tamil, Christian, Buddhist, English, Australian Burgher people all breath the same air, often eat the same food, drink the same water.

"Genocide" of the Tamil race only exists in the minds of the LTTE supporters because the concept of genocide is so abhorrent that it justifies equally abhorent means of protests such as the terrorist strategies of child recruitment and suicide bombing that the LTTE uses commonly.

Anyone who uses this term - please think carefully before you accuse the Sri Lankan nation (your nation) of being "genocidal". It is alright to use the term if you actually believe that the nation is deliberately trying to destroy the Tamil people. But anyone with any experience in Sri Lanka knows, this would be akin to cutting of one's own leg - Wellawatte (suburb of Colombo where my parents grew up) alone is approx 60% Tamil.

Again - do you really think that that Sinhala people want to Kill the Tamil people.

All I can say is that from first hand information about 150 don't - ie thats about all the Sinalaese people I know.

Or - do you think there are a group of extremists who occassionally say things like "lets carpet bomb the north" (as vile as this statement is) because they are "idiots" who are unrepresentative of the population at large?

I think it is the latter not the former -and even this group of loud mouths, if you really pinned them down - don't want to Kill Tamil people a root desire -they just feel threatned by the LTTE - and the same goes in reverse.

Anyway sorry to go on - but I think these are important concepts.

Finally, i think it is important for many people to write there views down. As it stands there are some serious claims being made here, and only about 4 people contributing.

I think a lot of positivity about the future and current harmony that exist should be brought to light.

Just my views
Cheers
bish

A dialogue on the Situation in Sri Lanka

Last month I spent many hours writing in a Facebook discussion thread my view on the current conflict. It was taken from some contacts of a friend of mine where the simple message was posted

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing, there is a field.
I will meet you there."

Muhammad Jalal al-Din al-Balkhi al-'Rumi'
Muslim mystic and poet
Born 1207, Afghanistan

The resulting dialogue was between a group of individuals who were largely unknown to me, both Sinhala and Tamil Sri Lankans who I believe are in the 20-40 age group, living overseas and within.

Whilst the conversation that ensues in by no means any representation of view, i found the conversation painful, yet revealing, about some of the extremely disparate views that exist out there (including my own when compared with others perhaps). I found the temperament of some of the individuals who I was having discussion with "challenging" but I learned a lot from this person so I thank him for this - infact it was this person who inspired my poems "war of minds" and "helicopters in the sky" which were posted earlier in this blog.

There are many links within the conversation that are useful.

It is my strong belief (as you will see with my comments) that the TRO videos are largely, if not totally LTTE propoaganda (that is there to aid their methods of suicide bombing and child recruitment) but I think everything is worth viewing. Similarly some of the articles that have been linked are government propaganda to make the situation look better than it is (which is as one of my friends said to me recently - "dire").

I have asked permission from those in the conversation to reproduce their comments and there has been no objection so far (and a few have actively okayed) - i will remove the comments of those who do not which to be on my blog.

The whole dialogue is rather long but i figure is it is a webpage so you can quickly scroll through the sections that you don't read. And cut out and edit parts of this dialogue is like adulterating the beads of truth that intertwine this collection of comments and views of a few individuals from Jan 30th to March 5th 2009.

There are quite a number of similar dialogues in facebook groups and other more academic web based organisations (such as ground views) that I occassionally post in. However, I find that a lot of people don't actually read or partake in these discussions which is why i wanted to provide such exposure here on my blog (I feel people not partaking in these discussions is perfectly reasonable for, as you can see below, the discusions can be very insensitive, and disparate from what the contributing people seem to be arguing for - ie respect for human life, and obviously quite painful for many to read). Also what i find regarding online discussion regarding the Sri Lankan situation is that these groups, or at least the people writing their views, are limited to only a handful of individuals - often the ones who "shout the loudest", or think their views is the most important and corrrect (I hope i'm not too guilty of this... actually i'm very shy when it comes to posting and have only recently been trying to get over this).

What I would like is for everyone to contribute just a little piece of their own view - as then we'd get a much clearer picture of what is going on so as always - please post your comments - i for one am very interested in what you think (even if you think the opposite of me) - On that note I really do hope I have not offended anyone in this post - or any of my other posts. I really do with all my heart stand for a peaceful united world - if you think that my ideas are not conducive to this then please "tell me" for I shall not be able to bear the blame for something that I am ignorant of when actively seeking my faults yet getting no reply....

I hope this is of some value for you.

Beginning of Dialogue

Dushy Pillai

January 30 at 4:40pm

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing, there is a field.
I will meet you there."

Muhammad Jalal al-Din al-Balkhi al-'Rumi'
Muslim mystic and poet
Born 1207, Afghanistan

Troop of Tigons

Troop of Tigons, League of Ligers - Advocates for solidarity and unity amongst Sri Lankans worldwide.

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
- Mahatma Ghandi

We have been conditioned to thi...

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

January 31 at 1:45am

thanks but no thanks,
i've never seen myself as being a "sri lankan"...

i'm a Tamil American from Tamil Eelam or Celyon.

y'all can have sri lanka and be sri lankan's - i will never be...

hope to see you at the protest tomorrow dushy...

STOP THE GENOCIDE...!!!

peace...

Ram Pillai

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January 31 at 2:11am

Reply

Arjun, I'm surprised and disappointed to see that you prefer the colonial term Ceylonese to Sri Lankan. Both sides are guilty of appalling human rights abuses, although no one can dispute that the Government is the root cause of the problems.

Neither side can win this war that is wiping out our people. Like it or not, a federal system is the only way forward. We can not achieve this if we go on having a them and us attitude.

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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January 31 at 2:49am

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I don't have a "them & us" attitude... i just believe in human rights and self determination...

well, it's a long story but names are important... Like Amparai or Kantalai... and many others have been changed on the maps to the sinhala Ampara & Kantale as they were colonized under state sponsored colonization of the east...

The name "sri lanka" was chosen in 1972 when the constitution was changed and Section 29 (2) was omitted in the new constitution... (see text of sect 29 (2) below)... the ratification of the constitution was illegal and so in my opinion so was the name (sri lanka)... and the omission of 29 (2), which is why a new constitution was written, broke the social covenant between the tamils & sinhalese, thus reverting the tamils to their precolonial status as a separate nation...

LTTE offered federalism in oslo... govt never responded... i'm all for federalism... i'm TamilAmerican afterall! FEDERALISM ROCKS... states rights etc... African Americans are about 12% of the US population... as are Tamils in SL... could a Tamil be elected president in SL... EVER? hahaha

Soulbury Constitution
Section 29 (2) No such law shall -

(a) prohibit or restrict the free exercise of any religion; or

(b) make persons of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions are not made liable; or

(c) confer on persons of any community or religion any privilege or advantage which is not conferred on persons of other communities or religions,

anyway, this is boring for all the others in this and so i shall stop... feel free to email me privately if you feel like continuing this...

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 2 at 12:54pm

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" SL... could a Tamil be elected president in SL... EVER? hahah"

let me mention a TWO NAMES!! Neelan Tiruchelvam, Lakshman Kadiragama!! Two people who could easily have been elected to be prime minister if not president one day!!! They would have certainly had my vote!! but alas.....

On your note on the constitutional amendment! Yes that was a mistake we are all still paying for. But then again old folks made stupid mistakes all over the world. Think about it! when that amendment was made black people couldn’t travel the same bus with white folks in some parts of the US. Now the US has a black president representing all the peoples of America. Now when we too can let go of the past and step up to the challenges facing all the people of Sri Lanka, then may be we can do something. OR conversely we can harp back to past injustices, stick to colonial names and wallow in sorrow for what it could have been and sow further division!

Your choice brother Arujunan!

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 2 at 2:27pm

Reply

damit, i just typed out a long response and then bloody browser quit... can't be bothered/don't have enough time to do it again right now... maybe later "bro"

by the way "bro" it's arjunan not arujunan...

Dushy Pillai

February 2 at 3:07pm

Reply

Thank you all for your views. If you would like, please mail each other directly to continue as I'm not sure if everyone in this list wants to be involved in a long drawn out, animated, discussion.

I do think though, politics aside, let's just get the people safely out of the war zone, facilitated by the ICRC. That's got to be the priority right now and I think everyone agrees on this.

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 2 at 3:41pm

Reply

shouldn't 'ave started it dushy if you didn't want a "conversation"... you put it out there...

and as far as your statement goes: "I think everyone agrees on this." that's a big assumption... i know i don't...

Canadian reporter Stephanie Nolan at the Border Checkpoint to the Vanni (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090123.wsrilanka0123/BNStory/International/)

"...these people stand on one side of the checkpoint, awaiting a long and unpleasant "security screening" by government soldiers hunting for any sign they have links with the Tigers. Those who pass muster — and most men 14 to 45 years old don't even bother to try — are waved through and taken to a refugee camp, where they will live behind thick coils of razor wire, forbidden to leave.

But no one here is talking about the other line in Vavuniya, the one five times as long — the line of people desperate to go back the other way. No one admits what it says about the chances for real peace in Sri Lanka that so many people see more hope for their families in a war zone than in the calm of the government-held side."

why should people have to move... i wouldn't want to go to govt controlled areas especially if i had (as most do) relatives in the LTTE... unless you've done a poll or something i'd have to assume that the people choose to be there... i mean can the LTTE, as "weak" as they are, fight off 150,000 SL Army, 3500 indian troops, AND at the same time keep 350,000 civilians from walking through the jungle if they really wanted to? c'mon...

why is everyone hell bent on making the IDPs come out...? why not just call for them to have the right to take refuge in an area they chose...

did the int'l community call for israel & hamas to allow the civillians in gaza to move to Israel "away from the fighting..."?

didn't the whole world instead ask israel for a ceasefire and to allow reporters, humanitarian organizations, and humanitarian assistance into Gaza...

why the different approaches to the situ in the Vanni...? is it antisemitism that makes the rules different of Israel when compared to SL?

it seems to me hypocritical for the international community to say that the LTTE are "forcing the civilians" to remain in the vanni... MOST of these people are relatives of the LTTE and/or are afraid that they will be tortured or disappeared (like in jaffna & the east) because the GOSL ASSUMES that they are "LTTE sympythizers"...

did you know that 40,000 civilians chose to displaced INTO the vanni in 2006-2008 because they felt safer there?

that 20 civilians chose to go there 2 weeks ago...?
i think we can all agree on this:
"gosl should stop attacks on hospitals & the "safe zone" they themselves identified and the GoSL should all humanitarian assistance & UN & iNGOs into the vanni to do needs assessments ON A PERMANENT BASIS... in essence just follow international humanitarian law...

watch this from TRO Vanni (editing & graphics by moi):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y0_e1fhKaM&feature=channel_page

globeandmail.com: Caught between the Tigers and the tanks

Source: www.theglobeandmail....

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka Every day, the women get up in the cool of early morning and walk a few kilometres north to the heavily fortified checkpoint that stands between them and their families. And ...

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Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 3 at 1:41pm

Reply

Arjunan, sorry for misspelling your name earlier! No offence was intended.

The video you posted was truly disturbing and upsetting. Even though it was a TOR production produced specifically to target the Tamil Diaspora it nevertheless shows people undergoing immense suffering. The other side would argue that this is EXACTLY what the LTTE wanted to orchestrate. Restrict civilian movement and place artillery launching pads adjacent to refugee camps with the specific aim of drawing fire. You think the Wanni is full of camera ready TOR people in case this happens? Pragmatically why would the SLA expend USD1000 artillery shells to kill a few babies and old women? You nor I can never really know the real situation, can we?

But I do agree with you that the two sides should cooperate. I would rephrase your statement as such

"The LTTE and the GOSL should agree on safe zones and avoid any military activity within and in 1km radius of these areas.”

Anyway, I do not think that this debate is going to change your stance Arjunan! I have had similar debates for years with many in Colombo. They have exactly the same argument as you: but just replace the word “Tamil” with “Sinhala”. They still show videos of the LTTE massacre of 146 Buddhist pilgrims at the Sri Maha Bodhi temple in Anuradhapura or talk about the Kebithigollewa massacre, the Gonagala massacre etc and justify further animosity and war. I personally don’t think we can really solve anything in this manner.

P.S. the Palestinians are not allowed to enter Israel

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 3 at 2:43pm

Reply

are yo dyslexic... it's TRO... not TOR... anyway... if it's just propaganda why doesn't the Govt all the media & UN to go to vanni freely? what's to hide?

i reeaaaaaly want to rip you a new one... but i don't have the time and i'm going to "respect" dushy's wishes... for now... but when i have the time i'll be back...

peace out...

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 3 at 3:01pm

Reply

"i reeaaaaaly want to rip you a new one"!!!!@$

Yo!! I am out of this one......

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 3 at 3:21pm

Reply

haha

Dushy Pillai

February 5 at 11:56pm

Reply

I'm not sure how hurling insult at each other is going to help anyone but if you must do it, DO IT ON YOUR OWN MAILING LIST. I'm getting complaints from others on the list.

Show some respect please.

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 5 at 11:58pm

Reply

shouldn't have sent it out then, no?

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 5 at 11:59pm

Reply

http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2120

False Gods

Source: www.tamilguardian.co...

Tamil News Site

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 6 at 12:04am

Reply

tell them they can just click delete without opening if they don't want to read 'em...

how's things with you anyway?
when's the wedding?
XXX

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 6 at 12:04am

Reply

Editorial Tamil Guardian 04 February 2009

The Co-Chairs have left the Tamil people’s fate in their hands.
In recent weeks the Sri Lankan military has begun massacring Tamil civilians in Vanni. Hundreds of people, including many children, have been killed or maimed in widespread and intense artillery and rocket bombardments. Hospitals, refugee camps and settlements have been targeted and hit hard. Having maintained a complete silence for months amid the killings, abductions, mass displacements and so on, the self-styled Co-Chairs of the 'peace process' (the US, EU, Japan and Norway) spoke up this week. If the Tamils had expected these custodians of international law, liberal norms, global justice, etc to condemn Sri Lanka's slaughter, they were quite mistaken. The underwriters of the 2002-2006 'peace' intervention instead told the LTTE to surrender its weapons and fall at President Mahinda Rajapakse's feet - so that the Tamils may be spared further suffering. This then is the simple choice the international community has left the Tamils: 'die on your feet or live on your knees'.

The Co-Chairs' statement is required reading for all Tamils. It is worth remembering these are the same international actors who swaggered up in 2001 to make liberal peace in Sri Lanka. To this end, they armed the Sri Lankan state (engaged in some 'security sector reform' along the way), revived the economy (in the Sinhala South), withheld aid from the Tamil northeast, and did their best to corner and weaken the LTTE. Because to them it is the LTTE, not six decades of Sinhala state chauvinism that is the problem. It is therefore worth remembering that the suffering heaped on the Tamil people in the past few years was prepared, funded, facilitated and encouraged by the international custodians of the 'peace process'.

On the one hand, the Co-Chairs statement this week - note that it was co-signed by the peace facilitator, Norway also - can be rightly seen as callous disregard for the suffering of the Tamil people. But it was ever thus, as those Tamils who refused to place their faith in international commitment to a just peace kept pointing out - even in the halcyon days (anyone remember the fuss about federalism?). It should be recalled that it was only aid to the Tamil areas that these donors made conditional on 'progress on the peace process', that international monitors point-blank refused to accept the military' continued occupation of tens of thousands of Tamil homes, schools and so on as breaches of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, and how they dismissed out of hand entire the agitation for self-determination staged by the Tamil people.

On the other hand, the Co-Chairs statement can also be seen as the final collapse of the international liberal project in Sri Lanka. Faced with the unmasked vehemence of Sinhala nationalism, they have no challenge, only accommodation, to offer. In other words, for all their rhetoric about human rights, democracy, pluralism, and such, when faced with the implacable hostility to all this by the Sinhala people (remember Rajapakse is universally popular amongst them), the international custodians of global liberalism are now merely seeking ways to get along, to 'make peace', with Sinhala chauvinism. No talk of now of 'conflict transformation' or 'peace-building'- unless, of course, it is teaching the Tamils to speak Sinhala or funding the Sinhala colonization of Tamil and Muslim lands (it's still called "development")

The point is this. These international actors never had the stomach to take on the Sinhala state's chauvinism. Instead they long pretended it doesn't exist, even as the signs were all around. Now, when it's in their faces, they simply bow to its ferocity - and ask the Tamils to do the same. Once the LTTE surrenders to Dutugemenu, the Co-Chairs will apparently "ensure an inclusive dialogue to agree on a political settlement so that lasting peace and reconciliation can be achieved." Well, we know how that’ll go.

The Co-Chairs have thus reduced the possibility of Tamils securing their rights - and their survival as a people - to the outcome of the battlefield. Having done all they can to stack the odds in favour of the Lion, they are leaving our future up to the Tiger. As we have argued before, it was Sinhala chauvinism that brought war to the island: armed struggle emerged as Tamil resistance. In that sense, the ferocity of the conflict is a test of two people's wills: the Sinhalese strive to crush the Tamils (and other minorities) and the Tamils, on the other hand, refuse to go quietly into the night. Therefore the crucial lesson for the Tamils is this: if we successfully stand firm against Sinhala hegemony, the international community will simply accept the outcome of the struggle. They have now lost all hope in a harmonious Sri Lanka - just as we did a long time ago.

Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 12:57am

Dushy Pillai wrote
January 30 at 4:40pm

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing, there is a field.
I will meet you there."

Dear Dushy, thank you for including me in this thread, there is much work to do with all the hatred that exists between some members of the different ethnic and political groups. Let it be known that most of these discussion groups usually consists of a few highly charged individuals that do not represent the views of the majority

Arjunan, Surah and Chaminda. Thanks for your comments.

Systematically I will make my responses in a moment,

But first of all - Dushy I would like to thank you for your quote that i copied again abolve - what you have written is by far the most sensible piece of discussion.

Let us not live in the past but think of our futures together. Sri Lanka is a wonderful country with immense potential that we all love in some form or other - even those who post denying that they care for it, as they wouldn't othewise be so emotionally charged.

So what kind of country do we want? A country that is plagued by the wrongdoings of the past or even the present, or a country that is already working towards a constructive future?

I will definitely meet you in the Field and there will be many more people waiting there. Arjunan - i hope you find the forgiveness in yourself to join us there - for humanities sake. I know it's tough but the hatred will only make you ill

(true) Peace
bishan

Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 1:09am

Ajrunan

Thanks for the information about Section 20 (2) being ommitted in the new constitution of Sri Lanka, i wasn't aware of this.

Your entry implied however that new constitution with the removal of

Soulbury Constitution
Section 29 (2) No such law shall -

(a) prohibit or restrict the free exercise of any religion; or

(b) make persons of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions are not made liable; or

(c) confer on persons of any community or religion any privilege or advantage which is not conferred on persons of other communities or religions,

was going to be discriminatory against minorities

However a simple google search will take you to the link for the current constitution of Sri Lanka

http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Chapter_03_Amd.htm

Under Chapter III - on fundamental rights you will find that the following

Right to equality.

12. (1) All persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law.

(2) No citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any such grounds:

Provided that it shall be lawful to require a person to acquire within a reasonable time sufficient knowledge of any language as a qualification for any employment or office in the Public, Judicial or Local Government Service or in the service of any public corporation, where such knowledge is reasonably necessary for the discharge of the duties of such employment or office:

Provided further that it shall be lawful to require a person to have sufficient knowledge of any language as a qualification for any such employment of office where no function of that employment or office can be discharged otherwise than with a knowledge of that language.

(3) No person shall, on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex or any one such grounds, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, places of public entertainment and places of public worship of his own religion.

(4) Nothing in this Article shall prevent special provision being made, by law, subordinate legislation or executive action, for the advancement of women, children or disabled persons.

So basically - the current constitution is to protect religious and ethnic diversity.

The Constitution of Sri Lanka: Chapter III - Fundamental Rights

Source: www.priu.gov.lk

10. Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

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Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 1:29am

Chaminda Rajapakse

February 2 at 12:54pm
Reply
" SL... could a Tamil be elected president in SL... EVER? hahah"

let me mention a TWO NAMES!! Neelan Tiruchelvam, Lakshman Kadiragama!! Two people who could easily have been elected to be prime minister if not president one day!!!

Thanks for your point here Chaminda.

Lakshman Kadirigama was the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and a Tamil Person who believed in addressing the Tamil Cause through the mainstream democratic process. He clearly expressed his views that whilst he was a Tamil person who was for the Tamil people he would never comprimise his integrity to go along with immoral methods of getting a message accros such as using child recruitment, forced conscription, and child recruitement. He eloquently expressed this viewpoint in a BBC Hard talk interview.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4373059.stm

He also was very high up in the order of the government at the time before he was assassinated by the LTTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshman_Kadirgamar

Why would a group that claimed to be representative of the Tamil Cause kill someone like this? This question has never been adequately answered to me by people who support the LTTE movement.

One of my good friends who is a Tamil Expatriate said he had never heard of Lakshamn Kadirigama - this was somewhat understandable as he had left Sri Lanka as a chid. However, what was somewhat perturbing to me was to how one sided the information reaching people can be. This friend did know about the struggles of the LTTE but had no response to my question above because he did not know that Sri Lanka actually had a top level democratically elected politician in the government in power until he was killed by the LTTE who likes to portray, as well as create, a government that has limited representation of minorities, particularly Tamil minorities.

This is why i put the Wikipedia link for those who had not heard him.

Bless his soul. Bless also the souls of all those who have been killed in this terrible conflict.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Hardtalk | After the tsunami

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Thirty thousand people died and one million were left homeless. Three months on, what is the state of affairs in a country already ravaged by the effects of thirty years of civil war?

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Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 2:03am

Ram Pillai

January 31 at 2:11am
"a federal system is the only way forward. We can not achieve this if we go on having a them and us attitude"

Thanks for your view point Ram. I agree, some sort of democratic power sharing is the way forward.

The lack of decentralized power that currently exists doesn't only negatively impact on Tamil predominant areas, but all provinces in Sri Lanka.

Colombo is so developed compared to the more outstation regions. However development is occurring and with ongoing collective effort I believe this solution is possible.

With regards to the Tamil and Sinhala people (an other minorities) an "us and them" attitude is definitely not helpful.

This is why i never understand the dream of Eelam because when I have spoken to supporters of this concept they are very much into separatism, (ie a place where Sinhalese would not be welcome, as one friend argued, despite wanting to take over the East of Sri Lanka which is of mixed ethnicity).

I can understand well the concept of having a homeland, but a homeland to share with others. This is attitude for Government controlled Sri Lanka at present - the Tamil people are welcome by all Sri Lankans. This is not to say that discrimination doesn't exist - of course it does, especially seeing there is armed conflict that is going on in the north right now, which means that Tamils are sadly character profiled as terrorists in the south.

However, to illustrate my point - The night before independence day in our house in a suburb of Colombo there was a night time street parade of a local Hindu community (who would have been predominantly Sri Lankan Tamils, on their way to the local Kovil)

The group of 80-100 were dancing and playing instruments, riding on Floats and generally parading their culture "loud and proud", the way it should be, and evidently "is" in 2009. It was a joyous occasion, and it was done with the smiles of the onlooking neighborhood which were mixed races (but predominantly Sinhalese). I took a photo which showed a Buddihist temple in the background of the Hindu devotees on one side, and a Sri Lanka flag also flying loud and proud from the house of one the neighbours houses on the other.

That moment made me realise what i've always known about Sri Lanka - it is a country rich in diversity of culture and ethnicity and embracing of different cultures.

The problem we are all emotional people and we get caught up on the "us and them" attitudes which are only confusing us about our common human link, as well as being caught up in the past wrong doings (of all sides) rather than looking forward to the utopia we could create together - NOW!

(this story of the Hindu pilgrims parading was on 3.2.09 by the way, not 30 years ago. This is not the story that one would expect if one was to ride on the impressions of the facebook symbols that both Arjunan and Ram have for their profiles which leads me on to my next post about "genocide")

Ram Pillai

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February 6 at 2:15am

Reply

folks, please spend your energy into more useful pursuits such as lobbying your governments, the UN etc into stopping the massacre.

Sent via Facebook Mobile

Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 3:00am

Is there Genocide in Sri Lanka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_definitions

To me the word genocide is one that depicts hatred by the inciting party, but in addition to this the list of definitions involve the concepts of "intent to destroy"

Wikepedia's definition is:
"Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide

Arjunan and Ram - do you really believe that the Sri Lankan nation is trying to deliberately and systematically destroy the Tamil culture and ethnicity as both of your Facebook images would imply?

I am speaking honestly and asking you "honestly" do you think this is what the Sri Lankan nation is doing or wants?

And to help me interpret your answer - do either of you "currently" live in Sri Lanka. If so please lets meet for a coffee and talk about this (I am serious about this).

It greatly disturbs me that people have been so deeply affected by their direct experiences, or perhaps just the information that has been given to them, that they believe this.

In short to those who are reading this and have not made up their mind - please don't - don't make up your mind always keep it open, as a closed mind lends itself to the violence that currently perils Sri Lanka and it people.

From my experience, as person who has been living and working in Sri Lanka for 3 years, in places as far south as Galle, and north as Anuradhapura, central as Kandy and East as Colombo and Puttulum, someone who has talked to associates of the UN, Human rights organisations, Diplomats from various countries and members of civil society, including journalists film makers, and most importantly, from someone who has a deep respect and compassion for ALL people in this country. I do not believe there is "Genocide" of the Tamil people either now or in the past (at least in Post independance past that is)

There HAVE been terrible atrocities of and violations of human rights that makes us all sick, both currently and during JVP times. There have been heinous riots targeting Tamils (carried out by minoritiy of sinhala extremists), such as in the black July Pogrom of 1983 - but no Genocide as the commonly claimed by LTTE supporters.

Even in 1983 when the Sri Lanka saw it's darkest day in modern times - do we think that there was a systematized drive to eradicate the Tamil people and remove all traces of their existance?

Who then were the poeple who protected those perpetrated and risked their own lives in the process? What of the MP's who spoke out against this (they were a minority but there was at least one Kandy MP who fought against the rights, and i have spoke to personally about this)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_July

Black July was a terrible event that occurred because of a minority of Sinhala thugs murderous actions after the LTTE's provocation of killing 12 Sinahalese Army soldiers in a time when killing wasn't as commonplace as it sadly is today. The lack of response by the government of the time, was appalling. But as Chaminda mentioned we are still all suffering for this.

I am sorry for this - for the suffering that occurred. We all are sorry for for what happend. The Sinhalese, and the whole of society. Perhaps not the perpetrators.

Only in Sri Lanka people are not good at saying sorry. It's not just Sri Lanka. When i lived in Australia in 2000 we walked across the Harbour bridge in protest for John Howard (the Then Prime Minster) not saying "sorry" for the treatment and annihilation of the "forgotten generations" of Australian Aboriginies,

http://www.unolympics.com/reconciliation/sorry.shtml

Anyway back to my original question - is there genocide in Sri Lanka?

If there was why does the government forces not just kill all the people in the No Fire zone.

There are no human rights groups, there are no reporters. Why don't they just "exterminate them" as is constantly being accused?

The reason is that these people are human beings like you or I and they DO NOT WANT TO KILL Tamil people.

I know first hand the effort that has gone into saving lives of casualties of war, in Wanni civilians, who have received intensive surgery after transfer to Anuradhapura from the north - Why would they put all this human resouce and opertating theatre time ( a limited resource) in to saving the lives of people they were categorically trying to kill?

It is clear to me that this drive to lead the publlic at large, particularly people who live out of Sri Lanka , who don't have the luxury of knowing that Sinhala, Muslim, Tamil, Christian, Buddhist, English, Australian Burgher people all breath the same air, often eat the same food, drink the same water.

"Genocide" of the Tamil race only exists in the minds of the LTTE supporters because the concept of genocide is so abhorrent that it justifies equally abhorent means of protests such as the terrorist strategies of child recruitment and suicide bombing that the LTTE uses commonly.

Anyone who uses this term - please think carefully before you accuse the Sri Lankan nation (your nation) of being "genocidal". It is alright to use the term if you actually believe that the nation is deliberately trying to destroy the Tamil people. But anyone with any experience in Sri Lanka knows, this would be akin to cutting of one's own leg - Wellawatte (suburb of Colombo where my parents grew up) alone is approx 60% Tamil.

Again - do you really think that that Sinhala people want to Kill the Tamil people.

All I can say is that from first hand information about 150 don't - ie thats about all the Sinalaese people I know.

Or - do you think there are a group of extremists who occassionally say things like "lets carpet bomb the north" (as vile as this statement is) because they are "idiots" who are unrepresentative of the population at large?

I think it is the latter not the former -and even this group of loud mouths, if you really pinned them down - don't want to Kill Tamil people a root desire -they just feel threatned by the LTTE - and the same goes in reverse,

Anyway sorry to go on - but I think these are important concepts.

And similar to Arjunan - i feel like this is a discussion group so I make no apology for my contributions. People can always hit delete after all?

Finally, i think it is important for many people to write there views down. As it stands there are some serious claims being made here, and only about 4 people contributing.

I think a lot of positivity about the future and current harmony that exist should be brought to light.

Just my views
Cheers
bish

Genocide definitions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: en.wikipedia.org

This is a list of scholarly and international legal definitions of genocide,[1] a word coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944.[2] While there are various definitions of the term, it should be noted that that ...

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Bishan Rajapakse

February 6 at 3:36am

Regarding the video that you posted Arjunan

"watch this from TRO Vanni (editing & graphics by moi):"

I am curious as to how this video was filmed. Who took the film? It looks quite professionally done? (ie there is a lot of commotion and disturbing images but the camera man is focused on his job in an emotionless way )

Are there people with Video cameras in the Wanni safe zones? I thought this area was under strict government control?

What was the hospital that we saw in operation - who were the doctors?

I imagine you will know much about this video footage (given you edited it), perhaps you could share more details with the group.

Anyone is free to make their mind up, but my impression is that this looks like LTTE propoganda, and if this is the case I am cautious of the validity of it's content and the message it is sending - ie the government is targeting civilians -again "why woud the government forces do this? The only reason would be if they had evidence of military proceedings which was clearly absent form the video - so i am confused, and believe there is some foul play of information here. Again no proof but my impression - based on the following:-

The Tamil Relief Organisation has strong links with the LTTE - i think anyone who is watching the video link that Arjunan sent should also at least read this article on the TRO published in the Asia Tribune in 17-1-05. I know that a lot of people donated money to the TRO post Tsunami thinking that this money was going to help civilians but it was never accountable for projects (something that any responsible NGO would have been able to do - ie track their funds) and it was likely that their well intentioned money went to the purchase of arms leading to the kind of destruction that was depicted in the video.

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=13051

Excerpts from Asia Tribune article:-

"In fact, Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation was hastily formed by the LTTE in the early part of 1986 in the Indian state of Tamilnadu as Velupillai Prabaharan’s Tamil Tigers needed a registered organisation to receive a massive assistance of thirty million in Indian rupees from the then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu the late M G Ramachandran.

Though TRO operatives try to camouflage the fact that it is in fact the relief and rehabilitation wing of LTTE, it has been identified as such in many countries besides Australia. According to media reports, a Special Canadian Senate Committee had identified TRO as a group raising money for guns and materials used by the Tamil Tigers.

TRO has undertaken many relief and rehabilitation projects in North East Sri Lanka and had been praised for its efficient and well-organised relief efforts in areas under LTTE control.

However, TRO has not openly declared how monies collected in Australia are sent to Sri Lanka despite allegations that funds collected from Australian Tamils end up for LTTE’s arms purchases. Monies from Australia could be sent legally to Sri Lanka only through the official Sri Lankan banking channel, that is, via the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

- Asian Tribune - "

One thing that goes with out saying that the video depicts, armed conflict is heinous - the sooner we all create peace the better. Peace starts in our minds and then spreads to the minds of others.

Peace out
Bishan

www.asiantribune.com

Source: www.asiantribune.com

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 6 at 4:18am

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bishan,
i don't know where to start... but you're soooo misinformed about almost everything it would be a waste of my time to even engage with you at any level...

this statement shows me you know nothing about what is going on in the NorthEast:
"Are there people with Video cameras in the Wanni safe zones? I thought this area was under strict government control? "

FACTS:
1) the "safe zone" was unilaterally declared by the Govt on 22 jan 2009.
2) It is in the LTTE controlled area
3) the GoSL started shelling the area the next day and have shelled it everyday since resulting in over 800 killed and over 2000 injured
4) there are hundreds of video cameras and thousands of cameras in the vanni... and you know what? they also have TVs & radios...
5) if you don't believe what the tamils say is going on then why don't you tell your dad (mahinda) to let the UN/international NGOs and the MEDIA into the vanni...?

if you're this ignorant of these basic facts... well, it doesn't say much about your "expertise" on the rest of it...

i did have QUITE a good laugh reading some of it though...

watch these:
shelling of hospital (ICRC) confirmed this and was there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No4_KG96KtI

an interview with a nurse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT5CG_bZMdk

shelling in progress:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyfXwUlOCn0

more blown up people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrXgxDKMO0k&feature=channel_page

you should see the videos that youtube won't let me put up...

anyway... i've had my fun... back to work... this was a nice break and it got the adrenaline flowing so i could finish a report & presentation...

hehehe

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 6 at 11:15am

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by the way, i don't want to give anyone the impressing i read all that nonsense the bishan wrote... just scanned it...

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 6 at 3:18pm

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Suraj!
I completely see where you are coming from and I do respect the fact that you lived in Jaffna and eperienced violence first hand and I was a lot more sheltered growing up in Kandy. I only had to contend with the sporadic suicide bombings and with the news of violence. Unlike the Tamils in the front line and the Sinhala in the `border` villages I led a relatively sheltered life. Nevertheless my home is stil Sri Lanka. Although I studied abroad and now work for the UN in Africa my home is Sri Lanka.

I am now on mission in a very rural part of Angola and cannot respond with justice to your well written message but i will do so next week.

Dushy Pillai

February 6 at 6:33pm

Reply

Very well, so here’s my two cents worth as well then.

We can argue til kingdom comes about who started it, who suffered most, is it genocide, is it not.. and send links to support our positions but at the end of the day it’s not going to make the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) stop the war or LTTE lay down their arms.

So question is, what is the way forward?

The immediate priority is to try and get the trapped civilians to safety; and for those who don’t want to leave (as pointed out by Arjunan), a safe zone that’s truly safe (as written by Chaminda). Both have their own advantages and disadvantages but I can’t see any other way as both GoSL and LTTE are both so deeply entrenched in their position.

But in the interim period, I see an opportunity. With GoSL no longer able to blame LTTE for everything, they must offer a just political solution to solve the causes that has started this conflict.

From what I understand, before the concept of Tamil Eelam (a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka) was envisaged by TULF (Tamils United Liberation Front – a democratically elected political party that had the overwhelming support of Tamils) in 1976, they had been lobbing the government by non-violence means for years with the following 6 issues:

1. Equal Status for the Tamil Language in the Constitution as Sinhala
2. Constitutional guarantees of full Citizenship to all Tamil speaking people who have made this country their home
3. State to be secular with equal Protection for all religions,
4. Provisions for the abolition of caste and untouchability,
5. provide valid Fundamental rights guaranteeing equality of persons and above all
6. a de centralized structure of Government in a democratic and Socialist Society.

The lobbying was ignored which lead to the Tamils wanting to secede from Sri Lanka. As things stand it is the 6th point that is yet to be adequately addressed. The rest of the points are corrected in paper with partial implementation.

The point is, the ball will soon be in the GoSL’s court, and how “magnanimous” they chose to be will decide if there’s going to be another 30 years of war or not, for I think with or without the LTTE there will be no peace without a just political solution.

Bish, has the GoSL given any details of post-war settlement? I don’t see any..

In the past 6 years or so, I’ve worked in Jaffna, Killinochchi, Trincomalee, Mullativu, Colombo, Galle, Matara and Hambantota. My personal experience is Tamils and Singhalese in Sri Lanka do not hate each other.

And I know there will be peace one day. Not cease fire but real peace. Just imagine it.

Can I ask you all to be please post responsibly and respectfully, some of the people on the list are only 13! The initial mail I sent out was for people join a FB group called “Troop of Tigons” which promotes constructive dialogue between Sri Lankan expatriates.


I apologies to people who did not want to be involved in this, and I encourage others to offer their perspectives/experience.

Dushy

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 7 at 5:16am

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i love you

Bharath Pillai

February 7 at 9:01pm

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I live in the UK and do not have any first hand experience of the situation in Sri Lanka, so rely on the media to provide information on which to form an opinion. The LTTE and the GoSL are both presenting their version of the truth, and independent media is reporting one story - that neither side wants there to be independent reporting.

The immediate issue that comes through from all sides is that there are a lot of civilians caught in the middle of a war, and these civilians are more concerned with the safety of themselves and the people around them rather than the political future of the island.

As we have seen in the media, one organisation which is there right now making a very real difference to the civilians is the Red Cross.The have also made it easy and quick to support the work they are doing either internationally or in Sri Lanka in particular. If you'd like to find our more or make a donation to support the work they are doing to protect innocent lives visit their website: http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/helpicrc

Your employer may have a donation-matching scheme so its worth finding out about this also.

Help the victims of war: make a donation to the ICRC today

Source: www.icrc.org

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) relies on everyones commitment to the humanitarian cause and its underlying values. The strongest possible support from individuals, companies and foundations is essential if we are to meet the challenges we are currently facing. ...

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Janaka Abeywardhana

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February 7 at 9:02pm

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for fucks sake ppl, with all due respect can you have your conversation without spamming me please.

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 7 at 10:50pm

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you can just click delete without opening it... i don't think it's that much time outta your day janaka...

Bishan Rajapakse

February 24 at 1:36am

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/20092215405218943.html

Al Jazeera English - News

Source: english.aljazeera.ne...

Al Jazeera has been given first access by the Sri Lankan government to a camp in Vavuniya housing refugees from the ongoing war with Tamil Tiger separatists.

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Bishan Rajapakse

February 24 at 1:38am

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/20092215405218943.html

Al Jazeera English - News

Source: english.aljazeera.ne...

Al Jazeera has been given first access by the Sri Lankan government to a camp in Vavuniya housing refugees from the ongoing war with Tamil Tiger separatists.

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 1:48am

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Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDeDEFtzAU

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQhvQ8ypBy0

i'm in this for 2 seconds in part 2 at 7:21

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 1:49am

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Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDeDEFtzAU

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQhvQ8ypBy0

i'm in this for 2 seconds in part 2 at 7:21

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 1:58am

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Dining with terrorists - Divided Island - 21 Feb 09 - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDeDEFtzAU

Dining with terrorists - Divided Island - 21 Feb 09 - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQhvQ8ypBy0

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 2:48am

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuOkoDcIKdg
interview with a man in the vanni...

Bishan Rajapakse

February 24 at 3:08am

Thanks for the link the Aljazeera documentary - it provides an interesting perspective and I thought was somewhat balanced. I added my comments to the You Tube site.

Arjunan as I mentioned before with a previous link - the TRO has been strongly linked to the LTTE so do you not think this is like watching a lanka defence video?

The following video is a "sky news" article which shows that government was trying to stage a viewpoint for journalists - which this news group was well aware of. Despite this they present a view that Tamils from the North either want the LTTE to leave or talk peace "from the heart".

Worth watching

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxxux0Qanu0&feature=related

As Bharath has pointed it out - the urgency right now is with the civilians caught in the middle.

Tamils against Tamil Tiger Terrorism in Sri Lanka- Sky News

Source: www.youtube.com

[No LTTE= Peace in Sri Lanka. LTTE has been fighting in Sri Lanka for nearly 30 yeas. First person they killed was Tamil scholar Thureiraja in Jaffna. Due to Tamilnadu influence they took arms and fight ...]

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 3:33am

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hahaha, these are EPDP quislings in Jaffna...
they represent no one...!!!

in 2004, 22 of the 23 Tamil electorates in the NE were won by the TNA... only Douglas and the EPDP fixed the election in Kyts (these are the people in the video - who would probably be disappeared if they didn't say these things - just like all those poor buggers in the Chemmani mass graves)

when there was relative peace during 2004 the TNA, running on a platform of the LTTE BEING THE SOLE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TAMIL PEOPLE.... WON 22 of 23 seats...

but y'all don't want to accept that

you sound like GW Bush and the US saying: "well Chavez (in Venezuela) and Hamas (in Gaza) won their democratic elections but we don't like them so we don't accept democracy if the people WE like aren't elected..."

jokers...

the TAMIL PEOPLE spoke when they voted in secret balloting (unlike the intimidation they are under when speaking in front of cameras) in 1977 and voted OVERWHELMINGLY for SEPARATION and then in 2004 the TAMIL PEOPLE spoke again and voted OVERWHELMINGLY (22 of 23 parliamentary seats in the NorthEast) for the LTTE to be their representatives...

but the GOSL, INDIA, US, and Pakistan don't like that... so this genocidal war... and then they will attempt to put the quisling puppets in power like they've done in the East...

it won't work... the struggle will continue...
guaranteed...!

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 24 at 3:48am

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Fail proof LTTE strategy to win elections to become the “sole representative™” of all Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

1. kill all alternative/moderate Tamil voices
2. kill all Tamil politicians not completely in agreement with Prabhakaran
3. develop a personality cult of the “sun god” through classic cult brainwashing practices
4. Ban all alternative sources of discourse,
5. ban any independent media in LTTE controlled areas
6. create de-facto state where Prabhakaran is the supreme and undisputed leader
7. Kill any dissent within the LTTE
8. cultivate deep hatred for all other ethnic groups
9. ethnically cleanse LTTE areas further preventing alternative voices
10. intercept all central (Colombo) government revenue and disperse as LTTE expenditure
11. claim sole representative status

Prominent Tamil Leaders Assassinated by the LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka

A T Duraiyappah SLFP Mayor for Jaffna
A Thiagarajah Ex ACTC MP for Vadokoddai who later joined the UNP
K T Pulendran UNP Organiser for Vavunia
A J Rajasooriar UNP Organiser in Jaffna
Mala Ramachandran UNP MMC for Baticaloa
Gnanachandiram Ex District Judge, Point Pedro and Government Agent, Mullativu
C E anandarajah Principal, St Jones College, Jaffna
B K Thambipillai President, Citizens Cimmittee
V Dharmalingam Ex TULF MP for Manipay and Father of D Siddharthan, Leader of PLOTE
Alakasunderam Ex TULF MP for Kopay
P Kirubakaran Primary Court Judge
Kathiramalai Sarvodaya Leader
Vignarajah Assistant Government Agent, Samanturai
Anthonimuttu Government Agent, Baticaloa
S S Jeganathan Assistant Government Agent, Baticaloa
Sinnadurai Assistant Government Agent, Trincomalee
M E Kandasamy Principal, Palugamam Maha Vidyalaya
S Siththamparanathan Principal, Vigneswara Vidyalaya, Trincomalee
S Wijayanadan Distric Secretary, Ceylon Communist Party
Velmurugu Master TULF Organiser and Citizens Committee Member, Kalmunai
Rev. Father Chandra Fernando President, Citizens Committee, Batticaloa
Rajjshankar President, Citizens Committee, Tennamarachchi
S Sambandamoorthy Ex TULF Chairman, District Development Council, Batticaloa
V M Panchalingam Government Agent, Jaffna
K Pulendran Assistant Government Agent, Kopay
A Amirthalingam TULF Leader and National List MP (see details)
V Yogeshwaran Ex TULF MP for Jaffna
Dr (Mrs) Rajini Thiranagama Lecturer in Anatomy at the Jaffna University and co-author of the "Broken Palmyrah" (21 Sptember 1989)
Ganeshalingam Ex EPRLF Provincial Minister for North and East
Sam Thambimuttu EPRLF MP
Mrs Thambimuttu Wife of EPRLF MP
V Yogasangari EPRLF MP in Madras
A Thangadurai TULF MP for Trincomalee
Mrs Sarojini Yogeshwaran TULF Mayoress for Jaffna
Pon Sivapalan TULF Mayor of Jaffna
Canagasabai Rajathurai EPDF Member for Jaffna
Veerahaththy Gunaratnam PLOTE member of the Pachchilaipalli Pradheshiya Sabha (PS) in Jaffna (5 May 1999)
Razick, Supremo of the EPRLF’s armed wing (30 May 1999)
Dr Neelan Thiruchelvam Leader of TULF (29 July 1999)
N. Manickathasan Vice President of PLOTE (Tamil Political party working with the Sri Lankan Government)
Kumar Ponnambalam President of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (5 Jan 2000) Refer to SPUR Media Release
Vadivelu Vijeyaratnam Point Pedro Urban Council Chairman (14 Jan 2000)
Anton Sivalingam EPDP's Municipal Council members in Jaffna (1 March 2000)
Kanapathipillai Navaratnarajah TELO member of Arayampathi, Batticaloa - on 7 June 2000
Rajan Sathiyamoorthy Tamil National Alliance parliamentary candidate Rajan Sathiyamoorthy was killed by LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists on 30 March 2004.
Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar (Foreign Minister in Sri Lanka) 12 August 2005 - Read full details in Special Web Edition
Kethishwaran Loganathan (54) Deputy Secretary General of Sri Lanka Peace Secratariat, SCOOP (12 August 2006)
T Maheshwaran Former Minister shot dead on 01 January 2008 (New Years day)
Minister D M Dissanayake LTTE Tamil Tigers Assassinate Minister D M Dissanayake; 12 people Injured; Another Person killed (03 January 2008)
K Sivanesan Jaffna TNA MP K. Sivanesan killed in an accidental explosion of a LTTE Tamil Tiger Claymore mine in the LTTE held area (05 March 2008).
Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorist's Suicide Bomb Attack killing Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and 12 civilians (06 April 2008)
Rev. Father M. X. Karunaratnam, Chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR), a Catholic priest attached to the Jaffna diocese (20 April 2008)
Ms. Maheswary Velautham Attorney –at-law and advisor to the Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda shot dead by the LTTE Tamil Taiger terrorists on 13 May 2008 (Details in EPDP).

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 3:52am

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ah, the boy genius knows how to cut and paste... where did you get that from defence.lk

douche bag

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 3:53am

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Sorry, forgot the question mark after defence.lk

"ah, the boy genius knows how to cut and paste... where did you get that from defence.lk?"

that's better

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 4:03am

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by the way "douche bag" is a term of endearment in California...

and chaminda i thought you said: "Yo!! I am out of this one...... "

what are you some kinda hip-hop or r&b gansta rappa...?

aiyo

Bishan Rajapakse

February 24 at 4:32am

Arjunan - You make a fair point about the 22 seats and the platform that the TNA was entering elections under in 2004.

However, you have got to wonder wonder how much choice electorate had vote when so many Tamil Leaders who would be in opposition to the LTTE have been killed (see Chaminda's list - the fact that it is cut and past shouldn't detract from the message dude!?.

Also the LTTE had a lot of control over the voting process even during the Peace times such as in the Nov 2005 presidential elections - as this report from the world Socialist Website states

"There is no doubt that the LTTE used thuggery and intimidation to enforce its boycott. In the week before the election, its front organisations openly threatened voters. The Makkal Paddai (People’s Army) pasted up posters declaring that those who voted would face “a fitting answer”. Two days before the poll, the pro-LTTE Tamil Eelam Student Committee issued a statement insisting that people stay indoors on election day."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/sril-n26.shtml

Behind the LTTE’s boycott of the Sri Lankan election

Source: www.wsws.org

[In the wake of the November 17 Sri Lankan presidential election, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been compelled to issue a statement denying that it organised a boycott of the poll. LTTE political wing leader S. ...]

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Bishan Rajapakse

February 24 at 4:39am

So here's a question I'd like to get your opinion on Arjunan- If the LTTE really wanted peace and a political solution why did they then oppose them voting for Ranil who was offering more peace?

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 24 at 5:06am

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Arjunan, No actually I got it from www.spur.asn.au

Not defence.lk (which i consider to be as credible as tamilnet.com)

www.spur.asn.au

Source: www.spur.asn.au

SPUR Australia - Society for Peace, Unity and human Rights in Sri Lanka.

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 5:16am

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haha, SPUR? SPUR? hahaha, that's actually worse than Tamilnet or the LTTE PS... and their editing is atrocious...

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 5:23am

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well, bishan... from what i heard it was ranil, melinda and that other cat (can't remember his name) who in the week or two before the election (which they had in the bag) started mouthing off... "we created the split in the LTTE" "we put the LTTE in the international net" etc... you remember...? that sealed their fate i'd assume, and that's just from analyzing it from the "outside" - no special knowledge...

and also, the absence (aren't the SL Army in control of Jaffna? how did the LTTE prevent people from voting? weird) of the tamil vote showed what the sinhala people wanted, no?

it appears to be a close election with mahinda wining by a few percentage points... but if you take out the welewatte tamils, the muslims and the upcountry tamils the actual percentage of SINHALESE who voted for mahinda is approximately 75% - 75% of the majority (who are 75%) voting for the hardline, nationalism, in the end voting for WAR...

Janaka Abeywardhana

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February 24 at 5:27am

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please ppl go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 5:30am

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hahaha... you don't know how to delete without opening... luddite...

Janaka Abeywardhana

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February 24 at 5:33am

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i dont want to be deleting at all. I use this thing such that i dont receive shitty msg that i have to delete every 3 min. so for th elast time can u start up a new thread with who ever is interested in you amazing debate and leave me out of it!!!!

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 5:37am

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blah, blah, blah... call the CID or a white van... i ain't gonna stop anytime soon...

peas...

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 24 at 6:48am

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Arjunan

Please try to act like a grown-up. I don’t know how old you are but you certainly act like an insolent child.

If you have a point or a counterpoint to make then do so. Only people who can not make a logical argument resort to name calling (douche bag etc) or to baseless defaming or pointless banter (i.e. haa haa etc). It only distracts from what you are trying to say. I am sure you have some very valid points to make but unfortunately your conversation style does not adequately convey your intelligence.

Please don’t take this the wrong way or resort to this with more inane repartee but try to engage with people at a more respectful level and we might all get somewhere.

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 7:31am

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Chaminda,
i am an insolent child
i can't make logical arguments
i have nothing to say
i have no valid points to make
i'm not trying to get anywhere...
cheers,

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 24 at 7:37am

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this is all for a laugh... i don't really expect to change anyone's minds... in the end none of it matters... does it?

people will be blown to bits or put in concentration camps for 3 years and tortured and raped and disappeared or found in a lake or shot while at midnight mass and y'all will be just fine with it as long as "terrorism" is defeated...

good luck to you...

Chaminda Rajapakse

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February 28 at 8:38pm

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No we will not all be “just fine with it as long as "terrorism" is defeated...”

My hope is that the defeat of separatist terrorism will awaken more of our Tamil brethren from their LTTE induced brain slumber. Likewise when the euphoric propaganda process slowly squeaks to a stop the Sinhala too will look around wonder where the promised terrorist free utopia went to!

Then starts the hard and interesting part! This is when we can start the fight to replace conservatives with democrats, generals with economists and soldiers with teachers and farmers.

We could never get there with the LTTE setting off bombs in busses!! With the demise of the LTTE we have a fighting chance!!

When I say WE I refer to those of us who have the means to influence. This is exactly why I think this group is trying to do.

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 28 at 10:00pm

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hahaha,
from angola?

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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February 28 at 10:18pm

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and you won't get there as long as:
- jaffna is an open prison (govt's been in charge for 14 years and still no electricity 24 hours a day)
- paramilitaries are running around the east with weapons
- the east is being colonized by ex-soldiers and other sinhalese with GOSL support (state aided colonization)
- the Tamils are being bombed and shelled in the North
- Tamils are being kept in concentration camps in the North (for up to 3 or more years) against their will,
- and people are being disappeared and extrajudicailly killed...

what kind of "influence" do you have by the way...?
you part of THE rajapakse clan...?

Bishan Rajapakse

March 3 at 12:36am

There's a lot of 100% negativity here Arjunan - how about also engaging a "dialogue" focused on generating some solutions? I agree there are major problems here .

I admire your conviction for positive change (which i believe underlies your outward facade).

Chaminda I like you contributions - thanks

You are right - communication style is important - i think everyone who is contributing on any kind of forum like this should have a read of this

http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Nonviolent-Communication

Arjunana - the thing is, by focusing on the things that are going wrong between opposing sides of a conflict we will only get so far. The much harder thing to do is work with the good things that opposing sides are doing - even in times of strife and darkness - so how about some dialogue that incorporates more positivity and potential solutions?

And by the way - when I say "dialogue" - I'm talking about having an interplay of ideas. This generally means considering ones a viewpoint that is different to your own - are you brave enough for this? I hope so (and actually believe so)

Janaka - i am really sorry to be spamming you dude - i put my facebook on an autofilter so the messages don't clog up my inbox, but if you haven't done something like this it must be a pain. Sorry.

Unfortunately this facebook doesn't seem have the ability to know people out of the thread - so Dushy do you mind sending out the email again if you think this dialogue is worth having (perhaps amongst the people who want to have it)

Cheers
Bishan

How to Practice Nonviolent Communication - wikiHow

Source: www.wikihow.com

wikiHow article about How to Practice Nonviolent Communication.

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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March 3 at 6:46am

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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/peter_foster/blog/2009/03/02/sri_lankas_war_zone__an_insiders_testimony_

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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March 3 at 6:59am

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by the way chaminda, i just noticed this... "let me mention a TWO NAMES!! Neelan Tiruchelvam, Lakshman Kadiragama!! Two people who could easily have been elected to be prime minister if not president one day!!! They would have certainly had my vote!!"

both neelan & lakshman were NATIONAL LIST MPs which means that there were not elected and did not represent any constituency... why? because NO Tamil in the Tamil Eelam would have ever voted for them...

YOU may want to choose our leaders... but that ain't how it works...

i may have brought this up before but y'all sound a lot like the US Govt under GW Bush... "we love democracy... but only if OUR guy or gal wins... Hamas may have been elected but we ain't gonna talk to 'em...same thing with that guy Chavez... he may be elected and loved by his people... but we ain't gonna deal with him..."


1977 the Tamil people voted for the TULF who ran on the platform of the 1976 Vaddukkodai Resolution (http://www.ltteps.org/?view=425&folder=10)

know what happened? they won with HUGE margins...

and then in 2004 the TNA ran on a platform of the LTTE being the sole reps and that the GOSL should work it out with them...

know what happened? they won 22 out of 23 seats...

still not good enough for you? you want us to follow the person YOU choose...

Bish, it is not us you need to dialogue with... it is yourself... the sinhala south must figure out what they want to offer the tamils...

how many all party conferences have their been? 5? 6? and this one hasn't even release anything after 3 years of debate... it must be an amazing one though if they've taken this long...

the next "talks" between the tamils and the sinhalese will be to negotiate the borders... "we'll give you a bit of amparai for a bit of puttalam..." hehehe... kidding... well, maybe not...

peace out...

Dushy Pillai

March 3 at 2:30pm

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Dear all, ok so I've created a forum for all of you who still want to be involved in this discussion.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/edit.php?gid=70616591824

Arj, I have some questions on the last comment you made which I've left in the forum.
D

Lanka dialogue

Constructive dialogue regarding the conflict in Lanka.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing, there is a field.
I will meet you there."

Muhammad Jalal al-Din al-Balkhi al-'Rumi'
Muslim my...

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Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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March 4 at 2:00am

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thanks but i have no interest in being in a group with the title "Lanka Dialogue"

cheers...

Arjunan Ethirveerasingam

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March 5 at 5:07am

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Please watch these videos i received from the Vanni and uploaded to youtube

Part ONE & TWO of an Interview with Doctor Varatharajah at the Mattallan Temporary Hospital in the "Safe Zone":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFlU4cIis6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfBkmnOjqO0

This hospital has been shelled twice since this interview

Bishan Rajapakse

March 6 at 1:43am

Arjunan wrote :- thanks but i have no interest in being in a group with the title "Lanka Dialogue"

That's a shame man - what would you like to call the Dialogue site group then - we can run a parallel. The name really doesn't matter too much to me - but the concepts behind it has to be open and constructive "dialog" about the Sri Lanka situation such as you report in the video links

I had a look. This video depicts the wrath of war and IDP - the sooner we find a solution for this the better. The soon we have meaningful dialogue the faster ideas will come. The faster ideas will come the sooner the action that will benefit our society.

We are all responsible for our choices - if you really cared about those people in the video as you make out to I think you will join us in dialog.

take care
Bishan

Bishan Rajapakse

March 6 at 1:45am

For those who want to help i got this email yesterday :-

Items No. needed

Ladies Clothing
Kaftan 500
House coats (front open) 500
Undergarments (bras, panties & underskirts – medium sizes) 500

Men’s Clothing
Sarong 500
Shirts / T-shirts 500
Undergarments (medium & large) 500

Children’s Clothing (3-16 years) - URGENT
Dresses / skirt & blouse for girls 500
Shorts & shirts / t-shirts for boys 500

Baby’s Clothing
Baby dresses (small t-shirts, shorts, dresses) 500
Baby napkins 500

Slippers (sizes 6-9) 500

Food Items
Infant milk food (Lactogen 1+ & 2+) 100 packets
Infant food (cerelac) 50 packets
Samaposha 100 packets
Baby milk powder (for 1-3 year olds) 100 packets
Milk powder 200 packets
Adult Liquid food (soup, jelly, energy drinks) 100 each

Other Items
Washing powder (sachets – No large packs) 200
Shampoo sachets (No bottles) 500
Pillows & Pillow cases 500

Please hand over all your contributions to the FOCUS office by Friday, 6th March, the latest.

Also needed

1. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE CLOTHES TO DISPLACED PERSONS IN VAVUNIYA - URGENT
2. VOLUNTEER TEAMS
3. LONG TERM ASSISTANCE TO SELECTED FAMILIES

For further details please contact Radhika on 0775 223067, Sumathy on 0714 893536 or the FOCUS office on 011 4943579.

Bishan Rajapakse

March 6 at 3:09am

Special Request - guys. I would really like to post the contents of this thread on my peace blog (ie cut and paste) and I would like to your permission for me to do so. I think everyone has posted things that they strongly believe in, and there are no contact details so I don't imagine you will have objections, but please let me know ASAP if you do as I can do a find and replace (ie replace your names with xxx or yyy or something like that).

My blog is pretty harmless - and to the best of my knowledge nobody has read since i started it over a year ago - certainly nobody has left any comments.

http://peaceandunity-bishan.blogspot.com/

however I am getting a lot of emails from friends overseas about the current situation in Sri Lanka my thoughts etc - and I think this "dialogue" is pretty useful to share with others in terms of thoughts (and internet links) from a certain group of Sinhalese and Tamil individuals.

I guess I'm really only asking Dushy, Arjunan, Janaka, Chaminda and Ram

Cheers
Bishan :)