How Did It Come To This?
Kath Noble
Once again, the Government is desperately seeking an excuse. The Army has shot dead at least three people on the streets of the Gampaha district in the process of breaking up a protest. Dozens of others are still undergoing treatment for their injuries.
Unsurprisingly, it has been doing its best to put the blame on what it calls ‘subversives’ – the new terrorists. Ministers have told the press that the villagers of Weliweriya were on the verge of calling off their agitation, with the Government having agreed to close the factory that they say is responsible for polluting their water pending the outcome of tests. The Government claims that the confrontation with the Army took place only after the arrival of outsiders, who instigated the crowd to attack.
To support this version of events, we have been ‘informed’ that some months ago more than 100 workers associated with a JVP trade union were sacked by Dipped Products.
So far, so utterly predictable.
A certain section of society is ever ready to believe such conspiracy theories, and to accept that the use of massive force is either unavoidable or actually roundly deserved.
This we know for sure by now, since there have been a number of very similar incidents in the recent past – one man was killed when workers from the Katunayake Free Trade Zone took issue with plans for a pension scheme for the private sector in May 2011, and another died when Chilaw fishermen protested against the increase in fuel prices in February 2012.
Of course it is unacceptable to deploy the Army to manage demonstrations, but after the war victory there is a tendency to think that soldiers are the only ones who can get things done – in the same way as some people want the Defence Secretary to be in charge of everything from garbage collection to university curricula and teacher training to agricultural development, tourism, the reconstruction of the Vanni, the preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage and the future of the Buddha Sasana. What naivety! But this is not the most important argument, since the Police have shown that they are equally capable of killing unarmed demonstrators.
A Country In Crisis: A Humanitarian War Is Not Humane!
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
Fresh sounds rings in our ears! The sounds from Nandikidal and Mulliawaikkal. Screams of unimaginable terror and suffering. Hands held up in surrender then, on the edge of Mullaitivu. The hands held up today in Weliweriya, close to Colombo!
Were the basic tenets of international humanitarian law upheld in either case? A resounding NO!
A victim - A protestor against the ground water contamination scandal in the Gampaha
a leadership that calls a war humanitarian,
a government that sends in the Army and STF to quell a legitimate protest in a cruel and bloody manner, a protest staged ,demanding for that most basic right – water,
a state that defends, protects and nurtures an extremist/hate campaign instigated by the fascist group Bodu bala Sena against Christians and Muslims, with over 200 attacks to date, ironically inviting the Pope for a visit
a government that harbours members who protect those who decimate the entire village of Kotakethana, committing the largest femicide during normal times, Read More
