May Day and its signification

by Anwar A. Khan-May 1, 2018

“When work is a pleasure, life is a joy. When work is a duty, life is a slavery.” — Maxim Gorky

( May 1, 2018, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day or Workers’ Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement which occurs every year on 1st May Day. The date was chosen by a pan-national organisation of socialist and communist political parties to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4th May 1886. The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International, called on all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace.

International working classes have existed since the development of agriculture, about ten thousand years ago. Serfs, slaves, trades people and others were forced to turn over the fruits of their labour to an exploiting class. But the modern working class, whose exploitation is hidden by the wage system, is only several hundred years old. Men, women and children forced to work long hours in miserable conditions just to eke out a living. These conditions gave rise to demands for limitations on the working day. Utopian socialist, Robert Owen of England, had raised the demand for a ten-hour day as early as 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark. For the rest of the English workers, progress was slower. Women and children were only granted a ten-hour day in 1847.

French worker’s demand for a 12-hour day was granted after the February revolution of 1848. In the United States, where May Day was born, Philadelphia carpenters campaigned for a ten-hour day in 1791. By the 1830s, this had become a general demand. In 1835, workers in Philadelphia organised a general strike, led by Irish coal heavers. Their banners read, “From 6 to 6, ten hours work and two hours for meals.” From 1830 to 1860, the average work day had dropped from 12 hours to 11 hours.

Already in this period, the demand for an eight-hour day was being raised. In 1836, after succeeding in attaining the ten-hour day in Philadelphia, the National Labourer declared, “We have no desire to perpetuate the ten-hour system, for we believe that eight hours’ daily labor is more than enough for any man to perform.” At the 1863 convention of the Machinists’ and Blacksmiths’ Union, the eight-hour day was declared a top priority. The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organised mainly by the International Working Peoples’ Association.

A few years later, in 1872, a hundred thousand workers in New York City struck and won the eight-hour day, mostly for building trades workers. It was in this protracted campaign for an eight-hour day that May Day was born. The movement for the eight-hour day was linked to the date of 1st May at an 1884 convention of the three-year-old Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions of the United States and Canada, the forerunner of the American Federation of Labor. It was resolved to hold the demonstration on 1st May 1890 in keeping with the American Federation of Labour’s 1886 demonstrations of 1st May.

The call was a resounding success. On 1st May 1890, May Day demonstrations took place in the United States and most countries in Europe. Demonstrations were also held in Chile and Peru. In Havana, Cuba, workers marched demanding an eight-hour working day, equal rights for all and working-class unity. Although the 1889 resolution called for a once-off demonstration on 1st May, the day quickly became an annual event. Throughout the world workers in more countries marked the celebration of labourers rights on May Day.

May Day was celebrated for the first time in Russia, Brazil and Ireland in 1891. By 1904 the Second International called on all socialists and trade unionists in every country to demonstrate energetically annually on 1st May for the legal establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace. Chinese workers celebrated their first May Day in 1920, following the Russian socialist revolution. In 1927, workers in India observed May Day with demonstrations in Kolkata, Chennai and Bombay. By that time, May Day was truly a world workers’ day.
Ironically, while May Day gained momentum across the world it lost steam in the United States where the celebration originated. Today May Day is celebrated as a public holiday throughout most countries with the exception of the United States, because of the holiday’s association with Communism. Mayday has been celebrated unofficially in South Africa since the 1980s. However, 1st May only became an officially recognised public holiday after the democratic elections of 1994. South Africa’s mining industry’s history and the development of strong Trade Unions and communist ideologies has largely determined the country’s labour history and the workers struggle.

May Day is also a labour holiday in many areas of the world, and that part of its history is a thornier story. May Day has shared a date with International Workers’ Day since the 1880s. At the time, labour movements around the world were fighting for fair work accommodations like eight-hour workdays and unions. The date was chosen because it aligned with the anniversary of the Haymarket affair in Chicago, where police killed four people at a peaceful protest after someone threw a bomb into the crowd. The event had a huge impact on labour movements across the world.

The demand for an eight-hour day . . . is the demand of the whole proletariat, presented, not to individual employers, but to the government as the representative of the whole of the present-day social and political system, to the capitalist class as a whole, the owners of all the means of production. The decision to declare 1st May as International Labour Day or May Day arose from the historic struggle launched by the American workers for an eight-hour workday and the brutal attack by the police on the workers at a protest rally held at Haymarket Square in Chicago, U.S.A. on May 4, 1886. In that rally, the American workers struck work on 1st May 1, 1886 demanding an eight-hour workday.

The working class across the world attaches great importance to May Day rallies to show their strength. Red has been selected as the colour of the workers in recognition of the blood-shed in the eight-hour workday struggle. May 1st of each year is now looked upon by the organised wage-workers and the observing public as a sort of new Independence Day upon which they will every year strike a blow for emancipation and steadily weaken the shackles of wage slavery. And that is significance of May Day.

Initially, May Day was intended to be a one-off protest, and in some ways quite a solemn affair. May Day did not merely enact internationalism and working class solidarity; it celebrated these things with the familiar paraphernalia of badges, flags, art, sporting events… May Day is now most commonly associated as a commemoration of the achievements of the labour movement. The holiday may also be known as Labour Day or International Worker’s Day and is marked with a public holiday in over 80 countries including Bangladesh.

The first of May is a national public holiday in many countries worldwide, in most cases as “Labour Day”, “International Workers’ Day” or some similar name. The 1st May popularly known as the May Day is an official holiday in Bangladesh. All labour-oriented organisations celebrate the day with great honour and dignity. On the following stanzas, what comrade Lenin said is of immense significance:

“May Day is when the workers of all lands celebrate their awakening to a class-conscious life, their solidarity in the struggle against all coercion and oppression of man by man, the struggle to free the toiling millions from hunger, poverty, and humiliation. Two worlds stand facing each other in this great struggle: the world of capital and the world of labour, the world of exploitation and slavery and the world of brotherhood and freedom.
On one side stand the handful of rich blood-suckers. They have seized the factories and mills, the tools and machinery, have turned millions of acres of land and mountains of money into their private property. They have made the government and the army their servants, faithful watchdogs of the wealth they have amassed. On the other side stand the millions of the disinherited. They are forced to beg the moneybags for permission to work for them. By their labour they create all wealth; yet all their lives long they have to struggle for a crust of bread, beg for work as for charity, sap their strength and health by back-breaking toil, and starve in hovels in the villages or in the cellars and garrets of the big cities….

The great struggle of labour against capital has cost the workers of all countries immense sacrifices. They have shed rivers of blood in behalf of their right to a better life and real freedom. Those who fight for the workers’ cause are subjected by the governments to untold persecution. But in spite of all persecution the solidarity of the workers of the world is growing and gaining in strength…. “ We wish to finish off today in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance, and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

-The End –

India, I bow down to thee with profound respect

The Buddha said: “Not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a Brahman. By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes a Brahman.” The Buddha welcomed many an outcast, ordained them and accepted them as equals to the bhikkus with the origin of high castes of Brahmana and Kshastriya. That was a revolution at that time – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

  Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Recently Reginald Cooray, the Governor of the Northern Provincial Council, was appointed Governor of the Central Provincial Council. However within a day the appointment was cancelled and he was reappointed Governor of the Northern Provincial Council. It was reported that this happened due to the pressure of the prelates of Kandy to remove him from the post since he was a non-Kandyan and because of his caste. 

The Buddha has refused the concept of caste which was deep-rooted in Indian society at that time. In Uragavagga of Sutta Nipata of Khuddaka Nikaya, there is a discourse of the Buddha called Aggikabharadvaja Sutta or as popularly known Vasala Sutta. When Aggikabharadvaja told the Buddha who was approaching him, “Stay there, you shaveling, stay there you wretched monk, stay there you outcast,” the Buddha explained to him the ways one can become an outcast.

Finally the Buddha said: “Not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a Brahman. By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes a Brahman.” The Buddha welcomed many an outcast, ordained them and accepted them as equals to the bhikkus with the origin of high castes of Brahmana and Kshastriya. That was a revolution at that time.


A betrayal of Buddhism

After the decline of Buddhism during the Kandyan era and the country lost higher level of ordination – Upasampada – which was coming from the teacher to the pupil, then King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha following the persuasion of Weliwita Sri Saranankara Thera invited the King of Siam for revival of Upasampada in Sri Lanka. This was accepted and in the year 1753 Upasampada was re-established in Kandy by Siamese monk Upali Thero.

A decade later in 1764 a Bhikku from a caste down in the hierarchy tried to worship the king. Then the king ordered not to ordain persons from the castes down in the hierarchy. Hence in that year it was established that only persons from Govigama caste would be ordained. This situation created displeasure and outrage among the members of the other castes.

In the year 1800 the Amarapura Nikaya was established in Balapitiya of the South by Walitota Sri Gnanawimalatisssa Thera of Salagama caste. Ramanna Nikaya was established in 1864. Amarapura Nikaya is having several sub Nikayas and the basis of their division is the caste.

Therefore the basic structure of Buddhism in this country is against Buddhism. This is disgraceful, to say the least. However we continue to carry on this disgracefulness and on top of that there are bhikkhus who actively promote racism. This is nothing else but a betrayal of Buddhism.


Evident in Sri Lankan politics too

This is evident in Sri Lankan politics as well. All the Presidents and the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka were Sinhala Buddhists. All of them belonged to Govigama caste with the only exception of Ranasinghe Premadasa.

We had two Sri Lankan Governor Generals and one of them, Oliver Goonetilleke, was a Sinhala Govigama but a Christian. We did not have any of the females coming to the helm independent of their family backgrounds.  S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and J.R. Jayewardene were Christians and later became Buddhists. This is the Sinhala, Buddhist, Govigama, male hegemony of Sri Lanka.

The Dudley Senanayake Government in 1960 was defeated in its first Throne Speech and there was a chance for the Opposition Leader C.P. De Silva of Salagama caste to form a government. However it was reported that Governor General Oliver Goonetilleke decided to dissolve the Parliament and call for general election since he did not want a person of Salagama caste to become the Prime Minister of the country.

The speech made by President Ranasinghe Premadasa at Pattirippuwa of Kandy soon after taking oaths was a kneeling down of the empty, arrogant and non-Buddhist bhikkhus of Kandy.


Caste system in Sri Lanka

The caste system is prevalent among Sri Lankan Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamils of Indian origin. The British brought the plantation workers from the lowest of the caste hierarchy of South India. However the managerial levels were from the higher castes.

In early 20th century what was important was caste and not race. Ponnabalam Ramanathan who retired as Solicitor General of Ceylon in 1906 and who was a Tamil Vellala was brought in to contest the 1911 Legislative Council election against Sinhala Karava Dr. Marcus Fernando by Sinhala Govigama leaders to fill the seat of educated Ceylonese.  Ramanathan won with the support of Govigama Sinhala and Vellala Tamil-educated Ceylonese.

Ananda Coomaraswamy in his ‘Mediaeval Sinhalese Art’ written in 1956 identified 26 castes as indicated in the ‘Janawamsa’ in the 15th century. In Govigama caste there were several hierarchical sub-castes.

There was a unique position of Salagama caste since it was associated with the cinnamon industry, and from the mudali to the cinnamon peeler were belonging to the same Salagama caste but there were hierarchical sub castes. Salagama and Karava claim that they are of Brahmin origins of South India but when they oppose the Northern Tamils they forget their origin although Karava is having their equals Karayar in the North.

In Sri Lanka 74.9% are Sinhalese, 11.1% are Tamils and 9.3% are Muslims. Also 70.1% are Buddhists, 12.6% are Hindus, 9.7% follow Islam and 7.6% are Christians. Sinhala Buddhists are around 70%. If it is considered that 50% of the Sinhalese belong to Govigama caste 35% of the population belongs to Sinhala Buddhist Govigama. Similarly Sinhala Buddhist Govigama male percentage of the population is 17% and they yield the power.


Caste system in India

In India there are severe caste differences. People of low caste are not allowed to enter the kovils. There was a belief that they should not be touched. During the independence struggle Indian leaders challenged this concept. What is the background of the leaders of independent India?

In India the percentage of Hindus is 79.8%, Muslims 14.2%, Christians 2.3% and Sikhs 1.7%. There are various ethnic groups and the people who speak Hindi amounts to 41%; Bengali 8.1%; Telugu 7.1%; Marathi 6.9%; Tamil 5.9%; Gujarati 4.4%; Kannada 3.6%; Malayalam 3.2%; and Punjabi 2.8%.

There are seven out of 15 Prime Ministers of India who came from the states where Hindi was not the mother tongue. They were Morarji Desai (Gujarati Hindu), Gulzarilal Nanda (Punjabi Hindu), I.K. Gujral (Punjabi Hindu), Narasimha Rao (Telugu Hindu of Telangana), Deve Gowda (Karnataka Kannada Hindu), Manmohan Singh (Punjabi Sikh) and Narendra Modi (Gujarati Hindu).  Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were the Prime Ministers from Hindi-speaking states.

All the Indian Presidents other than Rajendra Prasad, Shankar Dayal Sharma and current President Ram Nath Kovind were from the states where Hindi was not the mother tongue. They were Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Telugu Hindu), Zakir Husain (Telangana Muslim), V.V. Giri (Telugu Hindu), Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (Delhi Muslim), Sanjiva Reddy (Telugu Hindu), Zail Singh (Punjabi Sikh), R. Venkataraman (Tamil Hindu of Tamil Nadu), K.R. Narayanan (Kerala Malayalam Hindu of Paravan caste), Abdul Kalam (Tamil Muslim of Tamil Nadu), Pratibha Patil (Marathi Hindu – first female President) and Pranab Mukarji (Bengali Hindu).

Current President Ram Nath Kovind belongs to the “untouchable” Dalit caste and was born in a mud hut in Uttar Pradesh. The caste of K.R. Narayanan also was considered low caste. Tamil Nadu produced two Presidents of India where they have only 5.9% of population.

There were one Telugu Prime Minister and three Telugu Presidents with 7.1% of the population of Telugus. There were three Muslim Presidents and Muslims amount only 14.2% of the population. There were two Prime Ministers from Gujarat and they amounts 4.4% of the population.

There were one Sikh Punjabi President, one Sikh Punjabi Prime Minister and two non-Sikh Panjabi Prime Ministers. Sikhs were only 1.7% of the population and Punjabis 2.8%. Bengalis and Marathis produced one President each where they have 8.1% and 6.9% of the population respectively. Southern Karnataka produced one Prime Minister with 3.6% of population. What a colourful combination? What a great nation? India, I bow down to thee with profound respect.

Mahathma Gandhi once said: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” We may ask ourselves are we marching towards greatness. My answer is this: Let alone greatness, we should at least have basics.

Comprehensive constitutional change is the better option

By Jehan Perera-April 30, 2018, 12:00 pm 

The political debate on the proposed 20th Amendment needs to be considered in the national perspective. The JVP’s proposed amendment is intended to abolish the popularly elected executive presidency and replace it with a significantly less powerful presidency to be elected by parliament rather than by the people. Those in the political opposition are currently the most vocal in their opposition to the proposed amendment. Those on the government side have been more or less silent so far.

An exception has been government minister Mano Ganesan who heads the Tamil Progressive Alliance. He has said that his party which is part of the government alliance will not support the amendment. Over the past decades, it has been the view of the ethnic minority parties that the popularly elected executive presidency is better for them. It is an elected office where their votes count, and those who seek to be elected as president have to accommodate the ethnic minority positions.

The issue of the executive presidency is an ongoing subject of negotiation within the government coalition. At the level of policy, the main argument against it is that it is too powerful an institution and has been abused in the past. But there is also powerful opinion in favour of it. This is that unless the country has a single center of power, the devolution of power will lead to divisive tendencies that the system will be unable to check. The ethnic minorities too seem to prefer the continuation of the executive presidency as they see in it as a central institution that they can impact on directly through their vote.

So far no opinion on the subject has been expressed by other senior members of the government. The likely scenario is that there are calculations being made regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the abolition of the elected executive presidency to themselves and to their political parties. Invariably many of those who are leaders of the government and opposition would see themselves as potential presidential material.

NATIONAL INTEREST

When contemplating changes in the fundamental law of the country, which is what constitutional change is about, it is important that the long term and best interests of the country be looked at rather than the interests of individuals and their political parties. The problem with competitive party politics is that ambitious politicians tend to look at the short term and what is in their own interests. The danger is that public opinion will follow suit.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who proposed to bring the 20th Amendment as a Private Member’s Motion is reported to have said the president would be appointed by parliament under the proposed 20th Amendment. He said that according to the draft amendment, the president would continue to be the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but he would no longer be the head of the government and the head of the cabinet of ministers.

The executive presidency is the single most powerful in the current scheme of governance. The president is the head of state, the head of government, the head of the cabinet of ministers and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The entire design of the 1978 constitution which established it, and in which it is embedded, is based on the central pillar of the presidency. Therefore, the excision of the presidency will have a major impact on the strength of the rest of the constitutional architecture.

According to the JVP leader the president’s powers are to be distributed among the cabinet, prime minister, constitutional council and independent commissions. However, the president would continue to have the powers of appointing governors of the provinces in the same manner as in the 13th Amendment. Opposing the move, SLFP Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has said the powers of the executive presidency are vested in many areas of the constitution. He said, "If they do abolish it, they will have to bring in at least another 2,000 provisions in its place."

POTENTIAL INSTABILITY

A key feature of the proposed 20th Amendment is to transfer the powers of the directly elected president to the prime minister who is the person who commands the confidence of the majority in parliament. The recent vote of no-confidence in the prime minister shows that the prime minister’s position, unlike that of the president, is not a guaranteed one. The prime minister can be removed early in his or her term. On this occasion the prime minister survived the vote of no-confidence against him. On another occasion he might not.

By way of contrast, in terms of the present constitution, the president is virtually unassailable, and immune to being removed during his or her term of office. There was an attempt to impeach President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1991. But the president had an arsenal of options at his disposal to neutralize his opponents, which he succeeded in doing. These included acceptance by the speaker of parliament of the motion of impeachment, a 2/3 majority in parliament, and the provision of patronage to win the hearts and minds of those who might have voted against him.

A major concern is that a country as diverse and with internal conflicts like Sri Lanka needs a single institution to which all groups, racial, religious and regional, can look to and must look to in order to have unity in diversity. There are countries that are more diverse and with more internal conflicts than Sri Lanka. They function under non-presidential systems. However, at a time when there is widespread disillusionment about the quality of political leadership in both the government and opposition, the need is to strengthen institutions, and not to weaken them. This can best be done by holistic reform rather than by piecemeal efforts.

HOLISTIC CHANGE

The government media has reported that the steering committee of the constitutional assembly will resume its meetings from May to revive the constitutional reforms process after a hiatus of about five months. The constitutional reform process has been in abeyance since late last year as the internal issues of the government and local government elections came to the fore. The process was almost stalled after the five-day Constitutional Assembly debate of Interim Report of the Steering Committee in November last year. However, it is reported that the Constitutional Assembly Secretariat was working throughout the period to incorporate the amendments that came up during the debate.

Both public opinion polls and prevalent public opinion on the street have shown that most of the population believe constitutional reform is important. From the time that the present constitution’s executive presidential system was first subject to abuse, academic and civil society opinion formers have critiqued the constitution and called for its replacement. Therefore, the popular movement to change the present constitution has a much longer history than the government’s present bid to formulate a new constitution.

The decision whether to abolish the executive presidency or reform it needs to be taken with the long term perspective of strengthening institutions in mind. The anti-Muslim riots which continued for a week and the failure of the police to act effectively to stop them and to bring the wrongdoers to justice is reflective of the continuing weakness of state institutions. Security forces personnel I have had occasion to speak to in university educational settings, where free exchange of ideas is paramount, have said that they feel vulnerable. If they do their duty under one government, they risk being punished under another government. If they do not follow orders they feel may be illegal, they risk being punished by over-powerful politicians.

For its longer term progress Sri Lanka needs strong institutions which both protect those who do their duty and also hold those who abuse their powers accountable. This cannot be done through ad hoc and piecemeal constitutional reforms. If the abolition of the executive presidency is to take place, it should be within the framework of comprehensive constitutional reform as initially envisaged by the government when it transformed the entire parliament into a constitutional assembly and appointed an all-party constitutional steering committee to lead the reform process.

ITJP launches report implicating Sri Lanka forces with torture in UK parliament

30Apr 2018

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) launched its latest report “Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force," at the Houses of Parliament last week.

The full report and summary, which outlines further evidence of torture carried out by Sri Lanka's Special Task Force STF, can be found here and here.

The panel event hosted by the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils MP Paul Scully comprised Frances Harrison and Nina Tavakoli of the ITJP, Dr Rachel Seoighe, Ann Hannah of Freedom From Torture and Dr Sutha Nadarajah of SOAS University.

Opening the discussion, Dr Suthaharan Nadarajah highlighted a systemic failure to accept ongoing torture in Sri Lanka by international institutions.

“It is in this context of habitual denial that reports from groups like the ITJP and Freedom From Torture are so important in combatting this narrative of denial.”

Speaking at the event former BBC South Asia Correspondent Frances Harrison, said the evidence was not clear that military intelligence was involved in abduction and torture of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Dispelling the argument that it was a small handful of individuals responsible for torture and abduction, Ms Harrison reiterated that torture and abductions were systemic in Sri Lanka, adding,

“There is now an acceptance that military intelligence was involved in abductions. The STF were, the TID and the CID. Its humanely not possible for a small group of perpetrators to have done so many abductions over so many years.

Adding to the discussion Barrister Nina Tavakoli of the Red Lion Chambers, highlighted that the majority of victims she had interviewed were young men who would have been children at the end of the war in 2009. Ms Tavakoli added that in many cases the victims worked in human rights, worked with political parties or attended Tamil memorialisation events.

“The argument that they are LTTE cadres goes away, any national security threat argument goes away. Throughout the torture racist language is used. There is no doubt these individuals are being targeted because they are Tamil” she said.

Ms Tavakoli added that even when victims flee Sri Lanka and seek refuge in another country like the UK, they are still surveilled and their family in Sri Lanka is often detained and assaulted.

The Advocacy and Policy Director for Freedom From Torture Ann Hannah said, stressed concern at the international community’s silence with regards to accountability in Sri Lanka.

Warning that the continued impunity was leading to increasing torture in Sri Lanka, Ms Hannah said,

“We are seeing increasing numbers of torture since 2016. It is absolutely devastating for the survivors that we work with. We are concerned about the way that the current lack of impunity plays into abuses.”

Lamenting on going denial of torture in Sri Lanka, Ms Hannah added,

“None of us here would be naïve enough to believe that when a conflict as complex as what happened in Sri Lanka ends, the structures that carried out torture are dismantled overnight.”

Ms Hannah further noted that the British government had been involved in training Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force that was responsible for torture, and called for greater transparency with regards the level of training provided.

She added that the victims primary incentive for sharing their story was to secure accountability as the only way to prevent abuses from happening again.

“Sri Lanka is not on the top of the news cycle at the moment. However accountability in Sri Lanka is important to those conflicts which are at the top of the news cycle,” she concluded.

Dr Rachel Seoighe, author of War, Denial and Nation-Building in Sri Lanka: After the End, highlighted that even institutions set up by Sri Lanka under the premise of reconciliation can be a “means of denial.”

“Even those that appear to be addressing the issue. They absorb the outcry, launch an investigation and deliver nothing. The Sirisena government is trying to but time by promising progress and not delivering. In this way time facilitates denial.

Dr Seoighe further stressed concern about the UK’s involvement in training the tortuer complicit Sri Lanka STF forces, adding,

“This is a police force that has engaged in violations against Tamils including setting them alight by the road. The UK government speaking a language of reform and reconciliation becomes a way of facilitating denial.”

The event ended with a question and answer question session covering topics relating to ensuring accountability, ongoing miltiarisation of the North-East fo Sri Lanka and British engagement with Sri Lanka. 

Free press essential for peace, justice and human rights for all: UN Secretary-General

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued the following message to mark World Press Freedom Day, which falls on 3 May:


Tuesday, 1 May 2018


A free press is essential for peace, justice and human rights for all. It is crucial to building transparent and democratic societies and keeping those in power accountable. It is vital for sustainable development.

Journalists and media workers shine a light on local and global challenges and tell the stories that need to be told. Their service to the public is invaluable.

Laws that protect independent journalism, freedom of expression and the right to information need to be adopted, implemented and enforced. Crimes against journalists must be prosecuted.

On World Press Freedom Day 2018, I call on governments to strengthen press freedom, and to protect journalists. Promoting a free press is standing up for our right to truth. Thank you.

Dress Code Of Muslim Women

By N.M. Rishard –APRIL 30, 2018

N.M. Rishard

The demonstration that was staged by Hindu teachers of Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College in Trincomalee recently against Muslim teachers who work in the same school, urged me to write these paragraphs. First of all I emphasis that the violators of educational rules and regulations should be punished whoever it is without any discrimination and partiality. The law is for all and every citizens of this nation is equal in front of the court.

According to the sources, the principle of the college constantly requested Muslim teachers to remove their attire (Hijab and Habaya) and wear Saree which is the formal dress code of Hindu teachers. Some argue that the husbands of Muslim teachers came to the school and threatened the principal even though the Muslims refused this accusation. Their argument is that they came to the school in order to discuss on the instructions given already to Muslim teachers by the principal. This issue was erupted with a demonstration carried out by the Hindu teachers, in which they demanded to protect their Hindu culture. Finally, the temporary decision was achieved announcing that the Muslim teachers are transferred to some other schools.

The instruction as well as compulsion of Hindu teachers and the head of the school contradict with Sri Lanka’s constitution and the reality at the same time. Chapter three of the constitution provides enough guarantee to each and every citizens as follow:

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.

11. No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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:

Looking at the schools and its teacher panel all over the island provides us that the instruction given to the Muslim teachers in Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College is unethical and unlawful. On the one hand, we have number of schools that possess common names where students from different ethnicities pursue their study. Not only students, but also teachers, administrators and workers either minor or major with owning different religions and backgrounds contribute to the enhancement of the school. On the other hand, some schools are named as “Sinhalese college”, “Hindu College” and “Muslim college”, in which students and teachers from other ethnic groups are allowed to study or work without imposing any particular rules. All of them are given freedom in attire to follow their respective religious and cultural traditions. For instance, Hindu teachers are not compelled or even requested to wear the way Muslim teachers do in Muslim schools. In Sinhala schools, Muslim and Hindu teachers are allowed to follow what they wish. This is what we have been following for decades.

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TNA ready to support 20A if…

April 30, 2018, 11:47 pm 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will support the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, if a permanent solution to the ethnic problem is also proposed, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran says.

Sumanthiran has said so, in a media statement, on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by the JVP, seeking the abolition of the executive presidency. Sumanthiran said: "We support the abolishing of the executive presidency. This system was introduced in 1978 and ever since it has lead to a lot of problems. In 2015, President Sirisena promised to scrap the post. Just like this the ethnic problem has created issues in Sri Lanka. A lot of people have died because of this. So equal attention should be paid to solving this as well."

Women’s Groups and Activists Express Concern in Kathua Rape Case

Featured image courtesy PTI Photo

25th April 2018 

H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu
High Commissioner
High Commission of India
Colombo 3.

Your Excellency,

The Rape and Murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua: Women’s Groups and Activists Express Concern

GROUNDVIEWS- 04/30/2018

We are deeply disturbed by recent events in Rasana, in the Kathua district of Kashmir and shocked by the fact that a young eight year old was tortured and gang-raped in a temple over a four-day period before she was strangled and killed. Let us begin by saying that we welcome the response of the average Indian citizen whose outrage and mobilisation is an inspiration to other societies faced with similar atrocities.

As members of the regional community we raise our voice in protest for particular reasons that make this case more horrific than others that have taken place in our region in the last year or two. First it took three months for the facts to come to light and we commend the men and women of the Jammu and Kashmir police force for finally bringing this matter to light before the courts. Secondly, ministers from the ruling government attended rallies in support of the accused uttering communal statements despite the brutal nature of the crime. Thirdly, lawyers and the Bar Association of the area also came out in support of the accused and tried to block the police from bringing their evidence to court. These are unconscionable matters and the Indian public has taken the lead in responding to the vicious nature of this behavior. Finally, the use of rape of a child as a weapon to terrorise another community is particularly heinous and deserves national, regional and global condemnation.

Your Excellency, we fear for our region in that many of our societies are experiencing governmental action and political movements that enable hate crimes, hate speech and general intolerance toward another community. This is done through the creation of organisations that engage in vicious acts and sometimes enjoy impunity as well as through social media. We urge India and the governments of the region to take bold steps to confront these issues and to return South Asia to its roots where respect for diversity and humanity were part of its cultural heritage and many of the movements of independence from colonialism.

Yours sincerely,

Signed by:

Organisations

• Center for Social Concerns- Jaela
• Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum- Colombo 5
• Mannar Women’s Development Federation
• Women’s Action Network
• Muslim Women Development Trust- Puttalam
• Affected Women’s Forum – Akkaraipattu
• Women and Media Collective – Colombo
• Women’s Education and Research Centre (WERC)

Individuals

• Radhika Coomaraswamy- Former Under Secretary General of the United Nations
• Dr Malathi de Alwis- Visiting faculty, University of Colombo
• Camena Guneratne- Professor Open University of Sri Lanka
• Sarala Emmanuel- Suriya Women’s Development Centre
• Deshanbandu Jezima Ismail- Chairperson Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum
• Professor Savitri Goonesekere– Board Member of the Global partnership on VAC
• Annie Kurian- Centre for Social Concerns
• Prema Gamage- Freelance  Consultant
• Kumari Jayawardhane- Secretary. Social Scientists Association
• Professor Maithree Wickramasinghe- University of Kelaniya
• Silma Ahamed- Activist Mother
• Florine Marzook- Researcher
• Shreen Abdul Saroor- Women’s rights activists
• Mahalaxumy Kurushanthan- Women’s rights activists
• Juwairiya Mohideen- Women’s rights activists
• Jensila Majeed- Women’s rights activists
• Vanie Simon- Women’s rights activists
• Y. Idamegama- Gender Consultant
• Inoka Priyadarshani- Social Researcher.
• Chandra Welegedera- Director, Women’s Development Centre, Badulla
• Selvy Thiruchandran PhD- Trustee and Board Member Women’s Education and Research Centre (WERC)
• Fathima Cader- Print and Electronic Media Journalist
• Chulani Kodikara- PhD candidate- University of Edinburgh
• Ein Lall- Documentary film maker.
• Farzana Haniffa- Senior Lecturer. University of Colombo
• Munza Mushtaq- Journalist
• Sumika Perera- Coordinator Women’s Resource Center, Kurunegala
• Sepali KottegodaDPhil (Sussex) Director Programmes – Women’s Economic Rights and Media Women and Media Collective
• Kumudini Samuel- Director, Programmes and Research. Women and Media Collective
• Nimalka Fernando- Women’ s Political Academy, Mothers and Daughters of Lanka
• Anusha David- Chairman, Headlines
• Shafinaz Hassendeen- Director- Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum
• Faizun Zackariya- Director- Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum
• Anberiya Hanifa- Director- Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum
• Iffath Anwar- Bachelor in Social Work- National Institute of Social Development
• Manjuka Sritharan- Bachelor in Social Work- National Institute of Social Development
• Aathifa Thowfeek- Trainee- Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum
• Dilrukshi Handunnetti,- Journalist and Lawyer & South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN)
• Hunniya Wazeer. Directress cum Principal. British International College, Matara
• Yasmin Aziz- Activist
• Farzana Khan- Director Viyakata(Pvt) Ltd

Editor’s Note: Also read “Sri Lanka’s Pandemic of Sexual Violence” and “Stories of Resilience from Mannar and Mullaitivu“

SRI LANKA’S CURRENCY SUFFERS AS DEBT TRAP DEEPENS

Image: Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, in southern Sri Lanka, is called “the world’s emptiest airport.” It has four scheduled flights per week. (Photo by Yuji Kuronuma)

 

30/04/2018

NEW DELHI — Sri Lanka, which has loaded up on Chinese-funded infrastructure, is sinking deeper into a debt trap as its currency weakens and economic growth decelerates to its slowest pace in 16 years.

The Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated 3% against the greenback this year to 157.4628 per dollar, according to forex data that the country’s central bank tracked on Friday. It is at its weakest point ever and has softened nearly 20% since President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015.

About half of Sri Lanka’s loans are denominated in foreign currency. As a result, “any further weakening of the rupee will increase the rupee value of maturing foreign exchange debt and interest payments” — driving the government’s financing needs higher, said Alex Holmes, an economist at Capital Economics.

 

The country is caught in a vicious cycle: Investors devalue the rupee over concern about government debt, which then increases the nation’s obligations even further.

Falling tax revenue prompts another concern as the economy grew 3.1% last year, the slowest since a contraction in 2001. In the October-December quarter, growth was also sluggish at 3.2%.

The nation of over 20 million people holds some of the highest debt levels in Asia. International Monetary Fund estimates for 2018 peg the island’s debt at 11.23 trillion rupees ($71.9 billion), or 77% of gross domestic product. The country’s debt payments are forecast to hit 14.1% of GDP this year, while revenue is only expected to equal 14.4%.

Sri Lanka floated $2.5 billion in dollar-denominated sovereign bonds this month, its largest issuance ever and close to its $2.8 billion in payment obligations from April through June.

Raising revenue in the near term will be difficult, though “the new Inland Revenue Act [which took effect in April] will improve tax revenue, exports and foreign direct investment,” said Shiran Fernando, chief economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

The island has used debt to fund the construction of harbors, airports and roads. But Sri Lanka at present can cover its obligations only by taking on more debt, leading many to think the government will have to sell off national assets. The IMF has encouraged Sri Lanka to trim spending by state-run enterprises through reforms and reduce its debt through asset sales.

With his country’s currency having lost nearly 20% of its value against the dollar since 2015, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visits a Chinese-funded reclamation project in Colombo in January.   © Getty Images

The process has already begun. Sri Lanka sold a 99-year lease to China in December granting rights to a harbor in the southern town of Hambantota in order to write off $1.1 billion in debt.
For Beijing, which wants to establish footholds in the Indian Ocean, the financial deterioration of a maritime nation like Sri Lanka provides a golden opportunity. The lease sparked a backlash from regional rival India, since it offers China a potential harbor for its naval vessels.

“We had to make a decision to get out of this debt trap,” said Mahinda Samarasinghe, the ports and shipping minister of Sri Lanka.

But Sri Lanka has not climbed out of the trap yet. The country also is weighing whether to lease the rights to nearby Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, which only began operations in 2013.

Both projects are officially named after previous President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a pro-Beijing politician who used Chinese money to build each. The Export-Import Bank of China, for example, funded $190 billion of the airport’s $290 billion price tag.

The airport could provide an air base for Beijing only a stone’s throw from India. New Delhi seeks to win rights to the airport as well, but China holds the stronger claim as a creditor.

China also has financed infrastructure projects in Pakistan and the Maldives. A former president of the Maldives has said the small archipelago nation is also caught in a debt trap. Beijing stands as the main creditor to both countries, whose debts equal 67% and 71% of GDP, respectively. No Chinese naval ports have been identified, but Beijing could easily obtain strategic assets through debt-equity swaps such as in Sri Lanka.

Former Chinese President Hu Jintao referred to the Strait of Malacca, where the Indian Ocean exits to the rest of Asia, as a dilemma since it serves as the lifeline through which 80% of his country’s oil imports passed.

Current President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Friday and Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Though they sent messages of their defusing tensions, no end is in sight for the contest to dominate the Indian Ocean, which New Delhi views as its own. Sri Lanka’s asset sales to China could reignite tensions, with the country’s debt pile tipping the region’s geopolitical scales.

YUJI KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writer, April 29, 2018 

Rupee’s sad destiny of one-way journey to depreciation

When the Government took power in January 2015, the Central Bank’s Monetary Board

as well as the Minister of Finance behaved as if there was no economic crisis


Sudden fall in the value of the rupee

 Tuesday, 1 May 2018

The recent media reports have been abuzz with a sudden fall in the value of the Sri Lanka rupee against the US dollar, the benchmark currency used by Sri Lanka to quote the external value of its currency.

Rupee’s sad destiny of one-way journey to depreciation.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Govt: Stop squabbling, get down to business

2018-05-01

Another Cabinet reshuffle is scheduled for today reportedly after intense discussion between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. This is going to be the third change in the Cabinet this year and there is no assurance that it would be the last for the year, as there are reports that the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have been wrangling over the UNP’s attempt to absorb Ravi Karunanayake into the Cabinet.   
According to the lead story of Daily Mirror yesterday, UNP leaders want Karunanayake, who resigned as Foreign Affairs Minister on August 10 last year after the exposure of his links with Central Bank bond scam suspect Arjun Aloysius. Mr. Aloysius was implicated in the Central Bank bond scam which was investigated by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. President Maithripala Sirisena is said to be firm on rejecting these overtures by the UNP.   

Meanwhile, the two main political parties, the UNP and the SLFP, which make up the government are also struggling with their internal problems compelling the leaders of the two parties to dedicate most of their time to sort out those issues. The UNP is now fresh from a party reorganization process where a number of top posts except for the post of Party Leader have been changed. However, it is not clear whether there is a change in the decision-making powers of the office bearers.   
Nevertheless, it is also not clear whether the changing of office bearers would bring the internal wrangling of the party to an end, as there are signs of several prominent party members such as Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake being disappointed. They want a change in the leadership of the party which seems to be a remote possibility given the composition of the party’s decision-making bodies, such as the Working Committee. Besides, under the UNP’s constitution, the party has to go through a difficult process to bring about any major changes.   

The SLFP led by President Maithripala Sirisena also seems to be struggling to survive after the recent resignation by 16 SLFP ministers, deputy and state ministers from their ministerial posts and Thilanga Sumathipala from the post of deputy speaker. They have said they will sit in the Opposition while being the members of the SLFP though their penchant to team up with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa is very clear after the recent local government elections. However, the SLFP group which is still with the President seems to be attempting to pull them back into the government’s fold, by offering ministerial posts. If at least one or two of them are agreeable to it, the government will again be compelled to reshuffle the Cabinet.   

The bickering within the government and within the two main parties in the ruling coalition has cost a lot to the country as well as to the people. For the past five months since last December the government, political parties, the media and the people have been preoccupied with this political conundrum without concentrating on development or other meaningful topics.   

Even before that, we were obsessed with the startling exposures by the Presidential Commission on the Central Bank bond scam. Then the local government elections were announced towards the end of the last year. The election results brought about a crisis situation in almost all local government bodies. It seems it would last till the end of the tenure of these councils as well as after the next elections, unless the recently amended law is re-amended in the near future. Hard on the heels of the elections, the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe saw a string of crises within the government, between the two ruling parties, and within those two parties.   

The country does not need governments or political parties to continue with their internal squabbling and it is high time for the leaders of the concerned parties to end the tug-o-war and get down to the serious business of running the country. Certainly the leaders would have to make sacrifices so that Sri Lanka and its people would be the ultimate winners.   

POWER AND PROFIT: INVESTIGATING SRI LANKA’S MILITARY BUSINESSES

1. INTRODUCTION

Written by Super User-30 April 2018

The end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka saw a significantly increased level of military presence in civilian life across the country, with the military actively engaging in a variety of activities. These activities include humanitarian relief and participation in infrastructure projects, as well as engaging in profit generation through businesses and other economic ventures. This foray into economic activities and businesses by the military covers a range of sectors including hotels, restaurants, travel, leisure, and agriculture. These enterprises are spread across the country and have nationwide implications for the economy and rule of law.

This report examines these implications by discussing the following concerns and issues arising from the military’s economic activities:

 The lack of information regarding the legal and administrative frameworks within which the military engages in businesses;

 Potential unfair competition and market distortion by the military's engagement in business resulting in the crowding out of private investors;

 Lack of oversight over military businesses by the government, causing several rule of law implications regarding transparency and accountability;

 Social and economic consequences particular to the North and East as a result of the military occupying an economic vacuum.

The report concludes that the military's engagement in businesses and economic activities in Sri Lanka has led to serious consequences for the economy and rule of law. Markets are distorted, civilians are deprived of economic opportunities and state-funded or operated businesses are neither transparent nor accountable. The report recommends that these businesses be eventually managed by private or public sector entities, to ensure fair play in the market and greater transparency and accountability.

Power and Profit_ Investigating Sri Lanka’s Military Businesses (1).pdf by Thavam on Scribd