Journalists Are Not Police Informers 

Friday, June 07, 2013

Whether it was self-sacrifice for a deserving objective or just a stupid suicide, the self immolation by Ven. Bowatte Indrarathana on Vesak day opposite the Dalada Maligawa, has provided quite an opportunity to those who want to score Brownie points with the government by whipping the media.

President Rajapaksa offering Wimal Weerawansa a glass of water
to end the fast

The Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information, Charitha Herath, has taken umbrage at journalists who were present at the scene. ‘At least one journalist knew of the monk’s intentions’, he had claimed.

The self-immolation of the Buddhist monk in these critical times for the government could be politically embarrassing for the Rajapaksa government. Thus, was the umbrage of the bureaucrat the result of the embarrassment caused to his political masters or his genuine sympathy for the dead monk? Whipping the media is the surest way to register Brownie points.

Police stool pigeons

As journalists, we are concerned about his notion that a journalist is duty bound to convey information which he has received (obviously in confidence) to the police. Does this Media Secretary expect journalists to be police informers?

A journalist is under no obligation to inform the police or anyone in authority unless he perceives that there is an imminent danger to the public at large such as a hidden bomb.

In this instance the monk had decided to make the supreme sacrifice for just cause/causes he believed in: preventing the slaughter of cattle and stopping unethical conversion of Buddhists to other religions. He may be mistaken in his convictions but that is his right if he does not harm others.

Reports said that some journalists were arrested. This action could be construed as a move to prevent the freedom of the media – freedom of expression.

The establishment and its panjandrums have been severely critical of the monk’s suicide. But it is ironic that when other ‘political suicides’ were attempted as ‘ fasting to death’ such strict dedication for preservation of human life were not exhibited.

Weerawansa’s suicide attempt

Quite a few moons ago the loquacious and exhibitionist minister, Wimal Weerawansa went on a ‘fast to death’ opposite the premises of the UN office in Colombo. Front page publicity was given in all national newspapers and continuous TV publicity aired to statements of Minister Wimal Weerawansa about his suicidal and patriotic intentions. The police and whatever authorities those were in charge did not show the same concern that they exhibited after the performance by the monk. Finally, for whatever reason President Rajapaksa arrived and administered him a glass of water (Thambili?) and lo and behold, the fasting minister who had been fasting for days, got on to his feet!

History will determine whether the president did the correct thing by the nation. Wimal Weerawansa was threatening a fast over threatened impositions on Sri Lanka by the UN and Western powers over alleged violations of human rights. Had Weerawansa taken his fast to the end – death by starvation – the intransigence of Western powers against this poor Third World country may have evoked global sympathy and affected the voting at Geneva? Weerawansa’s death would have been as convincing as the death of IRA hero Bobby Sands who died in a British prison in May 1981 after going on 66-day hunger strike.

Bobby Sand’s death caused tremendous sympathy in European countries and in America among those of Irish descent. No doubt many of Colombo’s Chattering Class who never liked Weerawansa would have been delighted had Weerawansa’s declared intentions been realized. But Weerawansa lives to fight (or fast?) another day.

Media Commissar

Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath who has been vowing to bring about drastic changes in the Sri Lankan media has been studying about the media somewhere in America.
His pronouncements however indicate that he would have been studying somewhere in the Banana Republics or Equatorial Africa or a Fake House in Sri Lanka.

He may have been too young to observe the world shattering event of the Vietnamese monk Thick Quant Duc who set himself ablaze in the streets of Saigon in 1963 protesting the anti-Buddhist actions taken by South Vietnamese dictator Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem, a converted Catholic who had taken over power in the war torn country with 90 per cent Buddhists, was discriminating against Buddhists. When he banned flying the Buddhist flag on Vesak day in 1963, it caused an uprising but he did not relent. Journalists received message in June 10, 1963, that ‘something was going to happen’ in Saigon the next day opposite the Cambodian Embassy.

Ven. Duc arrived on the spot in a procession of Buddhist monks, sat down on a cushion in the Lotus Posture while another monk poured out petrol on him. He then lit a match by himself and went up in flames.

David Halberstan of the New York Times, who witnessed the burning monk without moving a muscle as flames engulfed him, wrote later: ‘Vietnamese were sobbing, I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes and too bewildered to think’.
No one attempted to keep reporters out. The picture of the monk in flames and the story made world headlines. It made President John Kennedy, when he saw the picture of the monk in flames, remark: No picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as this event to change world history.

Reports of the event indeed changed world history. Diem was thrown out in a coup in five months time and killed the next day. Kennedy decided to pull out American troops from Vietnam but was assassinated before that. America itself erupted in violence leading ultimately to American withdrawal.

That was the terrific impact of just one report and picture. The reporters and photographers were not asked to be police informants or police stool pigeons even by the officials of the Vietnam military junta. The consequences of the self-immolation of Ven. Bowatte Indrarathna Thero we do not know. What we object to is the attempt to make use of this incident to say that journalists should be police informers. If that happens then it would be the end of Sri Lankan democracy

Wediwardena introduced Prageeth in France- Arundika

FRIDAY, 07 JUNE 2013 

Government MP Arundika Fernando who dropped a bombshell in parliament stating that missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda was living in France, came up with more revelations today saying that the missing journalist was introduced to him by another media personnel Manjula Wediwardene in France recently.

Mr. Fernando who raised a privilege issue in Parliament today said Mr. Wediwardene introduced a bald headed man as Eknaligoda during his recent visit to France. He said this person slipped away without talking to him.

He said Eknaligoda had been among those who had come to sabotage a pro Sri Lankan protest in Geneva recently. Mr Fernando said Eknaligoda had come with journalist Sunanda Deshapriya who had turned up wearing a turban.

“ Such persons who had gone against their motherland should be brought back to Sri Lanka in the same way they fled the country even if they are being held there by certain organizations or individuals,” he said adding that intelligence units is currently working on it within a legal framework.

Mr. Fernando who hit out at Eknaligoda’s wife Sandya Eknaligoda said she had made a statement blaming the government for her husband’s disappearance. He said Ms. Eknaligoda should have met him to find out more information if she really loved her husband. “It is a shame on her to become a cat’s paw of certain people and issue various statements,” Mr. Fernando said.

He also said Ms. Eknaligoda had made it clear that she was aware of her husband’s whereabouts from the way she behaved. Mr. Fernando therefore said she had acted in an unpatriotic manner.

Govt MP who says he saw Prageeth in France is absent-minded now

Media grills Keheliya on Prageeth (Audio)

The media today grilled Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella on the statement made in parliament yesterday by government MP Arundika Fernando on missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

When asked what the government position is on that statement, the Minister said that similar statements had been made before as well.

MP Arundika Fernando had told Parliament yesterday that the journalist is in France and not missing as claimed by his family.

Minister Rambukwella, addressing the weekly cabinet press briefing, said that under parliament privileges the MP cannot be questioned by the CID if he does not want to talk.

“Investigations are going on. Investigations is the job of the law enforcing groups. A member of parliament can say he has met him, he has seen him in France…He has the right to inform somebody or the right to keep quiet,” the Minister said.

Rambukwella said that he had asked MP Arundika Fernando about the statement he made and where he saw Eknaligoda.

The Minister said that the MP had responded by saying he saw him somewhere in France but could not remember exactly where.  (Colombo Gazette)

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO

Related story: http://colombogazette.com/2013/06/05/eknaligodas-wife-surprised-over-claims/

Sri Lankan journalist in UAE still at risk of deportation

By Sumit Galhotra/CPJ Asia Research Associate

Lohini Rathimohan, a former television journalist from Sri Lanka, faces an unclear future. The 28-year-old is among 15 Tamil refugees still sheltered in a single room of an aluminum factory at Dubai's Jebel Ali port whose official statuses remain uncertain.

Rathimohan (whose name is also spelled Lokini) and others were granted UNHCR refugee status in November after they fled dangers at home to seek asylum in Australia. Upon hitting stormy seas, they were rescued by a Singaporean vessel en route to the UAE, according to news reports. In April, fresh reports said the group faced deportation despite their refugee status; a few days later, the UNHCR said the agency was working on their resettlement and the refugees were in no danger of being forced out of the UAE. Since then, four of the original 19 refugees were accepted by the United States, Finland, and Sweden.

But it seems the storm hasn't entirely passed. Kulasegaram Geetharthanan, a lawyer who has submitted applications to several countries on behalf of the asylum-seekers, told CPJ that the UNHCR is reassessing the group's status as UNHCR refugees and subjecting them to another round of interviews. CPJ recently spoke to the journalist, who also said her status is in question. Her limited English may not have conveyed many details, but one thing was clear in her voice--the dread of being deported.

CPJ contacted UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba based in Geneva who declined to comment on the specifics of any individual case, citing confidentiality.

Deportation to Sri Lanka would most certainly place Rathimohan in terrible jeopardy. The former news presenter was a high-profile face when she covered Sri Lanka's civil war from areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers for the rebel-run National Television of Tamil Eelam (NTT) between 2006 and 2008. In 2009, Rathimohan's colleague Shoba was shown shot and killed in amateur video filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers and obtained by the U.K.'s Channel 4.

CPJ research shows that ethnic Tamil media in Sri Lanka face continued risks. In recent months, CPJ documented an attack on the offices of Uthayan, a Tamil-language newspaper based in the island nation's Northern Province, and disruptions by the country's national broadcaster to BBC's Tamil service, which led the British broadcaster to suspend all radio service in Sri Lanka.

In the meantime, Geetharthanan has submitted an application for Rathimohan's resettlement in the U.K., where her aunt, a European Union citizen, resides. He said the office confirmed receipt of it last week. We'll be following her situation closely, and hoping for a positive outcome. 

Sumit Galhotra is the research associate for CPJ's Asia program. He served as CPJ's inaugural Steiger Fellow and has worked for CNN International, Amnesty International USA, and Human Rights Watch. He has reported from London, India, and Israel and the Occupied Territories, and specializes in human rights and South Asia.

Media Has Evolved To Draft A Code Of Media Ethics To Their Own Media

By Kusal Perera -June 7, 2013 

Kusal Perera

The code of media ethics the Ministry of Media and Information says the government has planned to introduce, would cover all electronic and print media. For now, there is no code of media ethics for the electronic media. Though the Secretary to the Media and Information Ministry is ignorant, there is a very comprehensive code of ethics for the print media, drafted and adopted by “The Editors’ Guild” in collaboration with the Free Media Movement (FMM) and accepted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and its Complaints Commission, since year 2001. This is not functional for two major reasons. One, the Editors themselves don’t take any interest in adhering to their own code of ethics. This raises the question, why did they bother themselves to draft and adopt a set of codes for media ethics, to simply insult it ? Two, most journalists are not aware of it and its relevance for their profession, for quality journalism. Well, when their own Editors don’t pay heed to this Code of Media Ethics, it is just logical, the journalists would not bother to know what it is about.

The reason for the government to introduce a set of ethics for media, has nothing to do with any of that. Of promoting professionalism and quality coverage and programming. It has other political reasons. Sajin Vas Gunawardne, MP, told parliament they need to re-introduce the once shunned draconian Criminal Defamation Law, to prevent heads of media organizations from acting like ‘underworld thugs.’ For now, let’s not start discussing what law this country would need to prevent political monkeys from looting tax payers’ money and national wealth. For now, this venomous statement in parliament from one who is still closest to the regime, tells the Rajapaksa regime has other interests in stepping into the media industry from different paths.

The media, technically called “print” and “electronic”, in this global world has moved into web based media too. Usually the media was categorised as “State” and as “privately” owned. It was such when Rajapaksaassumed office as President, 07 years and 07 months ago. The media was fast transformed into a different categorisation with the escalation of the war. Then it became “pro war” and “anti war” to begin with. Journalists had to choose their place within that. Attacks on media were carried out against those who were thought to be “anti war”.

The first attacks on media and journalists therefore targeted Tamil media from as early as 24 January, 2006.  Sunbramaniam S. Rajan was shot dead that day by an unknown gunman on a motor bicycle in Trincomalee town, presumably for publishing photographs in “Sudar Oli” news paper and some investigating reporting on the killing of 05 youth on 02^nd January, 2006 in Trincomalee.  Year 2006 recorded 09 media workers killed with 01 young Sinhala journalist among them, Lakmal Sampath de Silva and also 08 more, 04 among them Tamils, abducted and some gone missing. This attack on media and media workers, was not taken up in Colombo by mainstream media dominated by Sinhala journalists, as seriously as it should have been. That was how the war helped create a divided media, with Colombo going under the regime, not only through coercion and verbal / physical threats, but ideologically too.

The war thereafter becoming a “patriotic” war of the Sinhala Buddhists and every aspect of civil life in the Jaffna peninsula taken over by the military, the Tamil media thereafter was no big issue for the warring Rajapaksa regime. In Colombo, what Sinhala patriotism could not do in curbing dissent, in restricting media independence, the State intelligence and police were to do. There were a spate of arrests in 2007 and 2008. Individuals were taken in on charges of “suspected terrorism” or as “informants”. In years 2007 and 2008, there were 12 cases of arrests reported, including two foreign journalists and also Tissanayagam and Jesiharan. The irony again is that, these were always played down by the media itself, adhering to the police version of immediately labelling yesterday’s journalist as today’s “terrorist”. In some instances, as with “Maubima” journalist Miss. M. Parameswary and SLBC Relief Announcer Miss Susanthi Thambirasa, some mainstream Sinhala media had no qualms calling them “LTTE suicide bombers”, while both were freed without any charges filed against them.

The fact remains, the mainstream media and working journalists were attacked in many ways, including attacks of arson as in the case of “Sirasa” station in Depanama, Pannipitiya, with no protest worthy of note. Free Media Movement though voiced concern and protests, had its own limitations. It never represented functional media and was never a journalist based organisation of the mainstream. It was therefore not strong enough in making any noticeable dent in the declining media culture. The electronic media (TV and FM stations) that contributes very much on social gossip runs with media tinsels as celebrities, who don’t even know what rights they should have as employees.

With such advantage on the side of the Rajapaksa regime, they also enjoyed the presence of a totally submissive group of media owners and publishers, ever willing to compromise with the regime. We thus did not see any publisher or their collective forums protesting against their own employees being threatened, abducted and tortured or when arbitrarily arrested. Neither did the SLPI, a tri-partite organisation of publishers, editors and journalists, ever took up any of the attacks on journalists and the media, with purpose. I doubt whether they ever intervened and protested against their own employee, Namal Perera’s near abduction.

That period of brutality during the heightened war finally witnessing the killing of Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickramatunge in January 2009 and the war itself concluded in May the same year, the media went under a different phase of an evolution. Categorisation of media as “State” owned or “privately” owned, lost all validity. End of the war saw a media that basically ran on the ideological pattern created and dispensed under the patronage of the defence establishment, politically rubber stamped by the Rajapaksa regime, never mind who ever owns it. The business and trader community (Sri Lanka still lacks a conscious capitalist class) ended up  heavily entrenched in this battle minted, patriotic mindset and is wholly dependent on the regime.

Economic life has thus taken a serious bashing. While the economy is not “State controlled” as it was in the pre 1978 era, it is no more a free economy. It is a market economy under the dictates of this regime. Therefore all investors and investments have to have the stamp of this Rajapaksa regime. Media in SL functions within this Rajapaksa dictated market economy, owned as family based or single proprietor businesses, tied up with the regime on other business ventures. In fact even the big and well established ones in media, are only having and using them as “business props”, for political mileage. Changing of or taking control of such family based or single proprietor businesses are much easier than broad based ownerships. We have thus come to live with a media that is either directly run by the regime, or not so indirectly towed by it. Where there is possibility, the regime has taken financial and management control through trusted proxies. In such cases they have installed editors with ease, willing to tow their line and live within undeclared conditions.

Now it seems in praxis, the only odd one out though not large, is the Sinhala weekend broadsheet, “Ravaya”. It is also now evident, Ravaya is trying to wriggle out of any possible “swallowing” with its readership, the editorial and those who still want media freedom, experimenting with a public campaign to broad base its ownership. Possibly the first in South Asia to evolve as a reader – owned, public news paper.

Today, we are therefore left with a print and electronic media, that is within Rajapaksa politics and any Code of Media Ethics, practically irrelevant. What we are engaging in is, discussing a Code of Media Ethics for a media that would any way live as the regime wants. If we are talking of an independent, impartial and an informative media, it is more important to liberate the media from the clutches of this regime. Code of Media Ethics can only be relevant and practical for a media, that can first be financially independent from this regime. There is no purpose in discussing editorial independence in media, where publishers and owners are part of the regime, though technically they are private entities.

Today, if any one wants a good Code of Media Ethics, the existing Code done by The Editors’ Guild is there for all improvements. But that is not the issue. The issue is, media ethics drafted by the State media ministry has nothing to do with media independence and freedom of expression. Today, media ethics is part of the larger political debate in how media ownerships could be kept independent from regime control and the editors too.  And for now, [quote] Here’s how it works: the President makes decisions. He’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put ‘em through a spell check and go home.[unquote – Stephen Colbert / political satirist, comedian, television host]

Rethink CHOGM : UNP

FRIDAY, 07 JUNE 2013 

The UNP said today it would request the Commonwealth heads to reconsider the participation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November had the government failed to fulfill its promises to the Commonwealth before the Northern Provincial Council elections.

UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera told a news conference the government had given numerous promises to the Commonwealth stating that it would take steps to protect Human Rights and also to establish independent commissions prior to the Northern Provincial Council elections.

He urged the government to establish independent commissions that were in the 17 Amendment to the Constitution and to take steps to hold a free and fair election in the Northern Province.

Mr. Samaraweera also said if the State heads participated at the CHOGM in a situation where the governments failed to fulfill its promises it would indicate that CHOGM approve of a governance of a dictatorship. 

Spectators to Sri Lanka genocide ascend in Obama's inner circle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2013, 11:25 GMT]
President Barack Obama Wednesday announced that he is reshuffling the US national security team by appointing the current United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to the White House and nominated Samantha Power to take Rice's place in the UN. Sri Lanka observers point out to the ineffective role played by the two appointees during the Sri Lanka conflict, and despite the high flown rhetoric of the author of the acclaimed "A Problem from Hell" author, Samantha Power, who met with Sri Lanka's alleged genocidaire Rajapakse after the Mu'l'l'vaaykaal massacres, Rice and Power have been noted silent spectators to the Sri Lanka genocide. 

"Everyone knew that Tom Donilon would be leaving and that Susan Rice would be arriving. He's [Obama] now got another very close confidante - Samantha Power - going to the United Nations. This was the team that he envisioned for his second term," Inderfurth told CBSNews.com. a longtime diplomat told CBS. "He's now got his dream team."

Inner City Press (ICP) that covers United Nations in New York, said of the appointments: "Power wrote the book on genocide -- but some wonder what she DID about it, for example the 2009 slaughter of 40,000 Tamils in Northern Sri Lanka. Inner City Press covered that mass killing, and was present when anguished diaspora Tamil denounced, among others, Samantha Power for inaction. Would she have tried to at least get it onto the Security Council's agenda?," ICP questioned.

Ms. Power won a Pulitzer for "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," her book about America's response to genocide. In the book she argues that American foreign policy in this area has failed; we promised "never again" after the Holocaust but willfully ignored genocides in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, and Rwanda, she had earlier said, before she was invited to join the Obama's first campaign.

Sri Lanka: Perspectives on war

Northern districts of Sri Lanka

Shriya Bhagwat-Chitale

Friday, June 07, 2013

Four years ago in May 2009, Sri Lanka’s 26 year war ended. Years after the Sri Lanka government declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east, home to large swaths of Tamil population, the military still maintains a modus operandi of relentless repression and violence. Many victims are far from prominent. They are everyday people, like the slight-statured 33 year old Palani.

His story is in some way the story of every civilian in Sri Lanka who paid the heaviest cost of a long and bloody war.

On a muggy mid-morning on February 4, 2009, Palani was at the well drawing water when he heard sounds everyone in the village had come to recognize only too well. An explosion got him before he could make his way out and run into a shallow bunker. You see, he explains, the war-head from the artillery travels faster than the speed of sound, so you can’t trust what you hear.

Sometimes, in the scrum, it confuses you and people run in the wrong direction. 15 meters away from the well, artillery had ecimated his home, a mud hut, fatally killing his wife. He found out only a day later.

At this time, aeroplanes were bombing the two hospitals - Puthukudieruppu government hospital and Ponnampalam private hospital – near his village, the last strong hold of the LTTE. By May 2009, as many as 65 similar attacks had been carried out on hospitals. Lack of medicines and equipment caused many preventable deaths.

That evening, aid workers like those from the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation picked their way through the dead and injured strew of bodies, doling out Kanji to the ones still found alive.

Just a few months ago, at the end of 2008; international agencies including the United Nations and all its related relief agencies had left. A UN report in 2011 would late criticize this move.

With no one to bear witness, it hadn’t taken the Sri Lankan army long to swoop down on the Tamil controlled areas in north and east. In January 2009, the capital city Kilinochi of the LTTE controlled area fell.

“As a UN spokesperson at the time, I operated with limitations,” said Gordon Weiss who until 2009 was the UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka. “My first response was professional and then personal to the ongoing crisis - Night after night, I would return home, having received calls from doctors, pleading with us to do more, get them more medicine.” Weiss chronicles the war in his book ‘The Cage - The fight for Sri Lanka & the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers.

Weiss was speaking recently in Auckland, where a smattering of people gathered at the Mount Albert memorial on a rainy day that carried a hint of winter to mark the 4th anniversary. Some voiced their fear for loved ones back home lest they say anything perceived to be anti-government. 

The Sri Lankan government faces allegations and mounting evidence of committing crimes under international law as per the Amnesty International report ‘Sri Lanka’s Assault on Dissent’.

Violence significantly escalated in the last few days of the conflict when Palani was amongst the over 300,000 trapped in the cross-fire and herded into the ‘no-fire zones’, only to become easy targets.

“We all felt forgotten… orphaned and never thought that the situation would deteriorate like this. They didn’t care who they were hitting or missing,” remembers Palani. He has lost a cousin in another attack similar to one in his village and a total of five family members to the war. If the other countries, international agencies and the army had let them down, by some accounts, so had the LTTE who used the civilian population as camouflage and human shields.

The army’s advancing line of fire hunted a fearful, injured and cowering population further and further into desperation and smaller patches of land. In May 2009, Palani fled with the exodus of over 300,000 civilians.

He is stoic, unflinching as he recounts what happened next.

(Read part 2 in the next issue of the Indian Weekender. Some names have been changed to protect identities)

Your Excellency, Stop Police Using Kocchi Chili During Interrogations

By Bijo Francis -June 7, 2013 

Bijo Francis

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa

President

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Office of the President

Temple Trees

150, Galle Road, Colombo 3,

SRI LANKA

Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

Your Excellency, Stop Police Using Kocchi Chili During Interrogations by nelvely

Sri Lanka questions in House of Parliament in UK

Friday, 07 June 2013
Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with the Commonwealth ministerial action group on Sri Lanka. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt): The UK is not a member of the CMAG, but we have regular bilateral conversations with its members. We do not expect Sri Lanka to be on the formal CMAG agenda at

23 Apr 2013 : Column 744

its next meeting on 26 April, but we expect, and support, it being discussed at some stage in the meeting.

www.parliament.lk-Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Questions in House of Parliament in UK by nelvely

Solidarity Day To Foster Closer Ties Between The Tamil Community And UK Unions

June 7, 2013

British Tamils Forum (BTF) and Tamil Solidarity (TSol) are jointly organising a solidarity day, to be held on Saturday 8 June 2013, from 4pm, at SOAS, London. The event is aimed at fostering closer ties between the Tamil Community and unions in the UK.

“The British Tamil Community is a vibrant, hard-working and politically active community group. It is estimated that over 300,000 Tamils live in the UK, most of them residing in London. With a large proportion of these Tamils working in the public and service sectors, there is tremendous potential for unions to engage with this community.” says the BTF.

BTF says;”Many British Tamils, with their roots in the traditional Tamil homelands – Tamil Eelam – in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka, arrived in the UK to escape the decades-long persecution they faced there. British Tamils continue to maintain a strong interest in current events in Sri Lanka, where their relatives are still treated as second class citizens and denied their fundamental rights.

“Tamils have faced employment discrimination, harassment, individual violence and state-sponsored pogroms since the independence of Sri Lanka – and they have long maintained that the oppression they face constitutes genocide. However, their claims were largely ignored by the international community until the persecution reached its bloody climax in 2009, when over 100,000 Tamils were killed by Sri Lankan security forces, and countless more uprooted and injured. Even since 2009, the Tamils continue to face oppression in many forms – including government seizures of Tamil-owned land; sexual and physical violence by military personnel; overwhelming militarisation of Tamil homelands; farmers losing their land to Sinhalese colonisers; and further political disenfranchisement.

“Although the international community has become more vocally critical of the Sri Lankan state since the events of 2009, it has failed to carry through with any actions that meaningfully help the Tamil people. Moreover, it has even taken steps that increase the power and legitimacy of the Sri Lankan state: a highly topical case in point is the Commonwealth’s decision to hold its next Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in November 2013 – despite condemnation from several international human rights groups. British Tamils were further saddened to hear that the UK government plans to participate in this summit.

British Tamils, who play a significant role in the cultural and economic life of this country, hope to take their story and struggle to every corner of British society. British unions, which represent a large part of this society, have a long and honourable history of expressing solidarity with oppressed people around the world. This Solidarity Day provides an opportunity for British workers to stand shoulder to shoulder with their oppressed Tamil brethren – and in particular register their opposition to Sri Lanka hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2013.

“The primary objectives of this solidarity day are as follows:

·       Exchange political initiatives between the Tamil Community and the unions

·       Oppose CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka

·       Stand against impunity and call for an International Independent Investigation into the Genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka

·       Call for press freedom and freedom of speech in Sri Lanka

·       Establish solidarity with unions in support of the Tamils’ right to self-determination in Sri Lanka

We call on all Tamils in the UK to join us and support this networking event for establishing closer relationships with union members and solidarity organisations.

Solidarity Day – 8th June 2013

admin | Thursday, May 30th, 2013 | Comments Off

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Let’s build revolutionary Marxist – Leninist Party that could lead the anti-imperialist, anti- capitalist struggle – Somawansa Amarasinghe

FRIDAY, 07 JUNE 2013

The capitalist crisis is deepening and the capitalist system is plunging into a systemic crisis. The resistance of the oppressed people against capitalism will emerge and intensify in individual countries in all forms of class struggle, namely, electoral form and also in other forms such as marches, protests, sit ins and strikes. In certain countries the resistance will take the form of armed struggles said the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe addressing the international communist seminar held in Wavre, Belgium from 31st May 2013 to 2nd June 2013.

He said the contemporary crisis of Imperialism and Capitalism is sharpening and its onslaught on the people needs to be confronted with increased revolutionary vigour ideologically and organizationally. Mr. Amarasinghe said, “Let us defeat opportunism and build the true class conscious revolutionary Marxist – Leninist Party that could lead the anti-imperialist, anti- capitalist struggle in individual countries and unite them at international level to defeat the domination of the finance capital.”

The presentation to international communist seminar by Mr. Amarasinghe on behalf of the JVP:

Let’s build revolutionary Marxist – Leninist Party that could lead the anti-imperialist, anti- capitalist s... by nelvely

Tamils for Obama: What's Needed to Get Eelam Referendum Going is Obama's Participation

President Obama initiated the referendum that led to the independent state of South Sudan. Tamils for Obama, in a letter to the president, suggests that the same thing can be accomplished in northeastern Sri Lanka.

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 31, 2013

Sri Lanka also had a bloody civil war, and again with an oppressive ruling majority trying to subjugate, uproot, and chase out their resented minority. In the case of Sri Lanka the resented minority was the Tamils

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 31, 2013

South Sudan's referendum on independence was a good idea and had a good result, said Tamils for Obama in a letter to the president. Now, the same good idea should be applied in northeastern Sri Lanka

The letter started "South Sudan had a bloody civil war, with an oppressive ruling majority trying to subjugate, uproot, and chase out their resented minority. After decades of conflict, a referendum--which you initiated--led to a separation and a new country called South Sudan. Overall this was a good result, and a feather in your cap."

The letter then noted that northeast Sri Lanka also had a bloody civil war, and again with an oppressive ruling majority trying to subjugate, uproot, and chase out their resented minority. In the case of Sri Lanka, the resented minority was the Tamils, the letter noted, and Tamils are the victims of the national government's ongoing campaign of oppression and genocide.

"We think that what is needed is another referendum and another new country," Tamils for Obama said in the letter. This time, the new country would be Tamil Eelam. "You have done it before," the group wrote to the president, "and you can do it again."

The letter also noted that Chief Minister Jayalalithaaand former foreign minister of India Yashwant Sinhaboth said that Tamil Eelam “is not far away.”

"These two heavy-weights opposed even the idea of a separate Tamil homeland in the past," the letter went on, "and now both are expressing what we think is the tide of opinion in south Asia: that there must be a referendum establishing a self-ruling Tamil homeland is the wish of most of the people in northeastern Sri Lanka."

"Almost every Tamil in the world--in Sri Lanka, India, and the diaspora in scores of other countries, including us in the US--is in favor of this referendum," the letter also said.

Tamils for Obama concluded by telling the president, "We think that the missing element is your participation. We urge you to do as you did with South Sudan."

Tamils for Obama is a politically active group of Tamil Americans. They believe that over 70,000 Tamil civilians were massacred during the last weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war. They have also watched the behavior of the Sri Lankan Singhalese victors after the war, and strongly conclude that Tamils in Sri Lanka will only be safe when this unfortunate island is divided into two states.

To contact the group, call at (516) 308-2645 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.

http://www.TamilsForObama.com

Email: info(at)TamilsforObama(dot)com