Social Media’s Challenge to Democracy

by Lee H. Hamilton

( September 8, 2016, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) I’ve been involved in politics for the better part of a lifetime, and have spoken at a lot of public meetings over the years. There’s one question, I think, that I’ve heard more than any other: “If I want to be an informed citizen, which sources of information should I consult?”

For many years, I had a set answer for this. Read one or more of the respected national news sources, I’d respond: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, The Economist, etc. I’m not sure how good that answer was at the time, but I know for certain it would be woefully inadequate now. Younger people, in particular, get far more of their information from social media than from traditional news sources.

The internet and social media have upended our expectations of what it means to be well-informed. Platforms and websites that take advantage of online and mobile connectivity are like a firehose, providing enormous quantities of information, opinion, news, statements, videos, images, analysis, charts, graphs—all of it instantly available. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and other platforms have become the way many of our citizens communicate. They have become a force for mobilizing large groups of people to apply political pressure on short notice.

The question is, what impact does this have on the public dialogue, and on representative democracy?

Clearly, these are powerful tools. As the rise of the tea party and the alarm over price increases for the EpiPen demonstrate, they can galvanize large, energetic groups of people who oppose a specific target. They make more information quickly available from more sources. They make it possible for users to do their own fact-checking. (I can tell you, it’s quite intimidating as a speaker to watch members of the audience checking up on what you just said.)

They allow people to get into the action and take part in political dialogue. They give citizens multiple ways to engage the attention and interest of policymakers—and give policymakers multiple ways to gauge public opinion and seek to understand the interests and needs of constituents. They’ve brought new groups into the public dialogue who were not there before, adding fresh voices to the process and broadening our understanding of what it means to be American.

Does the ubiquity of information available through social media really help citizens understand complex issues, weigh competing arguments, and reach discriminating judgments about politics?

But if information has become more ubiquitous and powerful, so has misinformation. It spreads rapidly, passed along from user to user with no check. Posts tend to have no room for nuance; arguments can be explosive and arguers aggressive; drama and hysteria fuel polarization; special interests can’t help but take advantage of the context-free nature of social media.

All of this makes it far more difficult for policymakers to sift through everything coming their way on any given topic. If a significant portion of the information that’s available consists of misleading graphs, false facts, misstatements, and outright lies, the process of arriving at good policy becomes fragile and laden with traps.

Which is why the sheer quantity of information bestowed on us by social media does not necessarily improve the quality of public dialogue. It does not always help citizens make good choices.

And that’s really the key question: Does the ubiquity of information available through social media really help citizens understand complex issues, weigh competing arguments, and reach discriminating judgments about politics?

Or does it overwhelm them with bursts of information that is so mixed as to quality that people simply throw up their hands—or, worse, charge full-tilt ahead based on a false understanding of reality?

The answer, of course, is that it’s a mixed bag. The jury’s still out on whether we’re becoming better citizens because we have more information and opinion at our fingertips. Certainly, the information world we live in today is putting more stress on individual voters to make discriminating choices and on our representative democracy, which rests on institutions that were designed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Our political process has proved resilient over centuries, and has served us well. But social media pose a powerful challenge. They’ve brought great gifts and equally great risks, and we’d be prudent to be cautious.

---

Lee H. Hamilton is director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University; distinguished scholar, IU School of Global and International Studies; and professor of practice, IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years. Among his published works are the books “How Congress Works and Why You Should Care” and “Strengthening Congress.”

Facebook backs down, will no longer censor the iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ war photo

In this June 8, 1972, file photo, 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, runs with her brothers and cousins, followed by South Vietnamese forces, down Route 1 near Trang Bang after a South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on its own troops and civilians. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

By Abby Ohlheiser September 9

If you were to pick a handful of images that changed how people think about war, Nick Ut’s most famous photograph would surely be among them. The image of 9-year-old Kim Phuc running from napalm — her skin burning, her clothes burned away — defined the horrors of the Vietnam War.

Norwegian author Tom Egeland had the lasting power of Ut’s work in mind when he shared the photo to Facebook weeks ago. But when Facebook’s moderators saw the Pulitzer Prize-winning image, they saw not its documentary significance or its impact on the world, but a violation of the site’s nudity policy.

Facebook’s moderators removed the photograph from Egeland’s page, along with its accompanying text. His account was suspended for 24 hours after he shared an interview with Phuc criticizing Facebook’s decision to censor this image, he said. But that was just the beginning of the incredible outrage at Facebook that has swept across Norway in recent days, becoming the subject of an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Norway’s largest newspaper, and rising all the way up to the country’s prime minister.

After initially defending its decision to remove the photograph, Facebook decided to “reinstate” the image on Friday afternoon, according to a written statement from a Facebook spokeswoman. “We recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time,” the statement reads. “Because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal.”

The company said it would “adjust our review mechanisms” to permit the sharing of the image in the future, but that the change could take “days” to fully go into effect for all users.

[Can you read the minds of Facebook’s moderators? Take a short quiz.]

Facebook has increasingly found itself under scrutiny for its influential role in the distribution of news across the world. According to Pew, 44 percent of the general population in the United States say they get their news from Facebook. While Zuckerberg recently said that Facebook is “a tech company, not a media company,” this incident highlights just how much control the platform can wield over what media its users do (and don’t) see.

Espen Egil Hansen, the editor of Aftenposten — Norway’s largest paper — called Zuckerberg the “world’s most powerful editor” in an open letter to Zuckerberg protesting Facebook’s censorship of the photo, which was published on Friday morning.

“I think you are abusing your power, and I find it hard to believe that you have thought it through thoroughly,” he wrote.

The outrage in Norway escalated when Prime Minister Erna Solberg posted the image to her own Facebook page on Friday, after the publication of Aftenposten’s letter. “Facebook gets it wrong when they censor such pictures. It limits the freedom of speech,” she wrote in an accompanying statement that was translated by Reuters. “I say yes to healthy, open and free debate — online and wherever else we go. But I say no to this form of censorship.”

Solberg’s post, along with the statement, then disappeared. A spokesman for the prime minister’s office confirmed that she “did not remove it” herself from her own page — instead, Facebook deleted it.

She later reposted the image — censoring Phuc’s entire body with a large black box — and called on Facebook to reconsider its policies. She paired the censored version of Ut’s work with several other censored versions of iconic photos, writing, “What Facebook does by removing images of this kind, good as the intentions may be, is to edit our common history.”

Aftenposten ran its direct address letter to Zuckerberg on the front page of its paper. “I am writing this letter to inform you that I shall not comply with your requirement to remove a documentary photography from the Vietnam war made by Nick Ut. Not today, and not in the future,” Hansen, the paper’s editor, wrote.

“The media have a responsibility to consider publication in every single case. This may be a heavy responsibility. Each editor must weigh the pros and cons,” Hansen wrote. “This right and duty, which all editors in the world have, should not be undermined by algorithms encoded in your office in California.”

“With over 1.5 billion users, Facebook’s ability to shape views and outlooks is unprecedented,” said Matthew Stender, a project strategist for the social media censorship tracking 

project, Onlinecensorship.org. Stender expressed concern that Facebook’s increasing importance to the distribution of journalism could eventually allow Facebook to “impose their community guidelines as an arbitrary and puritanical basis for what type of content can be included (and excluded) from journalism published exclusively on the platform.”

The company encountered questions about its ability to handle disturbing but newsworthy content this July, when Diamond Reynolds used Facebook Live to broadcast the dying moments of Philando Castile, after he was shot by a Minnesota cop during a traffic stop. The video was removed from Facebook shortly after it posted, eventually returning to the site with a “graphic content” warning.

[Is Facebook ready for live video’s important role in police accountability?]

Hansen reported that Facebook asked the paper this week to either remove or pixelate Ut’s work from one of its own articles on Wednesday morning, after the paper had reported on Egeland’s suspension from the platform.

“We place limitations on the display of nudity to limit the exposure of the different people using our platform to sensitive content,” the note from Facebook, published alongside Aftenposten’s open letter, reads. “Any photographs of people displaying fully nude genitalia or buttocks, or fully nude female breasts, will be removed.”

“We understand that these limitations will sometimes affect content shared for legitimate reasons, including awareness campaigns or artistic projects, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” Facebook continued.

Instead of pixelating or removing the image as requested, Hansen wrote that Facebook was “restricting my room for exercising my editorial responsibility. This is what you and your subordinates are doing in this case.”

By Friday afternoon, Facebook had reversed its position. Here is Facebook’s full explanation for its new stance:

“After hearing from our community, we looked again at how our Community Standards were applied in this case. An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography. In this case, we recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time. Because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal, so we have decided to reinstate the image on Facebook where we are aware it has been removed. We will also adjust our review mechanisms to permit sharing of the image going forward. It will take some time to adjust these systems but the photo should be available for sharing in the coming days. We are always looking to improve our policies to make sure they both promote free expression and keep our community safe, and we will be engaging with publishers and other members of our global community on these important questions going forward.”

This post has been updated multiple times. 

FactCheck: are Black Lives Matter UK right about racism and climate change?

FactCheck: are Black Lives Matter UK right about racism and climate change?

September 9, 2016

Nine people were charged today after a protest by Black Lives Matter UK caused major disruption at London City Airport.

The campaign group is the British offshoot of a movement that began in the US in response to a spate of police shootings of unarmed black people.

Initially, BLMUK concentrated on talking about the deaths of black Britons while in various kinds of state custody. But this week the group turned its attention to climate change with the City Airport demonstration.

Protesters – all white – occupied a runway and waved banners that said: “Climate crisis is a racist crisis.”

A BLMUK member, Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert, later expanded on the reasoning behind the protest in a comment article in the Guardian, and made two interesting claims:

“Britain is the biggest contributor per capita to global temperature change.”

Our issue here is with the word “is”.

The figures used to justify this statement are not in fact based on what is happening now, but on a long historical view.

The original data is from this paper. The authors took an existing estimate of carbon emissions for the whole of Europe since 1850.

Then they came up with an estimate for Britain alone, based on historical records of changes in vegetation cover. The idea is that the more changes there are to forested areas in a country, the higher the CO2 emissions.

Let’s say that this is a fair assumption, and that this data stretching back to the 19th century is accurate.

The resulting claim is that if you add up all carbon emissions since the industrial revolution, Britain has contributed more to global warming, per head of population, than any other country in the world.

This might tell us something interesting about Victorian Britain, but what is the state of play today?

The European Union has the UK in 42nd place for per capita CO2 emissions in 2013. The US Department of Energy puts us at number 53 in the same year.

“Black British Africans are 28 per cent more likely than their white counterparts to be exposed to air pollution.”

The source is this impact assessment produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, based on figures that are now 15 years old.

It calculates the average exposure to PM10 air pollution by each ethnic group by working out who lives near busy roads.

It’s right to say that people defined as “black or black-British African” are significantly (we make it 29 per cent) more exposed on average than people labelled “white – British”.

But it’s debatable whether this is evidence of racism being directed specifically against black people.

In most of the UK, the researchers found that most of the difference in exposure to pollution was explained by the fact that “there is a greater tendency for ethnic groups to live in more urban areas, which is where the higher emissions are”.

Urban areas are also where the most economic deprivation is, which raises the question of whether all this is just a complicated way of saying that white British people tend to be better off than ethnic minorities.

The figures suggest that increased risk of pollution affects everyone who is not “white British”, including people of Chinese and Irish ethnicity. Whatever this is, it’s not just a black issue.

The underlying data is from 2001. That means it predates the significant immigration from central and eastern Europe that Britain experienced after the enlargement of the EU in 2004.

Where do recent white eastern European migrants fit into these figures? Are they more or less exposed to pollutants than the black British population? We don’t know.

The bigger picture

The broader point made in the Guardian article is that the outcomes of global warming are not felt equally across the world: Britain is less vulnerable to climate change, compared to countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This idea that the developing world will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change is well established, having been put forward by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations and many campaign groups and think-tanks.

Obviously the focus is now shifting far beyond the experiences of black people living in Britain now.

Even in the scope of one article, BLMUK make claims about so many issues – migrants in the Mediterranean; prisons; employment; education; income inequality – that it’s impossible to FactCheck everything.

Like the American original, the British offshoot began by concentrating on the deaths of black people at the hands of the police, but the central claims were hard to stand up with statistics too.

In a previous Guardian article, another BLMUK member, Laura Barker, wrote:

“People who are black are more likely to end up dead after encountering British police or being held in custody… the people that end up dead after interactions with police, or immigration officers, or prison officers, are disproportionately black and brown.”

She provided a link to figures published by the charity Inquest, which show 157 deaths of black and minority ethnic people (BAME) in custody and otherwise following contact with the police in England and Wales since 1990.

This is almost exactly 10 per cent of the 1,572 people of all races who died in the same circumstances in that time.

But the latest estimate for the non-white population of England and Wales is about 14 per cent.

So these number don’t appear to suggest that you are disproportionately likely to die in custody of following contact with the police if you are non-white.

There is an obvious contrast to be made with the situation in the United States, even if the figures are not directly comparable.

Of the 157 BAME people who died in Britain since 1990, 11 were shot dead. That works out at about one shooting death every two-and-a-half years.

In America more than 100 black people a year were killed on average by law enforcement personnel between 2003 and 2009.

And in America there is very clear evidence that black people – particularly young black males – are much more likely to die at the hands of the police than people from other races.

The verdict

It’s fair to say at this stage that some of the statistics Black Lives Matter UK have used to make various claims are open to question.

The link between climate change and race in Britain appears to be debatable, on the evidence the group has put forward so far.

And the idea that people from ethnic minorities are more likely to die at the hands of the police in Britain is hard to stand up too.

Obviously, we are only scratching the surface here when it comes to the complex issue of racism in this country, and there may be better statistical evidence of bias against black people elsewhere.

The Ministry of Justice is currently working on a review of the criminal justice system to investigate possible racial bias, after publishing research that shows different sentencing trends for different racial groups.

Data on the various “stop and search” schemes show police are more likely to target black people.

Statins benefits underestimated, review says

By Caroline Parkinson-8 September 2016

The benefits of the cholesterol-reducing drug statins are underestimated and the harms exaggerated, a major review suggests.

Published in the Lancet and backed by a number of major health organisations, it says statins lower heart attack and stroke risk.

The review also suggests side effects such as muscle pain do occur, although in relatively few people.

But critics say healthy people are unnecessarily taking medication.

Q&A: Statins

Dummy drug effect

Statins reduce the build-up of fatty plaques that lead to blockages in blood vessels. According to the report authors:

• About six million people are currently taking statins in the UK
• Of those, two million are on them because they have already had a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event
• The remaining four million take statins because of risk factors such as age, blood pressure or diabetes
• Up to two million more should possibly take statins

The Lancet review, led by Prof Rory Collins from the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford, looked at the available evidence for the effects of taking an average 40mg daily dose of statins in 10,000 patients over five years.

It suggested cholesterol levels would be lowered enough to prevent 1,000 "major cardiovascular events" such as heart attacks, strokes and coronary artery bypasses in people who had existing vascular disease - and 500 in people who were at risk due to age or other illnesses such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

'It's better than the risk of a heart attack'

Stephen Sangster with his family---STPHEN SANGSTER

Stephen Sangster, who lives in Orpington with his wife and two children explains why he takes the drugs.

"I've been taking statins for three months now. I'm 34. My high cholesterol was picked up by a work health assessment. Dietary changes made no impact.

"With my dad dying of heart attack young last year, statins give me comfort that they will probably give me a longer life. So I can live with the small chance of side effects.

"So far I've only experienced a bit of dizziness, and I don't know even if that's related to statins. Also it's better than the risk of a heart attack.

"My cholesterol was 9.3 and within a month of taking statins it's back down to below four.

"Cholesterol is a hidden danger. It's such a simple test. More people should be encouraged to take it.

"I wonder how many other younger people would benefit from a statin, but don't realise they have an issue. "

The review also said randomised controlled trials - where neither patient nor doctor know who is on the real drug and who is on a dummy version - suggested the average dose led to a relatively low level of side effects.

In the same 10,000 population, there would be some side effects, including between 50 and 100 cases of adverse events such as muscle pain, it said.

Observational studies - where people know they are taking the drug and will have been told of known side effects including muscle pain - had higher rates.

Question marks

Prof Collins said: "Our review shows that the numbers of people who avoid heart attacks and strokes by taking statin therapy are very much larger than the numbers who have side effects with it.

"In addition, whereas most of the side effects can be reversed with no residual effects by stopping the statin, the effects of a heart attack or stroke not being prevented are irreversible and can be devastating.

"Consequently, there is a serious cost to public health from making misleading claims about high side effect rates that inappropriately dissuade people from taking statin therapy despite the proven benefits."

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the British Heart Foundation are among a number of major organisations backing the report.

Dr Maureen Baker, who chairs the RCGP, said: "We hope this research reassures patients that in the majority of cases statins are safe and effective drugs - but in most cases where adverse side effects are seen, these are reversible by stopping taking statins."

Dr June Raine, of medicines watchdog the Medicines and healthcare products Regulatory Agency said: 

"The benefits of statins are well established and are considered to outweigh the risk of side-effects in the majority of patients.

"Any new significant information on the efficacy or safety of statins will be carefully reviewed and action will be taken if required."

However, critics said the review was not the final word on statins.

Fiona Godlee, editor of the British Medical Journal, said: "This still does not address the calls for a thorough, independent review of the evidence of statins.

"This is especially important in view of the guidance which recommends that large numbers of healthy people should take a tablet every day."

And London cardiologist Dr Assem Malhotra said: "There are serious question marks about the reliability of industry-sponsored studies on the side effects of statins, and essentially that's what this review is.

"And a lot of the scientists involved in the original studies were involved in this review. It is not an independent review."

The UN Message to Sri Lanka

by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( September 8, 2016, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Velankanni. To many 08 September would be important due to various reasons. Mine is the celebration of the day I found a picture of Mother Velankanni while I was teaching at St. Bridget’s Convent in Colombo and one of my students informed me that it was the feast of Mother Velankanni. I taught Accounting at that school – before going to work – at Associated Motorways Ltd. The teaching arrangement happened through a Muslim – Mr. Huzam Cader then the Director of New Olympia Theatre where I worked before joining Associated Motorways Ltd. Mr. Cader was an active parent contributing to the school’s welfare and also valued my services to his business enterprise. Hence the commonness. I was happy to have found the picture and felt good. Soon I had Mother Velankanni appearing in my dream also. An aunt of mine passed away when she was in India and I had a dream of her also around that time. When I conceived Gayathri – our third child – some said it was my aunt. I accepted it as their connection.

Later, due to some connections I made through my experiences, I felt that there was more credibility to this connection. But it really did not matter because Gayathri is now our daughter. The indicators – manifested without any conscious influence by us – help us work out why something happened and/or an individual trait that is special to that person. They would help us reconcile within – that such manifestations were Acts of God. Otherwise we risk going through emotional highs and lows due to not knowing the other side. As per Gayathri’s horoscope which my father-in-law had drawn up – her family would migrate beyond the boundaries of her birthplace. That aunt of mine also got married when she was a teenager and went from Arali – in Sri Lanka’s North to Burma – to become the first lady of a big business family. When we have experiences around the same time and they manifest in diverse forms there would be a deeper commonness, the presence of which we feel but often do not identify with consciously. Anniversaries are celebrated towards honoring such commonness which resides as belief. They must not be measured through the same yardstick used in current relationships. Mother Velankanni is believed to have appeared to Portuguese sailors caught up in a storm in the Bay of Bengal. Many of my actions at the time I had the dream were towards going overseas to earn money to build a home on the land in Colombo. I made many sacrifices towards this and I feel that Gayathri had the ‘genes’ / the Reserves for such travel. They combine at the deeper level to influence us from within.

The war in Sri Lanka is still kept active by both side members whose minds are more active in war-mode than in reconciliation or peace modes. We were exposed to many of them during the visit of the UN Secretary General to Sri Lanka. The statement most recently discussed in Parliament is the various meanings attributed to the UN Secretary General’s line of relativity between the Sri Lankan war and those of other nations. As per the Daily Mirror report ‘Govt. says UN Chief didn’t refer to a ‘massacre’ in SL’:

‘Joint Opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardane who moved the motion said the UN Chief had wrongly stated that there has been a massacre in Sri Lanka like the ones that had taken place in countries such as Rwanda and Srebrenica’

Unless the Commonness between the UN and the Joint Opposition led by former President of Sri Lanka, and war-hero, is stronger than their respective Diversity – one cannot mark the other wrong. We do not lose our Truth through time based Rebirth. Likewise Truth will not get lost through distance from Sri Lanka to the American led UN. All other judgments would get lost in the sea of hearsay dividing the two. To the extent Mr. Ban Ki-Moon lacked belief in Sri Lanka – he would have been driven by hearsay. We now learn that as per the UN Chief Sri Lanka is at the same level of status as Rwanda and Srebrenica. A truly Sovereign Leadership would not be affected either way by such relativity. One who elevates her/himself falsely to the leadership level including through associations with high level institutions such as the UN, is likely to be affected by such relativity. Did the Sri Lankan Government take the side of leaders who acted to curb abuse of Government power in those two nations? If no, then Sri Lanka was an outsider to those wars as those Governments would have been to Sri Lanka’s wars. To Mr. Ban Ki-Moon – this was an opportunity to compensate victims of Government Power with the support of UN power. It effectively negates the Terrorism label carried by the Tamil side. The position of UN is now stronger due to that sharing of status in compensation mode.

As per fundamentals in Accounting – past period transactions should not be actively included in reflecting the results of current operations. They need to be shown separately. The Horoscope of an individual likewise is the Balance Sheet of past life of that individual. If activated in current period – the outcomes are not comparable due to time-based boundaries being removed. Post-war development likewise cannot be measured accurately if war transactions are indiscriminately mixed with current transactions. Genuine war-crimes inquiry would help draw this time-based boundary – so the nation could heal itself through Truth. The level at which we know ourselves is the level at which we know others. Once the Sri Lankan Government or its self-appointed opposition knows itself – it would know its opposition – anytime anywhere – even if it were the UN.

The fractured North

As a quiet crisis within the TNA deepens, the need for a constitutional power sharing arrangements to address the root causes of ethnic conflict, meet the aspirations of the people and empower Tamil moderates grows ever more urgent

Thursday, 8 September 2016

On 23 May 2009, four days after Sri Lanka’s civil war had come to its brutal and bloody end, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon arrived in the island. 

On a quick trip to the embattled Northern Province the UN Chief flew over the final theatre of battle in Mullaitivu, an area still smouldering from deadly fighting, where a panel of UN experts would later estimate that tens of thousands of people had been killed. From his helicopter, Ban gazed down upon a scorched landscape that was heavily cratered and scattered with debris. To meet with President Mahinda Rajapaksa whose Government had just defeated the LTTE and claimed victory in a 26 year armed conflict, the Secretary General had to make a flying visit to Kandy. With all the travel packed in to the UN Chief’s visit in 2009, he had fit in one last important meeting at the Bandaranaike International Airport shortly before his departure. Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the leader of the largest Tamil party represented in Parliament was to meet the Secretary General at BIA. Sampanthan arrived at Katunayake at the appointed time, but was barred from proceeding towards the meeting area by security personnel. Security officials informed the TNA Leader that he could not proceed because Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defence secretary at the time was of the view that “the airport was not a meeting place”. Sampanthan reached out to UN officials stationed in Sri Lanka, including Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne to gain access, but the effort proved futile and the veteran Tamil politician was compelled to forgo the meeting.
Seven years later, on his second visit to Sri Lanka, Ban Ki Moon landed in a very different country.

The Fractured North by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Assassinated Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge’s body to be exhumed

By P.K.Balachandran-08th September 2016

COLOMBO:  The Mount Lavinia Magistrate on Thursday ordered the Sri Lankan government to exhume the remains of fearless journalist and internationally known human rights activist Lasantha Wickrematunge on September 27 because the  post-mortem conducted in January 2009 was suspicious. 

The court order follows the arrest of a Sergeant in the military intelligence in mid-July this year.

On January 8, 2009, 51 year old Wickrematunge, fondly referred to as “Lasantha” was shot by men on motorcycles at Attidiya in the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital while he was on the way to work in the morning. He died in hospital a few hours later.

There were accusations that top echelons of the Sri Lankan defense establishment were responsible for the murder. The top echelons at the time included President cum Defense Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Army chief Lt.Gen.Sarath Fonseka. But investigations conducted at that time yielded precious little. 

However, investigations picked up when Maithripala Sirisena came to power in January 2015. The army too cooperated and a Sergeant of the Military Intelligence was arrested in July this year. Wickrematunge’s grave in Colombo was put under police protection to prevent tampering with evidence. 

The outspoken and fearless editor of The Sunday Leader  was posthumously awarded  the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom prize.

A tribute which appeared in the website www.unbowedandunafraid.com said that Lasantha’s  humility and steadfastness of  purpose transcended superficial achievement. When he wrote in his final editorial that there is, “a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security,” he meant it. He lived it.

“For the Mahinda Rajapakse administration he was the biggest thorn in their flesh. Week after week he reported on governmental waste, corruption and excess. He investigated corrupt military procurement deals, spoke out strongly and passionately for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict and debunked blatant government propaganda on the war,” the tribute said. 

“Lasantha's grouse with a military solution to the conflict as pursued by the present government and its extremist allies was the staggering civilian cost. He genuinely felt that while it was important to eliminate the LTTE it was important also to respect the lives of minority Tamil civilians.”

“However by bombing LTTE targets from the air and even treating civilian hospitals in LTTE controlled areas as legitimate targets the government itself was resorting to terrorism. And it is to this that Lasantha objected. These he called war crimes because had these targets been in majority Sinhala areas it is inconceivable that the government would have bombed them. That is what he felt. That is the stand he died for.”

“Lasantha was a martyr for the cause of free expression. The right to be a dissident.”

Action based on Metta, Karuna, Muditha, Upekkha needed

DR.Vickramabahu Karunaratne -2016-09-08

Having gone through many conflicts and the resultant years of fascistic oppression and suffering, Sri Lankans should know only too well the value of peace. But many do not see from this angle and still a large number look at Mahinda Rajapaksa as a saviour. It is embarrassing to see people rushing to meet Mahinda at the airport with flags and garlands. If we forget such crowds as non-entities, perhaps for the first time, we are in a position to look to the future and expect a prosperous and peaceful future from a point of stability, hope and opportunity.

Sustaining peace is, and must be, the number one priority. But can we talk about such a situation while political prisoners are still lingering in prisons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act? What is the delay and why cannot we go beyond these simple obstacles? The new government took office with a commitment to securing long-term peace and reconciliation, based on the principles of good governance. We were told that while strengthening democratic institutions there will be an end to long years of impunity and inequality. No doubt there is improvement; but the problem of occupied private land, creation of Buddhist temples without any worshippers, and intimidation of officials who take the correct steps for reconciliation should stop forthwith; while action based on Metta, Karuna, Muditha and Upekkha should multiply in all directions.

We believe The Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) was established to help take these priorities forward, and we are told that it is working in close partnership with civil society, including youth and victims of conflict. But radical Tamil leaders do not agree. Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran is dissatisfied. We cannot charge him for extremism and ignore the problems indicated by him. Nor can we ignore what Ms Susindran said recently in Colombo. Hence we are happy to hear, amidst an assurance by President Maithripala Sirisena, that the land issues in the North will be settled within the next three months. The government is to set up a special task force to expedite the resettlement process in the North. The recurrent expenditure for this task force will be approximately Rs 14.5 million while the task force will come under the purview of the Ministry of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, and the Secretary to the Ministry will be the Secretary of the task force.

Speaking to media heads Maithripala said that the people in the North were requesting that the land that belonged to them be returned, and therefore as a government it was important to understand the grievances of the people. "They are asking for their own lands. We have achieved remarkable progress on resettlement, but there are a few more problems that need to be resolved," he said. He admitted that there was a delay on part of the State-owned Survey Department because the Department lacks sufficient personnel to fast track the process which will help solve these land related issues. "But despite certain difficulties, we hope to sort out these land related matters within three months," he said. It is no exaggeration to say that this attitude of Maithripala Sirisena changed the thinking of the Secretary General for the UN's support to our nationally led peace building efforts, and in particular the recent commitments that have been made from the UN's Peacebuilding Fund. Our way forward is clear.

Policy vs Politics: Global Sri Lankan Forum’s telling myopia

Featured image courtesy Huffington Post

GROUNDVIEWS on 09/08/2016

A look at a recent event organised by the Global Sri Lankan forum

The Sri Lanka Foundation Institute was largely empty as the Global Sri Lankan Forum, (a group in favour of the unitary state system of governance) convened for a seminar on ‘The Geneva Resolution and Federalism as it is today‘.

“My favourite quote on terrorism comes from Putin,” said retired Rear admiral Sarath Weerasekara. “To forgive the terrorists is up to God. But to send them there is up to me.” The audience chuckled grimly as he continued on to say that while former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had the political will to stop terrorism, only “pro LTTE stooges” and “foreigners like Ban Ki Moon” were focused on human rights violations, through the Geneva resolution.

This set the tone for the rest of the event. What was particularly chilling throughout, however, was the casual dismissal of even the idea that any violation of human rights might have been committed in the final stages of the war.

Later on in his speech, Weerasekara spoke of how the army held back at great cost to themselves, in order to save civilians and children. He described, in graphic detail, the mutilation that LTTE cadres wrought on brave soldiers. He also claimed evidence (though unsubstantiated) that the LTTE had fired artillery on civilians, to ensure that there would be international involvement and halt the conflict, since the Army was making advances in the final stages of the war. He was also up to date with his knowledge, citing UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s recent statement that the UN could have saved more lives, had they been more active in Sri Lanka. He ended with the stirring proclamation that if Sri Lanka adopted a federal system of governance, then all the forces who gave their lives had suffered and given their lives in vain.

Senior Journalist at the Island, Shamindra Ferdinando said that there were “missed opportunities” that the Government had failed to capitalize on in Geneva. In the first instance, he mentioned that the allegations made in the Geneva resolution could not be verified until 2031, and even then, has to be UN approved. Drawing mostly from his own work, Ferdinando pointed out the case of a former US defence attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Smith, who had defended the Sri Lankan government at a seminar hosted by the Army in 2011. He was subsequently recalled, and the US embassy said the remarks he made were his personal opinion. The revelations of Wikileaks could also have been used in Geneva, he added. Once again, the final bloody weeks of the war were glossed over. There was no withholding of medical supplies, the military acted humanely to save civilian lives, and foreign relief workers were able to go ashore in Pudumathalan, and were only barred from the second week of May in 2009 – a week before the war ended.

In the first instance, the Indian medical aid team, cited by Ferdinando, flew in only on March 2009, and flew out in 6 months. This hospital consisted of, initially, just 50 beds, according to the Indian High Commission, and later on, was upgraded to 115. More than 40,000 people sought treatment at this facility alone – not counting referrals from local hospitals. This was not mentioned at all by Ferdinando – he seemed to blithely assume that this single facility was enough to treat the thousands of injured who were caught in the crossfire in the last stages of the war. The ICRC’s own reports show that its workers were injured while trying to evacuate citizens. “The violence is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from operating in the region, ” said Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva in a press release in January 2009. This was also not dealt with by Ferdinando. He continued on to allege that the figure of 65,000 missing people given by the Government was false, as many had fled overseas. As evidence of this, he cited three cases of people who had surfaced overseas – which presumably refuted the figure in entirety. [edit: In addition, none of the three cases he noted; which included FSP member Kumar Gunaratnam, Antonythasan Jesuthasan aka Shobashakthi (lead actor in Dheepan) and an NGO worker in the Vanni, were reported as disappeared]. No mention at all was made of the submissions made by families of the disappeared to a Consultation Task Force on reconciliation recently, in the lead up to the creation of the Office of Missing Persons.

President’s Counsel Manoharala Silva said that a comparison of the 1815 Kandyan convention, where Sri Lanka handed over territory to the British, contained much of the same content as the Geneva resolution, echoing the sentiments expressed by former President Mahinda Rajapakse in February, since the government was ‘devolving’ power to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR). 

He also went on to say that the 19^th amendment, with specific provisions on age and dual citizenship, was crafted solely to prevent former President Mahinda Rajapaksa from contesting in upcoming elections. “Every single clause in the Geneva convention deals with the abdication of power. Who are they to tell us to revise our judgments?” he asked rhetorically.

That question was tackled by Mohan Samaranayake who spoke of the US’s chequered human rights record – touching on Iraq, Syria, and the Vietnam war.

A telling comment was made by Samaranayake when speaking about how former US President Abraham Lincoln dealt with 13 states who wanted to secede: “Lincoln is worshipped, but when Mahinda does same thing, he is to be taken to the UN Human Rights Council and criminal court. This is duplicitous,” Samaranayake said, going on to add that the real reason for the Geneva resolution was to maintain the World Order and ensure that the top 1% of global economies continued to profit off poorer nations.

At this point, a common thread could be seen among all the speakers – many of them echoed sentiments spoken by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was all there – the dismissal of critics as “LTTE stooges” the pointing fingers at evil foreign powers, the casual dismissal of allegations of human rights violations – just as earlier on, Rajapaksa said there had been “zero civilian casualties” before having to backtrack, resulting in the admission made by theParanagama Commission.

“It should not be the person who is objected to but the policy,” Manoharala Silva said earlier on in the evening, equally tellingly. Conversely, the speakers at this seminar were willing to gloss over allegations of death, rape, withholding of supplies, including medical equipment, and the use of cluster bombs.

In the end, the event, rather than being a balanced discussion on the positives of the unitary system of governance was a rehash of rhetoric already spoken about in the context of the Geneva resolution, and much of it in support of former President Rajapaksa. And while the US certainly does not have the cleanest human rights record, the casual dismissal by the speakers (some of whom admitted they were “not experts”) of the fact that civilians might have been hurt or killed in the final stages of war was equally revealing. In the rush to point fingers at the pesky foreign body meddling in Sri Lanka’s affairs, the suffering of the families of the missing, all those who lost mothers, fathers and children in those final months was simply dismissed as a necessary means to an end.

The timing of this event, so long after the resolution has been passed; might also seem odd, if Sri Lanka weren’t currently undergoing the process of constitutional reform.

Recent visits to Jaffna show that people in the North have painful, lingering memories of conflict. The sense of anger about the injustice wrought against them remains, as a walk through the town’s bustling market showed. This was reflected too, during UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon’s visit to the island, when the usually mild-mannered TNA MP R Sampanthan said the Tamil people would become ‘ungovernable’ if their aspirations for self-governance were not met, although he was quick to add that they would not resort to violence.

If Sri Lanka is to truly reconcile, and move forward away from war, then these lingering resentments must be addressed, and not by brushing away memories of pain and suffering.

In the past, it was this simmering resentment that led to a violent and bloody conflict that Sri Lanka is still recovering from. This, certainly, must be avoided again. To do so, perhaps it is important to take Manoharala’s Silva’s suggestion of looking beyond people and politics, and instead focus on policy – a policy of reparation and reconciliation, rather than of rancour and recrimination.

Click on the links to listen to the full speeches from Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara,Shamindra Ferdinando, Mohan Samaranayake, Manoharala Silva and Gomin Dayasiri.

The Story Of ‘Karnan’ My Hero Through The Splendour Of Dance

By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah –September 8, 2016 

Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

Karnan is my hero, the character I most love in the epic, Maha Bharatham, even better than Arjunan or Tharman. His story is both soul stirring and heart breaking yet edifying. Though immortal I believe Karnan was sent to earth for a purpose to – exemplify noble qualities! And in one evening both the story of my hero and the splendour of Bharathanatyam dance came together in one innovative production – need I ask for more?

Bharathanatyam is an exquisite dance form you would agree, and Naatykalakulanithy, Smt. Vanitha Kugenthiran with her originality, creativity, skill and expertise, not to mention amazing choreography has proved beyond doubt, each time she puts on a show, that she knows how to dig deep into the treasure trove of this versatile and rich art form and take it to incredible heights! The arangetram of Mithuzha Thangavel at the Armenian theatre, Scarborough, Canada, on August 27th 2016, before a rapturous audience, showed the student was up to the task the Guru had set, by her perfect execution of a somewhat demanding and challenging repertoire. It was another thematic presentation, another gem and a winner..This time depicting the story of Karnan. Karnan is my hero, a character I most love in the epic Maha Bharatham, even better than Arjunan or Tharman. I’ll tell you why.

First credit where credit is due.

Mithuzha the star of the evening showed in her debut, she has both promise and potential. Undoubtedly this unique presentation was held well together brilliantly by her and undeniably by the skill and finesse of masterful accompanying artists, by some original heart rending lyrics and musical compositions and by an eloquent and erudite master of ceremonies.

Smt. Vanitha Kugenthiran – Nattuvangam, Shri. Ahilan Sivanandan – Carnatic Vocal, Shri. Kugenthiran Kanagenthiran – Miruthangam, Shri. Mithuran Manogaran – Violin, Smt. PrabhaThayalan – Veena, Master. Ajey Kiruba – Gadam, Mr. Balraj Perampalam and Mr. ‘Supu’ – Lyrics, Mr. ‘Supu’ – Musical Compositions and Mrs. Kothai Amuthan – Emcee, together took our breath away.

While the brilliant Kothai Amuthan set the scene, Ahilan Sivanandan, visiting carnatic vocalist living in Australia, now taking Canadian audiences by storm with his marvellous voice and renditions, raised the tempo; ably assisted of course by an extraordinary orchestra, enhanced further by some original lyrics and compositions, especially created for this production – altogether bringing out the required emotions in Mithuzha, the dancer and in turn the audience that stayed connected with her until the very end.

Read More