Justice Sri Skandaraja, judicial hearings and the path we trod

Wednesday 05th February 2014

Last week at the Colombo General Cemetery we attended the funeral of Justice S. Sri Skandaraja, the President of the Court of Appeal. Several hundred mourners braved the mid-day sun to salute the memory of a man who had given a lifetime of service to the legal system of this country, a good number of those years as an employee of the State.
A simple God-fearing man whose conduct best epitomised, at least in respect of one case before him, the famous Latin legal phrase which translates to “let justice be done though the heavens fall”; in other words, justice must be realised regardless of the consequences.
Controversial affair

Justice Sri Skandaraja, Judicial Hearings and the Path We Trod by nelvely

"We Apply The Law Without Distinction, Fear Or Favour" – ICC Chief Prosecutor

Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court 

( Photograph provided by the ICC)

(February 5, 2014, The Hague, Sri Lanka Guardian)  In an exclusive interview with Nilantha Ilangamuwa, the editor of Torture – Asian and Global Perspectives, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said, “We apply the law without distinction, fear or favour. We follow the mandate that has been given to us under the Rome Statute. Regrettably, often the lack of full understanding of the Court’s legal framework and jurisdiction only helps to exacerbate baseless attacks against the ICC It is therefore critically important to raise awareness about the mandate and activities of the Court to counter misperceptions and to increasingly build support for the ICC”.

We Apply The Law Without Distinction, Fear Or Favour – ICC Chief Prosecutor by nelvely

Moona Kachal

By Helasingha Bandara -February 5, 2014

At the very outset, please Let me extend  my sincere gratitude to Shyamon Jayasinghe for his article“Kirimandala” -Our Female Stars In The Gold Rush ( Colombo Telegraph) for giving me an absolute gem of a title for this piece- Moona Kachal -(Problematic face or not very good looking face). Moona kachal is a milder way of saying ugly, in other words Moona kachal allows the teller to be mildly critical without being too harsh.

Rosy Senanayake

This cliché seems to have been currently used, indeed together with another part of the female anatomy, to simply ridicule female politicians and political aspirants. It struck me, if taken moona kachal alone it suits many of our male politicians much more than their female counterparts.  I should refrain from bringing in examples although our parliament is full of glowing examples for moona kachal. On the contrary many of our female politicians belong to non-moona kachal category.   Rosy and Malini with many years behind them may be getting their moonu a bit kachal. In their prime their faces were absolutely non- kachal. I would not mind including Thalatha and Paba in the non-moona kachal category but no hesitation to exclude some others, no names sorry.

Let’s take a little break from politics and assess the creative ability of the author of the cliché “moona kachal, puka hurathal” (problematic face but cute arse) Moona is a hackneyed day to day mundane term for the face. Kachal on the other hand is a term manufactured in a factory. I do not know whether it has been derived from the word Karachchal meaning trouble. Karachchal Karanawa (making trouble). Normally Kachal ekkak means a row. Therefore the term implies trouble or problem. The beauty of the beast kachal is when taken together with moona, it neutralizes the negative effect to a greater extent with its comical connotation. The next term is one of the worst in the Sinhalese language, not to say ‘arse’ holds any better position in the English language. Surathal or hurathal as in the colloquial is the word sublime. The author has used an ordinary term, a comical derivation, a vulgar word and a refined term to be a lethal combination to ridicule his targets without being too nasty. Credit to you pal whoever you are.

Back to politics, let us look at what Sri Lankan politicians do to earn comforts such as a huge pay packets, free trips abroad, car permits, commissions and bribes, permission to engage in drugs, alcohol and prostitution rackets and not the last or least but to be pardoned and be absolved of all forms of crimes.

To get such perks and privileges their job remit is to devise absolutely unethical strategies to win at the next election, shed the beggars’ hide in which they disguised themselves and start dressing in silk and assume Godly status looking down upon the very people that they begged to vote for them, take to the roads with large retinues as if no other has any right to use the roads, threaten, intimidate and frame those who democratically opposed them, and hell! what evil is spared? The worst is just to occupy seats in the supreme house and say yes to one man! That’s all.

To do that the country does not need rocket scientists. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can do that. Why not the actresses? It is only male chauvinism that makes them ctiticise females. The male lot in the parliament is no better in any respect.

Is the face important? No is the answer because usually after an election people do not see those faces until the next election. Face is also not very important because most of the politicians are faceless.

Politicians are shady traders and they do their shady businesses mostly in the dark and keep the people in the dark too. In that male dominant dark world of politics there may be a competition between the face and the arse. “When the candles are out every woman is fair”- Shakespeare- In the dark kachal moona or non-kachal moona does not make a difference, but surathal puka can still perform miracles, possibly better in the dark.  With a kachal or non-kachal face, a cute arse therefore can be the winner and can earn a place in the list of the shady traders. You lot are the winners and as ever we are the losers.

Mosque and church attacks harm Sri Lanka

5 Feb 2014

Sri Lankan government minister GL Peiris has tried to justify a wave of attacks on churches and mosques, claiming that these were simply community reactions to unauthorised facilities. The state’s refusal to protect religious minorities further undermines human rights in Sri Lanka overall.

For instance, two churches in Hikkaduwa were attacked during Sunday worship on 12 January. It was claimed that they were violating a 2008 circular by the Ministry of Religious Affairs requiring all new places of worship to be authorised. But as the Colombo Telegraph pointed out, they had been running since the 1990s.

Buddhist monks were involved in the violence, and a distorted form of Buddhism far removed from the Buddha’s teaching of compassion and wisdom has been used to promote hatred. Letting extremism flourish may help boost the regime’s credibility among sections of the majority who are Sinhalese and Buddhist, drawing attention from the government’s economic and political failings. Yet this not only damages what is best in the nation’s heritage but also opens the door to further abuses.

"If unchecked, these alarming trends would cause immeasurable damage and drawback to the country," warned the Forum for Inter-Faith Dialogue, a multi-faith group in which Buddhist monks have a leading role. Sri Lankan Civil Society, which brings together a range of individuals and organisations, also condemned the failure of law enforcement agencies to act.

There has been international concern too, especially in light of the regime’s failure to investigate war crimes against Tamil civilians during conflict with brutal Tiger rebels. While visiting Sri Lanka in early February, Nisha Desai Biswal, US assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, said that “The culture of deterioration of human rights gives us great concern when churches and mosques are burnt down and people feel that they cannot practice their faiths freely and without fear.” At the United Nations Human Rights Council in March, the USA will sponsor a resolution on human rights in Sri Lanka.

Minister of External Affairs GL Peiris claimed that this was highly selective and patently unfair, the Nation reported. He told the newspaper that “in many instances the facilities concerned were not mosques or churches but makeshift prayer centers whose operations had irked relevant communities. He pointed out that there are laws regarding the establishment of places of religious worship” and, in addition, referred to the fact that some of the suspected offenders had been charged.

However the authorities are fostering a climate in which antagonism to ethnic and religious minorities is seen as acceptable, including portraying the majority as under threat and so justified in using extreme measures to protect itself. This tactic was used extensively in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, with devastating effects.

“If there is a genocide in this country, by the closest approximation of the word, it must be against the community of majority Sinhalese,” claimed an editorial in state-run newspaper the Daily News in January 2014, under the heading ‘The ongoing genocide against the Sinhalese’. Supposedly “The Sinhalese majority is in the unenviable position of not being able to defend any sustained undermining of its culture, and way of life. There is no freedom of expression for the Sinhalese if it means pointing out that their values are being usurped, or that there are systematic unethical conversions for instance.”

International criticism of the regime led by President Mahinda Rajapakse and his brothers is treated as “persecution” of “the Sinhalese Buddhist community”. And the “gradual destruction of a people” includes “aggressive proselytisation which is carried on through the twin instruments of unethical conversions and the illegal or barely legal establishment of churches etc, on ground that was previously occupied by Buddhist temples, or on property that has simply not been authorized for worship. There is a genocide perpetrated against the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and all right thinking persons in this country should join in the task of fighting this systematic attempt to destroy what is a proud and ancient race.”

Yet the violence unleashed by those who previously used such inflammatory language engulfed large numbers of Sinhalese Buddhist youth, slaughtered by the security forces. In many cases their remains still lie in mass graves, their families never given the chance even to grieve properly. Undermining human rights leaves ordinary people of all communities at risk, in Sri Lanka and worldwide.

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© Savitri Hensman, who is originally from Sri Lanka, is a regular Christian commentator on politics, economics, society, welfare, sexuality, theology and religion. She is an Ekklesia associate and works in the equality and care sector.

Literate But Stupid?

By Sujata Gamage -February 5, 2014

Dr. Sujata Gamage

A talented, vivacious and kind young woman was buried on Independence Day, the victim of a senseless crime. Apparently, a man who had been helped by the family came to rob her house thinking nobody was home, but there she was, a familiar face. A senseless murder followed, leaving a family in unfathomable grief, friends and colleagues shaken and the world a lesser place. The perpetrator too is as good as dead for his wife and children.

These sorts of senseless murders seem to happen too often. A young executive, married to a school teacher, throttles the wife in bed and kills the young son who was a witness to the crime and the infant who was nursing. Then he sets fire to the bed leaving more than enough clues to be caught.

Violence and murders are part of the human existence.  But are we at a stage in this country that murders are committed by ordinary people with unexpected cruelty and stupidity? We boast of a “98 per cent enrolment in primary education, 92 per cent participation in the compulsory span of schooling, adult literacy of 92.5 per cent and gender equality in education,” etc. but, have we allowed human decency and common sense to erode, in the process?

Mel

Jayantha Rukmini Siriwardena, an intellectual I respect, wrote an article sometime back with the title “Saksharathaava ihalayi, e vunata modayi”, meaning ‘literacy is high but stupidity is rampant’. I use the title here with apologies to her.

Similar views are expressed by Mr.Wimalaweera Dissanayake, Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs, Land, Land Development & Transport in the Eastern Province. For the last year I have been visiting the Eastern Province helping this unique politician achieve his dream of a better educational system. He would say at every opportunity that we boast of a high literacy rate and we push for success at exams, but we as a society are in a brink of total collapse.  We have lost the ability to live as human beings. We do not know how to handle life’s challenges. Faced with a challenge, you either kill somebody or kill yourself (maranavaa nathnam marenavaa). He puts much of the blame on the education system. At times I felt it was hyperbole, but, with stupidity hitting me in the face, robbing me and others of a lovely human being, I too have become a believer.

It is too easy to blame the politicians in power, but, they are a reflection of us as a society. Why can’t the present regime with the popularity it enjoys give us a moral compass, it is tempting to ask. But they too are part of web of relationships built over years of brutal war which has brought the worst of us into the fore, I think.  Our education system, of which I intend to write at length, too has made us stupider as a society.

There is no short cut out of the present situation. As Siddhartha Gautama and other enlightened beings have taught us, change begins from within, within us as individuals and families. We have to put values above all, in our own lives first.  A good place to start is the way we educate our children. Next time you visit your child’s school, ask not about grades, but, about values. Ask whether your child is learning to be a decent human being? What opportunities does he or she get to understand and empathize with others?  Ask to see the teachers’ handbooks published by the National Institute of Education. You can see them online here . Take a look at the Grade V syllabus, for example. You will be amazed by the divide between theory and practice in our education system. Demand that our education system becomes what it is supposed to be.

*Written in memory of Mel Gunasekera, 1973-2014

Remembering Mel Gunasekera

Photo courtesy Mel Gunasekera’s Facebook account

• by Sanjana Hattotuwa 
• - on 02/04/2014 

Mel would have been deeply fascinated by the circumstances of her murder. She would have, even more than Nalaka Gunawardene, taken pains to explore why an ordinary man, a father, husband and day wage labourer was driven to kill her.

How is that possible? How did this happen?

Remembering Mel Gunasekera by nelvely

30,000 troops try imposing ‘SL Independence Reconciliation’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 February 2014, 20:19 GMT]
Explicitly proving that Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was lying on the number of troops in Jaffna peninsula and that the country of Eezham Tamils is under occupied and colonial rule, more than 30,000 Sinhala soldiers were deployed to impose the ‘Sri Lanka Independence Day’ in Jaffna on Tuesday. As armed soldiers were posted throughout the streets and public buildings, the scenario depicted the times of war and such a paradigm was the one that was endorsed and blessed by the US Assistant Secretary of State talking of ‘reconciliation’ and imposing the ‘Sri Lankan’ identity, two days ago, commented political observers in Jaffna. Despite the terrorization, people responded by hoisting black flags and turning the SL Lion Flag upside down at several places in Jaffna. 

Sri Lankan soldiers carrying automatic rifles were standing inside and outside the public buildings, on the roads and were patrolling even the lanes of remote villages in the peninsula. The scene at many places in the peninsula reminded of search operations during the times of the war. 

Black flags were hoisted before the day dawned at reading rooms and libraries in the villages. The SL soldiers were busy removing the black flags early in the morning. 

A large black flag was hoisted on the top of the water tank at the gents hostel in Jaffna University, according to a local newspaper in Jaffna. The SL military was deployed at the site in the early hours and the flag was removed, news sources in Jaffna said. The entire university premises was surrounded by the Sri Lankan soldiers, and no one was allowed to enter the premises. Most of the students had left the hostel on Monday. 

Already on Monday, the Sri Lankan soldiers were going from shop to shop and to private institutions in Jaffna instructing the owners to fly SL Lion Flag at their buildings and on their vehicles. However, the flags were deliberately hung upside down and torn by the public in expressing their sentiments. 

The black flags hoisted in Jaffna were not merely rejecting the genocidal Sinhala State in Colombo. But they were also a slap on the face at the UK that conspired such an ‘independence’ and still ensuring it, and the USA, India and China that compete in coming in the shoes of the UK in re-enacting colonial imperialism in a new form that doesn't shun genocide in South Asia, political observers in Jaffna commented.

Wimal Weerawansa’s Website Accuses Hulugalle Of Attempting To Reveal War Time Secrets To European Mission In Colombo

February 5, 2014

Former Director General of the Media Centre for National Security and defence establishment strongmanLakshman Hulugalle who was ousted from his positions in the Government recently following a massive scandal involving his paramour and her casino, the former official has been seeking meetings at a certain diplomatic mission of an European country in Colombo, a website run by Minister Wimal Weerawansareports.

Hinting at Hulugalle, who it refers to as a sacked former head of a state institution, Weerawansa’s Lankacnews website said the official had informed the mission that he would be able to give them many confidential reports about what transpired during the final phase of the war.

Hulugalle was a former strongman allied closely to Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa and functioned in various security capacities during the final days of the war against the LTTE.

He has attempted suicide on two separate occasions after the eruption of scandal in his personal life that led to an abuse of power got him sacked by the President. President Rajapaksa shut down the MCNS retroactive from November, to relieve Hulugalle of his post.

Yatiyantota UPFA member commits suicide: the more the merrier for the country

(Lanka-e-News -04.Feb.2014, 11.30PM) Yatiyantota local body UPFA member Upul Sisira Kumara had committed suicide by self immolation. He had committed suicide in the house of his wife yesterday night. He was admitted to Karawanella base hospital with serious burn injuries, and later transferred to Colombo national hospital as his condition was critical , where he had succumbed to his injuries, according to police. 

The motive behind his suicide is still not known.
Bulathkohupitiya police have commenced special investigations.

Interestingly , this Yatiyantota local body became notorious when its chairman Vasantha Kumara too was caught red handed and arrested when taking a bribe of Rs. 15000 to permit the establishment of a poultry farm.

Under this most corrupt regime , the only thing its corrupt criminal politicos did not do so far was suicide after indulging in every cardinal sin on earth , but now they have started that .This is certainly going to be a great boon to the people who are unable to rid them after electing them foolishly. These suicides are a blessing to the country because the Rajapakses who are the biggest bane of the country will never get rid of their cringing and crooked politicos even if they commit rapes , murders , extortion and robbery brazenly.

Let us therefore hope the atmosphere at least will conduce to more suicides of political rascals and scoundrels who are tenaciously holding to their official positions despite being notorious criminals and traitors.

MR misleads farmers again

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has once again misled the farming community in the country.

The President presenting the 2014 Budget last year said that every farmer over the age of 63 will be paid a pension from this year.

However, the farmers who are above 63 years and are eligible for the pension have not been paid their dues even though one month has ended in 2014.

The post offices that were assigned to make the pension payments to the farmers have reportedly not received any directive to make the relevant payments to the eligible farmers.

The President recently participated in an event in Hambantota where two farmers representing each agrarian services department office in the country were summoned to hand over the pension payments.

Apart from these farmers, the rest of the eligible farmers in the country have not received the pension payment.

Anna Hazare Should Re Invent Anti Corruption Movement

| by N.S.Venkataraman

(February 5, 2014, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Along with Jayaprakash Narayan, Anna Hazare’s name would be recognised by Indian history as crusader of anti corruption movement. It is remarkable that even without the stature of a great person like Jayaprakash Narayan, Anna Hazare was able to build a movement for anti corruption in India with telling effect.

Anna Hazare Should Re Invent Anti Corruption Movement by nelvely

Revealed: First picture of fishing boat that castaway from Mexico lived on for 13 months while adrift on the Pacific Ocean

• Jose Salvador Alvarenga given haircut paid for by US Embassy
• He revealed he contemplated suicide while he was stranded at sea
• Parents and daughter, 14, confirm identity and praise 'incredible' survival
• Had emotional phone call with mother, father and brothers yesterday 
• Dr Roner Mendoza, who is treating him, said he has liver problems and edema - a swelling of the legs - which could explain his bloated appearance
• New photo of young Alvarenga worlds apart from bloated figure now
• Skeptics are questioning whether his broken-down boat could have traveled 8,000 miles in 14 months
• Officials have 'given up' trying to verify the dates of his story
• Doctors cast doubt on the astonishing tale of survival
• Now staying in hotel, expected to fly out of the country on Friday

By RICHARD SHEARS and KAREN EARNSHAW and MIA DE GRAAF

PUBLISHED: 22:33 GMT, 4 February 2014 | UPDATED: 11:48 GMT, 5 February 2014

Full Story

Bolivia: Human Rights Ambassador Shared Concern About Death Threats Against Ms Emma Bolshia Bravo Cladera

William Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com-Feb-04-2014

The intimidation and threats against ITEI and its director are not isolated threats.

Evo Morales

(WASHINGTON, DC) - On 23 January 2014, the Instituto de Terapia e Investigación sobre las Secuelas de la Tortura y la Violencia Estatal – ITEI (Institute of Therapy and Investigation into the After-effects of Torture and State Violence) publicly and internationally denounced the continuous intimidation and death threats to which its director, Ms Emma Bolshia Bravo Cladera, and staff have been subjected since 15 November 2013.

Bolivia Human Rights Ambassador Shared Concern About Death Threats Against Ms Emma Bolshia Bravo Cladera by nelvely

New Afghanistan law to silence victims of violence against women

Emma Graham-Harrison-Tuesday 4 February 2014

Small change to criminal code has huge consequences in country where 'honour' killings and forced marriage are rife

A new Afghan law will allow men to attack their wives, children and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country blighted by so-called "honour" killings, forced marriage and vicious domestic abuse.

New Afghanistan Law to Silence Victims of Violence Against Women by nelvely

Vatican policies 'allowed priests to rape children' - UN

WEDNESDAY 05 FEBRUARY 2014

A scathing UN report calls on the Vatican to "immediately remove" all clergy known or suspected of child abuse, and says the church put its reputation before the protection of children.

Vatican Policies 'Allowed Priests to Rape Children' - UN by nelvely

Controlling The Right To Freedom Of Assembly In A democracy

Assassination: Balachandran Prabhakaran, 12, the son of the Tamil Tigers commander, where he was allegedly held in captivity, before he was later found shot dead. Photo: Journalists for Democracy in Sri

Tom Allard-National Affairs Editor-February 5, 2014

Sri Lankan security forces were responsible for the ''vast majority'' of alleged war crimes during the final months of its bloody civil war, and may have systematically destroyed mass burial sites of civilians in an apparent effort to destroy evidence, a new report has found.

The study examines allegations of the deliberate and indiscriminate shelling of civilians corralled into no-fire zones by the Sri Lankan government. During the artillery attacks, tens of thousands of civilians are believed to have died.

The report finds there is credible evidence of war crimes. 

In addition, the report by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre's International Crimes Evidence Project investigates the alleged assassination of surrendering Tamil Tigers figures, including Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of its commander.

The rape and torture of civilians and the alleged shelling of a hospital and refusal to distribute food and medicines to civilians were also probed, along with the alleged use of civilians as human shields and child soldiers by the rebels.

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In all cases, the report finds there is credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity and urges the UN to formally investigate the allegations after two UN resolutions for the Sri Lankan government to address them led to little action.

''Although violations were committed by both sides, the evidentiary material indicates that members of the Sri Lankan security forces perpetrated the vast majority of alleged crimes during the investigation period [September 2008 to May 2009],'' the report said.

Sri Lanka's government, which routed the Tamil Tigers, flatly denies any wrongdoing and is resisting an international investigation likely to be put forward as a resolution by the US to the UN Human Rights Council. Such an investigation could ensnare some of Sri Lanka's most senior government and military officials, and eventually lead to prosecutions in the International Criminal Court.

The report, titled Island of Impunity? and released Wednesday, uses forensic analysis of photographs, satellite imagery, independent military analysts and new eye-witness accounts to probe the litany of well-aired allegations.

In a disturbing new development, it spoke to three different witnesses involved in the registration and burial of dead civilians. One of the witnesses alleges that the Sri Lankan security forces went back to the burial sites after the conflict concluded and systematically destroyed human remains.

''The witness believes that senior [Sri Lankan army and police] knew that the graves were being identified for the purpose of exhumation, and permanent destruction, over a period of more than a year,'' the report said, adding further investigation was needed to confirm the veracity of the claims.

Thousands of civilians were allegedly buried at the sites.

If true, the allegations add to the urgency of calls for a prompt and thorough formal investigation by the UN. The US is expected to recommend that course of action to the UN but whether Australia will co-sponsor or support any resolution remains unclear.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop did not respond to questions before deadline.

The Australian government has close ties with the Sri Lankan government, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott giving two patrol boats to its navy to intercept asylum-seeker vessels and refusing to criticise its human rights record, praising it for bringing ''more freedom and more prosperity'' at a Commonwealth leaders meeting in Colombo in November.

At the same meeting, British Prime Minister David Cameron, demanded an international investigation into the alleged war crimes.

''We accept that the Australian government has a strong policy on asylum seekers,'' Edward Santow, the chief executive of PIAC, said. ''That shouldn't preclude Australia from taking a principled position and support a full investigation into these horrific allegations.''

Controlling The Right To Freedom Of Assembly In A democracy

By R.M.B Senanayake -February 4, 2014 

R.M.B. Senanayake

A news item in the Daily Mirror refers to a Fundamental Rights petition against rallies and street protests filed by an aggrieved father. The petition wants the authorities to come up with a mechanism to avoid illegal and unlawful protests and to streamline them to be compatible with the existing laws, rules and regulations.

My mind went to the First Amendment to the U.S Constitution. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution specifically allows peaceful demonstrations and the freedom of assembly as part of a measure to facilitate the redress of such grievances. “Amendment I: Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers. Wikipedia says

“Actions such as blockades and sit-ins may also be referred to as demonstrations. Demonstrations can be nonviolent or violent (usually referred to by participants as “militant”), or can begin as nonviolent and turn violent dependent on circumstances. Sometimes riot police or other forms of law enforcement become involved. In some cases this may be in order to try to prevent the protest from taking place at all. In other cases it may be to prevent clashes between rival groups, or to prevent a demonstration from spreading and turning into a riot”

They may involve some physical actions–marching, chanting slogans, and singing — through which the merger of the individual in the mass, which is the essence of the collective experience, finds expression.’

Demonstrations can be used to show a viewpoint (either positive or negative) regarding a public issue, especially relating to a perceived grievance or social. A demonstration is usually considered more successful if more people participate. Topics of demonstrations often deal with political, economic, and social issues.

Protest marches and demonstrations are a common nonviolent tactic. They are thus one tactic available to proponents of strategic nonviolence and governmental authorities should look upon them in that light.

Some demonstrations and protests can turn, at least partially, into riots or mob violence against objects such as vehicles and businesses, as used to happen in the heydays of the Leftists demonstrations on May Day. Fortunately they don’t happen any more. Problems arise when the Police erect barricades to prevent the march of the protesters when they may resort to force to remove them which lead the Police to resort to force. Police and military authorities often use non-lethal force or less-lethal weapons, such as, rubber bullets,  and tear gas against demonstrators in these situations.           Read More