Meriam Ibrahim freed again after rearrest at Sudan airport

Lawyer says woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned has been released after pressure from diplomats

Meriam Ibrahim was detained in Khartoum on Tuesday while trying to leave the country. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

Associated Press in Khartoum-Thursday 26 June 2014

A Sudanese Christian woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned has been freed again after being detained on accusations of forging travel documents.

Eman Abdul-Rahman, the lawyer for 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim, said she had been released from a police station after foreign diplomats pressed the government to free her. She was detained along with her husband and two small children, one born behind bars, at Khartoum's airport on Tuesday while trying to leave the country with her family.

Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian man from southern Sudan in a church ceremony in 2011. As in many Muslim nations, Muslim women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, though Muslim men can marry outside their faith. By law, children must follow their father's religion.

Sudan's penal code forbids Muslims from converting to other religions, a crime punishable by death.

The sentence drew international condemnation, with Amnesty International calling it abhorrent. The US state department said it was "deeply disturbed" by the sentence and called on the Sudanese government to respect religious freedoms.

On Monday, Sudan's court of cassation threw out Ibrahim's death sentence and freed her after a presentation by her legal team.

Trash fish: It’s gross, tainted by slavery and possibly in your dog food

A laborer from Myanmar works in the hull of a Thai fishing vessel. Trash fish caught by forced laborers is a key ingredient in fish sauce, pet food and shrimp feed. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

June 18, 2014 11:35
BANGKOK — For years, it was a poorly kept secret. Thailand’s fishing industry — a key supplier to the US — is entangled in barbaric slavery.

Today, slave labor on Thai trawlers is no longer a secret. It’s a worldwide scandal.

Trash Fish It’s Gross, Tainted by Slavery and Possibly in Your Dog Food by Maria Anderson

Civil activities and freedoms curbed, five years after Sri Lanka's civil war

An assessment of Sri Lanka, five years after the civil war, says ethnic minorities are no better off and the sources of conflict are still being sustained.

 25 June 2014,-Civil activities and freedoms curbed, five years after Sri Lanka's civil war (Credit: ABC Licensed) 

Listen

This is due to a near collapse of the rule of law and ongoing militarisation in the former war zones.

Dr Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, says there's hardly any space for civil activity, with freedom of speech diminished considerably. 

Dr Saravanamuttu, currently visiting Melbourne, says while Sri Lanka's government is focusing on economic development, there's little inclusiveness or participation. 

Presenter:  Sen Lam

Speaker: Dr Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo

SARAVANAMUTTU: Five years after the war, Sri Lanka is still in a post-war phase, the guns have fallen silent, the war is over, terrorism was defeated. However, we haven't moved yet into what I would call a post-conflict phase. And what I mean by that is that the sources of conflict that gave rise to the war are still be sustained, reproduced and even new sources of conflict are being put on the agenda. So in that respect, the trajectory of developments in over the last five years hasn't been particularly propitious, not withstanding the fact that full scale war has ended. 

There is an over emphasis, for example, on economic development, designed, conceived and implemented from the centre, very little inclusiveness and participation of the people whose lives is directly affects. There's institutionalised militarisation, seen most acutely in the north, but not exclusively so, it's spreading to the rest of the country. There's a near collapse of the rule of law, which was epitomised with the farcical impeachment of the Chief Justice, in the early part of last year. And now we have this horrendous spectacular of religious intolerance, which is now being manifested in open, avert violence.

LAM: Indeed, we have been seeing hardline Sinhala groups purporting to represent the Buddhist community, behaving violently towards the Muslim community. This group, the Bodu Bala Sena, how much community support does it enjoy or is it just a small hardline group?

SARAVANAMUTTU: I think it is largely a small hardline group and that it does not enjoy majority support. But what is most important, is that it acts with impuntiy and that is because, I think it does enjoy support from within the regime.

LAM: So you think the government has been showing Bodu Bala Sena excessive tolerance?

SARAVANAMUTTU: Excessive tolerance and I think there are elements within the government who really support it.

LAM: So what is the reasoning for this, because surely the government knows that such unrest and disunity, if you like, is not good for the country?

SARAVANAMUTTA: I think these elements have calculated that, the government will only get support from the majority Sinhala community and that it has to present itself as the champions and defenders of that community. And that community is under siege, both from a resurgent LTTE and well as from other minority groups in the country, particularly the Muslims, but there've also been attacks on evangelical Christian churches. 

But I think the argument here is is that the ruling power, the family, the dynasty, wants to present itself as the real defenders of the Sinhala Buddhist constituency and therefore they want to make out that it is under siege and therefore that they are even more relevant and pertinent as the defenders and champions of this particular constituency.

LAM: You mentioned a resurgent LTTE. Is there evidence of this that they're regrouping in some way?

SARAVANAMUTTA: Well soon after the resolution and the Human Rights Council in Geneva was passed in March, of this year, the government did say that there were some individuals who had been given the task of reviving the LTTE and that there were blueprints for high level political assassinations et cetera. 

People were taken into detention and eventually, we were told that the particular individual who was given this task was killed in a shootout whilst trying to escape or something along those lines. 

But it's that constant need to remind the people that the 'threat' is ever present, although the military dimension of it was defeated in 2009, the threat is ever present and as long as that's the case, it is only we, and we alone, who can defend it.

LAM: And, of course, one of the arguments is that the Tamil regions, in the north and east, that if you look after those regions properly, then there will be no support for the LTTE. Is the government doing the right thing here as far as you can tell? Is the government bringing the Tamils back into the fold?

SARAVANAMUTTA: Well, as I said to you earlier, I mean you have institutionalised militarisation, which is most acutely felt in the north and east, where the military is involved in the economy, for example, from growing and selling vegetables through running hotels and managing golf courses and you name it. So it's evolved in the economy. 

It's involved in civilian governance. There is hardly any space for civil society activity, which have shrunk considerably, so there are violations with regard to the freedom of speech, with regard to the freedom of assembly. So in that respect, the people in the north and east feel very much that they are being treated as something kind of subjugated community. 

Furthermore, as far as the north and east is concerned, the over reliance or over dependence prioritisation of economic development from the centre has involved very little consultation and participation with the people whose lives it directly affects. So they feel left out of this whole developmental push. 

And thirdly, finally, they want to know the truth. They want to know the truth in terms of what has happened to their family members, who they saw in the last days of the war, who either surrendered or were taken in. 

They want to find out as to what has happened to them. So that whole question of truth and accountability of an acknowledgment of them having gone to hell and back, as it were, is pivotal for them to even begin to conceive of themselves as equal citizens in Sri Lanka today.

LAM: Is there not even a little glimmer of hope for change in Sri Lanka?

SARAVANAMUTTA: Well, I hope there is always space for a glimmer of hope in that, yes, there has been some economic development. As someone said, "Things look better, but they feel worse."

LAM: But how will that come about if there's still this very close intimate relationship between the executive and the military?

SARAVANAMUTTA: Well, this is the thing. It's that we do need for this sort of political architecture the institutions and processes to facilitate, national unity, reconciliation et cetera, there has to be considerably regime reform. 

There has to be a change of the mindset and to recognise is that Sri Lanka is a diverse, pluralistic society and that formal functioning institutions and processes of democracy need to reflect that. Popular pressure, popular agitation with the international support might be able to make some headway
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Threats to Sirimal Wijesinghe from religious extremist

 Wednesday, 25 June 2014 

The well - known artist and writer Sirimal Wijesinghe says that he was under the  threats from religious extremist. He aware the media by issuing press statement regarding this matter.

The full text of the message of Sirimal Wijesinghe as follows.

I m Sirimal Wijesinghe, I began filming an International Documentary film against the extremely racial and religious organization such as Bodu Bala Sena. As a Film Director, Writer, Social - Political Critic and a Journalist, I regard it as my absolute right to do so.

I write not with deep sorrow but with great hate to inform your media organization that I’m under the usual threat from the said religious organizations.

1.      In April 2014 I made the public aware about making the documentary film via social media. This was not published on any of the heroic printed, electric or web media functioning from Sri Lanka, but only on websites that function from abroad namely Pathula, Lankanewsweb and Realitypos .

2.      For overseas filming of the documentary I applied for visa from the Netherlands Embassy in Colombo on 26 – 05 -2014. But the Sinhala – Buddhist spies of the Embassy had supplied all my documents to the Bodu Bala Sena organization. All preparations and copying of the documents were done in my house and the only set of documents that I gave out was submitted to the Embassy.

3.      By calling a press conference on 10 – 06 - 2014, the Bodu Bala Sena organization determined that all efforts of traitors including my documentary film will be stopped in any method whether it’s good or bad. Though my name was not stated, my documents which the organization received from the spies of the Embassy were exposed to the media representatives.

4.      Moreover they asserted that the names of the film crew would be published in due course and that the details of the crew are already provided to the defense forces.

5.      I believe this fictitious media presentation was exhibited that night through all TV channels. Though I did not see it on TV, I found it on the internet.

6.      Furthermore an article was published on the 19th page of the 11 – 06 - 2014 Lankadeepa daily newspaper, under the heading “Attempts are made to make films insulting the Bodu Bala Sena Internationally – Galagodaatte Thero”.             I was made aware that this was published on all other daily newspapers.

7.      On 14th June 2014, two civil personalities had wandered nearby my wife’s parent’s house and asked for my whereabouts from the neighbors presenting police Identities.

8.      The neighbors of my sisters too reported that around 2 pm the same day, a similar questioning had been carried out near her house.

9.      At around 4.30 pm on that day I informed these incidents to my friend Mr. Mahinda Ileperuma Director – Presidents Media Unit, further requesting to inform the President about the life threats I’m facing and to take necessary actions to secure my life.

10.  With the intercession of Mr. Mahinda Ileperuma and Senior DIG Anura Senanayake, the head of the Piliyandala police station C I Mr. Somarathna visited my house and carried out an investigation over the incidents and since then every two hours after 9 pm a police jeep patrols nearby my house. Additionally they promised to visit me in instances of an emergency standby call.

11.  Even though the same police department is dumb while the Buddhist monks are incinerating the brotherly Muslim community, I thank them for helping me personally.

12.  But my life exists on unobserved danger during day time. I do not intend to hide myself simply because of the experiences I possess as a political being.  But I do intend to make the public aware of my threat for my own protection.  Clearly for the reason that we are still inoffensive against the roguish Buddhist forces.  
13.  Finally for the love of my child I make it out, if any harm is done to my life similarly to what happened to my dearest close friend and colleague Prageeth Ekneligoda, Galagodaatte Gnanasara and the laic power forces behind the seen are to be held sternly responsible.

Also I urge from your media organization to raise a broad call against the threats faced by me and my film crew.  I strongly believe you would act accordingly to protect me, who have struggled politically for over three decades against nationalism and fanaticism.

It is senseless to engrave poems in my tombstone once I’m gone. Demonstrations opposite the Fort railway station will not bring back my life. With the second disappearance of Prageeth’s, I would like to inform our dearest Mrs. Sandhaya Ekneligoda additionally, as to how long it has been that I myself realized the nudity of the aristocracy civil society  that surrounds me. Late honorable President  H E. J. R.. Jayawardana forgive us for cursing you for your preaching; “You have to find your own security”.

Sirimal Wijesinghe

Three international experts tapped to assist with UN-mandated Sri Lanka conflict probe

Former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, former Governor-General and High Court judge of New Zealand Silvia Cartwright (center) and former President of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission Asma Jahangir (right ). UN Photos/Stephenie Hollyman, Mark Garten, Jean-Marc Ferre.

25 June 2014 – Three distinguished experts have agreed to advise the United Nations-mandated investigation into alleged human rights violations committed during the final stages of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

The experts are former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, former Governor-General and High Court judge of New Zealand Silvia Cartwright and former President of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission Asma Jahangir.

“I am proud that three such distinguished experts have agreed to assist this important and challenging investigation,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“Each of them brings not only great experience and expertise, but the highest standards of integrity, independence, impartiality and objectivity to this task,” she added in a news release.

The Sri Lankan Government declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people.

The final months of the conflict had generated concerns about alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The UN Human Rights Council, stressing the need for justice and accountability, decided in March of this year to open an investigation into the reported abuses.

According to the High Commissioner’s office (OHCHR), the investigation team will consist of 12 staff, including investigators, forensics experts, a gender specialist, a legal analyst and various other staff with specialized skills. It will be operational for a period of 10 months (up to mid-April 2015).

The three experts will play a supportive and advisory role, providing advice and guidance as well as independent verification throughout the investigation.

“Once again, I encourage the Government and people of Sri Lanka to cooperate fully with this investigation which can help shed light on the truth, and advance accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka,” Ms. Pillay said, adding that the investigation would still go ahead undeterred if such cooperation was not forthcoming.

SRI LANKA: Victim of assault denied justice to protect an influential culprit

25 June  2014 

ISSUES: Violence against women; threat to life; fair trail; witness protection; impunity; rule of law 

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the student of a prestigious college in the Kandy District was assaulted by a state educational officer in public. She was subsequently treated at the Kandy Hospital and later examined by a Judicial Medical Officer. The victim complained to the police authorities in the area and although her complaint was accepted no steps have been taken to investigate and prosecute the culprit. This is common in Sri Lanka when the culprits are influential officers belonging to the state sector. It is plainly evident that the law enforcement agencies implement the rule of law selectively allowing the rights of innocent people to be suppressed and the victims continuously denied justice. 

SRI LANKA Victim of Assault Denied Justice to Protect an Influential Culprit by Maria Anderson

Lies, deception and hypocrisy is the religion of the politician

Wednesday 25th June 2014

The great virtue of liberal democracy is that, unlike totalitarian states, they require transparency, accountability, and trust between representatives and the represented. The use of secrecy, lies and deception are more characteristic of authoritarian regimes past or present.
Mussolini, who hired the killer who killed the Serb king in the 1930s, attended his funeral and wept profusely. Hitler set fire to the Reichstag (the German Parliament) and put the blame on the Communists. Every misfortune or mishap he blamed on the Jews and fabricated evidence to support his contention. Stalin used to talk of the imperialist conspiracy against the former Soviet Union log after the Revolutionary War was over. 
Several other countries blame foreign powers for the evils in their society. So we are told that the violence against the Muslims by the BBS is a conspiracy by the foreign powers. It seems plausible since no State facing an international investigation into alleged crimes against its people would be so foolish as to deliberately stage more such violence and confine condemnation of such violence to words only. When the elections are held we will see if the motivation was to create an enemy for mobilising the votes of the Sinhala Buddhists
International conspiracies and fear-mongering
We are aware of politicians who during their election campaigns resort to lies and deception, especially when boasting of their own honesty and integrity and condemning their rivals. Lying – meaning an intentional deception of one sort or other, whether through words, gestures, actions, or even inactions and silences – seems to be more prevalent in politics than in almost any other area of public life, even in democracies particularly in what are called ‘popular democracies’ where the politicians are not subject to checks and balances.
Hannah Arendt’s famous maxim that ‘truthfulness has never been counted among the political virtues’ is a standard practice in our failed democracy. But it is a worrisome practice when elected leaders spread falsehoods about international conspiracies and engage in fear-mongering to win the favour of the people. Such lies produce a culture of dishonesty in which trust in policymakers and, potentially, democratic governance is undermined.

“Hannah Arendt’s famous maxim that ‘truthfulness has never been counted among the political virtues’ is a standard practice in our failed democracy. But it is a worrisome practice when elected leaders spread falsehoods about international conspiracies and engage in fear-mongering to win the favour of the people. Such lies produce a culture of dishonesty in which trust in policymakers and, potentially, democratic governance is undermined”
The trust of the victims will definitely be eroded and they will realise that the State is not there to protect them if the enemy is the Sinhala Buddhist monks. Buddhist monks who committed crimes have hitherto not enjoyed immunity legally. But is the situation changing? Otherwise why is the BBS monk who unleashed the violence not being arrested and produced in courts?
We must be judged by what we do
Moralists tend to see every political lie, no matter how minor, as an ethical crime. Either it compromises the integrity of the individual in question, or it undermines democratic values and fosters a culture of deception and mistrust
Our politicians are great at parading their devotion to the religion. We see them carrying trays of flowers and worshipping ever-so-often. They are able to hoodwink the stupid people. Doesn’t our folk lore refer to the ‘gamarala’ who went to heaven tagging himself to the tail of an elephant? Didn’t they believe that there was a rabbit on the moon? But as someone said, one’s religion is what you do after the ceremony is over. In the last analysis, we must be judged by what we do and not by what we believe.
Hypocrisy is the vice of vices
Abraham Lincoln once defined the hypocrite as the man who murdered both his parents… and pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.  The hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself. What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one.
The only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core – Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, 1963.
Our people are very gullible. During the time of Louis XIV, the people when faced with the harassment of the nobles or the officials used to say, “if only the King were to know”. For a long time people everywhere believed the ruler can do no evil.

Random Thoughts After Aluthgama

By Kumar David -June 25, 2014

Prof. Kumar David

The Holy Prophet lay in a deep reverie when a vision appeared to him. He conveyed the words uttered to him by the apparition and this was how of the Holy Book came to be set down in writing. Last week I was in a reverie pondering the consequences of the Aluthgama incidents when four thoughts came to me out of cyberspace. I believe they are worth sharing with others and including in a discussion though last week’s spike in anti-Muslim violence may have subsided for now. As in 1983, the regime realised within a few days that this kind of overt high-intensity violence is a public relations liability. But small scale local violence that does not draw too much international media attention can be expected to persist.

Here are the four seminal thoughts that descended on me from cyberspace.

First, with Aluthgama, anti-Muslim violence by the state and its clients, has taken on a momentum and life of its own, like anti-Tamil violence, and no longer requires conscious direction by the state, the regime or prominent players like the BBS. Could this lead, as with the Tamils, to displacement of communities, counter violence and even armed resistance by the Muslim Moors? It’s too early to say, but it is worth noting is that even last week there were retaliatory attacks by the Moors; something that was absent in 1983 on the part of Tamil non combatants. The willingness of ordinary unarmed Moors in the affected areas to retaliate is not without significance. The Moors, unlike the effeminate Tamils, have balls. The racist mobs and the government must have realised that if they go on the rampage they will be punished, not by the law non-enforcement forces of the state, but by ordinary Muslims.                                                                     Read More

Hijab Case: “Issue Arose After New Appointment Of JBV Principal”; SC Observes

June 25, 2014 

Justice Priyasath Depp today observed that the banning of the Muslim cultural dress at Janadipathi Balika Vidyalaya was subsequent to the new Principals appointments, after Provincial Council Authorities and the Principal undertook to permit the Muslim parent to enter the school in her cultural attire.

“This happened after the new Principal was appointed. Prior to this there was no issue” he observed.

When the case was taken up today before a bench comprising Justice Priyasath Depp, Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare and Justice Priyantha Jayawardena, the respondents said that they were willing to settle the issue by permitting the parent to enter the school in her cultural attire.

Earlier a parent of the Janadipathi Balika Vidyalaya in a Fundamental Rights application said that the Principal of the school had prevented her and thereafter abused her when she visited the school in her cultural attire.

Her attire includes a head scarf and gown.

The Petitioner alleged that the Principal violated her constitutional rights and was bringing the government into disrepute by her actions.

Sanjay Rajarathna DSG appeared for the state, Manohara De Silva appeared for the Principal, Tishya Weragoda appeared for the Provincial Council authorities while M.M Zuhair together with Hafeel Fareez and Charith Samaradiwakara appeared for the Petitioner.

Related posts;

National security under threat 

By Zahrah Imtiaz-June 25, 2014 


The defence authorities yesterday alleged that there was an ongoing plot to destroy the national intelligence services of the country.
 

Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, who made this revelation at a media briefing, said there was a move by a few parliamentarians to reveal the identities of certain Army Intelligence officers in Parliament. The Brigadier added that the MPs' actions were motivated by their dislike of the armed forces trying to resolve the racial tensions which have currently gripped the country.
 

This revelation would be similar to that of the Athurugiriya Millennium City incident where the identities of the Intelligence service personnel were made known and it led to their deaths. According to the Brigadier this revelation would not only be a threat to national security but also to the lives of these officers who would be compromised by the actions of the MPs.
 
 
"The debacle of the raid conducted at Millennium City in Athurugiriya is to be repeated once again. The raid, which was conducted to achieve various political goals resulted in the death of 21 officers of the Army Intelligence Services," Brigadier Wangisooriya said.
 

This revelation is to be made at the next parliamentary sittings. The MPs would be using their parliamentary privileges to make these revelations, thus nothing could be done to stop it, the Brigadier said, while asking the general public to be apprehensive of such political games. He said certain 'patriots' within this political party had revealed this plan to the Army. According to the Brigadier, this group's motive for such an action was to isolate all the communities and let each side's prejudices and fears prey on the other, leaving no room for reason.
 

"In the aftermath of Aluthgama, many of our offices in the Intelligence Services were working with both the Muslim and Buddhist community to try and resolve issues and stop the violence from spreading to the rest of the country. We kept the communication lines between the two communities open and certain parties who were to benefit from the chaos did not like this," explained the Brigadier.
 

Though the Brigadier refused to reveal the names of those MPs or the party to which they belong, he said that one of the members of the present group was someone who strongly condemned the deaths at Millennium City, which occurred in 2002.
 

Commenting on the politics surrounding the violence in Aluthgama, Brigadier Wanigasooriya, said a certain embassy from the West had called another party involved in the politics of Aluthgama and told them, "Do you think you have got the maximum out of this? Aren't you going to carry on the rest of the work? Do you want something more to happen to you? Listen to what we say and carry on the work."
The Brigadier refused to reveal the identities of the two parties involved in that conversation but said this clearly showed the West was trying to use local players to manipulate the situation to their own benefit.

Rise Of BBS Is A Direct Result Of Triumphalism

By Vishwamithra1984 -June 25, 2014

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

This has been told, not once, not twice or thrice but an umpteen number of times. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organization is not a fresh or novel manifestation of a particular sectorial thinking or a by-product of yesterday’s emotions. The character, substance and inner content of the driving force behind these civil organizations- although there is nothing remotely civil about this kind of groupings- is a tremendous sense of inexplicable yet remarkably acute inferiority felt all along the storied history of the Sinhalese Buddhist people. The style adopted by the Bodu Bala Sena might appear as novel, violent, militant and even sophisticated to an untrained and unequipped academic but that style is deeply embedded in the troubled psyche of the Sinhalese people, especially of the Buddhist kind. The Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka are experiencing a feeble feeling of inferiority despite being a great majority among those who claim the country as their motherland. Time and time again, historians have failed to render any valid and legitimate reason as to why and how an ethnic majority schooled and nurtured by a non-violent and non-discriminatory religion, is indulging in macabre killings and wanton vandalism. A malicious and a delusional mind is being portrayed as a superior kind, exposing complete absence of intellectual reasoning and prudent inquiry.Read More

US Citizen’s Plot Against Sri Lanka

( June 25, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The chiefs of the national intelligence, state intelligence and the director of Army intelligence were behind the communal riots that occurred at Beruwala and Aluthgama and it was they who supported extremist terrorists reveals UNP Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera.

Sri Lanka’s Greatest War Criminal (Gotabaya) is a US Citizen It’s Time to Hold Him Accountable by Maria Anderson

Full Video: Managala Samaraweera Accused Gota For Communal Violence

June 25, 2014
UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera yesterday has (June 24) accused Secretary to the Ministry of DefenceGotabaya Rajapaksa and three intelligence officers are behind all the recent communal clashes.

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Private Sector Urges The Govt To Take Action Against "Hate-mongers"

 Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Sri Lanka's National Chamber Commerce and several other organizations representing the private sector of the country have issued a statement strongly condemning communal violence in Beruwala, Aluthgama, Dharga Town and several other areas in the country.

Private Sector Urges the Govt to Take Action Against Hate-mongers by Maria Anderson

Aluthgama: Thinking About Co-Existence And Resistance In A Time Of Crisis

By Mahendran Thiruvarangan -June 25, 2014 

Mahendran Thiruvarangan

I come from a community that was both a victim and a villain in the thirty-year civil war that unsettled all of us. We were victims because the Sri Lankan state killed thousands of us, grabbed our lands and made us homeless; we were villains as we could not question the LTTE strongly when the movement massacred members of the Sinhala and Muslim communities and members of our own community who refused to conform to the movement’s ideology. We witnessed how the narrow nationalist politics that we romanticized, alienated us from the other communities on the island. We witnessed how our failure to criticize the decisions made by our leaders contributed in part to the death of thousands of Tamils in Mullivaikal in May 2009. We witnessed how our obsession with the particular—our language,our culture, our religion and our homeland—incarcerated us within the walls of purism and political decadence. It is true that there was no space for dissent when the LTTE ruled us. But we need to accept as a community that because the LTTE fought against a state that dominated us and persecuted us, many of us often, in our everyday conversations, justified its violence against other communities. Any community that clings to a narrow-minded nationalism has many a lesson to learn from the painful experiences that the Tamils in Sri Lanka went through during the war. When I read about the recent attacks on Muslims in Aluthgama, I remembered the Eviction of Muslims from the Northern Province by the LTTE and the violence that the LTTE directed at the Muslim community in the East in the name of Tamils. Thus, I do not want to understand, in its literal sense, the much-highlighted remark (in sections of the Tamil media) made by a Muslim woman who was affected by the violence in Dharga Town: “If Prabhakaran had been alive, they (the perpetrators of violence) would not have touched us.” It is possible that the Muslim woman made this remark without knowing the LTTE’s atrocities against the Muslims. However, rather than signifying anything else, this remark belongs to the kind of rhetorical statements that people make out of frustration and anger, when leaders let down their communities during times of crisis. It is somewhat similar to the anxious remark supposedly made by an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in Menik Farm in 2009 that it would have been better had all the IDPs died in the No Fire Zone giving no room for the government to treat them like animals in a zoo. Is it correct to interpret these sentences in their literal sense? Can we read these remarks without paying attention to the contexts in which they were made? What we need now is neither retaliatory violence nor reactionary political activism, but rather a critical consciousness that liberates us from the iron grips of religious and cultural nationalism and helps us imagine ourselves in new ways as a political community that loves and respects all irrespective of one’s ethnicity, class, caste, religion, gender, sexuality, etc.Read More

Thomas More’s Socialist Utopia And Ceylon ( Sri Lanka)

By S. I. Keethaponcalan -June 25, 2014 

Dr S.I. Keethaponcalan

“Thomas More’s Socialist Utopia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka)” by Laksiri Fernando

Laksiri Fernando’s recent book titled “Thomas More’s Socialist Utopia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka)” (Createspace, 2014) certainly is one of the most interesting books published due to the fact that it differs greatly from the general line of investigation undertaken by leading contemporary Sri Lankan political scientists. Fernando takes Thomas More’s book, published in 1516 in Latin (English and other language translations were published later) and argues that the island imagined by More in this book was in fact Sri Lanka. The rational is that More took inspiration to his ideal society from a real world example, the 16^th century Ceylon. 

Fernando enthusiastically introduces Thomas More, who was one of the early socialist thinkers and coined the now very popular term ‘Utopia,’ which means an ideal society or condition. The book entails two major sections: the first section examines More’s ideas from Laksiri Fernando’s perceptions and the section two, is the reproduction of More’s work with some modifications to make the comprehension easier for an unfamiliar reader. This review therefore is concerned with the first section of the book. In this section Fernando: (1) introduces and examines More’s notion of socialism, (2) argues that the utopian island that More talks about in this book was Sri Lanka, and (3) contends that socialism can be the medicine for some of the problems the Sri Lankan society faces today.                                                                      Read More