Friday, April 29, 2016

Hokkaido rewrites ‘condescending’ etiquette guide targeted at Chinese tourists

APR 26, 2016

SAPPORO – The Hokkaido Tourism Organization has revised a booklet on bad manners aimed at Chinese tourists after a local resident said it assumed Chinese lack common sense.

The new guide covers subjects ranging from shopping and hotel etiquette to how to use a toilet. It cautions against being late, breaking wind in public and stealing cutlery from restaurants.

An official at the Sapporo-based semi-public tourism promotion body said it came up with the idea of a do’s and don’ts guide last year after hoteliers expressed reluctance to host tourists from China. There have been cases in which Chinese tourists left hotel rooms dirty or made excessive noise.

As elsewhere in Japan recently, the number of tourists from China has surged in Hokkaido. Figures released by the prefecture show there were 218,600 travelers from China in the period from April to September last year, or nearly a quarter of all foreign travelers during the six months. They were the second-largest group by nationality after those from Taiwan, who numbered 260,500.

The official said the organization hopes the booklet would serve to resolve issues for innkeepers as well as making a stay in Hokkaido an enjoyable experience for Chinese tourists. It published the illustrated booklet in August.

But the booklet was titled “Hokkaido Ryoko Joshiki” (“Common Sense When Traveling Hokkaido”), with illustrations showing example after example of bad tourist behavior lined with big “X” marks.

A Chinese resident in Hokkaido saw it and complained, saying it gives a false impression to readers that all Chinese lack common sense and manners.

The tourism organization acknowledged that “its contents were one-sided,” and decided to revise it.

The title of the revised publication, which came out in March, is “Hokkaido Kokoroe” (“The Traveler’s Etiquette Guide to Hokkaido”). There are no patronizing “X” marks, and instead the guide explains what kind of behavior is considered bad manners.

For example, the old version indicated that ripping open packaging before purchasing a product, which is acceptable in China, is “a crime.” An illustration of it was marked with an “X.”

The new version says instead, “In Japan, you can buy products with a sense of security that they are good, without opening their packages.”

Phrasing has been softened, removing expressions that give the impression Chinese lack manners.

Moreover, the new booklet does not just target Chinese: It is available in English, too.

The revised version, however, still contains detailed descriptions that some might perceive as patronizing.

“Japanese etiquette is based on avoiding causing discomfort or nuisance to others,” the booklet says in its English version. “Accordingly, Japanese will avoid bodily functions such as belching or flatulence in public entirely, or perform bodily functions as discreetly as possible. Of course, these functions are a necessary part of human life, but please be modest and discreet when visiting Japan.”

Eighty-five thousand copies have been printed in Chinese and English each, and they are now being distributed at inns and other venues across the prefecture.

Data2_file_18.PDF-A Booklet on Bad Manners by Thavam Ratna

Vatican Watchdog Says Suspicious Transactions Almost Quadrupled

Officials say figures reflect greater vigilance rather than any rise in illicit financial activities

Rene Brulhart, president of the AIF pictured Thursday, says the Vatican’s oversight system uses a “rather low reporting threshold.”PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA-April 28, 2016

ROME—The Vatican’s financial watchdog registered 544 suspicious transactions in 2015—almost four times as many as the previous year—but officials said Thursday it reflected greater vigilance rather than any rise in illicit financial activities.

The Financial Information Authority, or AIF, said it turned over 17 of those cases, mostly involving potential money laundering, to Vatican prosecutors.

“I would like to see the figure zero,” René Brülhart, the AIF’s president told reporters. “But it doesn’t reflect reality. Wherever you have financial transactions, financial activity, you always see something potentially suspicious.”

Mr. Brülhart said the Vatican’s oversight system uses a “rather low reporting threshold,” in part to raise awareness of potential problems. He said it was a “fair assessment” that none of the suspicious activity was related to the financing of terrorism.

Thursday’s annual report was the fourth published by the AIF, which Pope Benedict XVI set up in 2010 to work toward compliance with international standards on financial crimes. That step began a series of financial reforms at the Vatican, which have been continued by Pope Francis.

Mr. Brülhart touted a December 2015 report by the Council of Europe’s Moneyvaal committee, which praised the “intensive review process” at the scandal-plagued Vatican bank. The bank has closed more than 4,800 accounts, in some cases because a client’s profile didn’t conform with the bank’s stated mission to serve “works of religion.”

But Moneyvaal also put the Vatican on notice to prosecute those suspected of financial crimes, since nobody has yet been prosecuted under a 2013 Vatican anti-money-laundering law. Since 2011, the AIF has referred 34 cases of suspicious activity to Vatican prosecutors.

AIF’s director, Tommaso Di Ruzza, told reporters Thursday that Vatican prosecutors were “working very seriously” on the cases. A Vatican statement last December noted that prosecution of suspected crimes is especially complicated in the case of the Holy See, since such cases often involve persons living outside the tiny city-state.

Mr. Brülhart also emphasized the Vatican’s commitment to international cooperation. The AIF reported 380 cases of bilateral cooperation with foreign authorities in 2015, up from 113 the previous year.

The regulator also tracks declarations of outgoing cash that exceed €10,000 ($11,335), of which it counted 1,196 in 2015, a rise of 85 over the previous year.

Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com

The Dalai Lama Converts To Atheism, Will Step Down

The Dalai Lama, head of the Buddhist faith, abruptly announced today that he no longer believes in ‘nonsense’ and has converted to atheism.

April 29, 2016
INDIA – The Dalai Lama, head of the Buddhist faith, abruptly announced today that he no longer believes in ‘nonsense’ and has converted to atheism.

“I myself, I can no longer be a believer in nonsense,” the Dalai Lama said at a press conference at the Chan Centre. “Frankly speaking, all religions are bull excrement. So I have become atheist. When our brothers and sisters talk about God, creator, I can only face-palm.” He laughed, perhaps a bit too hard.

The Dalai Lama's feelings about God have changed over the years. In the past he has indicated an agnostic worldview, but not a purely atheistic one.

“I recently read the book ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins. This book made some strong arguments I could not refute,” the Dalai Lama said, sitting in his usual lotus position on a plush armchair. “God is the same as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and freedom in China...it doesn’t exist!” The Dalai Lama thrust his head back and laughed with reckless abandon.

“All religious traditions have good potential to get humans killed for no reason,” the Dalai Lama said. “So I say, fuck this shit. I am done. I have wasted my life on nonsense. But I still have time to make changes and live a real life.” He then ripped off his microphone, stood up and left.

The Dalai Lama was last seen boarding a plane from India to Los Angeles. According to his aides, he plans to change his name to Tanner Jacobs and pursue a career in sitcom writing.

10 Heart Disease Symptoms You Just Ignore

1. Dizziness and shortness of breath

April 28, 2016

Breathlessness can indicate heart disease when you are not suffering from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dizziness is a symptom too.

2. Sickness

Indigestion, stomach pain, vomiting or feeling sick can also occur during heart attacks.

3. Pressure

A feeling of pressure or like something pressing or tightening around your chest area is a symptom of heart disease.

4. Chest Pain

While not all chest pain has to with heart, it is important to pay attention to where exactly the pain is coming from. Heart related pain is often centred on the breastbone, a little to the left of the centre. It can cause discomfort and excruciating pain.

5. Unusual pain elsewhere

Heart disease- related pain is not only confined to the chest. It can start from the chest and reach up to the neck and jaw. According to a study, many patients with an attack were admitted to hospitals without a chest pain or discomfort.

6. Anxiety

Anxiety or feelings of foreboding about your health, accompanied by light headedness or dizziness are signs of heart problems.

7. Looking ill

People who are about to suffer from a heart attack can look gravely ill. As the blood pressure drops, they look grey and observably unwell.

8. Palpitations

Irregular or rapid heartbeat accompanied by dizziness, breathing shortness or weakness are signs of heart attack, heart failure or arrhythmia.

9. Tiredness and weakness

Weakness and tiredness are symptoms of heart attack. Women in particular mostly experience these symptoms.

10. Sweating

Heart patients often break out in cold sweat prior to the attack.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

No Longer A Black Spot For Press Freedom; But All Journalist Murders Still Unsolved

By Johan Mikaelsson –April 28, 2016

Johan Mikaelsson

Sri Lanka is no longer regarded a black spot for press freedom, but all killings and disappearances during the dark years remain unsolved. April 28 2005, the most influential Tamil journalist, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, was abducted and shot dead.

His body was found in a high-security zone near the parliament building in Kotte. It had a discouraging effect on Tamils and colleagues and friends in the media. Several more journalists, and workers active in the chain of spreading news and information were to pay the ultimate price the years that followed. Their families and friends were left with grief and fear.

Many citizens, not all, took big leaps of joy in 2015, as the leader and his government was voted out of office. This reflects in the Paris-based media watch-dog Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, released a couple of weeks ago: Sri Lanka advances from place 165 to 141. It’s a serious situation, but things are moving in the right direction.

The relief was even visible in the faces of the journalists I met during my two visits to the island in 2015. Before the parliamentary elections on August 17, there were still some doubts. Some polls showed that a majority of Sinhalese still supported Mahinda Rajapaksa, who said he would come back as Prime Minister – to set things straight.

Dharmeratnam Sivaram – Photo Johan Mikaelsson

It didn’t happen. Voters consolidated the power shift that took place after the presidential elections on January 8, 2015. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to continue the work for greater freedom of expression and press freedom. All the problems have clearly not been resolved.

MR and GL should be questioned: Nalin

2016-04-28
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Professor G.L. Peiris should be questioned over the photograph, which was taken with former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga during a recent Thailand visit, UNP MP Nalin Bandara Jayamaha said today.

“Udayanga Weeratunga is to be arrested and questioned over the alleged involvement in the death of Noel Ranaweera, a diplomatic officer attached to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Moscow, and the alleged weapon sales to Ukrainian separatist rebels,” he said.

“We urge the Government to record statements from the persons, who joined Mr. Rajapaksa on his recent Thailand tour,” the Minister said.

He said, Udayanga Weeratunga had evaded arrest for eight years.

“Mr. Rajapaksa and his tour members should know the whereabouts of Udayanga Weeratunga and all the details of with whom he associated,” he said. (Chaturanga Pradeep)

Buddhist monks oversee vihara construction in Mullaitivu

28 April 2016

Sinhala Buddhist monks have been overseeing the construction of a Buddhist vihara in the Tamil North-East, despite an order from the Mullaitivu District Secretariat to halt further proceedings.

The construction, under way in Kokkilai, is reportedly taking place with assistance from the Sri Lankan army, the navy and the police.

TamilNet published footage of one Buddhist monk, identified as Sri Thissapura Gunarathna, assisting in construction work earlier this week.

The construction is taking place on private land owned by Mr Manivannadhas, who stated that Buddhists monks initially began occupying his land in 2012. Though a 2015 complaint by him calling for a halt in construction was upheld, work has continued at the site since.

Role of franchise in a democracy

By Neville Ladduwahetty-April 28, 2016, 9:38 pm

Franchise is the bedrock of Democracy. The right of franchise is granted to those who qualify to participate in processes that involve the two forms of Democracy, namely, Direct and Indirect Democracy. The right of Franchise is the right to vote "directly" on issues related to the sovereignty of the People at Referenda, or "indirectly", in order to elect representatives to whom the People temporarily delegate their sovereignty. This enables the elected representatives to act on the People’s behalf, while protecting the Peoples’ sovereignty.

Beginning with the granting of Franchise to a few select citizens, the right of Franchise has over the years expanded its scope to what is now recognized as a Right, stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

(1) "Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives".

(2) "Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country".

(3) "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures".

Universal adult Franchise was introduced in the U.K. in 1928 and in Sri Lanka in 1931. Exercising the Right of Franchise does not stop at casting the vote. The voter is expected to stay engaged and in fact participate in the processes of governance and make sure that his/her sovereignty is not usurped, but is in fact is protected.

FRANCHISE and SOVEREIGNTY

Provision for the citizens of Sri Lanka to exercise their Franchise directly and indirectly is provided for in Article 4(e) of the 1978 Constitution.

Article 4 (e) states:

"the franchise shall be exercised at the election of the President of the Republic and the Members of Parliament, and at every referendum by every citizen who has attained the age of eighteen years, and who, being qualified to be an elector as hereinafter provided, has his name entered in the register of electors".

Apr 28, 2016

The Tamil Guardian today reported two “white van abductions”; incidents in which unidentified persons driving a “Dolphin” van snatched individuals off the streets. This follows three similar incidents in recent weeks: former LTTE commander, Kanathippillai Sivamoorthy (also known as Nagulan), was reportedly abducted in Jaffna on 26th April; former LTTE commander, Ram, was reported as abducted in the Eastern province on 24th April; and a Tamil man was reportedly abducted by a white van from his home in Jaffna on 10th April.

The three previously reported abductees all turned up in detention having been remanded by Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). It remains to be seen whether the two latest abductees have also been arrested in such an unorthodox manner.

These arrests seem to be connected to the discovery of explosives in the Jaffna suburb of Chavakachcheri. Eleven peoplehave so far been arrested (through conventional means) including S Sivakaran, the leader of the youth wing of ITAK, the largest political party within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

The “white van” occupies a particular place in the Sri Lankan psyche. It was the method of choice for gangs linked to the military to snatch human rights defenders and political adversaries off the streets. Most victims disappeared forever, although some were detained and tortured before being released. To this day Sri Lanka ranks second in the world for enforced disappearances according to the UN working group on the subject, and was joint first for new cases in 2015.

If, as these latest reports suggest, the Sri Lankan Police are once again using abductions as a means of arrest then this raises serious concerns regarding due process and arbitrary detention. But even more importantly it does phenomenal damage to chances for reconciliation in Sri Lanka – raising, as it does, the memory of state terror and further destroying trust in the government. Indeed it is hard to think of any reason for the TID to behave in this way unless it is to perpetuate the climate of fear that still grips northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

Given the manner in which Sri Lanka’s civil war ended it is inevitable that weapons and explosives will turn up from time to time in war affected areas. This is to be expected in the aftermath of any lengthy civil war. If, on each occasion, the Sri Lankan security sector’s response is this disproportionate, and this reminiscent of the era of unbridled state terror, then it will be impossible for a sense of normality to return to these troubled regions.

TNA’s suicidal path to Federalism

2016-04-29
“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it”. -Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Before we examine the action and events originated by the Tamil leadership of Sri Lanka that defined and shaped the current socio-political milieu, let us look at the Sinhalese leadership have been engaged in since the turn of the Twentieth Century. Many accomplished historians such as Professors K M de Silva, G C Mendis and Jeyaratnam Wilson and social scientists of the calibre of Michael Roberts, Jayadeva Uyangoda and Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke and many others, have written books and essays and delivered talks on this subject.

The political background at the dawn of the Twentieth Century was greatly different from the one that encompasses today’s polity. Under the aegis of the British colonial powers, Ceylon and her political leadership at the time, though well-educated unlike most of those who enter politics today, was quite alien to the nuanced underpinnings of the Colonial Office of the United Kingdom Government. The emergence of eminent Tamil leaders such as the Ponnambalam brothers and later G G Ponnambalam during the Legislative and State Council era and their ready cohabitation with the leaders of the Sinhalese majority at the time and considering the prevalent socio-econo-political conditions, an exchange of ideas and policy-stances by both parties assumed more of a sophisticated and nuanced shade rather than real-life experiences of the proletariat and the middle-class of the Sinhalese and Tamils. What is even more ironic is that up to the early nineteen sixties, it was the Indian Tamil-component that comprised the largest group of minorities in Sri Lanka and not ‘Ceylon Tamils’. On the other hand, when the whole nation was ostensibly engaged in a ‘freedom struggle’ against the governing British Raj, issues dividing the two ethnic groups took a secondary seating, so to speak. Yet, one cannot forget that the Tamil leadership at the time, especially in the last two decades of the Nineteenth Century and the first thirty years of the next Century, lent their unequivocal support to the national leadership of the country through the offices of the National Congress, the main political entity at the time. Sinhala Maha Sabha of S W R D Bandaranaike, even then carried out a mutually exclusive political campaign in that while being the first politician, even before the Tamils of the North, to propose a Federal System of government carried out a campaign of nationalistic veneer. This difference between the rhetoric and actual policies, blemished his political life and ultimately paid by his life for the dangerous game he chose to play. That is why the Tamil leadership never trusted Bandaranaike throughout his political career. The same could be said about J R Jayewardene too. While J R introduced the Sinhala only as a medium of instruction in government-owned schools, he also led the famous Kandy March against the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact in 1957. The greatest irony is that most of the chapters and clauses, the implementation of which in the Bandaranaike- Chelvanayagam Pact J R campaigned against, he himself had to concede when he signed the Jayewardene–Gandhi Agreement in 1987. Our recent history abounds in such political ironies and we lived with them in that half century or so.

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From Inclusive Left To Excluding Right

By Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan –April 28, 2016

Prof. Charles Sarvan

Lilies, if they fester, smell far worse than weeds ~ (From Shakespeare’s sonnet, No. 94)

The caption above is derived from, and relates to, a book by Daniel Oppenheimer titled Exit Right: the People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century. Oppenheimer studies the character and career of six apostates, individuals who left the visionary politics of the Left and moved to the extreme right. Where did they start off from, and where did they end? Why did they change belief, values and commitment? What were the consequences? To cite one case, David Horowitz, once in the New Left movement, son of members of the Communist Party, came to recognise and champion his Jewish identity. He’s now, among other things, director of a website that tracks individuals and organisations on the political left; opposes ‘political correctness’ and left-orientation in academia; is unsympathetic to the suffering of Africans under the slave trade, claiming that Africans and Arabs are as much complicit, and is fiercely anti-Islam. “There’s no zealot like a convert” applies as much in politics and public life as it does in religion.

Very often, discussion is at cross-purposes because crucial terms are not defined. Working towards a clarification of ‘socialism’, I suggest that though the concept has political and social implications, its foundation is a certain approach to economic organisation and control. The emphasis being on economic structure, socialists see society along the horizontal lines of class. While Moslems, Sinhalese and Tamils (alphabetical order) or Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Moslems can, and do, belong to the upper, middle and working classes, a vertical division would categorise individuals according to ‘race’, religion or skin-colour – irrespective of individual income – and place them in different, mutually-excluding, categories. (Caste can be said to have both the horizontal and vertical axes but is not relevant to the present exploration.) Thus, racism and socialism cannot co-exist; a ‘racist’ cannot be a socialist, though some fondly and determinedly make that claim: it’s remarkable how we human beings easily accommodate, and comfortably live with, contradiction. The Nazis labelled themselves National Socialists but had nothing to do with socialism. On the contrary, they exterminated the socialists they could get their hands on.

(Lanka-e-News-28.April.2016, 11.45PM)

1. You may go to Kirilapone , but don’t by any chance take your wife along
Reason :The Tangalle chairman can arrive there, and as a result the husband can lose his life , and the wife can lose her chastity.

2. You may go to Kirilapone , but for heaven’s sake , do not take your daughters along.
Reason : Saruwa Sunil is coming there , and he can make your daughter his victim in his effort to reach his next milestone -100 th victim and break a record .

3. If you are police officer going to Kirilapone to provide security at the rally , take extra precautionary measures to protect yourself from being attacked with stones
Reason : D.V. Upul is coming there.

4. When you are going to Kirilapone , make sure that you leave your gold jewelry safely at home.
Reason:’Raththarang’ is coming there .

5. When you are going to Kirilapone , do not take along nursery class children who are beginning to learn
Reason : Vasudeva is coming there

6. When you are going to Kirilapone , do not take your playful children
Reason: ‘Toy pistol’ Mayor is likely to come there. He could invite your children to his dangerous toy pistol games.

7. If you a media personnel or a reporter going to cover the Krilapone event , better you write your last will before going there .
Reason : Gotabaya Rajapakse is likely to come there with his white Van

8. When you are going to Kirilapone , ensure that you leave your passport at home.
Reason : Wimal Weerawansa is scheduled to come to Kirilapone.

9. Everyone of you going to Kirilapone see that your security is looked after by you personally .
Reason : Julampitiye Amare malli is likely to come there, it may be impossible for anybody to look after your security

10. All laborers who are going to Kirilapone be prepared to confront attacks from those in Mufti
Reason : Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to arrive there.

By Tharanga Sandakelum Weeratunge
Translated by Jeff

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by (2016-04-28 23:52:18)

May Day – Its significance

2016-04-29

May 1st is celebrated as International Labour Day in most countries except those under military dictatorship or authoritarian rule. In the United States of America and Canada, the first Monday in September is observed as Labour Day whilst the first Sunday in May is celebrated as Labour Day in Great Britain, which can be considered as being out of step. However, there is no other international celebration that generates more enthusiasm and fraternity as the May Day celebration.

It was in the centenary year of the French Revolution that the Second International meeting in Congress in Paris on 20 July 1889, decided that 1 May every year be observed as International Labour Day. The decision resulted in the first May Day being held in 1890. Thus, when the working people, the world over, participate in May Day celebrations today, they will be celebrating the 126th May Day. The original decision to observe May Day was that it should be an enforced event, whether the governments and employers approved it or not. However, May Day came to be celebrated officially at international level only in 1917. Red was selected as the colour of the workpeople in recognition of the blood-shed in the eight-hour workday struggle.

The decision to declare 1 May as International Labour Day arose from the historic struggle launched by the American workers for an eight-hour workday and the brutal attack by the police on the workers at a protest rally held at Haymarket Square in Chicago, USA on 4 May 1886.

The American workers struck work on 1 May 1886 demanding an eight-hour workday. The workers of the Mc. Cormick Harvester Works who had been locked out from February 1886, too, joined the short workday movement. When August Spies, an anarchist worker leader was addressing the workers at a place close to the Mc. Cormick Harvester Works, some of those gathered at the meeting moved away and heckled the scabs or strike-breakers that were leaving for their homes. The police arrived within minutes and fired at the strikers, killing four and wounding a large number. The police attack resulted in a protest rally being held against the brutal force unleashed on the unarmed workers on 3 May 1886.

The protest rally was held on 4 May 1886 at the Haymarket Square in Chicago commencing 7.30 p.m. towards the end of the meeting; the Mayor Carter Harrison who watched the meeting in progress went away convinced that there would be no violence. The crowd at that stage also began to disperse. Samuel Fielden continued to address the few hundred left when a squad of 180 policemen led by Inspector John Benfield, hated for his brutality, advanced on the crowd, ordered Feilden to stop speaking and the crowd to disperse. At that stage a bomb was thrown at the police from a side-walk injuring 66 and killing policeman Mathias Degan. The police retaliated by shooting at the crowd killing several and wounding over 200. As to who threw the bomb never came to be known. Eight anarchist labour leaders, August Spies, Samuel Feilden, Michael Schwab, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Oscar Neebe, Louis Ling and Albert Parsons were indicted for the murder of Policeman Mathias Degan and were brought to trial. Judge Joseph E. Gary pronounced the sentence as decreed by the jury. Seven of the eight defendants were sentenced to death whilst one Oscar Neebe was sentenced to a 15 year prison term. The Supreme Court of Illinois, whilst admitting that the trial had not been free of legal error, affirmed the sentences entered into by the lower Court. The Appeal to the Supreme Court saw no change to the sentences entered into. Fielden and Schwab appealed for clemency and received executive pardon commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment, Louis Ling committed suicide before the death sentence could be executed. The four others, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer and Albert Parsons, who refused to appeal for clemency, were hanged on 11 November 1887.

John P. Atgeld who became Governor of Illinois in 1893, on a petition signed by 60,000 presented to him, insisted on a thorough investigation into the bomb throwing incident and the trial against the eight defendants. When he pardoned the three in prison he concluded that the eight defendants had not been given a fair trial and that the prosecution had failed to establish any connection between the defendants and the unknown person who threw the bomb at the Haymarket Square on 4 May 1886. He, in fact, charged the community of judicial murder. The executed worker leaders are regarded as martyrs to the cause of the workpeople and their monument at the Waldhiem Cemetery has become a shrine visited by thousands every year.

The brutal attack on the workers by the police, the Haymarket Square incident, arrest, trial and conviction of the worker leaders who fought for an eight-hour workday proved the bias against the workpeople at the time and the immense power wielded by the employers. That had an impact on the thinking of the workpeople, especially, in the USA and countries of Western Europe. It projected the necessity to mobilize the working class to fight against inequity for safeguarding the rights of the workpeople.
An eight-hour workday was only a dream 126 years ago and the employers never intended to concede the right of a short workday. It is the struggle launched by the American workers that made it a reality. It is the unity, fraternity and strength of the workpeople that led to the emancipation of those who worked to earn a living wage.

With the observance of the first May Day 126 year ago, a new social force, that of the workpeople merged. The labour movement grew in strength and power and trade unions fought against injustice and discrimination and defended freedom, democracy and human rights.

The world today is engulfed in conflict, competition for international supremacy between nations, attempts to destabilize governments and control economies, resulting in distrust and fear among countries.

The advance in science and technology which could be used to improve living standards is used for destructive purposes. It is the workpeople who are mostly affected as a result. Hence worker solidarity and unity is as essential today as it was 126 years ago.
Despite 1 May - May Day - being set apart for the workpeople, in Sri Lanka, May Day is observed as a political event. Politicians who have never worked for a living and political parties attach great importance to May Day rallies to show their strength. Every political party has a trade union under its control. The workpeople exhibit their disunity and weakness having surrendered the May Day to politicians. The politicians have taken over May Day to achieve political ends using the workpeople as tools. That has resulted the May Day being a farce in our country.
Upali S. Jayasekera
Nawala