Is Trump destroying $ 19.7 t brand USA?

Tourism and exports are key pillars in the US, being a 19.7 trillion dollar brand. Seen here are US President Donald Trump and his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

16 February 2017

Many people are not aware but the most powerful nation brand in the world is USA valued at $ 19.7 trillion and is deeply rooted to the world economy in the areas of tourism, exports, governance, sports, people and culture which is what President Trump seems to have missed out in his executive orders.

Whilst some can argue that ‘Making America Great Again’ must be the sole objective of the President in his first 100 days in office, he must also understand the bigger role he has in his new seat and if he does not, may be organisations like the UN and World Bank will have to mediate given that the world economy is just picking up after a downturn in the last couple of years.

Trump must understand the changing role he takes whilst he sits in the most powerful job in the world and making statements like exiting the TPP and banning visitors from terror sourcing nations will not help the global economy pick up. In fact, these decisions will actually hurt the $19.7 trillion dollar brand which in turn will impact attracting higher FDIs, quality tourism and higher value export as per the latest research from global brand experts like Simon Anholt. Let me do a deep dive to this area and the impact to Sri Lanka.

Latest Fitch report

What is alarming on this front is that the latest report by a leading credit ratings agency, Fitch, which says Donald Trump’s presidency poses a risk to the global economy. The report highlights Trump’s unpredictability, his administration’s aggressive tone and his break with established “norms” in international relations as the main threats to the global economy. The report goes on to say that the new US administration could damage rating scores which in turn affects sovereign ratings which is an alarming statement.

What is sad is that that US policy that has earned respect for predictability over the years is now diminished with executive orders like exiting the TPP with just a stroke of a pen striking away international communication channels and relationships, which is more damaging to brand USA than actually making it great again as per the Anholt Nation Brand Building Hexagon.

In my view the Trump presidency can cause possible disruptions to trade relations, limit migration that affects the amount of money foreign workers in the US can send home, and result in “confrontational exchanges” between policymakers that could spark swings in currencies which can have adverse implications on countries like Sri Lanka where also 70% of the exports in the apparel sector are consumed by the American consumer.

Fitch’s intervention comes after warnings from the leading think tank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that policies of protectionism and trade tension risks can dent global growth, stoking inflation and harming living standards which will impact the overall poverty numbers that are in the border line which I guess needs greater focus by organisations like the United Nations that incidentally are strongly influenced by the US sadly.

Nation brand building components – Tourism

One of the key components in the nation brand building model as per Simon Anholt is tourism apart from the other pillars like exports, people, sports or culture that impact the overall attitude people have towards a country.

If I focus on the tourism pillar, the US Tourism Authority decided to invest in marketing a few years back on brand tourism USA for the first time in the last 273 years. After having never focussed on this area of the economy for driving revenue, the outcome was so positive that it shook the world of marketing with an amazing campaign themed ‘A land of dreams’.

But sadly, the blanket suspension by President Trump which was overruled subsequently banning travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen to the US for a 90-day period from signing the executive order created a backlash for the 19.7 trillion dollar brand. I guess we will have to see how Brand Finance picks these vibes in the 2017 nation brand building computation.

A person I have personally met when I was Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau, David Scowsill, President and CEO, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). A very straight-talking man issued a strong statement stating that the ban violated the fundamental right of Freedom to Travel as per the UNWTO values. He went on to say that it has created immense confusion among travellers and travel companies worldwide and the WTTC believes that all people have the right to cross international borders safely and efficiently for business and tourism purposes which was the first agitation that Trump saw from an worldwide policy making body.

I would personally support his argument given that none of the shocking domestic incidents in the US since 2001 has been attributed to external terrorists who have specifically flown into the country to commit an atrocity. Hence this decision in fact was flawed to my mind.

Trump has forgotten that the ethos of travel and tourism is about building bridges between divides in cultures, fosters understanding across religious and geographic boundaries, and generates more peaceful coexistence. The tourism sector is responsible for the livelihoods of millions worldwide and is reported to give 1:11 jobs globally. It accounts for 24% of the GDP in some economies like Thailand and Malaysia. Hence, if President Trump is actually keen on making US great again, this industry will need more careful nurturing than just banning people visiting the country.

Tourism worth $ 247 b

Latest research reveals that travel exports to the US recorded a mammoth $247 billion whilst overall US exports declined by 2.3% in 2016. International travel also generated a trade surplus of $ 88 billion in 2016. US travel researchers noted that without the travel surplus, the overall 2016 US trade deficit of $ 502 billion would have been 18% larger. I guess President Trump may have not known of this fact when he intervened on policy on this sector in his first week in office.

Post 9/11 the US made a policy decision on the Visa Waiver Program that resulted in the creation of the Brand USA marketing organisation, open skies aviation agreements with many countries that propelled the 19.7 trillion brand USA to what it is today. But the real challenge is how the US is going to renovate and redo the ageing infrastructure of the US that can really boost tourism in the years to come.

Maybe it’s time that US tourism authority creates awareness among the key policymakers of the country including President Trump that international visitors create jobs. Recent studies directly reveal that it supported 1.1 million Americans have a livelihood and what the industry needs is increasing the per visitor earnings than create uncertainty, which was sad for not only USA but also for the tourism industry as a whole. Let’s hope the current decision by the US Judiciary to uphold the suspension of the travel ban is respected by the powers that be but to my mind the damage to brand USA has already happened and it will take time to rebuild this.

Nation brand building components: Exports

The decision to move out of TPP by President Trump is the next challenge confronting the world. Sadly the a key pivot of the nation brand building hierarchy is exports and the TPP was the working by 12 countries for over 10 years and now it’s undone by just a stroke of pen, once again taking away the dream of the American farmers to penetrate the Japanese market which is currently on protection mode. The ramifications to countries like Sri Lanka are yet to be seen.

The fact of the matter is that NAFTA countries are integrated 55% by the trade agreement whilst ASEAN is registering 35% integration. The SAARC countries’ integration on trade is at a low ebb of 5.3% even though South Asia is considered by many as the growth engine to the world.

The world was banking on the TPP to make the world one and drive integration among nations specially linking the US economy to the world from January 2017. But now this has been undone and world is cracking their heads on how to manage this issue that sure will hurt brand USA values at $19.7 trillion as per the latest Nation Brand Index. I guess these facts were not known by President Trump or the implication to the world in the quest for making America great again. The million dollar question is, what does the world do?

Next steps

1) It’s time that organisations like the UN and World Bank engage personalities like President Donald Trump so that key decisions in tourism and trade will be taken with a world view rather than just America only.

2) The ambassadors of respective countries whose trade with the US is sizeable such as Sri Lanka must do relationship management so that policy will remain consistent.

3) Sports being another pillar in the Nation Brand Building Hexagon must be facilitated so that the US remains engaged with the world and thereby helps influence strategy from US policymakers, especially by Arab and Muslim countries where the tourism ban was made initially. The Olympic Council has a role to play too.

4) Poverty and the implications from tourism and trade need to be marketed in countries like the US so that peer pressure can influence foreign policy.

[Dr. Rohantha Athukorala was the 8th Chairman of Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and then Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau. He has also served the UN as the Head of National Portfolio Development for UNOPS – Sri Lanka and Maldives when the country won the Best Global Project Award. Currently he is the Chairman of the largest retail in Sri Lanka, Lanka Sathosa. The thoughts are strictly his personal views.]

Wikileaks: CIA espionage orders for the last French presidential election

( February 17, 2017, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) All major French political parties were targeted for infiltration by the CIA’s human (“HUMINT”) and electronic (“SIGINT”) spies in the seven months leading up to France’s 2012 presidential election. The revelations are contained within three CIA tasking orders published today by WikiLeaks as context for its forth coming CIA Vault 7 series. Named specifically as targets are the French Socialist Party (PS), the National Front (FN) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) together with current President Francois Hollande, then President Nicolas Sarkozy, current round one presidential front runner Marine Le Pen, and former presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan.

The CIA assessed that President Sarkozy’s party was not assured re-election. Specific tasking concerning his party included obtaining the “Strategic Election Plans” of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP); schisms or alliances developing in the UMP elite; private UMP reactions to Sarkozy’s campaign stratagies; discussions within the UMP on any “perceived vulnerabilities to maintaining power” after the election; efforts to change the party’s ideological mission; and discussions about Sarkozy’s support for the UMP and “the value he places on the continuation of the party’s dominance”. Specific instructions tasked CIA officers to discover Sarkozy’s private deliberations “on the other candidates” as well as how he interacted with his advisors. Sarkozy’s earlier self-identification as “Sarkozy the American” did not protect him from US espionage in the 2012 election or during his presidency.

The espionage order for “Non Ruling Political Parties and Candidates Strategic Election Plans” which targeted Francois Holland, Marine Le Pen and other opposition figures requires obtaining opposition parties’ strategies for the election; information on internal party dynamics and rising leaders; efforts to influence and implement political decisions; support from local government officials, government elites or business elites; views of the United States; efforts to reach out to other countries, including Germany, U.K., Libya, Israel, Palestine, Syria & Cote d’Ivoire; as well as information about party and candidate funding.

Significantly, two CIA opposition espionage tasks, “What policies do they promote to help boost France’s economic growth prospects?” and “What are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth?” resonate with a U.S. economic espionage order from the same year. That order requires obtaining details of every prospective French export contract or deal valued at $200m or more.

The opposition espionage order also places weight on obtaining the candidates’ attitudes to the E.U’s economic crisis, centering around their position on the Greek debt crisis; the role of France and Germany in the management of the Greek debt crisis; the vulnerability of French government and French banks to a Greek default; and “specific proposals and recommendations” to deal with “the euro-zone crisis”.

The CIA espionage orders published today are classified and restricted to U.S. eyes only (“NOFORN”) due to “Friends-on-Friends sensitivities”. The orders state that the collected information is to “support” the activities of the CIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA)’s E.U section, and the U.S. State Department’s Intelligence and Research Branch.

The CIA operation ran for ten months from 21 Nov 2011 to 29 Sep 2012, crossing the April-May 2012 French presidential election and several months into the formation of the new government.

Mass Deportations Will Not Make America Safer

BY JUAN S. GONZALEZ-FEBRUARY 17, 2017

Deporting Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos — 35-years old, mother of two — will not make America safer, but it does pose a fundamental question about the type of country we want to be.

As part of his campaign pledge to deport up to 3 million undocumented “criminal” immigrants, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) on January 25 expanding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities (CIEP) to include Garcia de Ravos, and the many like her who pose no danger to the national security of the United States. The “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” EO also threatens to withhold billions in federal funding from state and local governments, whose law enforcement do not “perform the functions of an immigration officer to the fullest extent of the law.”

Let’s call this what it is: a crackdown dressed up as a public security measure that puts hardline enforcement ahead of civil liberties and federal diktats above state’s rights. It’s a textbook example of how fiery campaign rhetoric can translate into bad policy.

According to the Pew Research Center, there were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2014. A majority (66 percent) have been here for at least a decade and, like Guadalupe, are likely to have children who are American citizens. Of that total, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that 820,000 have both criminal records and final orders of removal – meaning they have exhausted all legal recourse to remain in the United States.

The new CIEP directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to also prioritize undocumented immigrants making their way through the U.S. legal system but do not have a final order of removal. It also includes those charged but not yet convicted of a crime, including minor offenses, and apparently a category of individuals who White House Advisor Stephen Miller would remove arbitrarily to “prevent crimes before they happen.” Combined with what Trump outlined on the campaign as a policy of “zero tolerance for criminal aliens” and you begin to see how the math works: 800,000 becomes 3, 8, maybe even 11 million…the actual number then becomes a function of bandwidth at ICE and the immigration courts, the latter of which is underfunded and backlogged.

Senator Chuck Schumer wisely pointed out that treating a traffic violator the same as a murderer will not keep the country safe and is a waste of government resources. Further, the expanded CIEP coupled with the recent raids has had a terrifying and chilling effect on the undocumented immigrant population, eliminating any willingness for them to engage with government authorities, or to report crimes in their communities for fear of deportation.

There is a better policy response. President Trump should abandon the practice of policy-by-EO and place the onus on his Cabinet to present him with options that will actually help make America safer. When Central American migrants surged across the Southwest border in 2014, President Obama marshaled a whole-of-government response. As a Special Advisor to Vice President Biden, I lost track of all the internal White House huddles, and the countless Deputies and Principals Committee meetings. We vetted proposals with Democratic and Republican members alike and civil society stakeholders, all in an effort to provide the President with the best possible policy recommendations. One or two bad ideas still made it to the National Security Council chaired by the President, which he thankfully killed.
The outcome can be summarized as follows:

1. DHS focused its limited enforcement resources on non-citizens who had been convicted of serious crimes, were threats to public safety, were recent illegal entrants, or had violated recent deportation orders;
2. FEMA led an inter-agency Unified Coordination Group to streamline the processing and placement of unaccompanied children arriving at the Southwest border in large numbers;
3. We surged resources to the border and the Justice Department reprioritized dockets to streamline removal proceedings; and
4. We piloted a program to allow children fleeing harm who have parents/relatives with legal status in the United States to avoid the dangerous journey through a refugee-like or parole process.

Vice President Joe Biden led the international effort to reduce irregular migration at the main source. He engaged Mexico on its Southern Border Strategy, and partnered with leaders from the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras) to address the drivers of migration by tackling the region’s security and developmental challenges with a strategy they called the Alliance for Prosperity (A4P). Vice President Biden also secured a $750 million appropriation thanks to the support of key Republicans and Democrats like Senators Lindsay Graham, Patrick Leahy, Barbara Mikulski, as well as Representatives Kay Granger and Nita Lowey. Then-head of Southern Command General Kelly accompanied the Vice President to a March 2015 meeting in Guatemala that produced concrete political commitments from regional governments. A Capitol Hill maven, Kelly was also instrumental in building Republican congressional support for the strategy.

Our targeted immigration enforcement combined with a robust international response achieved positive results: By the end of Fiscal Year 2016, DHS removed 344,354 unauthorized immigrants, 90 percent of which had been convicted of serious crimes and 85 percent of which were recent border crossers.
Northern Triangle countries budgeted $1.6 billion in their own resources for the A4P in 2016, collaborated with us on numerous operations against human traffickers and gangs operating in both the United States and Central America, and an anti-corruption regime began to take hold throughout the region.

Secretary Kelly rightly argues the January 25 EO provides DHS with the necessary tools to enforce U.S. immigration laws. In practice, the broad net cast by the EO and the proposed militarization of migration enforcement lends itself to abuse and all but guarantees families will be separated and many will be deported solely for the crime of migrating irregularly to the United States in search for a better life.

There are also those — an increasingly vocal minority in this country — who would use the federal government as a cover to exercise hostility against the undocumented immigrant population. They’re the Joe Arpaio’s, who would round up and remove anyone who is different in appearance, culture, or religious belief. They forget (or choose to ignore) our 240-year history as a nation of immigrants from all walks of life. And while they are pondering the right questions about American identity and values, their answer is absolutely wrong.

Photo credit: DREW ANGERER/Getty Images

UN eying talks with US, Canada to resettle Rohingya refugees

A Rohingya Muslim man cries during a recent protest against the violence in Rakhine state. Source: Shutterstock.

17th February 2017

THE United Nations’ refugee agency has asked Bangladesh to allow it to negotiate with the United States, Canada and some European countries to resettle around 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in the South Asian nation, a senior official at the agency said.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in Bangladesh after fleeing Buddhist-majority Burma since the early 1990s, and their number has been swelled by an estimated 69,000 escaping an army crackdown in northern Rakhine State in recent months.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would push for resettlement of those most in need, despite growing resistance in some developed countries, particularly the United States under President Donald Trump, UNHCR’s Bangladesh representative, Shinji Kubo, told Reuters on Thursday.

“UNHCR will continue to work with the authorities concerned, including in the United States,” Kubo said.

“Regardless of the change in government or government policies, I think UNHCR has a clear responsibility to pursue a protection-oriented resettlement programme.”

Kubo said 1,000 Rohingya refugees had been identified as priorities for resettlement on medical grounds or because they have been separated from their family members living abroad.

SEE ALSO: Burma: Military has ended operations in restive Rakhine state – govt

“Resettlement will always be a challenging thing because only a small number of resettlement opportunities are being allocated by the international community at the moment,” Kubo said in an interview. “But it’s our job to try to consult with respective countries based on the protection and humanitarian needs of these individuals.”

H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said the resettlement proposal was “unrealistic” due to reluctance in the United States and Europe to take further Muslim refugees.

Reuters reported this month that officials at an Australian immigration centre in Papua New Guinea were increasing pressure on asylum seekers to return to their home countries voluntarily, including offering large sums of money, amid fears a deal for the United States to take refugees had fallen through.

Canada, Australia and the United States were the top providers of asylum to Rohingya Muslims who came to Bangladesh from Burma before Dhaka stopped the programme around 2012. A Bangladesh government official said it was feared the programme would encourage more people from Burma to use it as a transit country to seek asylum in the West.

Canada has said it would welcome those fleeing persecution, terror and war, after Trump put a four-month hold on allowing refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States, an order since suspended by a U.S. district judge.

HOPING FOR ACCESS

The UNHCR supports around 34,000 refugees living in two government-registered camps in the Bangladesh coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, but a greater number of Rohingya live in makeshift settlements nearby, unregistered and officially ineligible to receive international aid.

Kubo said he had asked Bangladesh to give the UN access to all the refugees who have recently arrived, adding that UNHCR and other international agencies were also willing to provide aid to poor Bangladeshis living near the refugee settlements to counter local resentment at the influx.

Hasina adviser Imam said providing aid to the new refugees and its citizens was the responsibility of the government.

SEE ALSO: The ‘floating people’ of Burma: How Rohingya refugees reclaim their identity through art and song

Myanmar said late on Wednesday that a security operation that began after nine police officers were killed in attacks on border security posts on Oct 9 had now ended.

A report released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Feb 3 gave accounts of mass killings and gang rapes by troops during the operation, which it said probably constituted crimes against humanity.

Two UN sources have separately told Reuters that more than 1,000 Rohingya may have been killed in the crackdown.

Northern Rakhine has been locked down since October, and Burma has not said when aid groups or reporters might be allowed in.

“We’re now hoping for immediate access to the affected areas in northern Rakhine as soon as possible with our resources, our protection expertise,” Kubo said. “That will also have a positive impact on what is happening in Bangladesh at the moment.” – Reuters

Outlook for extremely premature babies 'improving'

The study looked at babies born between 22 and 24 weeks

15 February 2017

More babies born extremely prematurely are surviving without neurological problems, according to a new study.

The study by Duke Health in the US and published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at 4,274 babies born between 22 and 24 weeks.

Compared with those born a decade earlier, a larger percentage were now toddlers without signs of moderate or severe cognitive and motor delay.

Changes to care are being credited with the improvement.

About 30% of children included in the study who were born between the years 2000 and 2003 survived, but that rate increased to 36% for babies born in 2008 to 2011.

The proportion of survivors who did not have a neurological impairment rose from 16% to 20%.

The best outcomes were for children born at 23 to 24 weeks.

'Encouraging'

Researcher Prof Noelle Younge called the findings "encouraging".

"We see evidence of improvement over time. But we do need to keep an eye on the overall numbers, as a large percentage of infants born at this stage still do not survive.

"Those who survive without significant impairment at about age two are still at risk for numerous other challenges to their overall health."

Full-term babies are born at 37 to 40 weeks.

Prof Michael Cotten, one of the other lead researchers, said changes in the culture of neonatal intensive care units were behind the improvement.

"We've taken a big focus on preventing infections, and there's a lot more encouragement and support for the use of mothers' milk than there was 15 years ago, which has also been linked to better outcomes."

There has also been a decrease in infection rates in neonatal intensive care units over the past two decades, which Prof Cotten said was important.

The greater use of steroids in mothers at risk of premature birth to help the baby develop in the womb is also thought to have contributed to the increase in survival and fewer signs of developmental delay, he added.

Good Governance in free markets means corruption with racism Mega corruption within the economic model that breeds inequality, injustice and racial conflicts

2017-02-17

“Yes, it is true that there is rampant corruption in the Government even now as we inherited a corrupt system from the last administration and practices of that regime were yet there,” Minister for Strategic Development & International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama had accepted in an interview with Ceylon Today on February 12, 2017.

 What he tries to convey is that, the system inherited and they, the Government are two totally different entities running the country. That it is the system inherited that is corrupt but not their Government. 

This ad hoc coalition was not voted to Government to provide such excuses even after two years in power. The promises at two consecutive elections were not just to investigate the previous Rajapaksa rule for mega corruption. 

The promise was to ensure clean and democratic Governance with accountability and transparency.  Yet, Sri Lanka under this “good governance” unity rule has slipped down the list of the corrupt, during their two year rule since January 2015. 

 When Rajapaksa was voted out of power, Sri Lanka was rated 79th corrupt country in the world by the Transparency International. During the past two years under PM Wickremesinghe (19A bifurcated the position “Head of State & Government” into two, making PM the head of government) Sri Lanka was consistent in slipping down to 83 in 2015 and 85 in 2016. 

This “unity” government for over 02 years has failed to perform and deliver on promises made. It is into heavy corruption, with the top three in Government who plan and run the economy, public finances and approve all development projects publicly accused of big time corruption. 

 There are many reasons why it is so. First is the fact that over the past 40 years since President Jayewardene opened up the economy for unrestricted free trade, every aspect of socio political and economic life along with social values, morals and ethics went through serious and drastic changes for the worst. 

 Political parties changed into power blocs without any democracy within them and became wholly dependent on private sector funding for their existence. 

 The “system” of governance became increasingly politicised and corrupt. Also the middle class professionals along with politicians who profit from this open market economy. Degeneration and erosion of professional ethics and morals have left them and their organisations playing dirty. It is therefore wrong in a neo liberal free market economy to hold politicians alone responsible for all corruption. In these free market economies the professionals, the major players in urban middle class society collaborate and facilitate corruption with their professional services.

  Corruption without professional assistance and support is impossible. For that reason alone, the Chartered Accountants of SL (CASL), the foremost professional association of Accountants has never intervened in maintaining professional standards among its membership, though bound to uphold professional ethics. It is a fact there cannot be big time corruption in any major project, IF the Accountants stick to professional conduct. But they sure don’t.

 Free market economies don’t need clean and efficient judiciaries and law enforcement agencies. Independence of the judiciary depends on non-partisan investigating and prosecuting agencies with lawyers upholding morals and ethics that is no more. 

A girl who was raped when 17 years old, represented by Lawyers in Courts was 31 years when the ruling was made. 

 If all components of a judicial process including lawyers are clean and efficient, no case could get dragged for decades. That not being so, the Bar Association of SL (BASL), has also turned out as a heavily politicised organisation sans professional responsibility. The type the free market economies nurture.

 The medical profession is no different or far worse. Their professional association the GMOA plays truant with “free” health to nurture private practise. They are the main factor in promoting investment in modern private hospitals and making private sector health service extremely lucrative.
 Their hard line on “free” education therefore is a fraud with “free” health sabotaged for profits. Morals and ethics unknown to this profession, citizens who paid for all their education including 05 years of medical college studies and continue to pay their salaries, numerous allowances, DAT, over time and forego taxes for their duty free cars as direct and indirect taxpayers are charged for medical services by doctors to increase the size of their wallet undermining “free” health. (In SL, from the beggar on the street, every citizen pays indirect taxes that account for 80 per cent of the total tax revenue of the State) 

With heavily politicised State administration, public officials in ministries and departments are complicit in most mega corruptions. Ministry Secretaries are the Chief Accounting officers in all ministries. No minister could rob, unless the Secretaries aid and assist.
 Free markets in neo liberal economies are that. This free market economic model which is an urban phenomenon is all about corrupting governing systems for unrestricted profiteering. It needs professionals to run the systems for bigger and bigger profits. We therefore have a growing urban middle class that competes for income gain and wealth necessary for cosy expensive living. They therefore wouldn’t want any dent on the status quo within this free market economy that allows them the privilege to amass wealth. 

Forty years of neo liberal free market economy would not be anything else. Globally the middle class intellectual thinking had been groomed to fit into this liberal democracy as its main consumers.
  In SL as in all neo liberal economies, private business provided with long term tax holidays, tax waivers, tax reductions and State funded special concessions for land and infrastructure, have invested in mainstream political parties to influence government policy in their favour.  All governments voted at elections therefore have been more corrupt than the previous government. Within this accelerated corruption with political parties funded by the corrupt, the liberal consumer democracy provides the urban middle class a competitive but a comfortable and a privileged life. They thus take over the responsibility of promising society of “controlling corruption” through “reforms”.

 Unless the society is told this mess can be cleaned up, this free market economy the urban middle class grows in, could be challenged by the majority who are left out of it. The only advantage the present urban middle class has for now in maintaining the status quo is the dilapidated “Left” including the JVP that has no intellectual contribution in proposing alternatives. The neo liberal free market is therefore accepted as the only plausible “development” model by society with middle class led anti corruption campaigns. The type we saw even in India with Anna Hazare who came on the streets before Narendra Modi got his act together and faded off thereafter. None had succeeded in cleaning up corruption and voting clean governments to power in neo liberal economies. 

These anti corruption campaigns nevertheless are given social space in neo liberal democracies for they help in changing governments to continue with neo liberalism. In Sri Lanka Rev. Maduluwave Sobitha Thera is recognised and respected for the change of government in 2015 January as it was with Anna Hazare, the hero in pre Narendra Modi India. These middle class anti corruption campaigns lead to nothing but change of governments but not the corrupt free market economy. A change of government in 2015 January helped continue with a tested and proved corrupt economic model that can never be cleaned up. Frustrations in these neo liberal economies that marginalise the larger majority, lead to majoritarian anti secular fanaticism. 
 It is a necessary political factor in continuing this free market neo liberal economy. The Sinhala Buddhist campaigns here in the South led by the Joint Opposition and other Sinhala extremist groups as that of the extremist Hindutva campaigns led by RSS and its affiliates like the VHP in India, are necessary political developments.

  They grow louder than “anti-corruption” lobbying shifting the social mood from economics to “patriotism” of the majority. 

 Electoral and Constitutional reforms the middle class champion as necessary for cleaner and accountable governance thereafter are compromised to win the support of the majoritarian fanatical vote at elections. 

The dilemma of the TNA leadership as with frustrated middle class elements is in their inability to read politics of neo liberalism.

  In their inability to understand the sheer crudeness of neo liberal democracies in free market economies that require a compromise with “majoritarianism” for continued profiteering in an unrestricted economy. 

 It is therefore necessary to demand alternate democratic “development” strategies for far reaching democratic and inclusive reforms.

  It is Necessary to demand an alternate “development” model to this neo liberal economy that would also accompany power sharing in a participatory democracy. 

 The absence of which, allows this “unity” government to continue as corrupt or more corrupt than the Rajapaksa regime compromising with Sinhala Buddhist demands for political survival.

  Good governance therefore is nothing more than mega corruption within this economic model that breeds inequality, breeds injustice and breeds racial and religious conflicts too.

Let us return: Pilavu villagers' ongoing protest

16 Feb  2017

On the 31st January, 84 Tamil families from Mullaitivu awaited the scheduled return of their lands, only to be turned away by the Sri Lankan air force personnel whose camp was built on the land. The families of Pilavu village in Keppapilavu, owners of around 20 acres of occupied land, commenced a protest outside the air force camp, announcing they would stay there until they were given access to their properties.

Special features

“We will not move from here until we get our land back”: from inside the Pilavu protest -13 Feb

In-depth analysis of the significance of the protests by Dharsha Jegatheeswaran and Mario Arulthas from Adayaalam and PEARL.

Daily updates

Pilavu day 17: protestors under surveillance -16 Feb

Pilavu protestors stay put despite presidential pledge (day 16) -15 Feb

NPC urges Sri Lankan president to resolve Pilavu land issues -14 Feb

Solidarity protests

Eastern University students protest in solidarity with Pilavu -13 Feb

UN and EU pledge to help reconciliation in SL



2017-02-17

Chief Minister of the Northern Province C. V. Wigneswaran had been informed by the United Nations and the European Union that they had pledged their cooperation to promote reconciliation between all communities in Sri Lanka. 

Coordinator to the United Nations Una Makoli and Ambassador of the European Union Toolai Margue had indicated this during a meeting with the Chief Minister on their tour of Jaffna on Wednesday (15).

 The visiting delegates had a lengthy discussion with the Chief Minister on the present political situation of Sri Lanka and also the affairs of the Northern Provincial Council. Among the matters that had been discussed was the necessity of a power sharing through the new constitution and also the additional powers the Northern Provincial council would be vested with. 

The delegates during their visit to Jaffna also outlined the manner in which the UN and the EU would allocate aid and assistance for the development of the North by processing the funds through the Sri Lankan government. 

In his reply the Chief Minister stated that much thought should be put into whether the people of the North are aware of the steps taken by the government towards the development of reconciliation, the delay in the setting up the office of Missing Persons and also the lack of progress in the political decisions taken by the government. (Romesh Madushanka)

Dissecting The Reasons For Low International Ranking Of Sri Lankan State Universities – A Student’s Perspective

By Natasha Fernando –February 16, 2017

Natasha Fernando

Sri Lankan Universities according to the Ministry of Higher Education, Sri Lanka is ranked as illustrated in the table below. It is an extremely pathetic situation particularly since Sri Lanka is now a middle income country.

Lets face it! Our universities suck! Private universities with lower quality and tuition culture purport to be ranked higher than state universities because they are affiliated with a top 500 international universities. State universities are publicly funded and they should have better commitment to standards. Why are state universities ranked so low? How can international ranking of state universities be increased? What are the barriers for achieving this goal? I honestly do not know the answers. But I can attempt to answer this as a student in a student’s perspective. Let’s tackle the barriers first:

1. Ragging

The Inter University Students Federation aka Anthare is the major barrier to a fruitful student life. The ‘Anthare’ is a Marxist-lennist association of students controlled and guided by the left-wing of Sri Lanka. The only way for these backward-thinking political groups to gain electoral votes is to mobilize a bunch of students coming from economically deprived backgrounds and use them to promulgate disruptive political activities that don’t do much good to society.

During my first year in University I remember how I was ragged. Ragging happens right in front of the university administration building. This itself shows how arrogant these sadists are. The university administration waits for a favourable political climate to launch anti-ragging campaigns but not all the academics are on a united front. Recent news about the Peradeniya University Veterinary faculty shows the stance that some academics have about this issue. A professor had ragged a student to make him realize how ragging feels like which is all the more regrettable.

There are many academics who have come to influential positions from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of them are very supportive of the ISUF, because, in their opinion the ISUF is the only united front against privatization of state universities. They claim that they have thrived due to free education and it should not be abolished. Some of them have been ISUF activists in their heyday.

The real danger of ragging lies in how ragging is a mobilization method to create unrest and brainwash otherwise unassuming students to revolt against every government. There is not a single government in Sri Lanka that Anthare has not opposed. Before the JVP insurrections of 1987-1989 State Universities had academics who were research partners of Ivy Leagues and top universities in the world. Many of them migrated due to these insurrections resulting in a huge brain drain. This trend of brain drain is a continuing phenomenon to which the modern causes are manifold and ragging is just one of them.

There are a handful of these ISUF activists who have infiltrated the Open Universities of Sri Lanka and some of them ironically law students. Currently there are also plans according to hearsay to infiltrate the Sri Lanka Law College. The Bar association must be alert about such students entering the legal profession which is already over-crowded.

2. Politics

Sri Lankan Universities are known for openly advocating and canvassing for various political parties. For example: Kelaniya University through a survey predicted 53 per cent of the votes for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and 44 per cent for Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena at 2015 presidential elections. Academics openly express their political views which is not that big a deal after all, since everyone is entitled to their own political opinions. However some find it difficult to keep politics separate from university academics. Certain departments hire probationary lecturers based on political opinions through which many or if not better competent ones are left out. This is absolutely ridiculous. It is the merits of the person in question that must be weighed not whether they ‘support devolution’ or ‘oppose devolution’. Many academics fight each other and this reflects on the grades of students. Inter-departmental fights resulting in talented students being victimized because academics cannot keep politics and personal ‘beef’ separate from doing their job.

3. Petty jealousies

In State Universities there are many students who come from a decent socio-economic background, went to a national or private school, speaks some English, dresses decently, also studies at a private university to increase chances of employment. There are also many who do not possess the same comforts which leads to petty jealousies. Some talented students have heart-breaking stories to tell about how they were treated in university by lecturers. Examples:

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