Are Bad Diets Causing a Bowel Cancer Crisis Among Millennials?

Heavy alcohol consumption and smoking may also contribute to the increase in colorectal cancer among young people.

By Robin Scher / AlterNet

March 11, 2017

‘Things,’ that age old dictum goes, were always harder back in the day. That was of course before we had climate change and an impending new wave of fascism in the West. Suddenly “back in the day” seems to have nothing on what is to come. Need extra convincing? How about this new study, which reports a “sharp rise” in colorectal cancer among young adults in their 20s and 30s.

The study, led by scientists from the American Cancer Society, compared the colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rates of people born around 1950, when risk was at its recorded lowest, with those born in 1990. 

Their overall findings, published late February in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that “three in ten rectal cancer diagnoses are now in patients younger than age 55.”

This statistic reflects a disturbing trend: the incidence of CRC, which had previously been decreasing for people born between 1890 and 1950, has steadily increased in each consecutive generation born ever since. What’s most concerning is that scientists can’t explain why.

Here is what they do know. Recent studies had begun reporting an increase in CRC incidence among adults under 50. To better understand this, the American Cancer Society researchers decided to conduct a “retrospective study” of all patients—measured in 5-year age group increments—that were diagnosed with CRC from 1974 through 2013. For the study, they used the “the nine oldest Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program registries,” which included 490,305 cases. The team also made sure to use a research model that removed extraneous factors, such as changes in medical practice, when comparing their data.

Their results revealed that incidences of colon cancer have risen the fastest among people aged 20-29. Specifically, they found that this rate has grown by 2.4 percent per year since 1974. A similar rising trend was observed among people in their 30s and 40s. For rectal cancer, the rate was recorded as rising at 3-4 percent per year for adults in their 20s. By contrast, rates of rectal cancer in adults 55 and older have generally been in decline for the past 40 years.

“There is no mistaking these dramatic increases, especially for rectal cancers,” Dr. Thomas Weber, a professor of surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, told the New York times. Although Weber himself was not involved in the study, he has served on the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and confirmed that the study’s findings show a very real and increasing trend. He added that the number of new CRC patients under 50 each year now exceeds the “total number of new cases” of other less common cancers. This article further emphasizes that “colorectal cancers are considered a disease of aging.” The fact that there has been a decrease in the rates of this disease among older people, “is both baffling and worrisome.”

It’s important to note at this point the full implications of these findings. As Dr. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute, explained in an interview with CNN, the number of actual increased cases of CRC among young people still remains relatively low. What is concerning, however, is that there are more cases among young people now than there were before, which translates to more serious stages of the cancer later on in life if these sections of the population continue to go unscreened. 

In terms of accounting for this increase, the researchers were unable to provide an exact cause. In a statement to the press, though, they did note how, “it is not surprising that the timing of the obesity epidemic parallels the rise in colorectal cancers because many behaviors thought to drive weight gain, such as unhealthy dietary patterns and sedentary lifestyles, independently increase colorectal cancer risk.”

Dr. Rebecca Siegel, the lead author on this study, explained how this could be the case by citing a different study that found people from Africa who suddenly switched to an American diet showed signs of inflammation in their colons within just two weeks. "So this change can happen fairly rapidly," she said.

The link between dietary habits and CRC is of course nothing new. Previous research has found that diets comprised of fast food meals, or really any foods containing high sugar content, can increase the risk of CRC. A large consumption of alcohol, as well as smoking, are also big contributors.

In the same Times article, Dr. Mohamed E. Salem, an assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, confirmed that at age 42 he was older “than about 60 percent of his patients.” Although obesity is a factor of concern among the scientific community, Salem said, “we suspect there is also something else going on.”

The question of possible causes was explored further in a recent article by Richard Harris published on NPR. The article cited a different, British study that suggested that “only 11 percent of colon cancer cases could be tied to trends in obesity.” Welch offered his own possible explanation to NPR, saying how this trend might simply be reflective of the fact that people are receiving colonoscopies for more reasons nowadays, and, as a result, doctors are “coming upon early cases of colon cancer that might not have turned up so soon.” To that end, Harris referenced a different study which shows that although the rate of new CRC cases has increased among Americans aged under-50, the death rate has remained relatively the same.

"Trends in young people are a bellwether for the future disease burden," said Siegel, in her statement to the press. For Siegel, the results of their study should prompt a rise in awareness among “clinicians and the general public” in order to “reduce delays in diagnosis” as well as “encourage healthier eating and more active lifestyles to try to reverse this trend."

One practical suggestion made by Siegel and her team is lowering the average risk age for screening people for CRC. More generally, Siegel urges doctors and patients to become more aware of possible signs and symptoms. She lists these warning signs as follows:

• A change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation, or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days.
• A feeling that you need to have a bowel movement that is not relieved by doing so
• Rectal bleeding
• Dark stools, or blood in the stool
• Cramping or abdominal (belly) pain
• Weakness and fatigue
• Unintended weight loss

In an article published on the American Cancer Society’s website, Dr. Otis Brawley, the society’s chief medical officer, listed several practical ways young people could mitigate their chances of being diagnosed with CRC.

• Eat lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains and less red meat (beef, pork, or lamb) and processed meats (hot dogs and some luncheon meats).
• Get regular exercise.
• Watch your weight.
• Avoid tobacco.
• Limit alcohol. The American Cancer Society recommends no more than 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women.

Yes, there is a lot to possibly fear about the future. There is also a lot we can do now to avoid those fears. Think about the environment, think about your health. Be proactive now, and who knows, we may just be able to one day complain again about how much harder things used to be.

Robin Scher is a freelance writer from South Africa currently based in New York. He tweets infrequently @RobScherHimself.

Sri Lanka risks censure as president falters on war legacy 

"I am not going to allow non-governmental organisations to dictate how to run my government." 

PIC: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena. (AFP/Sri Lankan president’s office)

By AFP-Added 10th March 2017

President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in Sri Lanka promising justice for war crimes, breaking from his hawkish predecessor and presenting the island with its first real shot at a lasting peace.

But that optimism has been sorely tested as Sirisena, having missed a two-year deadline to investigate war-era abuses, declared he would never prosecute his soldiers, rejecting outright fresh UN calls for an international trial.

"I am not going to allow non-governmental organisations to dictate how to run my government," he said a day after the UN criticised Sri Lanka's "worrying slow" progress in facing its wartime past.

"I will not listen to their calls to prosecute my troops."

His defiant tone marked a sharp shift from the conciliatory approach that had earned praise from the international community, and drew unfavourable comparisons to Sri Lanka's wartime leader Mahinda Rajapakse.

The strongman resisted international pressure to probe allegations government forces under his control killed up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war, which ended in May 2009.  

"Sirisena's remarks are worrisome and alarmingly reminiscent of speeches by his rival and predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse," the International Crisis Group's Alan Keenan told AFP.

Sirisena has made inroads towards shedding Sri Lanka's status as global pariah since defeating Rajapakse in January 2015.

A member of the majority Sinhalese community, he received the support of the Tamil minority after promising accountability for excesses carried out by the largely Sinhalese military.

In October 2015 he went one step further, agreeing to a UN Human Rights Council resolution which called for special tribunals and gave Sri Lanka 18 months to establish credible investigations.

But the deadline lapsed without those commitments being met.

"We put too much trust in him, and he's badly disappointed us," said Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, a politician from the war-ravaged Tamil heartland of Jaffna.

"We didn't ask for handouts. All we wanted was justice."

Politically constrained

Tamils abroad, fed up with inaction, have been pressuring the Geneva-based rights council to censure Sirisena at meetings later this month, Saravanapavan said.

In a new report last week the council acknowledged Sri Lanka had taken some steps towards reconciliation but cautioned the measures had been "inadequate, lacked coordination and a sense of urgency".

Sirisena's blunt rejection of fresh demands for tribunals with foreign judges has raised concerns that no military personnel may ever be held accountable.

But experts say the president is juggling pressures from a muscular army, which opposes any trials, and an unwieldy political coalition that helped bring him to power.

"The political constraints facing Sirisena from a popular military are considerable, and the participation of foreign judges has always been a hard sell for many Sinhalese," Keenan said.

There have been symbolic gestures towards reconciliation. The national anthem was sung in Tamil during national day celebrations last year for the first time in 67 years -- an unthinkable act under Rajapakse.

Swathes of military-occupied land have been returned to Tamils in Jaffna, where Sirisena hit the streets last week promising reconciliation just moments after railing against the UN.

But there have been false steps, too.

Draconian anti-terror laws have not been repealed as promised, and rights groups expressed outrage when Sirisena sent a police officer implicated in abuse to defend his administration at a UN inquiry into torture.

The president also raised eyebrows in November when he asked US-president elect Donald Trump to use America's clout at the UN to clear Sri Lanka's war crimes record.

Diplomatic sources say a UN rights council session later this month poses a key test for Sri Lanka, which narrowly avoided a censure motion soon after Sirisena came to power.

The island nation bought time on that occasion by promising to address past abuses -- an approach it has taken again with Sri Lanka's foreign minister appealing for a second chance.

It's a worrying case of deja vu for those who backed Sirisena in his shock victory over Rajapakse, often despite threats to their own lives.

"The president's mandate was for reform. We are very disappointed he has not kept his pledges," said civil society leader Sarath Wijesuriya.

Backbone needed to defy not capitulate to bigotry

The UNHRC process; the blind leading the blinder

by Kumar David-March 11, 2017, 7:03 pm 

His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena is no Lincoln or Lenin; not even an NM. You need a backbone to stand up and defy racists, not to capitulate to them. Does a Sinhala politician need a backbone to cringe and do the bidding of chauvinists? SWRD would have required a backbone to persist with the B-C Pact, but not to surrender to saffron bigots and shred it. If Dudley had a spine he would have stood with the Dudley-Chelva Agreement; instead he proved another invertebrate. Sirisena says "he is neither disposed to doing things the foreign NGO way, nor inclined to help bring charge sheets against the Sri Lankan military"! That’s pretty final isn’t it? It’s no longer a question of "if" and "alleged"; it’s an ‘honourable discharge’ whatever the facts. B-C, Dudley-Chelva and now Maithri-UNHRC, fall in the same pattern, all deeds of invertebrates. The easy explanation speaks of ‘opportunism’; but opportunism blossoms on the fertile soil of an ingrained psyche of populist racism. That’s what this piece is about.

Imagine NM making Sirisena’s kind of unconditional whitewash! No not possible; and that’s why people of that calibre could not accede to the highest political office. The grip of racism, and its creed and colour variants, show how primitive human psyche and consciousness still are, and how little distance we have travelled to enlightenment (as per Gautama or Eighteenth Century Europe). The roots of bigotry lie in family, upbringing, culture, tradition and faith (rata jathika abimane). Whether there is something in our DNA that predisposes most humans to hatred of the "other" is an open question. Mind you I am not picking on the Sinhalese; if the boot were on the other foot, it would have been the same story, mutatis mutandis, with the cast of characters inverted.

After Geneva

At this time of writing (mid-week) it seems likely that Sri Lanka will get an extension of time to "implement" (sic) UNHRC Joint Resolution 30/1 cosponsored by His Excellency. There is no way he can avoid responsibility as Head of State – the fairytale that he was not aware of the Resolution’s contents is worthy of the Brothers Grimm. And if the Grimm version had a modicum of truth why did he not exert his fully erect backbone and denounce the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister who signed on his behalf? Has Rip van Sirisena been in deep slumber till March 2017? The story is poppycock blown up by the Sirisena-SLFP to serve current needs and deal with the Rajapaksa inspired chauvinist onslaught.

Here is my point: Maithripala Sirisena, as far as I can judge, is not a racist; sans pressure from chauvinists he is likely to address Tamil grievances and throw war criminals in the fire if culpability is proved. In other words, even decent people except extraordinary ones like Lincoln, Lenin and our NM, capitulate and fall in line with the general mores and customs of their time. Society is tainted by inbred racism and pedestrian leaders can do no better than follow. Depressing, true and not new; a long time ago two near-contemporaries Gautama Siddhartha (d.480BC) and Socrates (b.470BC) drew attention to the shallowness of the unenlightened and untutored mind.

The Prime Minister’s about-turn serves to underline my case. "If a constitutional amendment is moved to set up a hybrid court it would need a 2/3 majority and approval at a referendum. This is not politically feasible". Quite! Neither a Sinhalese majority parliament nor a Sinhalese electorate would by the remotest flight of imagination countenance putting the Sinhalese military in the dock irrespective of the evidence. Such is true be it Sri Lanka, Serbia, Somalia, the States or Timbuktu. The US does not even recognise the International Criminal Court except when non-Americans are put on trial!

The catch-22 conundrum confronting the government is that if Mangala is successful in obtaining a deferment of deadline it will pertain only to the date, not the contents of the resolution. Resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by His Excellency’s ministers, says:

". . . affirms that a credible justice process should include independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions led by individuals known for their integrity and impartiality, and also affirms in this regard the importance of participation, in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism,including the special council’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign Judges, defence lawyers and authorised prosecutors and investigators".

Mangala’s can win only a pyrrhic victory as there is no wriggle room here. The only way out for Sirisena would be to carry an amendment to the resolution on the grounds that after regime change the independence of the judiciary stands restored. This is true to a considerable extent (Mohan like creepy crawlies are no more) but it is very doubtful whether it extends to an emotion charged hot potato like prosecution of "war heroes" for crimes against mere Tamils. Dumping a habit-bound mindset for a bold new outlook takes centuries. Even those who think that the country should not countenance war-crimes by the security forces, hasten to add that "a witch-hunt" against the forces cannot to be permitted either. The likelihood of the said witch-hunt is so remote that such grave and sonorous provisos are spurious but have to be inserted to keep the rabble at bay. My point again.

What next?

What to do about the foreign judges Sirisena’s ministers inserted? Since amending the Resolution seems difficult, maybe spend two more years doing nothing, like the last two, then cook up another lame duck story and try for more extensions. Or have the whole thing dumped. An overwhelming majority of Sinhalese want the war-crimes and human rights tribunal thrown out. They believe that in a war against terrorism, the bombing of civilian camps, the white flag incident, the murder of Prabhakaran’s 10-year old son, and so on, were done in the heat of anger, and anyway much was deserved retribution. Mahinda-Gota-Sarath did it, now Maithri-Ranil-CBK have no choice but to hide it.

Grown up people have no illusions, they know the eventual outcome will be zilch and they know that the international community will find a way to accommodate zilch. That is my sober and sombre prediction. As war-crimes issue fades into the background, except bi-annual jamborees and partying in Geneva, a different time bomb is ticking centre stage at home. Will this government survive its full term? And if it does survive what will happen in 2020? I flagged the issue a fortnight ago and these will be my substantive topics next week. But I don’t want to leave you panting for the next instalment, so one sentence answers for now. My answer to Q1 is that it is likely the government will survive till the end or near the end its term.

To the second question my answer is conditional. If things go on the way they have for the last two years (there is no sign of change) then the Wickremesinghe administration is a one-time show, a one-term government. Come 2020 the UNP will be thrown out. When I said my answer is conditional I was alluding to the phrase "If things go on the way they have". I have a lot to say on that score, so buy the paper for next week’s thrilling instalment.

I will conclude by explaining why I oppose the UNHRC giving the Sri Lankan state an extension of time. Haven’t I taken pains to explain that Sirisena and Ranil are slaves to a backward nationalist psyche which is stronger than them? Why then am I being difficult instead of ending with a forgiving "I say chaps its all right" pat on the back? Ah because that is the kind of compromise which will mislead the masses and do nothing to foster an enlightened, tolerant and pluralist nation. Compromise in the name of pragmatism, on this occasion, is to delude the people, I mean the Sinhalese, about the underlying truth in respect of extremism. Now is the occasion to say damn racism, don’t give an inch to capitulators. The mass mind is more receptive now than in 1948-49, in Banda’s time or under the blight of JR race hate. History doesn’t go in circles – the chakra chaps got it wrong since religion is a bit daft – change moves in a spiral incorporating progress or regress. Now is a time to take a stand, to be unpopular but right; it will yield dividends. Educate the mass for modernism and enlightenment values. NM was dead right in 1955-56 to stand against Sinhala Only and suffer the consequences. That is why history absolved him and despised the capitulators.

‘I don’t want finance portfolio. I you want it you can have it’, Mangala tells Malik

Mar 11, 2017

It is UNP chairman Malik Samarawickrama who had suggested to government leaders that foreign affairs minister Mangala Samaraweeera should be appointed finance minister at a future cabinet reshuffle, reports say. The UNP chairman is plotting secretly due to the personal animosity he is having with finance minister Ravi Karunanayake.

After getting to know that his name has been proposed by Samarwickrama to be the finance minister, Samaraweera telephoned him and said, “I don’t want the finance portfolio. Let me be as I am now. If you want it so much, why don’t you ask for the finance portfolio? You can work better than me with Charitha and Paskaralingam. Therefore, you are the best person for the job. Do not get me involved.” However, Samarawickrama rejected having made such a proposal.

Meanwhile, when the president inquired from his loyalists in the SLFP about changing the finance portfolio, they replied that Champika Ranawaka would be the best choice. Commenting on that, Ranawaka has told his close associates that the best person to be the finance minister in the present government is Ravi Karunayake, who is a chartered accountant. The finance portfolio does not suit him, he said, noting that he is a chartered engineer and that he will never expect that position.

Moderate political analysts say if Karunanayake is relieved of the finance ministry that will be greatly damaging for the future of the ‘Yahapaalana’ government.

On March 25, Karunanayake is due to leave for London to accept the award for the best finance minister to be presented by ‘The Banker’ magazine.

With No Rule Of Law, Return To Fear & Uncertainty

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –March 12, 2017

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

When we are ruled by the law, contracts can be freely entered in the confidence of enforceability. We can drive on the streets knowing that the police will not harass us so long as we drive properly. Indeed, we even have some protection from murderers and criminals in the confidence that they will be punished for harming us. What our institutions buy through proper procedures will be priced best. Our properties will appreciate since the rule of law is conducive to happy living. Our children will be with us instead of fleeing abroad. Alas, rule by the law seems to evade us Sri Lankans.

Impunity for War Crimes

As the Friday Forum states, “The President and Prime Minister in particular, have an important responsibility for leadership” in upholding the rule of law.” They have utterly failed us.

UNHRC Resolution 30/1 (A/HRC/30/L.29) which our government under the President and Prime Minister cosponsored and passed on 29 June, 2015, reads that the Council

“Recognizing that the investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in Sri Lanka requested by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/1 was necessitated by the absence of a credible national process of accountability”

“1. Takes note with appreciation of the oral update presented by the United Nations High Commissioner […], the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka and its investigation on Sri Lanka requested by the [HRC] in its resolution 25/1 [Footnote  2] including its findings and conclusions, and encourages the Government of Sri Lanka [GoSL] to implement the recommendations […]; 

“6. […] affirms in this regard the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the special counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investigators;”

Footnote 2 refers to A/HRC/30/CRP.2, the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), detailing the atrocities by our armed forces and the LTTE. This report has therefore been endorsed and appreciated by our government and our judicial deficiencies accepted.

After the UNHRC Resolution 30/1 the President insisted that Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and integrity weren’t compromised, and stressed that the new journey started on 8 January must be persisted with, shunning extremists.  Ranil Wickremesinghe said at the same time that the passage of the US resolution and the international community uniting for Sri Lanka were key for the country’s future wellbeing.

Now, however, the President boasts (Daily Mirror 4 March, 2017) to the SLFP executive committee that he had shown his ‘backbone’ to the International community by rejecting UNHRC Chief Zeid bin Ra-ad Al Hussein’s recommendation for a hybrid court to probe war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka. If the President truly has a backbone, why did he cosponsor 30/1? Did the President and PM lie in promising what they had no plans to do? Having done nothing, are they trying to buy time and still lying because in the new cosponsored resolution, they are calling upon GoSL to “fully implement” measures that are outstanding from the 2015 UN resolution? 

Read More

Disaster Politics and Political Disasters

"The drought of 1788, or rather the famine coming in its wake, was, of course, not the primary cause of the 1789 revolution. However it contributed significantly to its timing and to the violence, especially to the type of violence... (including) the spread of mass hysteria that has come to be known under the name ‘The Great Fear of 1789."

J Neumann (Great historical events that were significantly affected by the weather)

by Tisaranee Gunasekara-March 11, 2017, 7:02 pm 

 

Close to one million – that is the number of drought-affected Lankans in immediate need of food assistance, according to an assessment carried out jointly by the government and the UN. Of these, 80,000 men, women and children are in need ‘urgent life-saving support’.ii The numbers of drought-affected Lankans are likely to increase in the coming months, especially if the monsoons fail to become active (as was the case last year), and drought is transformed from a seasonal phenomenon to a fact of daily life.

Disaster Politics and Political Disasters.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE TNA CONCERNING IMPENDING UNHRC RESOLUTION ON SRI LANKA.

11/03/2017

Statement issued by elected representatives of the Tamil National Alliance .

The following decision was arrived at following a meeting of TNA Members of Parliament and Provincial Council Members held in Vavuniya today (11th March 2017):

All Sri Lanka’s obligations in terms of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 of 1st October 2015, co- sponsored by the Sri Lankan Government, must be fully implemented. These obligations must be fulfilled under strict conditions, under the monitoring of an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, which must be established in Sri Lanka.

The UN Human Rights Council must ensure that, in the event that the Sri Lankan Government fails to fulfill the abovementioned obligations by way of an appropriate mechanism, victims will receive the intended benefits of the fulfillment of such obligations, by way of international mechanisms.

Hon. MP Nadesu Sivasakthi stated that the EPRLF did not agree to the abovementioned decisions.

TNA DECISION CONCERNING IMPENDING UNHRC RESOLUTION

March 11, 2017

The following decision was arrived at following a meeting of TNA Members of Parliament and Provincial Council Members held in Vavuniya today (11^th March 2017):

All Sri Lanka’s obligations in terms of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 of 1^st October 2015, co- sponsored by the Sri Lankan Government, must be fully implemented. These obligations must be fulfilled under strict conditions, under the monitoring of an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, which must be established in Sri Lanka.

The UN Human Rights Council must ensure that, in the event that the Sri Lankan Government fails to fulfill the abovementioned obligations by way of an appropriate mechanism, victims will receive the intended benefits of the fulfillment of such obligations, by way of international mechanisms.

Hon. MP Nadesu Sivasakthi stated that the EPRLF did not agree to the abovementioned decisions.

இலங்கை தொடர்பான ஐ.நா தீர்மானம் தொடர்பிலான தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் மக்களால் தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்ட பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்கள் மற்றும் மாகாணசபை உறுப்பினர்கள் கலந்து கொண்ட கூட்டத்தில் எடுக்கப்பட்ட தீர்மானம்

ஐ.நா மனித உரிமைப் பேரவையால் 2015 ஐப்பசி  1ம் திகதி இலங்கை அரசாங்கத்தின் இணை அனுசரனையுடன் நிறைவேற்றப்பட்ட மனித உரிமை ஆணைக்குழவின் 30/1 தீர்மானத்தின் இலங்கை நிறைவேற்ற வேண்டும் என்று கூறப்பட்ட அத்தனை விடயங்களும் முழுமையாக அமுல்படுத்தப்படவேண்டும்.

இவை கடுமையான நிபந்தனைகளின் கீழ் நிறைவேற்றப்படுவதை ஐ.நா மனித உரிமைகள் ஸ்தானிகரின் அலுவலகம் ஒன்றை இலங்கையில் நிறுவி மேற்பார்வை செய்ய வேண்டும்.

இலங்கை அரசாங்கம் மேற்சொன்ன விடயங்களை தகுந்த பொறிமுறையின் மூலம் நிறைவேற்றத்தவறினால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு அந்தத் தீர்மானத்தின் கீழ் கிடைக்கவேண்டிய அனைத்து பெறுபேறுகளும் கிடைக்கும்வண்ணமாக சர்வதேசப் பொறிமுறைகளை ஐ.நா மனித உரிமைப் பேரவை உறுதிசெய்ய வேண்டும்,

மேற்படி தீர்மானங்களுக்கு ஈபிஆர் எல் எப் இணங்கவில்லை என கௌரவ நடேசு சிவசக்தி (பா.உ) தெரிவித்தார்.

Ravi, Mangala ministry swapping, a falsehood!

Mar 11, 2017

Government sources say there is no truth at all to reports that Mangala Samaraweera will replace Ravi Karunanayake as the finance minister at a cabinet reshuffle.

Political opponents are trying to get such a change by using the various accusations that were leveled against Karunanayake recently. They have been trying, for the past one and a half years, to lure president Maithripala Sirisena to remove him as the finance minister.

Front level activists of the government say there is no need for a change in the finance or the foreign affairs portfolios at a future cabinet reshuffle.

Political opponents are trying to show, by spreading such falsehoods, that a crisis was brewing in the UNP. The ministerial positions in question are being held by the suitable persons and all in the ‘Yahapaalana’ government want to see its continuation, and do not want to sabotage it, they say further.

No one can say, without any basis, that the portfolios of Karunanayake or Samaraweera should be changed, and there is no truth to reports that the government would be in crisis if no such change is effected, they add.

On her own two feet, after Sri Lanka’s crippling war

Selvanayagi teaches computing.   | Photo Credit: Meera Srinivasan

Meera Srinivasan

-MARCH 11, 2017

Selvanayagi lost her arms in Sri Lanka’s war 27 years ago

Few students in Vadamarachchi, part of Sri Lanka’s northern peninsula, had heard of Visual Basic until Sebastian Selvanayagi started offering a course in it at her modest computer centre.

“Even basic programming languages haven’t come to our village in a big way,” she said, entering a small room in her home, in Vetrilaikeni in Vadamarachchi East, where five desktop computers are kept.

As her office assistant switched one of the systems on, Ms. Selvanayagi sat down and quickly typed the password with her toes. That is how she has been typing for more than 20 years now — placing the keyboard under the table — after she lost both her arms in intense shelling in 1990. She was around 15 then, and preparing to take her O-level (class X) examination.

“The LTTE took complete care of me after that. I stayed with them and did programming and data entry work. That became my world,” Ms. Selvanayagi, 42, said.

‘Helped by LTTE’

She pursued computer science at the Open University and upgraded her skills. “I got my education because the LTTE and others supported me. Education has value only when it is shared — that is what I am doing now,” she said.

A pile of books, with titles like ‘Visual Basic’, ‘DTP Course Kit’ and ‘Programming in C - a primer’ sat on a wooden stool in her living room.

“I got them from India; that was one good thing that came out of that trip,” she laughed.
In 2012, three years after the war ended, she went to Chennai to try out prosthetic limbs. “They were uncomfortable and didn’t seem suitable for use in a humid climate like ours. Moreover, they were expensive.”

Ms. Selvanayagi now manages her tasks with full-time help from a caretaker and her guardians — her father’s friends — who have been caring for her since his passing.

Every evening a group of students comes for the classes, as part of the National Vocational Qualification programme of the government.

“I am determined to work and fend for myself. I don’t look back. I don’t judge the Tigers politically. My loyalty to them is very personal.”

SL faces fresh trouble over police inaction

Lasantha-March 11, 2017, 6:36 pm 

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka has come under renewed international criticism over police failures to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of what it calls "emblematic cases," including the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga.

The UN Human Rights Council received a report outlining systematic failure of Sri Lanka’s police to prosecute suspects in 11 high profile cases it considers emblematic of the culture of impunity even after the end of a decades-long war.

The report buttressed its demand for international judges to try war criminals in Sri Lanka by pointing to police failures to investigate even the high profile cases.

"A State’s capacity or willingness to address impunity for gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law can, in part, be assessed by its approach to complex, serious cases," the 17-page report said.

Successful prosecutions, conducted in accordance with international standards, could serve to build public and international confidence in the government’s determination and capacity to pursue accountability, it added.

The January 2009 assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Wickrematunga was cited as another example of slow progress in investigations.

Official sources said the Criminal Investigations Department was on the verge of making high profile arrests last month, but there was pressure brought on them to go easy on the suspects.

At least two former Inspectors General of police, a former head of military intelligence were among those tipped to be arrested in connection with Wickrematunga’s killing and the subsequent cover up of the investigation.

Police had made a breakthrough last month in their investigations in to the abduction of news editor Keith Noyahr. That case was linked to a string of other attacks, disappearances and killings of journalists.

A total of five military personnel attached to a hit squad which operated from Kohuwela are in custody, but police have failed to arrest those responsible for giving them orders to carry out illegal activities.

Investigators are convinced that most of the abductions and attacks on  journalists, including the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, were carried out by members of the military intelligence.

The command responsibility has been established, but for inexplicable reasons the arrests have been delayed.

A key suspect who tried to kill the editor of the Rivira newspaper, Upali Tennakoon, has also been identified as a military intelligence operative and a court case is now pending.

The False People In Viyath Maga – Living The Lie Destroys One

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –March 11, 2017

Shyamon Jayasinghe

Oh My God! What a collection of intellectuals we saw at the Viyath Maga 2nd Annual conference Conference, on March 4th in Boralesgamuwa. The slogan of this movement is “professionals for a better Sri Lanka. “ Or in Sinhala, it is “Piripun Lankawak sandaha” (Towards a fully developed Lanka).

The venue was Rose Garden Hotel Boralesgamuwa. Dayan Jayatilleka has claimed a 2000 crowd of ‘professionals, entrepreneurs and educated people.’ I have seen this hall and in my estimate it cannot accomodate more than a thousand. Of course, some may have seated on the laps of others.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa admits in his speech he formed the front of these awe-inspiring intellectuals. That, somewhat let the cat out of the bag but we will come to that later.

Scrutinising the pics, I and some friends in Sri Lanka didn’t spot any significant numbers of known ‘professionals, entrepreneurs and educated people,” that Dayan Jayatilleka speaks of. I cannot say what Dayan means by ‘educated.’ But there were no noteworthy ‘formally educated’ persons in the audience. Although Dayan doesn’t think that employing the criteria of ‘educated,’ to a specific person raises inherently difficult issues, many would agree with me it does, and that the identification of an educated human animal is wrought with controversy. On the other hand, his confidence in deciding who is educated and who isn’t certainly illustrates Dayan Jayatilleka’s naivety and unsophistication.

The ‘intellectuals’ who graced the front VIP seats included Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dallas Allahapperuma, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, GL Peiris, Udaya Gammanpilla, Nivard Cabraal, former CJ Sarath N Silva, Nalaka Godahewa, Dayan Jayatilleka, Basil Rajapaksa, Bengamuwe Nalaka Thero and Ele Gunawanse Thero.

Gotabaya, in his speech twice addressed a “Janadhipthi Thuma,” and so I looked all around the picture for President Sirisena. In these times-one can never say. Not at all! Gota has forgotten his former strong-man bro has been deposed!

This gives a clue to the psychological condition of the ‘intellectual front’ that is very revealing. These are people living a lie so much so that they have come to believe in the lie.

In a research study, Winnicott (1960) and Rogers (1959) state that we all wear two selves – a false one and a true one. Oftentimes, we put on a false self before others for our protection and to keep conversation free-flowing. For example, for social etiquette purposes, it is common for us to put on a face that, ‘everything is right,’ although actually things may have fallen apart. This kind of behaviour is socially functional as it enables the to and fro of conversation. Politicians and marketers engage in pretences and even then it is acceptable. But only to a point. If one keeps building on this false image too far, without one being aware one is carried away to a psychologically pathological level of make-belief. It continues to be is a self protecting armoury to ward off one’s wrongs; but at great cost to one’s self. The false-self destroys its wearer. Not so much others, unless the wearer is in power or in control over others.

In the context of the intellectual VIPs in the front rows-they aren’t, mercifully, in power. To external observers, however, their true nature is seen in the naked. The false phenomenon becomes a naked one to the many others. The audience and wider public cannot but avoid asking questions about the true self of these posers.

Yes, self-queries simply pop up among observers. Their self-unaware nakedness is so stark that the organisers didn’t bother to create the facade in the first place. Like the fabled emperor who ‘wore,’ clothes. Officially they announced that this is an organisation of intellectuals solely to help form alternative policies. Good. But, then, why these particular former VIPs who belonged to the deposed government? Right in the front? Why let Gota come out and admit that he is among the organisers? The official organisers let this go because they are dangerously afflicted by the pathology of living the lie to such a point of no-return that the lie has become ‘truth,’ to the latter. Why create a facade when the facade is the truth?

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Joint Opposition receives real answer from Presidential Commission of Inquiry over baseless allegations. - Ravi

- Mar 11, 2017

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry which is investigating the controversial bond issue incident has given the real answer to the baseless allegations made by the Joint Opposition,

says Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. The minister pointed out that the warning issued by the Commission on MP Bandula Gunawardana not to issue misleading statements is itself enough for them to stop such unfounded acts. MP Bandula Gunawardana has failed to prove his facts before a legally appointed Commission and, it is clear evidence that he has acted to mislead the people by making certain statements on political platforms and place of religious importance.

The Minister said that the Commission of Inquiry should be commended for exposing the Joint Opposition’s true face that targeted to propagate false propaganda. The Minister said that the government has revealed its transparency by appointing a Presidential Commission to inquire the controversial bond issue. He said that the Commission has also proved its independence by issuing warnings on the behavior of MP Bandula Gunawardana.

“Certain factions have been attempting to revert the present rebounding economy which had once been crashed. But this government, as is held responsible for the people, will not allow such narrow minded people to achieve their petty goals”, Minister Karunanayake said.

AshWaru Colombo

Government keeps chickening out of elections, critics keep looking for electoral cockfights

by Rajan Philips-March 11, 2017, 7:18 pm 

There is no democracy without elections, but there is more to democracy than elections. Elections are necessarily important, but what happens between elections is even more important for democracy. If the frequency of elections is the prime measure of democracy, the Rajapaksa government would have deserved an Asian award for keeping the Lankan flames of democracy leaping with election after election for local bodies, provinces, parliament and the Head of State himself. The Rajapaksas would have deserved not merely a third term but the whole country on a 99 year lease, as I poked fun in this column in November 2014, a week before Maithripala Sirisena’s historic defection. The shoe is now on the other foot. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is getting flak for not having enough elections - for indefinitely postponing elections to local bodies and potentially three Provincial Council elections that are due later this year.

The Joint Opposition (JO) itself is not clamouring for elections, because the JO folks are as clueless as their friends in the government about which way the votes will fall in a new election since the people, and politicians should know this, see the same political zombies and rascals in and out of parliament even after their last two electoral exertions in 2015. But JO fellow travellers are gung ho about elections and are castigating the government for shying away from elections, local now and provincial soon. Without elections they have nothing much to exercise their flabby minds about. And they are clutching on constitutional straws to make a political point where there is no worthwhile point to make in the first place.

The point about the constitution and Provincial Councils is that for nearly 30 years after their creation through due constitutional process, Provincial Councils have been de-legitimized, derided, and turned into dysfunctional bodies with little bang to show for the meagre budget bucks that are annually allocated to them. Their principal use has been to provide provincial rings for electoral mud-wrestling between the two competing national coalitions in Lankan politics. In 1998, facing a rout in a few provincial elections, then President Kumaratunga declared national emergency to stop the vote. The Supreme Court called her bluff, and she in turn punished the judge credited with the ruling by denying him promotion as Chief Justice. The professor gentleman who gave ministerial advice to the President Kumaratunga on judicial succession at that time has since been proffering even worse advice to her executive successor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, including the one to impeach the country’s only female Chief Justice whom he had earlier got President Kumaratunga to appoint to the bench. The impeachment was again punishment for a ruling that told the government, just as the 1998 ruling did, that Provinces have status under the constitution.

Despite threatening to dilute the powers of Provincial Councils or eliminate them altogether, President Rajapaksa kept them going because he saw in their elections the main reason for his political being – winning elections. Unlike his predecessor, he found a way to keep winning Provincial Council elections, staggering them at will and winning them a few at a time by selectively deploying the Rajapaksa election juggernaut. Except for two! The juggernaut got stuck at Elephant Pass during the Northern Provincial Council election in 2013, and came apart in the 2015 presidential election – haggard and overstretched. The man who wanted to win a third term became the first incumbent to lose a presidential election. But self-serving pundits and hangers-on won’t let the former president take a well-earned rest after nearly 50 years in politics. He cannot run to be president again, thanks to the 19th Amendment, but his followers want Mahinda Rajapaksa, their prize fighter, to keep leading election fights for them – local, provincial, parliamentary, and even presidential with a proxy – Gotabhaya – Rajapaksa candidate. To them election fights are like the Balinese cockfights, and they don’t like when the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe (S-W) government keeps chickening out of elections.

And they have found the chapter and verse in the constitution to assert that the government cannot postpone provincial elections. If it could be that easy to make Provincial Councils disappear at the end of five years for want of an election, why not just make them disappear by not having elections at all? Isn’t that what most commentators claim that most Sri Lankans want: get rid of the provincial councils? Now the news is that the government does want to postpone the elections due this year in the Eastern, North Central and Sabragamuwa provinces to start having elections for all the provinces altogether in one day. Having all provincial elections on a fixed single day will be a progressive departure from staggering them at the executive’s fancy as has been the practice so far. But the government’s motivations are anything but principled or progressive.

Thirty years

of Devolution

The S-W government deserves all the flak it is getting for dragging out local elections and will deserve more flak if it starts indefinitely postponing provincial elections. But the bigger question is, or ought to be: what have previous governments been doing with local bodies and provincial councils between elections, and what has the present government been doing with them for the two years it has been in power? In 2015, the present government proposed establishing constitutional or governing councils that would include the President, the Prime Minister along with the Governors and Chief Ministers of the Provinces. Why cannot the government just start the practice of holding annual gatherings of the President, the Prime Minister, the Provincial Governors and Chief Ministers? Does it need a new constitution and a referendum to do this?

The venue of annual gathering can rotate between Colombo and provincial cities. That would be a very belated fulfillment of what the Donoughmore Commission suggested nearly a century ago – to hold State Council sessions periodically in each province, to take government closer to the people. Colonial rulers thought of that, AJ Wilson called it a federalizing feature (he also called DS Senanayake’s first cabinet – cabinet federalism), and ninety years and sixteen million more people later it is still not too late. And we don’t need a referendum to take government closer to the people. The agendas and discussions at these gatherings could set the framework for identifying and addressing issues at the provincial and local levels far more practically than wasting everyone’s time over endlessly debating reserved powers and concurrent powers in the abstract. Frequent summit visits to the Provinces might shed light on otherwise opaque minds why it makes sense to have a local police force that speaks the local language, and why it makes no sense to have urban development in the provinces long-armed by an authority in Colombo. Sri Lanka can be a unitary state for ever, but it cannot be run like a City-state like Singapore, ever.

"Twenty Two Years of Devolution: An Evaluation of the Working of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka" is the title of the monograph edited by (the late) Ranjith Amarasinghe, Asoka Gunawardena, Jayampathy Wickremaratne and AM Navaratna-Bandara. All of them are post-colonial scholars and professionals, and they are also Sinhalese and, I believe, Buddhists as well. More importantly, they are also ‘devolutionists’, and they know more about the subject than a dozen or so others who keep writing nonsense on the matter. Interestingly as well, the period of devolution (1988-2010) they cover was when the Provincial Council system functioned ‘fully’ in the southern seven provinces, limitedly in the Eastern Province, and hardly in the Northern Province. The seven provinces have had five PC elections up till 2010 and one more since. The North and East are a different story, notwithstanding their being part of a unitary history.

The book makes a strong case for continuing the PC system based on the experience of the seven provinces – in terms of the political leadership and administrative mechanisms that have taken root in the provinces despite, yes despite, every intended and unintended obstacle that has been created by "political regimes in Colombo (to) achieve their power objectives." Historically, as the authors point out, political and administrative developments after independence have totally nullified the local administrative network established under colonial rule to provide "public health, thoroughfares and utilities." SWRD Bandaranaike was the only politician who appreciated and championed, albeit unsuccessfully, the strengthening and extension of local government along with his ideas for regional government. Perhaps he understood the well-established layers of local government in Britain below the overarching unitary structure (which is no longer the case), even as he understood the political imperative for devolution – first from the Kandyans and later the Tamils. Although the Thirteenth Amendment was a response to the latter, it does have a purpose to serve in every province in Sri Lanka, but it cannot become fully functional and effective until the political regime in Colombo gives the provinces – not just elections but legal powers and fiscal and administrative resources. That is the lesson from 22, now almost 30, years of experience.

As well, the provinces can and must be given more and used more to further the present government’s twin objectives: economic development to reach the Prime Minister’s million jobs target; and national reconciliation. The reality is something else. The provinces hardly figure in the government’s megapolis economic visions and barely mentioned in its Geneva perorations. This is not only unfortunate but also stupid. Each province could and should be treated as a distinct economic unit for achieving national economic output including the much vaunted export diversification. And reconciliation would be just rhetoric until Colombo starts working with the affected provinces. A summit gathering of national and provincial leaders could be more than a symbolic start.