38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island

Henderson Island, part of the Pitcairn group, is covered by 18 tonnes of plastic – the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world

 Plastic debris on East Beach, Henderson Island. Photograph: Jennifer Lavers

One of many hundreds of crabs that now make their homes out of plastic debris washed up on Henderson Island in the Pitcairn island group. This particular item is an Avon cosmetics jar. Photograph: Jennifer Lavers

Elle Hunt-Monday 15 May 2017

One of the world’s most remote places, an uninhabited coral atoll, is also one of its most polluted.

Henderson Island, a tiny landmass in the eastern South Pacific, has been found by marine scientists to have the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8% of the pollution plastic.

The nearly 18 tonnes of plastic piling up on an island that is otherwise mostly untouched by humans have been pointed to as evidence of the catastrophic, “grotesque” extent of marine plastic pollution.

Nearly 38m pieces of plastic were estimated to be on Henderson by researchers from the University of Tasmania and the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, weighing a combined 17.6 tonnes.

The majority of the debris – approximately 68% – was not even visible, with as many as 4,500 items per square metre buried to a depth of 10cm. About 13,000 new items were washing up daily.

Jennifer Lavers, of the University of Tasmania’s institute for marine and antarctic studies, told the Guardian the sheer volume of plastic pollution on Henderson had defied her expectations.

“I’ve travelled to some of the most far-flung islands in the world and regardless of where I’ve gone, in what year, and in what area of the ocean, the story is generally the same: the beaches are littered with evidence of human activity ...

“However, my thought was the remarkable remoteness of Henderson Island would have afforded it some protection. I was totally wrong.

“The quantity left me speechless and that’s why I went to such pains to document it in such detail.”

Lavers found hundreds of crabs living in rubbish such as bottle caps and cosmetics jars, and has been told of one living inside a doll’s head.

“From the looks on people’s faces, it was quite grotesque,” she said. “That was how I felt about all these crabs – we are not providing them a home, this is not a benefit to them.

“This plastic is old, it’s brittle, it’s sharp, it’s toxic. It was really quite tragic seeing these gorgeous crabs scuttling about, living in our waste.”

The largest of the four islands of the Pitcairn Island group, Henderson Island is a Unesco World Heritage Listed site and one of the few atolls in the world whose ecology has been practically untouched by humans.

The island exhibits remarkable biological diversity given it covers only 3,700 hectares, with 10 endemic species of plant and four land bird species. Its isolation had, until recently, afforded it protection from most human activities.

Lavers said her findings had proved to her nowhere was safe from plastic pollution. “All corners of the globe are already being impacted.”

Like seabirds and turtles, remote islands serve as sentinels for the health of the wider marine ecosystem, “acting like a sieve or a trap, filtering out the ocean”, she said.

The state of Henderson – “the most polluted, most remote island in the whole world” – was indicative of the extent of the problem, and the “absolutely mind-boggling” rate at which plastic was being produced globally.

The 17.6 tonnes of plastic on Henderson accounted for only 1.98 seconds’ worth of annual production, found the paper – co-written by Lavers with Alexander Bond – published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

“Across the board, no country got a free pass on this – we found bottles from Germany, containers from Canada, I think it was a fishing crate from New Zealand. What that says is we all have a responsibility in this, and we have to sit up and pay attention to that.”

The threat to biodiversity posed by plastic debris has come under increased scrutiny as findings reveal the extent of the problem, with millions of tonnes ending up in the ocean every year.In 

February, scientists reported “extraordinary” levels of toxic pollution in the Mariana trench, with plastic waste facilitating the spread of industrial chemicals to one of the most remote and inaccessible places on the planet. 

At the world oceans summit in early March, Indonesia pledged to put up to $1bn a year towards reducing plastic and other waste products polluting its waters, setting a goal of a 70% reduction in marine waste within eight years.

Laver said individuals and governments had a part to play in reducing the amount of plastic polluting the world’s oceans, but the key was urgency.

“For me, marine plastic pollution is the new climate change, but I would like for us to not make the same mistakes. We’ve been arguing about climate change, and whether it exists and what is changing, for the better part of 40 years ...

“Let’s not wait for more science. Let’s not debate it. The rate of plastic in our oceans is absolutely phenomenal, and we need to do something now.”

Yemen war: Emergency in Sanaa as cholera kills scores

REUTERS-Children are especially vulnerable to the water-borne disease

REUTERSImage captionLack of clean drinking water is exacerbating the problem

15 May 2017

A state of emergency has been declared in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, after an outbreak of cholera killed scores of people.

Hospitals in the city, which is controlled by Houthi rebels, are crowded with cholera patients.

The Red Cross says the number of suspected cases in the country has tripled in a week to more than 8,500.

Yemen has been ravaged by hunger and civil war, allowing disease to spread rapidly.

Two-thirds of the population do not have access to safe drinking water, according to the UN.

Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross, told a news conference in Sanaa on Sunday that there had been 115 deaths from cholera nationwide from 27 April - 13 May.

"We now are facing a serious outbreak," he said.

Sanaa has been worst hit, followed by the surrounding province of Amanat al-Semah, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

Cholera is a water-borne disease that is transmitted through contaminated water and food.

Symptoms include acute diarrhoea and vomiting. People with cholera can become very sick and, if left untreated, death can occur within hours.

• How bad is the humanitarian crisis?
• Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom?

Some 32,000 people have now been affected since October by the cholera outbreak, which subsided over the winter.

The WHO said last week that fewer than 45% of health facilities in Yemen were fully functioning.

Almost 300 hospitals or clinics have been damaged or destroyed in fighting between forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi - who is backed by a Saudi-led multinational coalition - and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

Since fighting escalated in March 2015, more than 8,010 people - mostly civilians - have been killed and about 44,500 others injured, the UN says.

The civil war has also left 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

ANOTHER BLACK MARK ON SRI LANKAN JUDICIARY?

Image: Lawyers hung a black flag as a sign of protest against the government’s impeachment bid outside the Colombo court complex (January 2013)

14/05/2017

Commenting on the way Sri Lanka Supreme Court provided immediate relief to parliamentarian Geetha Kumarasisnghe presidential council J.C. Weliamuna  has said that “the credibility of Court is at stake in such instances. She is a privileged litigant and no other ordinary citizen will be able to file an appeal and get it called to be heard within a matter of a few days.”

This could be a another  black mark on Sri Lankan judiciary, a human rights lawyer told Sri Lanka Breif.

Few days earlier in a landmark judgement, the Court of Appeal issuing a writ of Quo Warranto disqualified the MP from continuing as a Parliamentarian on the basis that she was a holder of dual citizenship, both in Sri Lanka as well as Switzerland. The order was based on a report filed to court by the Department of Immigration and Emigration where it confirmed that the Respondent, Parliamentarian Kumarasinghe was a holder of dual citizenship.

Investigations on whether Ms. Kumarasinghe was a dual citizen, in Sri Lanka as well as in Switzerland commenced as far back as the latter part of 2015, soon after the introduction of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which brought in changes to Article 91 of the Constitution.

Article 91 of the Constitution was amended to include that “a citizen of Sri Lanka who is also a citizen of any other country” is not eligible to hold Parliamentary membership.

Parliamentarian Kumarasinghe was one of those affected by this law which stipulated that “no person shall be qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament or to sit and vote in Parliament if he/she is “a citizen of Sri Lanka who is also a citizen of any other country’.”

According to the Court of Appeal order, the MP was disqualified from holding office and the court further directed the Attorney General, with the co-operation of the Secretary General of Parliament, D. Dassanayake to derive a mechanism to recover expenses incurred by state on the MP during her tenure as a Parliamentarian.

However, on Friday, leave to appeal was granted by the Supreme Court and the interim injunction sought by the Parliamentarian seeking a stay on the order given by the Court of Appeal on the Writ application bearing no 362/2015 was also granted till tomorrow, when the matter will be taken up for support.

President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva appeared for the Respondent- Petitioner, Parliamentarian Kumarasinghe instructed by Paul Ratnayake Associates, while President’s Counsel J. C. Weliamuna appeared for the Petitioner- Respondents.

While appearing in court on Friday, Counsel Weliamuna, questioned as to how the applicant managed to get the appeal called in such a short duration and without notice being served on the other parties. He further informed court that he appeared based on news reports that the matter would be heard on Friday and that no notice was served on the Respondents.

Sources reveal that the judges had only received papers that morning and had not been able to peruse the file prior to it being taken up in open court.

( Edited version of the news story NO NOTICE SERVED ON RESPONDENTS– J. C. WELIAMUNA PC appeared in the Sunday Observer )

The menacing promise of the CTA, gift -wrapped for the future

• Sunday, May 14, 2017

Only the naïve would believe the rosily repeated plea by the European Union (EU) that ‘the implementation of twenty seven international conventions is the only criterion for regaining’ the GSP Plus trade facility for Sri Lanka.

Posing infinitely greater harm

Repetition does not make what is false, true though this is a well accepted propaganda strategy historically. Regardless, repeating a patently false claim is generally shrugged off as an unavoidable part of doublespeak. Similarly, when international realpolitik results in no more damage than the continuation of an existing state of affairs, only casual concern may be warranted.

For instance this may have hypothetically been the case if negotiations with the EU had (merely) resulted in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) continuing, albeit in all its disreputable glory. If so and the Government took pride in announcing that it had secured GSP Plus as it did for the umpteenth time this week, this may have only merited an aggrieved comment here or an annoyed observation there, as the case may be.

But, the situation is very different when doublespeak and realpolitik, masked in the comforting cloak of adherence to international law, poses infinitely greater harm for Sri Lankans. This is precisely the storm that a proposed Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) approved by Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has brought down on the hapless shoulders of the EU, as hard albeit unconvincingly as it may try to justify itself.

Same insistence then and now

The questions are simple. On what possible logic could the draft CTA be compliant with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or with the Convention against Torture (CAT) when it is far worse than the PTA itself? The ICCPR and CAT are two major treaties of those ‘twenty seven international conventions.’ In fact, Sri Lankans were told that the EU ‘expects’ the Government to table acceptably amended versions of the CTA and the Code of Criminal Procedure Act in Parliament before the decision to resume would be taken. These conditions have however not been met up to now.

The 2010 suspension was consequent to a mid 2009 Experts Report adverse to the Rajapaksa Presidency and a subsequent report of the European Commission, both of which extensively cited the critical writings of this columnist among others. Indeed, a systematic analysis of why the trade facility was suspended (the ‘white van’ syndrome was not the sole reason as some would like us to believe) vis a vis what prevails now would be interesting. Many systemic failures continue now in theory and practice, despite improvement in the overall environment.

Sri Lankans who critiqued state actions under the Rajapaksas ran the risk of retaliation ranging from physical harm to targeted character assassination. Notwithstanding, this was necessary given the steep decline in the Rule of Law. It is that same insistence which applies now, minus the risk, in this ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) age. And to give the devil its rightful due, even the Rajapska Presidency did not engage in as daring a feat as a contemptible counter-terror law, which this Government in all its ham-handedness has managed to do. It has gift-wrapped a present for potential abusive regimes to use to their hearts’ content.

Little faith in EU assurances

Let us be categorical on this point. As sympathetic as one may be to the predicament in which the unity alliance finds itself trapped between Rajapaksa rhetoric and its own election promises, the draft CTA reflects the abandonment of sanity at a fundamental level. It shows the contemptuous middle finger to Sri Lanka’s Constitution far more potently than the PTA. Is this what the Government really wants?

More damagingly, the pretence of ‘monitoring’ by the EU evidenced up to this point raises an important question.  Given its unacceptable degree of negligence so far, what faith can be reposed in the assurance that ‘a Working Group on Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights’ will oversee the process as part of ‘GSP+ monitoring’ after the trade facility is granted? This assurance was contained in the January 11 European Commission’s assessment report which had recommended the renewal of the facility.

Memorably it was also in this report that ‘salient shortcomings’ in the 2016 Concluding Observations of the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT Committee) were assessed to ‘not amount to a serious failure to effectively implement the Convention.’ That blithe assessment flew right in the face of exceedingly tough Observations by the Committee. Clearly therefore, unless the superficiality of previous interventions is corrected, further assurances will be treated with understandable skepticism. Lessons must surely be learnt.

Concerns unethically invisible to some

Certainly this is not to proclaim that a counter terror law is not needed at all. Rather it is to say that whatever law must strictly conform to international standards and constitutional safeguards developed by the Supreme Court in the mid-nineties before being engulfed in political controversies that sapped its authority. The draft CTA offends on all these counts.

That it proposes to give the power to issue detention orders to your common or garden path Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) advised by the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) is just one example. By what stretch of the incredulous imagination could this clause have been agreed to, given endemic police torture in Sri Lanka?

So for those curious to where the indignation in these column spaces springs from, the answer lies in the EU’s expedient use of valid critiques in 2009/2010 which however appear to be unethically invisible in 2017. This has little to do with conformity to ‘twenty seven international conventions.’ And even though realpolitik and doublespeak are an inevitable part of life, the lines must surely be drawn at some point by long suffering citizens.
Harm caused by blinkered negotiations

Moreover, even with good law and jurisprudential safeguards more honored in the breach, the drafting of a ‘better’ CTA does not suffice. Practices and policy must also reform, including that of the security and defence sector. In the alternative, we can messily go forward as before, dropping all pretences.

But this Cabinet approved CTA draft holds out a different and far more menacing promise. On no account should a further assault on our liberties be tolerated by condoning a worse counter-terror law since independence, brought about by blinkered negotiations regarding (of all palpable ironies) a trade facility at that. Sri Lankans never asked for this law and should not be made responsible for it either.

Let the EU take serious note of that fact.

‘National Reconciliation Policy’ is a Welcome Initiative

Devolution must go deeper into the local levels. The local government institutions might be the best framework. It is not only in large areas of provinces that grievances and unevenness exist, but in localities of smaller areas that can be covered by local government.

by Laksiri Fernando-May 14, 2017

( May 14, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) The recent formulation of a ‘National Reconciliation Policy’ is a major step towards the objective of reconciliation, approved by the Cabinet, although we have not yet seen the full document. It is important that the Cabinet approval came on the 2^nd May, just eight days before the Vesak day of this year. As predominantly a Buddhist country, the Buddhist philosophy could play a major role in reconciliation in Sri Lanka, if the right efforts are taken in that direction.

‘National Reconciliation Policy’ is a Welcome Initiative.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Modi warned Sirisena about mounting international pressure if Tamils’ demands are not addressed quickly

By Editor on May 14, 2017

Colombo, May 14 (newsin.asia): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that he has warned Sri Lankan President Mithripala Sirisena that undue delays in addressing the outstanding issues of the minority Tamils, including the drafting of a suitable constitution to address their political grievances ,will only result in Sri Lanka’s coming under international scrutiny and pressure.

Modi said this in a 15 minute meeting with a TNA delegation led by the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament, R.Sampanthan. It was not a scheduled meeting but was arranged at the last moment just before Modi took the flight back home on May 12.

Sampanthan briefed Modi about the outstanding issues such as the release of lands  by the military and delays in the constitution making process. Modi was told that there are divisions among the government’s coalition partners on key issues like the abolition of the Executive Presidency. These issues are delaying the drafting of the new constitution and making the Tamils wonder if  a new  constitution will see the light of day at all.

To this Modi said that he had raised  these issues with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe when the latter visited New Delhi last ,and had mentioned them to the President at the dinner hosted by the latter on May 11.

Modi said that it is important for the TNA itself to be united. India on its part will take up the Tamils’ issues with the Sri Lankan government even as it aids economic development in Sri Lanka, including the Tamil areas in the North and East.

In the normal course, the Indian Prime Minister would have met the TNA before meeting the President. But this time, he did not,because the schedule was very tight given the short stay in the island.

He also did not want to use the visit for political discussions with various parties as it was primarily meant to be linked to a religious-cultural event – the International Vesak Day observances.

Modi also wanted to focus this time on reinforcing links with the Tamils of Indian Origin. He formally opened a hospital for them at Dikoya and addressed a public meeting  at the Norwood estate in the tea plantation district of Nuwara Eliya.

(The featured image at the top shows, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with  Tamil National Alliance leader R.Sampanthan)

Cabinet reshuffle is Mahinda’s requirement?

Expose` : Good governance commander in chief completes two years but MR ‘s control still within army !

May 14, 2017

These days are being spent with the Vesak festivities.

Therefore, politics is temporarily forgotten by the people. But, the political battleground continues to be active. For the past few weeks, there has been talk about an impending cabinet reshuffle. The latest is that the cabinet reshuffle is due soon. But, there is a question – is a cabinet reshuffle required at this moment?

The ‘Yahapaalana’ government continues its second year after toppling the Rajapaksa regime. The good governance concept was able to bring down Mahinda Rajapaksa who rewrote part of the country’s history. A question remains as to whether that concept has become a reality. The present day politics is decided by the difference between preaching and practicing. Therefore, the president is in a dilemma as to what should, and should not, be done.

Reports say the ministries of Ravi Karunanayake, Mangala Samaraweera, Sagala Ratnayake and Malik Samarawickrama are to be changed in a cabinet reshuffle. Their portfolios are powerful ones. Therefore, society is having various ideas in that regard. If personal political agendas are set aside, there are many more other things that have to be done for the country first. The government does not comprise a single political party, but a coalition, and therefore, conflicts of opinion do occur. It appears that everyone’s final objective is to achieve their own political agendas.

After making a hero out of Mahinda, the same people brought him down. Maithri and Ranil emerged victorious according to a decision by the people, who asked one thing from the two of them. Also, representatives of ‘Yahapaalanaya’ made their story clear to the people before 08 January 2015. Thereafter, the people supported what had to be done before everything else, as they had not rejected it. But, so far, nothing has been done to their satisfaction. It’s a trot now, and there are suspicions about it too, which is not good for the government. Also, the opposing forces are making interventions actively. Due to its own fault, the government finds its opponents becoming stronger. Mahinda is raising his head slowly. The central and northern provincial councils are on fire. It is the president, with executive powers, who should decide as to whether he should add fuel to the fire or extinguish it.

He should think about the January 08 promises. The foundation should be laid for an atmosphere suited to fulfill those promises. The country does not need another Rajapaksa or Rajapaksa regime. It is not surprising that conflicts occur in politics. What is required is to overcome such conflicts. When that does not happen, we have to ask the question if president Maithripala is dancing to the tune of his predecessor Mahinda.

The Story Of Trespass & Punishment

By Mahesan Niranjan –May 15, 2017 

Prof. Mahesan Niranjan

Thirukkurral is an amazing piece of work in Tamil literature, written by poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar, (one also uses Kurral and Valluvar, with the prefix Thiru adding a touch of holiness to them). He is thought to have lived some two thousand years ago. The work consists of 1330 couplets, arranged in 130 chapters spanning three major themes of virtue, wealth and love. The literary beauty of Thirukkurral is in the packing density of information. An often quoted analogy, by those who do not have competence in calculating the necessary pressure and volume, is to make you imagine drilling a hole in a mustard seed and pumping all the water in the oceans into it. But in terms of information content, I bet if a DNA molecule were to study Thirukkurral , it would hang its head in shame. A second important thing about Thirukkurral is that it is not a holy book that acts as an interface between man and stone. Its verses observe far more than they prescribe. Promises of reward for good behaviour and threats of punishment for trespass are generally kept to a minimum. Yet the demarcation of boundaries between good and bad along each of the three axes of the poet’s interest are communicated with exceptional skill.

That being the case, when the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) organised a day of celebration for Thiruvalluvar, my drinking partner in Bridgetown — the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow by the name Sivapuranam Thevaram — insisted that we travel down to the capital and attend the event. Browsing to register for the event, we discovered that SOAS has had a statue of Thiruvalluar at its entrance for some 20 years. The humble man with amazing thought and command of language would also now think of himself as photogenic, for by now he would have featured in the graduation photographs of hundreds of SOAS students. My own first reaction, I confess, was to take a selfie with him within a few minutes of arriving at the School.

“Would they actually know his work, or of him, machan (buddy),” Thevaram asked me in the train to London, “or would the students just pose for photographs and walk past?”

This question was followed by a few minutes of deadly silence between us contemplating how many of the 1300 couplets we ourselves knew! I pulled out my copy of Thirukkurral from my rucksack and started counting. There were 58 I had come across before and could tell the meaning of in some detail. Of these, I could only recall 26 by heart if prompted with the first word.

“I know 27!” claimed my friend, beating me by one.

We joined the SOAS event with a sense of embarrassment. Of what is hailed as the finest literary work in our language, a language we hold dear in our hearts as one of the oldest among those now living, one in whose name we as a community sent thousands of kids to kill themselves, the two of us knew just about 2%. Shameful. Even if we had learnt one couplet a year, we should have covered over twice that.

The SOAS celebrations consisted of garlanding the poet’s statue, some talks, dance and music, and a panel discussion. Despite the weather forecast, the afternoon was pleasant. In the talks, we were told funding cuts to universities and the recent imposition of fees (£ 9,000 for students in the UK) meant SOAS no longer teaches Tamil. Gone are the days of direct government funding so some disciplines could sustain the luxury of professors outnumbering students, the Faculty Dean said.  Some languages like Arabic and Chinese are better resourced due to the economic muscle they wield and the fear they inject. It would appear that Rajendra Chozan’s memory, so eloquently captured in Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, isn’t enough to help Tamils punch at the same level. SOAS was looking to generate endowments and other sources of funding to kick start activity in several minority languages including Tamil, and had ambitions of establishing a chair in Tamil studies. Another speaker said there were efforts to raise the statue and seat him on a pedestal a few feet higher.

The dance performance was sweet. Seeing dance mentioned in the programme, my friend and I were preparing for the usual – the young boy-god Krishna stealing butter from the fridge! But this was creative and adventurous, a special choreography of five couplets in Thirukkurral. Though it took us both some effort to relate the kurrals being depicted to the abinayam (dance gestures) in places, we enjoyed the dance very much. A short recital of some kurrals by children showed the challenges of accurately articulating the phonetic and syllable-stress patterns of Tamil by those whose first language is from the Indo-European family. But the kids did a far better job than Tamil announcements herd in flights of Sri Lankan Airline.

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Amma, mama, maman, mother?The tale of a curious linguistic wonder

Be Rochana Jayasinghe-May 14, 2017, 12:00 pm 

This Mother's Day (March 14th) promised to be as jubilant as ever, with a lot of mothers around the world being made special, being paid gratitude to. In short, Mother’s Day is a day for celebrating and appreciating the revered state of motherhood. 

In our part of the world, this day is called Mawwarungedinaya, Annaiyardinam, Ammamardinam, Matri divas while in Europe it is Mother’s Day, Morsday, Fête des Mères, Dia da Mãa, Mors Dag or Dzien Matila. If you've apprehended anything strange in all these phrases, bingo! It is quite evidently the eery similarity between all these words for 'mother' (and day too, but we'll keep that for another time)! 

We call our mothers Amma, Ammi, Mama here at home, unsurprisingly quite similar to the Hindi Maji, Urdu Ammee, Nepali Aama and Amma in all Dravidian languages ( apart from Tamil; Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam). But this is only natural isn't it, given that all languages sprung from the same subcontinent? 

Well, moving a little West, we have mère or maman in French, Mutter in German, madre or mamma in Italian as well as the Dutch moeder and even the Greek mánaormitéra. We have the Celtic languages calling the mother maitaar and diverting a bit, the Baltic-Slavic languages calling the mother mama, matkee, motina, māte and so on. Almost all countries in the Middle East use the term mama, too.

Then again, all these languages (save for the Dravidian ones) have their root in the same linguistic family - the Proto-Indo-European branch of languages. Hence, over many thousands of years, these languages would have slushed together due to travel, trade and commerce, which brings me to my next point. 

Don't all these languages change during the course of these very many thousands of years?  I mean, you hardly call your lover, a 'swain'anymore. Nor do you use 'bedight' instead of 'decorate',  'wiffmann' instead of 'woman' or 'munuc' instead of 'monk'.

Not very many of these languages -even the closest of all- share common words for the same thing. The dog is called 'naai' in Tamil while in Telugu the word is 'kukka'. 'Bribe' in Sinhala is 'pagawa' while in Hindi it is 'ghoos'. 'Brat' in English is the Polish word for 'brother', 'déception' the French word, means disappointment and not deception, the German 'arm' means the poor and not the body part,and the list goes on.So, languages CHANGE from one another, take different forms even amongst themselves, their sounds morph into completely different patterns. So how is it that 'mother' stubbornly refuses to change?Why do all these words seem to be variations of mom, mommy, amma? And no, oh no, this isn't common to just the Indo-European or Dravidian languages. Mandarin, which shares absolutely no similarity with any of our languages, calls the mother... yes you guessed it - mama! And that is certainly not it. 

Other Sino-Tibetan languages call the mother mo, ama, ma (Tibetan)mae(Thai) andmihikain (Burmese). Why, speakers of Swahili call their mother mama too! (Independent of colonial influences) Not to mention most Native American tribes; amá (Navajo), mama (Quechua), omaamaamaa (Ojibwe), mema (Tagish). 

Pure coincidence? I think not. I think its safe to establish that these are certainly not cognates (words of common etymological origin). 

So is this proof of some sort of ancient universal language? Or maybe its some sort of collective conscious?

Roman Jakobson, a famous linguist researched on this bizarre similarity. These words for mother are said to be based on a bilabial nasal or similar consonant. Basically, when a baby starts making random sounds, the easiest vowel he or she can make is 'ah'. Babies usually make these sounds when they are being fed breast milk or when hungry for more. When the baby suckles at the mother's breast, it learns the easiest close-lipped sound: 'm'. This combined with 'ah' forms 'ma'. In communicating, the baby cries out a string of many ‘ma’s which, yes, forms the word ‘mama’, which mimics the mouth motion of sucking at the mother’s breast. This is of course, interpreted as mama,amma,maman world over. Indeed, most languages vary when it comes to the formal word ‘mother’, but almost every language boasts a recognizable form of ‘mama’.

These open-mouth vowel sounds are the easiest vocalizations for humans to make. It’s the most convenient sound babies naturally make even before they learn language. Indeed, one can even say the word mama laid grounds for the Latin mamma which means 'breast' from which came the terms 'mammary' and 'mammary glands'.

Where the letter m isn't the mainstream letter in the word for mother, it is the letter 'n'; annai(formal Tamil), nana (Fijian), anana (Eskimo), nanay (Tagalog). This is also a type of vocalization that babies constantly use, that everyone else interprets as a call for their mother. This is how these sounds have come to form words in the adult language. Adults assume the baby automatically ‘learns’ the word for mother, when in reality it is a call of yearning for the one person they know, who can provide for them, nurture them and love them.

On a side note, quite interestingly, babies’ secondary choices of consonants are p or b and t or d. This why in most countries all over the world, the father is informally papa, baba, babboand in more formal terms pita, piyain some places, and thaththa, dad, tad in others. In Native American Koasuti, the term for the father istaata(thaththa?) and not only that, but in Korea, the father is appa or abba (appa, appachchi?). It is said that babies, when unable to reach out for their mothers, makes different noises to catch the attention of the other person that they know, who could tend to them; the father. The interpretation of these sounds as the word for ‘father’, comes in consequence.

Of course, this phenomenon isn’t shared by all languages in the world; the Japanese informal terms for their parents are hahaand chichi! Quite different to anything mentioned above. Most languages in the Polynesian part of the world have stark differences too.

However, one simply cannot ignore this curious, yet beautiful and amazing linguistic wonder that knows no borders. It IS true, then that a mother’s influence runs wide and strong. So the next time you call your mother, remember that the bond between you and your mother is very special. There is a reason as to why ‘amma’, ‘ammi’ or ‘mama’ was your first word ever. It was simply because even back then you knew she was the first person you ever needed. The bond between you and your mother was formed at the very core of your being.

So, I wish a very Happy Mother’s Day to my Ammi as well as all the other ammas, moms, mamas, mamans in the world!

Protest in Pungudutivu over transfer of murder case

14 May  2017

A demonstration took place in Pungudutivu on Thursday, with dozens of Tamils protesting against a move to transfer the case of the rape and murder of a Tamil schoolgirl to a court in Colombo, in front of three Sinhala speaking judges.

The rape and murder of schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vithya set off massive protests across the Tamil North-East, with demands that the perpetrators be held accountable. Two years on, and a trial is yet to begin.

Relatives of the murdered schoolgirl, alongside other locals, protested against an attempt to move the case to Colombo, instead of letting the trial take place in Jaffna, before Tamil speaking judges.

Not only would the transfer of the case mean that judges will have to listen to evidence and testimonies in translation, but it would also mean that “entire non summary inquiries will have to be translated into Tamil leading to further delay in the commencement of the trial” said the protestors.

A letter addressed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka also added that “the conduct of the case in Colombo would also be in violation of the language rights of the affected party enshrined in the Constitution”.

“But more importantly, the transfer of the case... will greatly affect public confidence in the judiciary,” it added.

See the full text of the letter below.