The incarceration and release of Galagodaatte Gnanasara

Galagodaatte Gnanasara

by C.A.Chandraprema-June 23, 2018, 8:22 pm 

The monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara who was serving a six month sentence handed down by the Homagama Magistrate’s court for threatening and intimidating a witness in the court premises has now been released on bail pending his appeal. The reason why he is in this sorry situation today is because of the inability of the bhikku Nikayas in this country to enforce discipline among their monks. In the recent past, there was an attempt to confer legal status on the Kathikawath or rules governing the various Nikayas so that a monk expelled by a nikaya could be made to disrobe through the intervention of the organs of the state including the judiciary. However this fell by the wayside because some senior monks opposed this proposed law on the grounds that when legal status is conferred on the Kathikawath of the various Nikayas, that will have the effect of solidifying and once again bringing to the fore the various differences among the various Nikayas.

They pointed out that in the decades since Independence, the differences between the various Nikayas had progressively diminished to the point where to outsiders such differences would almost be imperceptible. The end result of this is that there is no mechanism at all to expel and disrobe monks who behave in a manner unbecoming of a monk. Even if a bhikku had been expelled by his Nikaya and his name struck off the register of bhikkus maintained by the Commissioner of Buddhist Affairs, there was still no legal mechanism by which he could be disrobed. Senior monks have told this writer that there are several instances where monks who had been expelled by their Nikayas and whose names have been struck off the register of bhikkus have continued to wear robes.

One version of a proposed amendment to the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance had a Section numbered as 43(4)(a) which specified that if a person whose name has been struck off the register of bhikkus, continues to be in robes, the Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs can bring it to the notice of the Magistrate’s court of the area and after due inquiries, the Magistrate has the power to order that individual to appear before him in the clothes of a layman. Such a system of giving practical effect to the disrobing of an expelled monk would have solved a major problem faced by the Buddhist dispensation in this country. Because no mechanism exists to expel and disrobe monks who behave in a manner unbecoming of a monk, Gnanasara who should long since have been expelled from bhikkuhood and disrobed, is now a convict who has been enlarged on bail.

If the bhikku oganizations in this country had the powers that they should be vested with, he would not be in jail or on the streets but at home, living as a layman. No other religious order in this country or the world would have tolerated the outrages committed by this monk. Yet the Buddhist dispensation in this country has remained paralysed. Sandya Ekneligoda is not the only person that Gnanasara has insulted or threatened, He has threatened this writer as well. Sandya Ekneligoda was intimidated, threatened or humiliated inside a court room. In my case, I was threatened at the funeral of the mother of Ven. Medagoda Abhayatissa. So this is a monk who cares very little about what he does and where he does it. So far as I am aware, Gnanasara had not used any obscenities on Sandya Ekneligoda. In my case as well, the offensive words used was the term ‘thamuse’ and ‘kana palanawa’.

Senior monks worse

off than Sandya

The senior bhikkus are far worse off. Some senior monks have lifted the phone only to find a familiar voice at the other end cursing and bellowing obscenities and unprintable adjectives in their ears. As the person at the other end is familiar with goings on within temples, these details are mentioned with many an imprecation laced with choice epithets. The bhikku community can cope with a threat coming from outside but in the 2500 year history of this country, the bhikku community never learnt how to deal with a peril coming from within because no such thing existed until just a few years ago. The former Magistrate and the present Magistrate of Homagama should know that by hearing the case against Gnanasara and sentencing him to jail, they have not only done justice to a witness and upheld the status of the court, but also done the entire Buddhist dispensation in this country a great service.

It has to be said that the Americans and the Norwegians who unleashed this destruction upon Sri Lanka have chosen well. The Americans granted Gnanasara thera a multiple reentry visa to the USA in 2011 and this was canceled later only after the Sunday Island questioned the connection between this monk and the American embassy. In 2012, it was a few months after a trip to Norway that bhikku Gnanasara first emerged as a public figure by spearheading an anti-Muslim campaign. Since then he has won the dubious distinction of being the only Buddhist monk to become a public figure entirely through thuggery. Before he first appeared on the streets, he was completely unknown. So far, the Bhikku establishment, governments, the police and even public opinion has not been able to stop the depredations of this monk.

It is only the Homagama Magistrate’s court that has at least implemented the law of the land in relation to this monk and for that the two Magistrates should be commended. Gnanasara thera was the monk that the JHU deployed to break up meetings of the Norwegian funded Anti-War front during the early days of the last phase of the war against the LTTE. The Bodu Bala Sena CEO Dilantha Vithanage said very openly at a press conference that it was Champika Ranawaka who directed Gnanasara to violence (prachandathwayata yomu kale). What the Norwegians did in 2012 was to co-opt this very monk who was used to disrupt their activities and to use him instead against the Sri Lankan national interest and Buddhism itself.

Dr Rajitha Senaratne has told this writer that Gnanasara thera should be given an award for the role he played in bringing the Rajapaksa government down. This was once again an operation of the JHU as explained by a founding member of the JHU Asoka Abeygoonesekera in his book ‘Yuga Peraliya’. The strategy was to use Gnansara to thrash the Muslims and Christians so that the Rajapaksa government becomes dependent only on the Sinhala-Buddhist vote and then at the last minute the JHU defected to the other side taking with them a crucial number of Sinhala votes so that the Rajapaksa government fell. This was a conspiracy more than two years in the making from 2012 onwards. After having come into national prominence through thuggery, Gnanasara is now stuck with that role. Monks who were parallel to him in seniority in the bhikku order are today well known academics and respected heads of institutions. They can reach presidents and prime ministers and opposition leaders over the phone any time they like. They can invite heads of state and political leaders to their functions and be assured of attendance.

But all political leaders avoid Gnanasara like the plague. Nobody wants to be seen or photographed in his company. Nobody invites him for important functions. Recently, when Gnanasara attended a meeting in Japan that was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena and photographs of this meeting were circulated widely over the internet, the President’s media division quickly issued a press release stating that he was not among the invitees but had attended that meeting uninvited and they took care to state that the only monk who had officially been a part of the President’s entourage was Ulapane Sumangala thera. Thus, while the latter who is a contemporary of Gnanasara thera, is welcomed and acknowledged officially, Gnanasara himself is shunned. This is a situation that Gnanasara will have to live with for the rest of his life. One could say that these are the consequences of seeking instant fame through thuggery and hooliganism.

The genius to turn

everything into dust

For a while, student activists in the universities feel they are riding high with their faces being shown on the TV news bulletins every night, but after a while they realize that this fame was not doing them any good and they fade away to be replaced by someone else. In Gnanasara’s case, he has no way out of it even if he wants to. The only way that he can be seen on the TV channels is through his usual hooliganism. No TV channel will be interested in broadcasting a sermon by him. In fact he would look absurd trying to preach Buddhism – it would be like Mervyn Silva trying to deliver lectures on history in a university. Just as the media does not expect learned speeches from Mervyn Silva, what they expect from Gnansara is thuggery. Since this is the only way Gnansara can remain in the public eye, he readily supplies the media with what they expect.

Furthermore, it is only through this thuggery and hooliganism that he is able to have a small following of like minded individuals. There is always a lunatic fringe in society and Gnanasara thera has tapped into a segment of it. If fame cannot be achieved, even infamy is better than obscurity. There is also a cottage industry associated with this activism which seeks to milk expatriate Sri Lankans for funds to meet their expenses. There are videos of Gananasara speaking to expatriate Sinhalese about the expenses relating to the numerous cases against him. This lunatic fringe really does not bother about the results achieved by Gnanasara. The fact is that as far as the Sinhala nationalist cause is concerned, he has had the effect of turning everything he touches into dust. The small lunatic fringe following that Gnansara has may think it was a great act of heroism to have threatened Sandya Ekneligoda in courts, but the effect this had has is that everyone is talking about Sandya Ekneligoda and Gnanasara but nobody is talking about the armed forces personnel who were imprisoned.

In Kandy, the death of a Sinhala youth was caused by four drunken Muslims. Gnanasara visited the area and a riot ensued. Now everyone is talking about the Sinhala -Muslim riot but nobody is taking about the Sinhala youth who was killed or whether action is being taken against the four Muslims who started the whole thing. The same thing can be said about Beruwela. It all started off with reports of a monk being assaulted by a group of Muslims. Gnansara went to Beruwela and a riot ensued and now nobody knows what happened to the monk who is supposed to have been assaulted or the Muslims who are supposed to have carried out the assault. That is obviously not the way things are supposed to happen. Quite apart from what Gnanasara has done to the so called causes he has espoused through his pig headed approach, he has painted himself into a corner and is now unable to get out of it.

What takes the cake is that the yahapalana conspirators who came into power by deploying him to attack the Muslims and Christians, are now seeking to stay on in power with the help of the Muslim vote by showing the latter that unlike the Rajapaksa government, they have taken steps to deal with this monk that they remanded him once and have now convicted him and even made him wear prison garb instead of his robe! This is similar to ISIS using mentally retarded persons to wear suicide vests which can be exploded by an operator once he reaches the target. Little wonder that many in the social media circuits refer to him not as ‘Gnanasara’ but as ‘Nanasara’. 

What did Norwegians tell Sampanthan and team?

By Gagani Weerakoon- JUN 24 2018

As the country was busy debating the morality of a leading Buddhist monk advocating a rumoured 2020 presidential candidate to be like Hitler and a ‘barbaric act’ of killing a leopard in the former de facto tiger capital Kilinochchi, the United States of America (USA) pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), calling it a “cesspool of political bias”.
Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the UN, said it was a “hypocritical” body that “makes a mockery of human rights”.

Formed in 2006, the Geneva-based council has faced criticism in the past for allowing member countries with questionable human rights records.
But activists said the US move could hurt efforts to monitor and address human rights abuses around the world.

With USA pulling out from UNHRC, many in Sri Lanka were attempting to analyze, its impact on Sri Lanka and the US co-sponsored resolution on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war.

The United States (US) withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council will be positive for Sri Lanka in light of the predicament it has faced at the Council, Co-Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne noted when asked as to what the Government’s stance is on the matter.

Addressing weekly Cabinet media briefing, Minister Senaratne said that with the US departure, the pressure on Sri Lanka to adopt and implement the recommendations set forth by the UNHRC and its Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will diminish exponentially.

He noted that the US was one of the influential Member States that imposed the recommendations of the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka and therefore with its withdrawal, the pressure on the country will reduce greatly and have a positive impact.

“Despite former President Mahinda Rajapaksa signing and ratifying various human rights-related international Conventions there was no observable implementation of those which resulted in the immense international pressure on the country.
However, in my opinion, if we have agreed and accepted international accords, we have to abide by them no matter what others might say. If not, we have to leave,” he opined.

According to a US Embassy statement Ambassador Atul Keshap met senior Sri Lankan officials to convey the assurance of the United States Government that they will remain fully engaged with the Sri Lankan Government to help it meet its continuing and standing commitments to the international community to advance the cause of reconciliation and lasting peace for all Sri Lankans.

Sri Lanka co-sponsored with the United States two UN Human Rights Commission Resolutions: 30/1 in 2015 and Resolution 34/1 in 2017, and the United States continues to extend its support to Sri Lanka to fulfil these important commitments and obligations as articulated and reaffirmed in these resolutions.
Sri Lanka’s continued progress towards fulfilment of these international commitments will facilitate further growth of our bilateral relations and enhance Sri Lanka’s ability to engage with friends and partners around the world.

“We will follow Sri Lanka’s progress closely and look ahead to engaging with Sri Lanka between now and March 2019 in the spirit of friendship that has marked our recent relations.
As Sri Lanka takes further steps outlined in the Geneva resolution, the United States will also support and expand our bilateral partnership”.

Commenting on the decision by the United States to quit the UNHRC, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said the party would work with other countries that co-sponsored the resolution on Sri Lanka to ensure that its provisions were implemented.

According to the TNA, there were four key countries that co-sponsored this resolution – the United States, Britain, Montenegro and Macedonia.
TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said, in the absence of the US in the UNHRC, the other three countries would follow it up.

He also said the resolution on Sri Lanka was adopted unanimously on two occasions.

“Sri Lanka also co-sponsored it twice. Therefore, there should be no dispute on that. Sri Lanka has committed itself twice to the international community. To that extent, it will be obliged,” he said.

Asked whether it would be challenging without the US, he said the role of that country was crucial when votes were taken on resolutions on Sri Lanka in 2012 and 2013. However, he said that there was a consensus resolution at the moment.

TNA-Norway in talks

The visiting Norwegian State Secretary for Development Cooperation Jens Frølich Holte met the Tamil National Alliance Delegation led by the Leader of the Opposition and the Tamil National Alliance R. Sampanthan on Friday (22) at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

Sampanthan briefed the Secretary on the status of the political affairs in the country.
While appreciating the support and partnership extended by the Norwegian Government in the past in rebuilding Sri Lanka especially in the area of a political solution to the national question, Sampanthan briefed the Secretary on the efforts taken to have a new Constitution and said as representatives of the people they cannot throw away the opportunity that has come their way.

Opposition Leader Sampanthan feared that any failure in this process will lead to further divisions among communities in the country.

 “I am not ruling out the chances of having a new Constitution, but we are disappointed about the delays in the recent past in taking this process further.
This Government can achieve what they couldn’t achieve in the past if they are genuinely committed and have the political will do so, Sampanthan added.

“We have been governed without our will and consent; from 1956 onwards our people have repeatedly voted for a change in the structure of Governance in this country. These democratic verdicts have been continuously ignored and rejected,” he said.

He also stressed that the TNA is well within the international laws with regard to their demands for power-sharing.

Further the process of framing a new Constitution has been there since 1988 and every successive Government has worked on this, he said. We cannot entertain any further undue delays in this matter.
The draft Constitution must be presented to Parliament and debated and upon receiving a two-thirds majority, it should be approved by the people at a referendum, he added.
The people who think on racial lines are not the majority in this country but unfortunately, they are heard more than the moderates but if the moderate forces work together in these matters, mustering a two-thirds majority and passing a Constitution is possible, Sampanthan said.

Responding to a question Sampanthan said: “We have not been given equal opportunities in terms of development and employment and our people are frustrated; on the contrary if power is devolved then these socio-economic issues could be addressed more effectively and meaningfully”.

Speaking on the release of lands in the North and the East the TNA Leader has said there had been progress in this regard but things can be speedily addressed given the fact that it has been over nine years since the war came to an end.

“Armed forces are cultivating in these lands and the crops are sold to the very owners of these lands which is harmful to achieve peace and reconciliation in this country,” he added.

Sampanthan also brought to the notice of the delegation that people in several places in the North and the East are staging protests over land, persons in custody and the issue of missing persons.

These are matters that are of concern to our people and we want the international community to play an important role in finding solutions to these issues, he added.

The Norwegian Delegation led by the State Secretary for Development Cooperation Jens Frølich Holte comprised of Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther, Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Dagny Mjøs, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kjersti Nordskog Nes, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Monica Svenskerud, Counsellor/Deputy Head of Mission. Along with the Tamil National Alliance Leader, Parliamentarians M.A. Sumanthiran and Selvam Adaikalanathan also participated at the meeting.

MR on listing 14 LTTE supporters

The Government issued an Extraordinary Gazette on Wednesday (20) listing 14 individuals as designated persons who have connections with the LTTE in terms of terrorism-related activities and funding and financing of terrorism, to the List of Designated Persons.

The Gazette which was issued by Defence Ministry Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne, adds amendments to the List of Designated Persons under Regulations 4 (7) of the United Nations Regulations No. 1 of 2012.

According to the Gazette, the names and designations of the 14 people are:

LTTE intelligence Leaders Nadaraja Sathyaseelan alias Seel Maran, Antonyrasa Antony Calistor alias Parathan and Jeewarathnam Jeewakumar alias Siranjeew,  Members  of LTTE Air Wing, Velaudan Pradeepkumar alias Kaleeban, Siwarasa Surendran alias Wadann, Sivagurunadan Murugadas alias Kadirawan, Thirunilakandal Naguleshwaran alias Pushpanadan, Flying Instructor Maheshwaran Ravichandran alias Mendis alias Thirukkumaran, International Financial Leader Sivasubramaniyam Jeyaganesh alias Ganesh alias Samraj and Money Collector Ponnasami Paskaran alias Jeyakaran.

Commenting on the Government issuing an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, placing 14 individuals, suspected of links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and now living abroad, on a list of designated persons, banned from entry to Sri Lanka, former President, Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the move comes in the wake of the 14 arriving in the island, travelling to Kilinochchi, getting what they wanted done and leaving with monies.

The former President noted that in light of this, the issuing of the Gazette was laughable as it was akin to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

“At a time when the majority of the countries in the world are acting against terrorism, why is the Government of Sri Lanka following a lax policy and according to whose agenda?” he queried.

“The service of the military intelligence is important when paying attention to national security. The Government is imprisoning military intelligence officers who contributed to defeating terror.
The Government is destroying national security and pleasing the pro-Tigers,” the former President said.

Maithri on dictators President Maithripala Sirisena says on 8 January 2015, the people of this country contributed to the change the administration of the country which was increasingly moving towards a dictatorship.

Those who forgot those experiences will once again appeal to bring the dictatorial regime again in the country but the President emphasized that he will not allow tarnishing the aspirations of the people of this country they bestowed on 8 January, 2015.

He made these remarks addressing a ceremony held in Nikaweratiya, on Thursday (21).

President Sirisena said that ending an era of a dictatorship, the freedom and democracy demanded by the people have been ensured not only 100 per cent, but 200 per cent in the country.
He added that even though some attempted to interpret the present regime as a lenient administration, all of them must understand it is a journey with freedom and democracy.

President Sirisena further said that although some attacked the Gvernment using the freedom given and democracy in the country in a wrongful manner, he will further strengthen the required correct political and development path for the country joining hands with all those who value democracy including the scholars and intellectuals.

President Sirisena who mentioned that it was possible to bring a lot of victories and to bring back the international community close to the motherland which was distant from freedom and democracy ensured in the country for the past three and a half years said that no one should contribute to reverse the journey towards the future commenced by the country.

President Sirisena’s remarks come at a juncture where it was given a massive publicity to a part of a sermon delivered by Anunayaka of the Asgiriya Chapter, Ven.  Wendaruwe Upali Thera which requested former Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to even resort to becoming a ‘Hitler’ and run a military rule and build the country.

He said this at the religious ceremony and alms giving held on the 69th birthday of Gotabaya Rajapaksa at his residence in Mirihana. A group of Bhikkhus representing the Three Chapters, attended the occasion where all four Rajapaksa brothers - former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and former MInister Basil Rajapaksa were present.

Conversations hiding in plain sight

Sanjana Hattotuwa-          June 23, 2018           

Sri Lanka is many things. Yet arguably apart for a brief time after the cricket world cup final in 1996, one country it is not and has never been. Variously projected and perceived as strength in diversity or a bone of contention, many imagined nations within the 65,610 square kilometres of our island coalesce and converge, as much as they grow distant and diverge. These existential fears and myths are rich fodder for parochial, political gain. Mahinda Rajapaksa just last week said that one of the problems the country faces is that Sinhalese Buddhists don’t have nine to ten children anymore, and are thus facing extinction because of the artificial imposition of birth control. His comments, at a Temple and aimed at the sangha, flows into an explosive yet factually unfounded trope where another community in Sri Lanka is said to be increasing their progeny at an exponential rate, given their ability to marry more than one woman, thus a few decades hence, encroaching on and ultimately ruling Buddha’s chosen land.

Discriminated against in ways incomprehensible to those who aren’t subject to it daily, violently subjugated and even post-war, militarily corralled communities are fighting for their dignity and identity, even as those projected and perceived as the majority community, based on numeric strength, have deep rooted, enduring and growing existential fears around their own future. Consuming in English a lone media – both mainstream or social – masks pulsating drivers and changing contours of these distinct nations, each vying for geographic or territorial contiguity as well as legitimacy. If as we know the country has a youth bulge in its electorate, with those between 18 to 34 constituting the majority of the vote base in all elections to come, understanding how they see, stand aside from and also contribute to this idea of a country called Sri Lanka is important.

Imagine, if you will, an old fountain pen and blotting paper. Imagine three of our points of contact where fresh ink leaks to paper, and the stain that spreads across it, creating a unique pattern or design. If in close proximity, these blots will merge and eat into each other, darkening the overlap even as they create upon close inspection, embedded, distinct edges within each other’s pattern or spread. The initial point of contact with fountain pen will be darker than the edges, where the ink has run out. Depending on pressure, viscosity of ink, time of contact and other factors, each ink blot will have its distinct signature. Social media in Tamil, Sinhala and English are like ink blots. Each blossom and bloom around specific issues, at various times, and differently too, depending on which platform one is looking at.

Twitter, for example, has a different dynamic around pace, tone, substance and attention than Facebook. These are called technical affordances – things that each platform allow a user to do. Facebook for example allows longer descriptions and a range of reactions. Twitter does not. Instagram, anchored to photography, offers, quite literally, a frame as a way to look at the world. Depending on platform, the conversations and foci also shift. But there’s more to this. For decades, Sinhala, Tamil and English mainstream media have offered very different frames of the same country. Depending on which media one consumes, during and even after the war, the perception of country, its faults as well as its potential, is vastly, often irreconcilably different. The democratising use, unstoppable spread and indubitable appeal of social media, for a younger demographic, one would imagine would move away from this corrosive bias and prejudice.

Tellingly, there is no discernible evidence, however, that it does.

Take the sentencing of Gnanasara Thero. Twenty four hours after the judgement in courts, it was Facebook that was the key driver of news around the Thero, in Sinhala. Gossip sites overwhelmed anything mainstream news sites put out, across social media but especially on Facebook. As I noted at the time on social media, a quick scan of the posts across many public pages highlighting the incarceration revealed a world full of grief, hate, bile, revenge, violence, misogyny and almost outright support for the Thero to the vicious, venomous condemnation of everything and everyone else. It was a different universe from commentary and responses in English, over Twitter, celebrating the judgement and supporting Sandya Eknaligoda. A black flag protest had begun on Facebook, with many choosing to change their profile image with a black flag or the image of the Thero. Videos uploaded to Facebook by young men, including young priests, called upon the Sinhalese rise up, fight, take up arms against a grave injustice and insult to the Sasana, Buddhism and the Sinhalese (not necessarily in that order). Even more humbling was the realisation that looking at this organic generation and spread of bile, the anxiety, anger and fear captured therein was deep-rooted and unaddressed by policymakers, or even civil society.

I revisited the issue and the data around a week after, just before the Thero was given bail. My focus was on Sinhala as well as English, looking at Twitter and Facebook. In Sinhala, multiple spellings of the Thero’s name were used to make ensure I captured as much of the public discussion as possible. I discovered 124 Facebook pages highlighting the Thero’s incarceration, generating 105 posts, viewed around 430,000 times. On Facebook, you can also share content and like it, both of which potentially places the original material on the news feeds of friends. It is thus probable that this content reached hundreds of thousands more, at the very least, over just one week. Content ranged from hurt and sadness to more strident calls for all Sinhalese-Buddhists to rise up and fight at a historic moment. Over same time, there were just 13 discrete accounts on Twitter highlighting the Thero. The most engaging post on Facebook was around 187 times more actively liked or shared than the most retweeted (or shared content) on Twitter. Clearly, Facebook, especially in Sinhala, and not Twitter in any language, is the primary vector of political news and information for a young demographic in Sri Lanka.

Like ink blots, each language had its primary audience, and while there was some overlap, much of the content was geared to stoke up or resonate with pre-existing fears. Revealingly, a week after the Thero’s judgement, mainstream news accounts on Facebook had taken over content generation from gossip sites. One leading private TV channel in particular ran a number of videos very clearly and almost completely partial to the Thero, generating tens of thousands of views cumulatively. Thus, while gossip sites are quick to disseminate news and information, in deeply problematic ways, they are also quick to move on. Even over social media, what drives deep-seated communal and religious prejudice seem to be, based on a study of Gnanasara Thero’s brief sojourn in prison and reporting around it on Facebook and Twitter, mainstream media’s accounts or presence. This is a far cry from what our President and politicians often decry as a bunch of racists abusing social media to spread misinformation and hate.

The same patterns are visible around the form and substance of Sinhala and English language content anchored to the Asgiriya’s Thero’s comments on Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Interestingly, across both episodes, content in Sinhala by the sangha or featuring the sangha, deeply critical of the Buddha Sasana or a particular thero, generates comparably less views but also attracts, by order of magnitude, far less venom and vicious pushback. There may be a lesson here, or many. There are certainly warning signs for those who aren’t deeply attentive to the fluid contours of popular, public discourse over social media vectors that are today centre and forward in shaping political opinion.

WAITING FOR HERR HITLER?

24 June, 2018

Is Sri Lanka ready for an elected dictator? This is the latest question to enter the country’s current political debate. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s preparations to contest the next presidential election in 2019 have already precipitated a potentially explosive controversy that can last weeks and months. An admirer of Gotabaya Rajapaksa has echoed as a positive political desire, what his detractors have been suggesting indirectly for the past few months. A Buddhist prelate representing Sri Lanka’s most conservative Sangha establishment has said it in a few words: “Let Gotabaya Rajapaksa prove his critics right by becoming a real Hitler.”

Ven. Wendaruwe Upali, deputy chief priest of the Asgiriya Chapter in Kandy, made his rather unusual plea to Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the latter’s birthday alms giving just a few days ago. In the crowd listening to the monk were former strongman President Mahinda Rajapaksa and ex-liberal democrat G. L. Peiris, who happens to be the nominal leader of the newly formed Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP). The latter is a political outfit created as a vehicle for the political ambitions of various members belonging to two generations of the Rajapaksa family.

Viyath Maga

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has begun to build his own presidential campaign outside the SLPP through a new organization called Viyath Maga (“Path of the Learned’), which is a non-party entity. It is a loose association of ex-military officers, some relatively new, to use Dayan Jayatilleka’s phrase, business tycoons, and a few layers of the Colombo-based professionals and academics with high personal ambitions. Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Viyath Maga have already given some key signals about their political project. Two of them can be stated as follows:

· Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s political strategy seems to have been designed to build his campaign initially outside an established political party, while projecting himself as an unconventional, non-party leader emerging outside the mainstream of the political establishment. Once he established himself as a formidable presidential candidate, he would be able to force either the SLPP led by his brother, or the SLFP led by President Sirisena, or both, to back his campaign. In this strategy, Gotabaya Rajapaksa seems to follow Donald Trump, the President of the country of his second citizenship.

· The three immediate social groups that constitute the core of Viyath Maga and their ideological orientations give us a clue to the type of regime that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is promoting: an illiberal meritocracy. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has no qualms about admitting publicly that he is no great admirer of democracy. The uniqueness of his campaign is that he is ready to present to Sri Lankan voters an openly undemocratic regime choice.

Viyath Maga’s Vision

The ex-military officers who seem to constitute Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s immediate support constituency have brought into the Viyath Maga project the fantasy of a new ruler who could transform Sri Lanka into a society of docile subjects who would embrace a Sinhalese –Buddhist strongman saviour of their rata, jaathiya and aagama (‘country, nation, and religion). This is the Fuhrer element which Upali Thero also mentioned when he elaborated his political dream.

Meanwhile, the political consciousness of this group of military offices has been shaped primarily by their participation in the counter-insurgency war against the LTTE. It is a synthesis of an extreme version of Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism and militarism. Ideologically, they are averse to the basic dimensions of modern democracy such as, human rights, minority rights, constitutionalism, checks and balances, devolution, and institutional dispersal of politics in governance. A highly centralised state, a strong leader not constrained by democratic norms and practices, efficient government free from democratic accountability, and a controlling role for the military in civilian governance are the key components of the ‘vision’ of political transformation they have so far articulated.
This group’s fantasy is shared by some layers in Sinhalese-Buddhist elites, including monks from property-owning and urban-based Temples that still maintain feudal-type relations with the lay society and the State. Ven. Upali from the Agiriya Temple of Kandy is just one among several Buddhist monks who have been expressing quite openly a desire for a Sinhalese political leader with a military background as a saviour, who, in Ven. Upali’s words, “can build this country.”
Tycoons

The business tycoons who back Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s campaign constitute a somewhat new, and extraordinarily interesting phenomenon in Sri Lanka’s economic, social and political arena. They are big-time entrepreneurs. Representing a global trend of this class, some of them are heavily involved in the media, advertising, communication and financial services industries. What is distinctly new about them is that they are investing in politics directly and seriously as a domain of commercial business. For them, politics is a field of investment as well as profit and wealth-making, which enables them to exercise control over individual politicians, officials, government decisions, and of course policy frameworks. And, they want to possess a direct stake at the election of the highest level of political leadership too.

Thus, this is a fascinating class of entrepreneurs who want to emerge as direct stakeholders of the government. Getting hold of individual politicians with presidential ambitions has also been one of their key talents. Arjun Alosyius and ‘Kili’ Maharajah represent two different prototypes of this highly ambitious business class.

This new class of ‘political entrepreneurs’ linked to Viyath Maga has made, if we judge it by the occasional media reports as well as the gossip and rumours circulating in Colombo, most of their current wealth during the rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa. They, for obvious reasons, backed Rajapaksa’s re-election campaign in 2015 and became active in the efforts to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa back. Both these activities were capital investments seeking considerably high economic returns.

Having invested heavily in Rajapaksa’s political project, they also found that the new Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition government was erecting various barriers to their field of political – entrepreneurial activity, the FCID being one such barrier. One reason why the present government has failed to win the confidence of Colombo’s capitalist class, despite Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s credentials of being an authentic voice of that class, is the fact that the organic nature and agenda of capital accumulation of the core of that class has dramatically changed. They have chosen a new representative, and they affectionately call him – ‘Gota’.
Ambitious Professionals

Then, there is this nouveau elite class of urban professionals that has also developed its own political interests. Many of them are employed in fields such as, IT, accountancy, medicine, engineering, technology, media management, and security. Four decades of economic liberalization has at last made them a wealthy and prosperous social stratum.

A key feature of their world view is one that is often echoed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself: Sri Lanka’s problem is not the lack of policies, but the lack of discipline, work ethics, and efficiency, and the absence of a tough and robust leadership to implement policies in order to achieve tangible results. Guided by corporate ideologies that are often bandied about by business-school MBA graduates, they admire China as the model of development most suitable to Sri Lanka.
In this corporate ideology of nouveau professional elites, democracy, which tolerates strikes, work stoppages, protests, demonstrations, frequent elections and political instability, is utterly anachronistic with Sri Lanka’s urgent development needs. A strong government led by a strong leader, who relies on the ideas and guidance of corporate professionals, is their political model. Their vision is closest to the ideal of a meritocratic regime for Sri Lanka.

Gotabaya Project

When we reflect on the social and ideological composition of Viyath Maga, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s principal organisational entity, it is not easy to describe it simply as a Hitlerite project, or one that seeks a military dictatorship in Sri Lanka. If we want to understand the Gotabaya Rajapaksa project seriously, we must separate it from the wishful Hitlerite dreams of his admirers such as Upali Thero. The real threat posed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not fascism; but the replacement of the present weak democratic regime by a hard authoritarian regime, with popular support. That is what needs to be prevented. That is also what the democratic forces in Sri Lanka should discuss, debate and strategise.
The involvement of retired senior military officers in Viyath Maga to bring an ex-military man to power is indeed worrying and dangerous for other political reasons. Firstly, this ex-military group is fast emerging as the core group of a new social coalition, and of a political class too. And, it is committed to altering the political orientation of the next government as well as the nature of the Sri Lankan State. A government under their influence is certain to dispense with liberal institutions and practices of democracy as soon as the power of their regime is challenged by trade unions, student groups, workers, peasants, ethnic minorities and civil society.

Secondly, under their influence, the existing equilibrium in civil-military relations in Sri Lanka will be altered decisively in favour of the defence establishment. Then, the civilian political institutions, including the judiciary, would be brought under the control and influence of the military, Pakistan being the closest model.

Thirdly, the forces organised in Viyath Maga have the capacity and also the need to achieve what Mahinda Rajapaksa failed: that is, the transformation of Sri Lanka’s Government into a hard-authoritarian regime that rests on a grand alliance with three ambitious social groups – the military establishment, the new business class, and the new professional elites.

Strong-Ruler

How strong is the support for ‘a dictatorial ruler’, as dramatically articulated by Ven. Upali when he invoked the analogy of Herr Hitler, in Sri Lanka at present? In the absence of reliable public opinion surveys, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of people’s preferences for the political nature of the government that they want to see in place of the present Government.

Ven. Upali’s wish is for a complete transformation of Sri Lanka’s model of government into an authoritarian regime that can ‘fix’ the country’s problems without being constrained by usual institutional checks and balances, constitutional controls and procedural delays associated with parliamentary democracy. This is not necessarily a desire for a Hitlerite fascist regime, despite the fact that the pious monk used the most inappropriate analogy to make his point. Rather, it is a political expectation being nourished in Sri Lanka at present in two social constituencies, Sinhalese-Buddhist elites, and ordinary citizens.

Among sections of Sinhalese-Buddhist elites, ever since the ethnic conflict escalated, there has emerged from time to time the clamour for a truly Sinhalese-Buddhist leader who would protect the interests of the Sinhalese-Buddhist majority from the challenges of the minorities without being constrained by democratic norms or international opinion. Mahinda Rajapaksa, when he was the President, nurtured these ethno-political dreams of the Sinhalese-Buddhist elites and he continued it even after he left office in January 2015. The Jathika Hela Urumaya also played with this dream in its pre-2015 life. It managed to recruit a faithful support constituency among the urban Sinhalese-Buddhists of elite social backgrounds who entertained the millenarian fantasy of the coming of Diyasena Kumaraya (‘Prince Diyasena’).

Political Choices

To understand this question free from our personal biases and polemical preferences, survey data obtained from professionally conducted studies would be of great help. In two public opinion surveys conducted in Sri Lanka, the first in 2004 -05 and the other in 2014-15, the level of public support for this dream of an authoritarian alternative to parliamentary democracy was carefully probed. It was part of a larger South Asian study on the status of democracy in the region. It was also part of a global study of on-going trends in democracy. On both occasions, Sri Lankan data indicated a rather low public support for non-democratic and non-civilian alternatives to democracy. The 2004 -05 survey revealed the following facets of Sri Lankan citizens’ political preferences in percentages (See Table I).

When the 2013 – 14 Survey was conducted, Sri Lanka’s civil war had ended and Sri Lanka’s democracy was struggling to survive amidst the authoritarian drift of the Rajapaksa regime. Even then, when confronted with political choices, respondents of Sri Lanka’s sample came out with surprising indications, as shown in Table II.

The most interesting data from this table is that in 2013, the support for army rule, the rule by strong leader as well as experts had significantly declined. The rule by religious leaders had gone up substantially while the preference for representative democracy was astonishingly overwhelming with 97 per cent.

Of course, these figures reveal a complex picture of voters’ political preferences in Sri Lanka amidst exceptional political conditions of civil war, violence and democracy in perpetual crisis. However, the most noticeable fact revealed in the data is that Sri Lankan citizens, across gender, ethnic, and class divisions, had expressed an overwhelming preference for representative democracy while acknowledging its limitations, shortcomings, setbacks, disappointments, warts and all.

A few figures that are relevant to the political debate in Sri Lanka today are the following: Support for military rule in 2004-05 was as low as 27% and it had dramatically declined to 14% in 2013-14. Choice of rule by religious leaders was still lower in 2004-05 with only 20% support, yet went up to 37% in 2013-14. Strong leader had greater support in 2004-05 with 62%; yet it too declined sharply in 2013-14 to 31%. The overwhelming public support, of course, was for democratic government in 2004-15 as well as 2013-14 when the war had ended and no political alternative to Mahinda Rajapaksa was visible. The trends suggested by these findings were soon to be confirmed by the electoral outcome of 2015.

What Now?

The crucial question that emerges when we relate the above survey findings to the political debate in Sri Lanka today is the following: Are Sri Lankan voters likely to choose an avowedly authoritarian alternative to a weak democratic regime? In other words, are the political preferences that the Sri Lankan voters indicated in 2013-14 likely to be dramatically changed within five to six years in 2019-20? In the absence of survey data, we have to rely on informal observations, gestalt assumptions and informed guesses. The following three are important background factors that need to be factored in making such guesses:

· The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has left an unsatisfactory record of a weak democracy.
· The weak democracy record of the current regime has made the option of illiberal and undemocratic alternatives somewhat attractive. They are also in the political menu on the table.

· For the first time in its recent history, Sri Lankan voters would be presented with an avowedly non-democratic alternative, which is absolutely open about its authoritarian project as a regime choice.
Those political forces that want to defend, protect and preserve democracy in Si Lanka cannot be complacent. The greatest failure of the ruling coalition is that it has allowed the public trust in democratic governance to weaken. Even its supporters are not sure whether either of the two leaders really deserve a second chance. Both, Viyath Maga and the SLPP are exploiting this extraordinary political weakness of the Government.

Finally, by introducing just one word to Sri Lanka’s hitherto lackluster pre-election political debate, the Asgiriya prelate has done irreparable and irreversible damage to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ‘strong-ruler’ hype in a manner none of his detractors could ever have even imagined. It would not be easy for Mr. Rajapaksa to shed that dreaded nickname ‘Hitler.’

Such is the dialectic of politics.

Gota’s Presidential Bid Hits by “Hitler” Comparison in Sri Lanka

Jun 23, 2018

( June 23, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A senior Buddhist monk counselling former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to emulate Hitler and establish a military dictatorship may have seriously hurt his bid for the presidency, according to close associates.

A chief priest of the Asgiriya chapter, Vendaruwe Upali, blessed Rajapaksa on his 69th birthday Wednesday by urging him to follow the German dictator Hitler and take over the country even if it means establishing military rule.

The monk, delivering a sermon at the private home of Rajapaksa, prayed that the youngest among the Rajapaksa siblings should be the next leader of Sri Lanka as the country needed a “Sinhala Buddhist leader.”

“As the clergy, we feel the country needs a religious leader… Some people have described you as a Hitler,” the venerable monk said referring to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. “Be a Hitler. Go with the military and take the leadership of this country.”

A senior aide of Rajapaksa said the comments which were initially broadcast over the Derana television and later widely shared on social media had backfired and led to an avalanche of criticism.

The controversial sermon quickly became grist to the meme mill on facebook and Twitter. A widely shared meme had the Buddhist Dharmachakra turned into a Nazi Swastika.

Gotabhaya himself was portrayed with the “toothbrush moustache” of Hitler while a monk’s Watapatha (fan) had a Swastika painted on it.

A close associate said the monk’s remarks was quite damaging and led to recriminations with the camp.

President Maithripala Sirisena fired the first public salvo vowing he will never allow the return of a dictatorship after toppling the former regime in January a January 2015.

“In January 2015, people did not vote for food or jobs,” President Sirisena said addressing a meeting Nikawaratiya. “They voted for freedom and democracy. I have restored both and will not allow this country to slip back to a dictatorship.”

He was saddened by the call of the Anu Nayaka Upali of the Asgiriya chapter who sought a return to an era when citizens were deprived of their basic human rights and any dissent was ruthlessly crushed.

“We have restored the freedoms of the people, the media freedom. In fact, these freedoms are being abused and we are attacked without any fear of reprisals, unlike in the past.”

The monk during his sermon, attended by former president Mahinda and his siblings, including other presidential hopefuls Basil and Chamal, said the clergy felt the country needed a “religious leader.”

“Some people describe you as a Hitler,” the monk told Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. “Be a Hitler! Go with the military. Take the leadership of the country.”

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s own press team known as GR Media released the highly controversial sermon via his Twitter account and suggested that he fully endorsed the comments of the monk.

Venerable Upali, who is a number two in the Buddhist hierarchy in the Asgiriya chapter, made it plain that he preferred Gotabhaya to any other Rajapaksa sibling to lead the country in 2020.

Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera condemned monk Upali’s comments as going against the basic teachings of the Buddha and called for a purge of the clergy to get rid of those inimical to the sasana, or the Buddhist order.

Samaraweera echoed President Sirisena’s sentiments and pledged that the government will not allow a return to dictatorship.

In a five-page statement, minister Samaraweera said several retired military officers backing Gotabhaya were already calling for death for political dissidents. Ven. Upali’s call for the former defence secretary to be a “Hitler” fitted into that cast.

Retired army Maj Gen Kamal Gunaratne had advocated a death penalty for those supporting a new constitution. Samaraweera noted that Gunaratne made the remarks at a meeting in Gampaha in October presided over by Gotabhaya.

Gunaratne had also said those supporting constitutional reforms should be treated as “traitors” and they should not be allowed dignified funerals.

Another retired military officer supporting Gotabhaya had vowed a future government under Rajapaksa will hang those supporting the office of missing persons established to trace tens of thousands of people missing during and after the Tamil separatist war.

“These comments show that the Rajapaksas want to establish military rule in this country,” Minister Samaraweera said. “We must be aware of the rogue Buddhist monks who support their objective.”

The Asgiriya top priest’s comments also drew a scathing attack from another Buddhist monk, Kirama Vimalajyothi, who is also seen as a close supporter of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

In a public address on Friday, the ven Vimalajyothi said “time wasting sinners in robes in Malwatte and Asgiriya” were trying to keep the Buddhist clergy divided. He did not name monks, but said they were perpetuating divisions created by British colonial rulers.

Courtesy: Economy Next

Sri Lankans Lack Capacity To Think For Themselves

By Suranimala Umagiliya –JUNE 23, 2018

What do Sri Lankans want? What are their aspirations? What is the capacity they possess to understand how they may realise their wishes and aspirations? Therein lies the sixty four million dollar question. Sri Lankans want all options open, at all times. It is with profound sadness I pen these lines.

Read a newspaper, watch news on television it becomes clear that Sri Lanka is floundering. All news and views are nothing but centred around the Central bank bond scam. The perpetrators and the politicians who benefited from the scam must be brought to book. Nevertheless, sections of the media (a large segment in fact) treat this scam akin to a dog with a bone. Social media too is equally guilty. Any debate descends to Rajapaksa vs Wickremesinghe or UNP vs Rajapaksas. Sinhala Buddhists vs Tamils and Muslims. That is the sum total of our capacity.

I read carefully and watch news of Cabinet decisions. There is plenty going on to develop the country. Clean water, Improvements to roads, improvements in Health care, structural changes to boost government revenue through better tax collections, freedom of expression and many more. The government does not know how to get their message across. There is no participation nor interest by the people or the media in any of these proposals. They get activated only when the spoils attached to such come in to question. Very often the whistle is blown by a business house that lost a tender even though they too were willing to part with bribes to politicians and government servants that matter to secure a win.

The current hot topic is whether Gotabaya Rajapaksa could run for President at the next election. Are we naive, foolish, suffering from amnesia or all of it? Have we forgotten the dictatorial and murderous record of the Mahinda Rajapaksa reign or do we remember only the roads that were paved by him?

To make it simple I would suggest that the people and the media collectively grab a long sheet of paper and draw a diagonal line in the middle. Now, on the left side start by recording all the ill deeds of the Rajapaksa regime such as, Helping Hambantota, Sri Lankan Airlines, Mihin Air, Sachin Vaas Goonewardene’s looting, Basil’s Maga Neguma and 10%, Daisy Aunties Gems, First lady’s Siriliya and ID card, Mattala, Hambantota Port and Airport, Sale of Army Headquarters to Shangri-La, Port City, hedging deal of CPC, Investing in dud Greek bonds,Mig deal of Gotabaya, Udayanga Weeratunge, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Pumping and dumping of shares in the stock market, Namal and his brothers antics and amassing of untold wealth, lamborghini and Ferrari purchases, fake attempt at bidding for Commonwealth games, killings at Rathupaswela, Aluthgama,. Murders of Lasantha Wickrematunge, Thajudeen, abduction and disappearance of Ekneligoda, torture and abduction of Keith Noyahr, assault on Poddala Jayantha, assault on Upali Tennekoon,embracing Karuna, Pillaiyan and KP, Wimal Weerawansas, Mahindananda’s antics. These are but a few though the list is endless.

Now record on the right side column the ill deeds of the current mob. Bond scam, Arjun Mahendren, Arjun Aloysius, Ravi Karunanayake,Sujeewa Senesinghe, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Bond scam, Bond scam…….Bond scam……………….

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Palestinians protest in Ramallah against PA's Gaza sanctions

Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat calls for unity

Palestinians in occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday protest PA sanctions on Gaza Strip (AFP)

Saturday 23 June 2018

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated again on Saturday in the occupied West Bank to demand the Palestinian Authority (PA) lift punitive measures against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators in Ramallah chanted "Scrap the sanctions!" during the protest organised by civil society groups, an AFP reporter said. The Ramallah-based PA has introduced a series of sanctions against Gaza over the past year.

“Clearly, this is not something to be happy about,” chief Palestinian negotiator and PA official Saeb Erekat told MEE earlier this week. He added that he has met with people from all sides, including civil society representatives and human rights organisations.

Erekat (AFP file photo)

The conflict between Hamas and Fatah, Palestine’s two key political parties, dates back to 2006, when Hamas won elections in Gaza. The following year, the PA split: Since then, Hamas has been the de facto government in Gaza, with Fatah running the West Bank.

“There’s an urgent need for all of us to leave our differences on the side and focus on strengthening our national project. Palestine is much bigger than all of us,” Erekat told MEE.

Tens of thousands of Gaza’s civil servants, which is separated from the West Bank by a strip of Israeli territory, have gone without full pay for months amid the sanctions.

Critics say such moves by the PA, dominated by the Fatah movement of President Mahmud Abbas, further exacerbate the split between the two parts of the Palestinian territories.

The rally on Saturday passed peacefully, unlike a protest on 13 June during which Palestinian security forces fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse demonstrators. This time, policemen were seen handing out Palestinian flags to the protesters.

Islamist movement Hamas has run Gaza since 2007. And since that year, Israel has maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza that it argues is necessary to isolate Hamas.

Rights groups say the siege amounts to collective punishment.

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Palestinians react with shock at PA repression of protest in solidarity with Gaza

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars in the territory since 2008.

Neighbouring Egypt has also largely sealed its land border with Gaza in recent years, citing security threats.

The United Nations has said Gaza, which is home to two million people, may be uninhabitable by 2020.

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement last October, but it has since collapsed.

Erekat went on to tell MEE that his call for Palestinians to unify was a message directed mainly at Hamas.

“The offer to have a national unity government that will call for national elections has been constantly rejected by Hamas,” he said.

“Hopefully, the voice of our people will be heard and Hamas will implement their obligations under our national reconciliation agreement in order to move towards national elections.”

Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Palestine changed lives

A mobile phone photo shows Vivien Sansour, Anthony Bourdain and Abdelfattah Abusrour during a break in filming a 2013 episode of “Parts Unknown,” at Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem.

Vivien Sansour- 22 June 2018

Our cigarette smoke was mingling with the fumes coming out of cars lined up bumper to bumper trying to cross the Qalandiya checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

We stood on the sidewalk watching the camera crew prep the grounds for our walk by the separation wall. “You know I can’t cross with you to the other side,” I said.

Without reply he set out, past a gallery of graffiti, toward the army tower, strolling unhindered alongside the giant wall.

Unlike many journalists and foreign visitors who had crossed my path while working as a field producer, Anthony Bourdain did not once put me or anyone I introduced him to in a position to “explain” our humanity.

A man of few words, he embodied what it means to “just be there” and be witness to someone’s painful experience without having to provide trivial sympathies or sprinkle salt on wounds still open.

This was our first encounter as he arrived in Palestine, where I accompanied him on a journey to tell the story of a largely “unknown” and misunderstood part of the world – my world.

The spark of our first lit cigarette was preceded by months of pitching and anticipation to get my food celebrity icon to Palestine for what I thought would be an episode about the wonders of our Mediterranean delicacies.

Camel meat, foraged greens, grape molasses and land snails were just some of the items I tried pitching in an attempt to lure his appetite.

Perhaps it was my lack of faith that anyone of his stature would ever consider telling the political stories behind the grape molasses and the confiscated lands where these foraged leaves grew that kept me pulling in the direction of the superficial “exotic food” angle.

I had underestimated, not his intelligence, but his empathy and serious integrity.

The next day, I had planned for Tony to cook mulukhiya, a traditional Palestinian dish that is made with a local variety of mallow leaves and chicken.

I wanted it to be the kind of food porn I thought he would enjoy. I prepped Islam, the woman we were visiting in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. I told her I was bringing an experienced chef and that all raw ingredients must be present so he could see the process from beginning to end.

Stressed, I ran around trying to find the mallow stems that were at the end of their season. I visited Islam three times before our arrival. I cooked the dish twice the week before. I reorganized Islam’s kitchen in great anticipation of our big cooking day together. I wanted it to be the perfect culinary experience.

But as we walked through the alleyways of Aida refugee camp, it became evident: Tony was not interested in food.

When the day finally came, I guided him triumphantly through the alleys of Aida camp toward his culinary experience. But the idol of cuisine surprised me.

His gaze was filled with images: of fallen young men painted on the walls of the camp, of the Israeli sniper military posts lurking above us, of the story of a population trapped inside a concrete jungle in their own homeland.

It was surreal. All five senses became confused among sounds of children kicking their ball, soldiers cocking their guns and Tony listening to my friend Abed describe his art, which he calls beautiful resistance. All this mingled with the aromas of food yet to be cooked and the sight of a confrontation between soldiers and young men that had just ended.

When we finally arrived at Islam’s kitchen, Tony showed little interest in our freshly chopped garlic, our newly pressed olive oil and our mulukhiya display. He wanted to talk politics.

Alas, Islam spoke little English at the time and knew nothing of Anthony Bourdain.

She offered cooking classes not to attract celebrities but to afford education for her disabled child. Nor did it occur to Tony to impress her with his celebrity. In her presence he was humble and engaging.

He ate the meal with gratitude and signed her guest book. She could not know that his signature would change her life and the life of her family forever.

After the episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown in Palestine aired in 2013, Islam started receiving requests for cooking classes. Visitors from around the world came to the camp. She learned English. She expanded her kitchen into a cooking school to help children with special needs.

When I visited her a couple of years later she told me: “That day opened my life up to possibilities I could not have imagined. Our kids are getting the education and attention they need and we are overbooked all the time.” With a kind of mischievous smirk she continued, “Maybe we should build a guest house for food travelers.”

Ever the traveler, Tony loved adventure but, in the same moment, longed for his loved ones back home. Joking with kids in the street, he turned to me: “It’s my daughter who I miss when I travel.”

And just like that we connected for a moment. I was his witness the way he was mine at the checkpoint. In silence, I understood, as he did, that even eagles need a time to land.

In Arabic we say that hearts are the homes of secrets; some secrets love to torment us and some stay with us until we die. We also say that a life that gives is a life that never ends. That is small consolation to Islam and to me and to so many others who are forever touched and changed by Anthony Bourdain’s wild and daring life.

Tony, we send you love in your transition. You once confided, “I wish I didn’t have to leave all the time.” I hope your feet find their grounding in the other realm.

Vivien Sansour is the founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library and the Traveling Kitchen Journey where she is working with farmers on bringing heritage varieties back to fields and dinner tables. She was Anthony Bourdain’s field coordinator and guide in Palestine for his CNN Emmy-winning show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.