The Demons within Sri Lanka: Long-Term Methods of Abatement?

Michael Roberts

Here I reproduce the second half of a longer article presented in October 2018 where I pinpointed the hidden dangers to Sri Lanka resting within the implications of Mark Field’s visit to the island then — a conveying a message that was one part of the continuing Western nation-cum-UNHCR project to punish Sri Lanka and foist a devolutionary political system on the island. Obviously, this essay was coined before the explosive manifestation of another divisive time-bomb within the Sri Lankan body politic: that of Islamic extremists motivated by the Wahhabi ideology hostile to specific ‘pinnacles’ in any Westernized body politic – such as (a) the Papacy and (b) high-rise hotels marking wealth and ‘debauchery’.**

This traumatic moment on Easter Sunday 21st April 2019 reminds us of two earth shattering moments: the LTTE attack on the Central Bank in Colombo on 31^st January 1996 and the Al-Qaida attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on 9th September 2001 (9/11 in shorthand).***

Amarasingham’s Study of Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada

 

Pain, Pride, and Politics: Social Movement Activism and the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Canada …. As a product of Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation Series) Paperback – September 15, 2015

Vengeance Politics at UNHRC Gathering in Geneva: Two Acts

ONE = Callum Macrae’s Updated Video Documentary:“Sri Lanka and the search for justice, ten years on” ….. https://vimeo.com/319579483

An updated short film from Callum Macrae based on his earlier documentary ‘No Fire Zone’, which re-visits the final stages of Sri Lanka’s conflict to defeat the LTTE. This film was screened at the recently ended 40th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva where Sri Lanka’s Resolution 30/1 to promote Peace, Reconciliation & Accountability was again co-sponsored and rolled over for a further 2 years.

Facing Charles Sarvan: Mark His Obliteration of Context

Michael Roberts

Charles Sarvan’s recent essay in Colombo Telegraph “On ‘Reading’ A Picture” presents reflections with a dispassionate air that conveys an impression of philosophical weight above the tumult of a propaganda war in which all of us are willy-nilly involved.[1] He distances himself at the outset from the identities of the victors in the picture as Sinhalese and the vanquished as Tamil by terming that differentiation “accidental”. But, in concentrating on the horrendous assaults on women perpetrated by men, he proceeds to a presentation of the contemporary Tamil litany about the horrendous acts inflicted on the Tamils in the last stages of Eelam War IV. He does this without any historical, political and cartographic contextualization of the events that unfolded from mid-2006 to May 2009.

 Map I = The Situation in late December 2008

Tamil Guardian’s Reading of UNHRC Sessions at Geneva, March 2019

Item on 28 March 2019, entitled “Alternative Avenues” … with highlighting emphasis by The Editor, Thuppahi

For almost a decade, Tamil victims have looked to the UN Human Rights Council in their pursuit of justice. However, after years of resolutions followed by an extension, alongside lack of any progress on accountability, events at Geneva this week brought another deep disappointment. A day after the Sri Lankan government expressly told the Council it had no intention of creating an accountability mechanism with foreign judges as originally promised, yet another resolution was passed giving Colombo two more years to do just that. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was blunt. Sri Lanka will not allow an international justice mechanism. The international community can be under no more illusions. If Sri Lanka cannot deliver the justice that victims demand, then other avenues must be explored. Else, as the UN human rights chief herself warned, further violence and instability will follow.

Inhumane: Ruminations from A Pictorial Tale

  Charles Sarvan, courtesy of  Colombo Telegraph,  19 March 2019, where the title is “ On ‘Reading’ A Picture” …. Note that I have taken the liberty of inserting emphasis in colour and  introducing more paragraph divisions in Charlie Sarvan aka Ponnadurai’s  presentation in order to assist readability and analytical work –though this act may well distort his philosophical bent…… Bio-data is at the end of the article Editor, Thuppahi

“The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single picture.” This particular picture appeared in ‘Colombo Telegraph’ on 12 Feb. 2019; I shared my reaction privately with some of my contacts including, as a courtesy, Colombo Telegraph Editor who suggested that I rework the material with the possibility of it being uploaded. Unsatisfactory health has hindered an earlier response. In philosophy, an ‘essential’ is a quality that something must have for it to be what it is, while an ‘accidental’ is one that it happens to have but could lack. In what follows, that the men in uniform are Sinhalese and the prisoners Tamil is accidental. In other words, what I attempt here is a modest, general investigation and reflection.

Chula Rajapakse’s Melancholy Review of the Sri Lankan Situation

Chula Rajapakse as President, USLA in Wellington, presenting His Summary Review, 22 March 2019

Since its inception over three decades ago the United Sri Lanka Association in Wellington has fervently furthered its main founding objective viz. doing what it takes to support Sri Lanka in preserving its independent and unitary status. Throughout the USLA’s existence, the main threat to this came from the violent terrorism of the Tamil Tigers and the devious and vicious misinformation from them. With the complete annihilation of the Tigers as a fighting force in Sri Lanka in May 2009, USLA continued its role in the countering Tiger misinformation that now took an even more devious form.