Category Archives: human rights

September 17, 2021 · 12:40 am

UNHRC slams Britain as well as Sri Lanka

PK Balachandran, in Daily Mirror, 14 September 2021, where the title runs “Its-not-only-Sri-Lanka-which-gets-the-rap-at-UNHRC

Many Sri Lankans grumble that their small and powerless country is singled out for trenchant criticism at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) while bigger and more powerful countries with worse records go scot-free. But the truth is that powerful Western countries also get pulled up.


For example, in the follow-up reports to be presented at the 48th. Session of the UN Human Rights Council, which began on Monday, the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Fabián Salvioli, has criticized both Sri Lanka and Britain for failing to satisfactorily address accountability issues (https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile? Final Symbol =A%2FH RC%2F48%2 F60%2FAdd.2 &Language=E&DeviceType=Mobile).

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, world events & processes

September 12, 2021 · 1:18 pm

September 11: Back to Square One 20 Years After

David Kilcullen, in The Weekend Australian, 11-12 September 2021

Twenty years after 9/11 the terrorism threat is larger and more widespread, the Western alliance is weaker, and the US is in sharp ­decline relative to its rivals. Democratic societies are less free, stunted by “safetyism”, less resilient and more divided.

The abandonment of Afghans amid the return of an unreformed triumphant Taliban just in time for the 20th anniversary of 9/11, underlines the failure of the global war on terror and the need for a radical rethink. This is particularly true for Australia, which faces the most threatening geopolitical environment in a century.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

September 5, 2021 · 2:31 pm

Auckland Atrocities: Grounded Appraisals from Sri Lankans

I present several comments from Sri Lankans in New Zealand and Sri Lanka

A NOTE from SM in Colombo, 7 Sept 2021

It is high time for countries to cut hard on organisations promoting and practicing extremist ideologies whether they be religious, ethnic, separatist, or nationalist.  The UK extended its ban on the LTTE a few days back which is a welcome development.  Canada should practice what they preach. With an election round the corner, the Liberal Trudeau govt soft peddles the LTTE issue in order to garner Canadian Tamil votes.  The Canadian government’s sponsorship of TGWA is a case in point.
Countries that ignore, or aid and abet violent extremism will reap what they sow.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, press freedom & censorship, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry

September 4, 2021 · 12:18 am

Revealing Headlines & Videos from Afghanistan

  • Anthony Loyd  in The Weekend Australian, 3 September 2021:  “Battle is joined for Afghanistan’s never-conquered guerrilla heartland,”

  • Rodger Shanahan: in The Weekend Australian, 3 September 2021: “Impacts on Western security of Afghanistan withdrawal far from settled”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, historical interpretation, human rights, Islamic fundamentalism, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, transport and communications, trauma, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

August 28, 2021 · 12:52 am

Pragmatic Christian Compassion: The Basilica in Tewatte converted into A Covid-Patient Ward

Courtesy of communications from Avril Thurgood, Helen Fernando & Moninna Guanwardena ….. stressing the Revd Malcolm Ranjith’s Pragmatic Benevolence in These Hours of Covid-Threat

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under coronavirus, democratic measures, heritage, human rights, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, religiosity, self-reflexivity, tolerance, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

August 27, 2021 · 11:42 am

The Sri Lankan Government and the Media within the Crossroads of War 2006-09

Palitha Kohona ,in The Sunday Observer, 28 June 2020, with this title “Managing the media on the road to Nandikadal – Part 1″ ….http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2020/06/28/news-features/managing-media-road-nandikadal-part-1

The conflict with the terrorist LTTE dragged on for over two decades causing widespread death and destruction with no obvious end in sight. The Government, after the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, recognised, perhaps for the first time, that carefully managing the media, both domestic and international, was an important factor if this endless struggle were to be ended successfully. President Rajapaksa, a consummate politician, accepted the profound value of a non-antagonistic media and carefully orchestrated initiatives to secure this objective. As the world knows, the bloody conflict was eventually ended on the banks of the Nanthikadal Lagoon on May 18, 2009, through the colossal efforts and sacrifices of the security forces.

Tony Birtley of Al Jazeera at the warfront in late 2008 and Ranil Wijayapala in ??

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, island economy, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, violence of language, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

August 20, 2021 · 12:54 am

Horror and Terror in Kabul: Pictorials

No words  required!!

   

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, military strategy, political demonstrations, power politics, taking the piss, Taliban, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes

August 10, 2021 · 1:07 am

Defending Sri Lanka at Geneva in 2009: Wijesinha’s New Book

Rajiva Wijesinha, presenting  his new book unders the imprint of Godage & Bros, Colombo

In 2006 the United Kingdom, as now 15 years later, was in the forefront of bringing Sri Lanka before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The resolution was not taken up but kept on the table, and in September 2007 the UK proposed discussing the text with the recently appointed Sri Lankan Representative Dayan Jayatilleka.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, world events & processes

July 31, 2021 · 3:11 pm

The Taliban Campaign. The West in Deep Shit in Afghanistan

David Kilcullen, in The Australian, 31 July 2021,.  [and  The Inquirer, 31 July ]where the title reads  “Making sense of the Afghan fiasco, and how to fix it” … 2021 and with this byline : “there are four moves that could stabilise the situation long enough to get talks back on track.”

If a gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth, US President Joe Biden committed one a few weeks ago, answering a question about Afghanistan, when he said “the mission hasn’t failed, yet”. That “yet” contains multitudes: a tangle of military and humanitarian factors refracted through political spin and a hyper-partisan US media.

 Afghan militia gather with their weapons to support Afghanistan security forces against the Taliban, in Afghan warlord and former Mujahideen Ismail Khan’s house in Herat on July 9. Picture: AFP

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

July 4, 2021 · 3:49 pm

Today’s Far Right League of Nations

Eviane Leidig,  in  Foreign Policy, 20 January 2020, where the title reads “The Far-Right Is Going Global”

An unofficial visit by nationalist European leaders to Kashmir highlights the solidarity of far-right movements across the globe. In October 2019, 23 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) visited Kashmir, just two months after the Indian government removed the region’s special autonomous status. The trip sparked controversy when it was revealed that most of the MEPs belonged to far-right political parties, including France’s National Rally (formerly National Front) and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). It wasn’t just the affiliations of these visitors that drew attention: The MEPs had been granted access to Kashmir even as foreign journalists and domestic politicians were barred access to the region, and the Indian-administered government had imposed an internet shutdown since August.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes