September 10, 2015 · 3:10 pm

Brainstorming on Constitutional Reform and Citizenship — in Colombo Soon

 sanjanaCurator’s Note: “Corridors of power: Drawing and modelling Sri Lanka’s tryst with democracy

 What is a constitution? What place and relevance, if any, does it have in the popular imagination? Do citizens really care about an abstract document most would never have seen or read, when more pressing existential concerns continue to bedevil their lives and livelihoods, even post-war?

My struggle through curation has always been to explore the inconvenient and marginal through new or alternative ways of observing. Through visual art, theatre, sculpture, music, photography, literature, video and information visualisations, I have creatively leveraged unusual pairings and strange juxtapositions to shift complacency and apathy to critical reflection and engagement.

JJayampathy -- Jayampathy Channa- www.361degrees.ne Channa asanga Asanga

‘Corridors of power’ is my most ambitious curatorial attempt yet. When, years ago, I studied the process through which South Africa negotiated the transition out of apartheid rule – which involved a paradigm shift in their constitutional frameworks – I registered the use of a wide range of media at the time (before the days of social media, smartphones and the Internet as we know it today) to critically support debates amongst civil society that were as rooted in locale as they were widespread over geography. It occurred to me – with all the technological tools and platforms in use by so many today, why are constitutional reform and related debates still so alien to and removed from society in Sri Lanka – a country seven times smaller in size than South Africa, with far less identity groups and just three instead of eleven official languages? Continue reading →

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September 9, 2015 · 4:19 pm

The Paradoxes of Anzac Australianness in the World Dispensation

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Library of Social Science Guest Newsletter Series, where the title is “Australian Nationalism and the Ideology of Sacrificial Death”

Addressing the practices of remembrance in Australia as an outsider Richard Koenigsberg has recently noted the irony of a battlefield defeat, that at Gallipoli in World War One in 1915, serving a people as an emblem of nationhood: the “Australian nation, came into being [on the foundations provided by] the slaughter of its young men.”

There is yet more irony. The commemoration of Australian courage, sacrifice and manliness at Gallipoli (and subsequently on the Somme) was threaded by tropes of youthful innocence that drew on classical Hellenic motifs; while the monuments and epitaphs that were crafted in Australia to mark this event were manifestly Greek in form. The gendered masculine metaphor, in its turn, was often embodied in the seminal image of a full-bodied blonde young man. “Archie Hamilton” in Peter Weir’s classic film Gallipoli was/is one such trope (and he died of course).

Gallipoli-Mel-Gibson-Mark-Lee-6  Mel-Gibson-Mark-Lee-in film GALLIPOLI

Archie in gallipoli--grabpage.info “Archie Hamilton,” the ‘natural’ country boy who died at Gallipoli in the film’s typical Aussie story line Continue reading →

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Aside

Richard Boucher in Media Event in Colombo, 1 June 2006

Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, in Press Conference in Colombo … Press Release from the US State Department

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BOUCHER: Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to be here with you. It’s a pleasure to be here again in Sri Lanka. I had good meetings this morning with President Rajapakse and Foreign Minister Samaraweera in which we discussed a whole range of issues, most notably, of course, the political and security situation in the country. We also discussed with the Foreign Minister some of the areas of bilateral cooperation and in fact our international cooperation on issues such as Iran and other things coming up in the area.

Richard_Boucher Pic from likesuccess.com 

I told the President that we welcome the restraint that the government has shown in the face of many provocations by the Tamil Tigers. I told him that we stood squarely behind the government in its struggle to combat terror. As you all know, our position on the Tamil Tigers is that they have to renounce terror in both word and deed and commit themselves to a negotiated settlement if they are to have any dealings with the United States. I also told the President that the government needs to do everything possible to maintain law and order and to ensure the full respect of human rights in the areas that are under the government’s control. There are groups that are committing violent crimes in those areas. We take the government at its words that it will investigate those crimes thoroughly and bring people to justice. Continue reading →

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September 9, 2015 · 8:44 am
September 8, 2015 · 9:18 am

Robert Blake on “U.S. Perspectives on Sri Lanka,” at Chennai, 24 October 2008

Robert Blake: “U.S. Perspectives on Sri Lanka,”[1] 24 October 2008, http://federalidea.com/fi/2008/10/ambassador_blakes_remarks_at_t.html

Blakeat ChennaiGood afternoon.  It is wonderful to be back in Chennai and have the opportunity to visit this prestigious University.  I visited Chennai several times while I was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Delhi from 2003 to 2006 and developed a great fondness for your city and its people. Today I address you in a new hat as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.  I thought I would use the occasion to talk about the US perspective on Sri Lanka and then give you a chance to ask any questions you might have.

I will talk first about our support for a political solution, the situation in northern Sri Lanka, our policy on terrorism in Sri Lanka, and conclude with our assessment of Sri Lanka’s promise if fighting can be stopped.

Need for a Political Solution: America’s experience in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere has taught us that terrorism cannot be defeated by law enforcement and military measures alone.  That is why President Bush has made the promotion of democracy one of the centerpieces of American foreign policy.  And that is why the U.S. and other Co-Chair countries have urged the Government of Sri Lanka to adopt now a political solution to the conflict within the framework of a united Sri Lanka that meets the aspirations of all of Sri Lanka’s communities.  One way forward is for Sri Lanka to complete the work of the All Parties Representative Committee which has reached agreement on 90% of a blueprint for constitutional reform that most Sri Lankans believe offers great promise.  It remains for the country’s two main Sinhalese parties to agree on the document, which has proved a significant hurdle thus far.       Continue reading →

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September 8, 2015 · 7:55 am

Richard Boucher in Press Q and A at SAARC Meeting in Lanka, 3 August 2008

Richard A. Boucher, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, speaks on “U.S.-Sri Lanka Relations,” Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 3, 2008 … http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/sca/rls/2008/107655.htm… ALSO see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Boucher

Richard_BoucherAssistant Secretary Boucher: First, I want to say that it is always a pleasure to be here in Sri Lanka and especially to be able to convey my congratulations on the sixtieth anniversary of independence here. This is a memorable occasion as we talk about Sri Lanka and its democracy, and how to go forward.

We are here to attend the SAARC summit. The United States is very happy to be part of SAARC as an observer. I was able to go last year to the meeting in Delhi and it has been a pleasure to be here in Sri Lanka, to see all my colleagues and friends in SAARC and people from the SAARC countries who come together and try to work together. I think this is a good chance for us to catch up with people from all around the region, but also a chance to look together at where the region is going. I have to say, I think I really do see a more practical and productive atmosphere, certainly a strong condemnation of terrorism, which afflicts many people in many countries around this region. There is an emphasis on food security, energy — real problems that people face in this region. I think, increasingly, from SAARC there is an attitude of not just political dialogue, but what can we do about these problems, a pragmatic attitude.

Continue reading →

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September 8, 2015 · 2:44 am

USA-Lanka, 2007, TWO: Steven Mann’s Review of the Sri Lankan Political Situation in August 2007

Steven Mann’s Statement before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Washington, DC, 1 August 2007, entitled “Political Crises in South Asia: Recent Developments in Nepal and Sri Lanka,” … [Nepal section omitted here]

US_House_Committee US Congress, Foreign Affairs Committee  in session — en.wikipedia.org

Turning to Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s long-standing ethnic conflict, fragile peace process, and deteriorating human rights conditions continue to cause concern for the United States and the international community. The conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam entered a phase of intensified fighting during President Rajapaksa’s administration. In recent months, fighting has been steady in the Tamil Tiger-controlled East as Government forces attempted to re-take areas held by the Tigers under the terms of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. On July 11, 2007, the Sri Lankan military announced it had taken Thoppigala, the last remaining Tamil Tiger stronghold in the East, bringing the entire Eastern Province under government control. The costs of war have taken a heavy toll on the economy: inflation currently stands at 20% and tourism – one of Sri Lanka’s main industries – has plummeted by 40-60% since last year. Continue reading →

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September 8, 2015 · 2:32 am

USA-Lanka, 2007, ONE: Steven Mann’s Press Engagement in Colombo, March 2007

Item entitled “Sri Lanka: Development and Domestic Prosperity,” dated 9 March 2009 and centering upon Steven Mann, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, with the title “Sri Lanka: Development and Domestic Prosperity“

 images Pic from cyplive.com

Ambassador Mann: Thanks very much. It is always a great pleasure for me to come back to Sri Lanka, a country of which I have the warmest memories from my time here, and from the years spent in diplomatic practice with Sri Lanka. And I am here in these days at the kind invitation of Ambassador Blake for two purposes.

First, to attend a conference that the Department of State has held in Colombo for our entry-level personnel. This is an important thing for us. We have brought together roughly fifty of our most junior personnel, our beginning diplomatic professionals from the entire South and Central Asia Bureau from as far away as Kazakhstan. So they have come from all our posts in Central and South Asia for two days of professional development, and we have been very pleased to bring them to Sri Lanka, and we are very thankful for the hospitality and support that the Government of Sri Lanka has given us.

And my second purpose in coming here, of course, is to meet with the President and other leaders to discuss the important issues that we have on our agenda. And we believe that we have in these months an important opportunity that stands before Sri Lanka. And it is the hope of the United States that the leaders of Sri Lanka will seize the chance to reach a consensus agreement on power-sharing that meets the legitimate aspirations of all the country’s people. As long as there still is no such agreement, we see that it is too easy for those who would continue armed conflict to rally others to their cause. And it would also help greatly reduce the human rights violations and the humanitarian challenges that Sri Lanka faces. Continue reading →

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September 8, 2015 · 1:13 am

Cartopolitics: Sri Lanka in 21st Century Asia

Daniel Alphonsus, courtesy of the Daily News, 8 September 2015, and The Caravan where the title is “Cartopolitics and Sri Lanka: Rereading and repainting 21st century Asia”

The two identities of Sri Lanka: one, glued to the South Asian hinterland, and the other, inextricably linked to the Indian Ocean rim. Take out a map of the world: it’s impossible to miss the lines demarking nation states. The rupture, erasure and displacement of these lines fill history books, news bulletins and many a common room debate. However, the same consideration is not given to the colours tying nation-states into continents and regions.

 

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September 7, 2015 · 4:12 am

Ranil and USA, 2001-06: Forerunner for USA and Ranil Today?

Reproduced below are the first three paragraphs of Jeffrey Lunstead’s “Introduction” within his “Executive Summary” in the official document The United States’ Role in Sri Lanka’s Peace Process, 2002-2006 (Asia Foundation, 2007). Its authors conceived of this survey as “A Supplementary Study to the Sri Lanka Strategic Conflict.” Lunstead himself was a career Foreign Service official from 1977-2006 who had been US Ambassador to Sri Lanka from August 2003 to July 2006 before moving to the position of Assistant Vice President of International Affairs at American University in Washington D. C. So, what one sees within these covers is a significant document.[1] Michael Roberts

LUNSTEAD Lunstead  Wickramasinghe Wickramasinghe

Executive Summary: The United States has been deeply involved in the current phase of the Sri Lanka peace process since it began in late 2001. This is in distinct contrast to U.S. engagement in earlier phases of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict since it erupted into armed conflict in 1983. While the U.S. was supportive of peacemaking efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, it played a relatively low-key role, deferring to India as the lead outside actor. With the end of the Cold War, U.S. interest in Sri Lanka waned. As recently as 2000, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was planning for significantly reduced development assistance levels. Continue reading →

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September 5, 2015 · 11:32 am

David Brewster’s “India’s Ocean” in the Review Telescope

 David Brewster: India’s Ocean: The Story of India’s Bid for Regional Leadership  Routledge, 2014

brewster--india's ocean

I. Rory Medcalf, Director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute, in http://www.academia.edu/9459060/AIIA_Review_of_Indias_Ocean

The author does not confine himself to history or descriptions of India’s strategic situation and behaviour: he distils his research into some sound analytical judgements that further our understanding of India and its region. For instance, he makes the fascinating observation that if India succeeds in its quest to be truly the predominant power in the Indian Ocean, it will have the effect potentially binding the region, for the first time, as something more than an inchoate ‘strategic space’ or a ‘crossroads for those headed elsewhere’. Continue reading →

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