by Dr. Shiamala Suntharalingam MB BS, BSc (Hons), DFFP, DRCOG, MRCGP May to November 2003 20 years of war has taken its toll on all aspects of society in Sri Lanka, but the NorthEast of the island has been most affected. Homes destroyed, farmland mined, schools, temples, churches & hospitals have been damaged in varying… Read more »
Monthly Archives: September 2004
A Global War: Many Fronts, Little Unity
Terror is not an enemy, but a method, used in different ways by different movements…But it is also a label that has been seized on by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and, in various shades, by leaders from Italy to Pakistan to set their own agendas. It… Read more »
Countering Terror
by Rajeev Dhavan, The Hindu, Chennai, September 3, 2004 Where counter-terrorism violates human rights, it produces state terrorism directed against a nation’s own people. Both collectively and individually, nations across the world are obsessed with policies of counter-terrorism. This obsession is subversive of peace and good governance in ways that are beginning to dwarf the… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 14: JR’s Three Track Policy
by T. Sabaratnam, September 3, 2004 (Volume 2) Building a Military Machine President Jayewardene, his fans and critics readily admit, was a grandmaster in political chess. He schemed three moves ahead when his opponent planned only two. He played the same game with Indira Gandhi. He countered her double track policy with three. Jayewardene’s three tracks… Read more »
Self-Righteous Democracies
by Phar Kim Beng, Straits Times, September 2, 2004 Mr. Bill Clinton made the promotion of democracy the centrepiece of his foreign policy when he was president of the United States. President George W. Bush, especially after Sept 11, did the same, looking to democracy as a means of reforming Arab/Muslim societies and awakening them… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: JVP’s Assault on Tamil Nationalism
Weekly Review by T. Sabaratnam, 1 September 2004 This morning the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched its campaign to split the east from the north and thus deny the Tamils their homeland. They have named their campaign in Tamil Kilakkin Uthayam, meaning, “Awakening East.” The inaugural seminar of the new movement was held at Kalmunai Town… Read more »
I Got Trapped in the Secret ‘No Fly List’ of the Transportation Security Administration
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 1, 2004 I neither have the charisma of a Kennedy nor the celebrity status of Massachusetts’ senior Senator Edward ‘Teddy’ Kennedy. However, for the past 25 years, I have subscribed to the liberal democratic ideals for which the youngest males of the Kennedy clan (John F., Robert and Edward) have… Read more »
Diaspora Circulation and Transnationalism
As Agents for Change in the Post-Conflict Zones of Sri Lanka R. Cheran of the Dept. of Sociology and Refugee Studies of York University, Toronto has written a paper entitled “Diaspora Circulation and Transnationalism as Agents for Change in the Post Conflict Zones of Sri Lanka” which does exactly what sociology is supposed to: observe… Read more »
Collective Rights and the ISGA
by Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe, LTTE Peace Secretariat, September 1, 2004 In looking at peace and development we need to recognize that peace is not the absence of war. In a wider perspective of peace we have to look at several dimensions of violence. The Ceasefire Agreement ensures an absence of direct violence between the two… Read more »
Is the XIII Amendment the Roadblock to Peace?
Sinhalese Myths and Fallacies Challenged by Wakeley Paul, Esq., September 1, 2004 Several recent articles reveal once more the cherished myths under which the Sinhala press continues to delude itself. These Sinhalese myths need to be punctured once and for all, since they are founded on three fundamental misconceptions. 1. That Sinhalese supremacy is the… Read more »