Visa issues? Human rights a concern? Indian government ineptitude? Suffice to say, I’m very pleased that the statement we released this week that outlined the gross human rights abuses in Sri Lanka continues to resonate and launch a much-needed discussion worldwide (including here in Jaipur, India, where many people seem uncomfortable even hearing the compromises…
Showing all posts tagged Sri Lanka
What I discovered in Jaipur part 1 on insurgency
After the first day at the Jaipur Literature Festival here in India, one of the highlights for me was hearing New Yorker journalist John Lee Anderson talk about the politics of insurgency. Listening to Orhan Pamuk (Nobel Prize winner) and Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (author of the recent book on Mao) was fascinating but…
Orhan Pamuk refuses to visit Galle, Sri Lanka post statement
So this is getting big. Following a call by a handful of writers this week, including yours truly, to highlight the gross human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and the Galle Literary Festival’s relationship/relative silence about it, the story has truly taken off. Here’s the AFP story, Hindustan Times and Indian Express. And the big…
Questioning Sri Lankan cultural events is right moral decision
Following the release this week of a major international statement calling on writers going to Sri Lanka’s Galle Literary Festival to understand the political ramifications of doing so, controversy has exploded. Here’s the Hindu newspaper: Organisers of the Galle Literary Festival have ridiculed attempts to portray the festival as one that legitimises repression and asserted…
Galle Literary Festival appeal to not ignore human rights
I was recently asked to sign the following statement about the upcoming Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka. I am honoured to appear in such company to highlight the ongoing abuses taking place in a supposedly terror-free country: Reporters Without Borders and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a network of exiled Sri Lankan…
Colombo murdered Tamis with impunity and wonders why world doesn’t respect
The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson writes a masterful essay about the fall of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. What now for Sri Lanka? Thus far, it’s clear what President Rajapaksa wants. A docile public and a police state. He’s achieved that. But justice and accountability is sorely missing. Anderson: It should not be…
BDS against rapacious Sri Lankan regime
Well done: A public awareness campaign asking shoppers in Britain to boycott products made in Sri Lanka and sold in popular stores like Marks & Spencer continued last week with several members of the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) handing out leaflets and talking to shoppers on Oxford Street Saturday. Similar TYO events took place over…
This is just the beginning of the pressure Rajapaksa will feel
The poor war criminals are under threat: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa charged that certain elements are trying to portray a picture that country was going towards a totalitarian rule and said that these reactionary elements wanted to take him to the electric chair on war crimes allegations. President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaking at an opening…
Asylum seekers not out of sight or out of mind
From Australian refugee advocate Sara Nathan: It is… sad that people who seek asylum… are locked in extremely crowded cell 24 hours a day 7 days a week for… several months and sometimes years.… This is cruelty. Let’s all pause a moment to look at the photos and see what we can possibly do for them. Crowded immigration detention…
Colombo hearts Israel but dissent exists
Israel will sell arms to anybody; the more brutal the better, really. Sri Lanka is therefore the perfect country for Tel Aviv to engage but according to this piece in the country’s Sunday Leader disquiet rules: The news that Sri Lanka is to boost relations with Israel in the agricultural field comes as a surprise…