My following article appears today in ABC’s The Drum Unleashed: A Western journalist visits the Sudanese capital Khartoum to interview President Omar al-Bashir. The reporter, after calling him “controversial” due to his “bloody” record in fighting terrorism, gives the leader a platform to explain his views and tactics. The only other voice featured in the…
Showing all posts tagged Sri Lanka
Colombo needs a legal slap-down
From today’s Australian newspaper: Governments around the world are studying the “Sri Lanka method” for dealing with internal conflicts, but the prospect should fill us with alarm. Respected independent observers including the US State Department and the International Crisis Group have drawn attention to credible allegations of war crimes against both the Tamil Tiger rebels…
Resistance vs terrorism is a complex beast; enter the Tamil Tigers
Post 9/11, finding nuance in the state view towards “terrorism” was rare, indeed. But here is a challenging example, questioning the idea that every form of resistance is somehow connected to al-Qaeda: More than three years after federal agents locked up a Sri Lankan immigrant they say was the top U.S. representative of the Tamil…
What next, Rajapaksa wins Nobel Peace Prize?
This just proves that massacring Tamil civilians isn’t a bar to participating in front of the world: Mahinda Rajapaksa to join Prince Edward at ceremony despite allegations of human rights abuses by Colombo governmentMahinda Rajapaksa, the controversial president of Sri Lanka, is locate to be the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the…
Remembering the Tamil struggle
Some Tamils in Sri Lanka are trying to get their lives together after decades of discrimination which continues to this day. But in the Diaspora, maintaining pressure on Colombo is essential. Impunity is not the answer: Another successful nationwide boycott campaign against clothing made in Sri Lanka was conducted Saturday, September 25, 2010 between 10:00…
Disaster capitalism envelops us all
My following article appears in the Sydney Morning Herald today: Last year’s cessation of hostilities between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, after up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were murdered in the last months of the conflict, has heralded a Beijing-led invasion of the island. The authoritarian Rajapaksa regime was assisted by Chinese…
Mental health cure isn’t available with a pill
My following book review appeared in yesterday’s Sydney Sun Herald: Crazy Like Us Ethan Watters Scribe, $35 About one in five adult Australians will experience mental illness at some point. In the US, about 27 per cent of people aged 18 and older suffer from a mental disorder each year. These are startling figures that…
The Sri Lankan Mark Regev steps right up
Welcoming (some) Tamils to Australia and Colombo’s Israel-style Canberra ambassador (aka the least credible man this side of Mark Regev’s identical brother):
The mainstreaming of Sinhalese fascism
The shameful lies of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the United Nations General Assembly… on September 23: No nation on earth can wish Sri Lanka’s Tamil community more good fortune than Sri Lanka itself. The truth is far uglier.
The Rajapaksa dictatorship
The ongoing pain in Sri Lanka, the rise of Sinhalese authoritarianism and Tamil oppression. Former UN spokesman in Colombo Gordon Weiss explains on Australian TV: