Tomorrow sees Sri Lanka’s first election since the government’s defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009. Perhaps the most revealing comment of the campaign that I’ve read is from the US Ambassador to the country: The US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Patricia Butenis, was moved to warn yesterday that election violence threatened to reverse…
Showing all posts tagged Sri Lanka
The police state known as Sri Lanka
Brahma Chellaney is on the advisory council of the UK-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (as am I). His latest piece for the Guardian reminds us that the country’s upcoming election is between two alleged war criminals and the Tamils are likely to remain the meat in the sandwich, abused and feted by…
No blood for panties: boycott Sri Lanka
Boycott Sri Lanka Press Release January 18, 2010 On the heels of its successful release of the first episode of No Blood For Panties series, Boycott Sri Lanka released its second episode today (see below). No Blood For Panties is part of a campaign to encourage Americans to boycott products made in Sri Lanka to…
What’s the chances of Israeli politicians being caught in Australia?
Greg Barns writes in Tasmanian newspaper (owned by Rupert Murdoch) The Mercury about the human right’s double standard when our political and media elites discuss war crimes, refugees and Israel: Last week the Right-wing media and their political friends worked themselves up into lather over an assessment by ASIO that a small number of Tamil…
Sri Lanka “guilty” of war crimes, says Dublin tribunal
When governments refuse to investigate themselves or do so without full transparency (hello Israel), the world will act accordingly: The Sri Lanka government was found guilty of war crimes, a peoples tribunal in Ireland has said. In its preliminary findings, the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka (PTSL) that conducted hearings from 14 to 16 January…
How the boycott Sri Lanka movement is evolving
The global boycott Sri Lanka campaign is growing by the day. Here’s another one spreading virally: Untitled from say no to srilanka on Vimeo.
How does Washington imagine holding Sri Lanka to account?
The Boycott Sri Lanka movement is gathering steam globally. Unsurprisingly, the US ambassador to the country, based in Colombo, is opposed to this action against the nation but told the country’s Sunday Times newspaper: We continue to look very seriously at the issues of possible war crimes and human rights violations in general, as do…
New York Times encourages avoidance tourism in Sri Lanka
Since the end of the brutal civil war in Sri Lanka, global campaigns have emerged that urged a boycott of the island nation. Colombo must pay a price for its barbarity. Rather than even considering this, the New York Times simply places the country as one of the hottest tourist destinations of 2010. Tamil Justice…
Torture and mayhem in Sri Lanka
CNN’s Becky Anderson talks with the UN Special investigator investigating war crimes in Sri Lanka and discusses the lack of justice and transparency of Colombo’s government:
Sri Lanka is warned again to listen to Tamils or else
Sri Lanka’s election approaches as the beleaguered Tamil minority are once again treated as a commodity to be bought, sold and abused. This column by Hamish McDonald in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald outlines a path ahead and warns that future conflict is almost inevitable unless Tamil grievances are addressed (highly unlikely, if history is any…