Groundviews

Photo courtesy of HRW Human Rights Watch has issued a strong statement on the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill, saying it retains many provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act that have enabled serious human violations. Published below is the full statement.

Photo courtesy of Tamil Guardian Tisaranee Gunasekara, in her article in Groundviews, Land Mining Sri Lanka in Vadunnagala, says that Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, who is accused of child rape and no longer the Atamasthanadhipati, gifted a Sri Maha Bodhi sapling to me that I planted it in Vadunnagala archaeological site in the Northern Province, which is being promoted via social media as the next battle field between Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus.

Photo courtesy of Socialist Worker Something was lost in the 20th century and has never been replaced. The Third International was dissolved in 1943, a wartime accommodation to allies who wanted it gone. Whatever its faults, and they were grave enough to deserve a separate reckoning, it was an instrument. Its dissolution, followed decades later by the collapse of the wider movement, left working people without any durable body through which to act together across borders.

Photo courtesy of Onlanka As the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) met in September, the situation in Sri Lanka was on the agenda as the state again tried to fend off concerns about its patchy record. The government was also represented at the UN General Assembly, which met amid stark tensions between leaders of superpowers, along with countries under their patronage, and much of the rest of the international community. It made occasional useful points, yet sent out mixed messages.

Photo courtesy of Lanka Leader Lionel Bopage has spent his career as an independent and passionate activist, fighting to advance and defend the rights to equality and non-discrimination. At the heart of this work has been a commitment to challenging prejudice and injustice in all their forms, whether directed at individuals or communities on the basis of race, gender, belief, age or sexual orientation. He served as General Secretary of the JVP for several years until February 1984.

Photo courtesy of Right Livelihood We have lost a dear friend and comrade. Basil Fernando died in Hong Kong on September 30 aged 81. He was a lawyer, jurist, poet, philosopher and Marxist and he never made peace with injustice. Asia has lost one of its bravest defenders of human dignity. Those of us who knew him have lost a man of rare warmth, wit and moral courage. Basil was born in Wattala on October 14, 1944.

Photo courtesy of South China Morning Post Look at the ordinary things around you. The clothes on your back, the cup beside you, the wires in the wall, the screen in your hand. Hardly any of it was made where you are sitting and none of it was made by one pair of hands. A cotton grower in Gujarat, a machinist in Dhaka, a docker in Rotterdam, a miner in Katanga, a driver finishing a night shift in São Paulo: between them they assembled many of the things you use on an ordinary morning.

Photo courtesy of Lanka Leader Sri Lanka is arresting people on an extraordinary scale while hundreds of rehabilitation places remain empty. As prisons overflow, the country faces a fundamental question: can addiction be defeated by punishment alone? There is a striking contradiction at the heart of Sri Lanka’s escalating battle against drugs. The country’s prisons are overflowing. Rehabilitation centres have empty beds.

Photo courtesy of UNFPA Today is International Day of Older Persons “When an old person dies, a library burns.” This African proverb explains why elders matter so deeply. Every older person carries decades of memory, wisdom, skill and love that no book can fully replace. Elders’ Day, marked by the UN as the International Day of Older Persons, is a chance to honour them. But honouring them with flowers for one day is not enough.

Photo courtesy of Roar Media Many columnists have elaborated at great length on the existential crisis that people on Mannar Island face in their struggle against the wind power farms and the planned sand mining project which are threatening their livelihoods, even the habitability of the peninsula. Due to the perseverance of civil society actors, the Catholic church of Mannar, environmental activists and some journalists, the struggle continues.