Tuesday 30 June 2020

Sri Lanka police “should immediately return” computer of NYT journalist

New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Sri Lankan authorities to immediately return the computer of a senior journalist seized by Sri Lankan police and allow her to report without fear of official harassment.

ALIYA IFTIKHAR - CPJ- 19 JUNE 2020

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials raided New York Times journalist Darisha Bastians’ home in Colombo on June 9 and removed her laptop evoking fears that the information and data in it might be used in a harmful manner.

“CPJ strongly objects to the seizure of journalist Dharisha Bastians’ laptop and is concerned it could further endanger her sources,” said Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher. “Sri Lankan authorities should immediately end this intimidation campaign against Bastians, which is clearly retaliation for her critical reporting.”

After two unsuccessful attempts at taking the senior journalist’s laptop into custody, without a court order, this time CID had arrived with a warrant, according to Dharisha Bastians.

'Endangering sources'

However, CID had acquired her Call Data Records earlier without a court order and subsequently leaked the information.

“As a journalist, I was horrified at the public exposure of my telephone records, which could seriously endanger and compromise my sources and contacts, then, now and in the future,” Dharisha Bastians said in a statement shared on social media.

GARNIER FRANCIS LEAVING COURT PREMISES

“I am willing to cooperate with any investigation by appropriate law enforcement agencies and I am confident the CID will find nothing incriminating in the analysis of my computer. But under the prevailing circumstances, I remain gravely concerned about potential efforts by interested parties to compromise the integrity of hardware, software, data and documents of the laptop and any other electronic material/devices belonging to me, obtained by law enforcement.”

Abducted Swiss staffer

Police had seized the laptop in connection to an investigation over the alleged abduction of a Swiss embassy staffer.

Authorities allege that the embassy staffer Garnier Banister Francis’s abduction was staged and accuse Bastians of communicating with the staffer and being linked to the alleged abduction, said CPJ quoting media reports.

The CID chief at the time, Senior Superintendent Shani Abeysekere, Inspector Nishantha Silva who later sought asylum in Switzerland, former Lake House Chairman Krishantha Cooray and Dharisha Bastians were named by the CID in court in January.

Francis had maintained that she was abducted and forced to reveal information.

On June 16, the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered government analysts to examine whether anything on the laptop had been changed since it was seized.

Bastians left Sri Lanka in November, and the raid was conducted while her family members were living in her home, said CPJ quoting media reports.
© JDS

Sri Lanka: Socialism, The JVP & Friedrich Engels

By Lionel Bopage –JUNE 30, 2020

Dr. Lionel Bopage

It was interesting to read several ongoing discussions about certain personal properties allegedly held by some JVP leaders. As far as I can recollect, this has never been an issue with the leaders of the ruling political parties or of the traditional left. With regard to them, issues have been different. They were about the many properties and wealth acquired allegedly by corrupt or deceptive means, or using positions of authority one holds. Those allegations are raised prior to elections but after the elections, swept under carpet by hook or crook. The 72-year history of Sri Lanka provides an ocean of evidence for that. Even some bureaucrats, particularly certain political appointees fall into the same category. Yet, my attention here is not about bribery, corruption and other deceptive conduct of politicians and bureaucrats, rather an assessment of the right of socialists to hold personal property.

During the last decade or so, there have been allegations of comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake holding property overseas and comrade Vijitha Herath’s family owning property in Sri Lanka. So it comes as no surprise that this public discourse is managed by a few media outlets and several shady political characters well-known for falsifying and slandering political activities by raising allegations against the leaders of the political parties of the left such as the JVP and the Frontline Socialist Party. At times, such mudslinging occurs among the left political leaders themselves. Obviously such denigrative discourse among left leaderships becomes greatly beneficial to their political opponents.

This campaign of slander, falsification and distortion is nothing new. When late comrade Chandra Fernando allowed comrade Rohana Wijeweera (slain by the state), to use his Mercedes Benz car for his travelling across the island, the same media outlets and political outfits slandered Rohana, saying that he had bought a Mercedes using the funds that the JVP had raised via their ‘till’ campaigns.

Property was never an issue and never discussed as we were not into collecting property, but into building the party to which so many comrades sacrificed their lives. Even to date I do not know whether Rohana’s family in Tangalle, owned any property other than the land and house where his mother and siblings used to live. After Rohana and Srimathee got married, they would have had some ownership to the property Willorawatta, Moratuwa, where they and Srimathee’s mother lived in.

There have been many deceptions, fabrications, distortions, misrepresentations, lies, falsifications used against the JVP throughout its half a century long history. Those allegations varied from being CIA agents and KGB agents (at the same time!) to using motor vehicles for travel purposes rather than public transport and wearing new clothes and footwear.

When I was General Secretary of the JVP, I had only two pairs of clothes and a pair of shoes. With regular use, clothes had become discoloured and worn, but with regular washing were kept clean and tidy. The pair of shoes had worn out and had some holes patched up. Seeing the dilapidated state of my shoes, Chitra still being a religious brought a new pair of shoes. I did not think twice about wearing those and went to a party discussion somewhere in Gampaha. At the meeting, the first issue that was raised and the longest item of discussion was the new pair of shoes I was wearing. In a way, we could say that this was something we brought upon ourselves.

During the period from 1968 to 1971, we did not have funds to waste. That was one of the main reasons for avoiding smoking and drinking. It had nothing to do with ethics. Some allege that we were against marital relationships, but as far as I know, we did not have such a policy. During our times at Peradeniya campus, most of the members of the “movement” I knew of had ongoing relationships with girls. The issue that came up later within the JVP leadership about girls was complicated. It was combined with allegations of political inaction and practising idealistic rituals in day to day life activities influenced by those relationships and families.

Coming back to the issue of holding personal property, the JVP had many comrades who had property they inherited. The best example would be ex-parliamentarian, comrade Vijitha Ranaweera. When he was detained in 1971, he was Chairperson of the Ceylon Salt Corporation in Hambantota. In his previous life, he was a “Walawwe Hamu” (lord of the manor house). His residence and property in Witharandeniya were left open for the JVP to utilise at any time of the day, till the day he left the JVP.

Vijitha Ranaweera

It is unpardonable for me to skip names of some comrades here. Late comrade M B Rathnayake, attorney at law, was at a time leader of the MEP and was another “Walawwe Hamu” from Matale. Comrade Rathnayake made need-based allowances for the JVP leadership to use the veranda and garage space of his house for political discussions. That is where we had our first Politbureau meeting when we were released from prisons in October 1977. It is also there, we met former minister and the SLFP candidate in the 1982 presidential election Mr Hector Kobbekaduwa to look at the possibility of to have a single opposition candidate against the then president JR Jayewardene. The sad saga of the single presidential candidate continues to-date.

Late comrade Ubhaya Weerasinghe, attorney at law was also a property owner and a businessman. Though not to the extent that comrade Vijitha did, Comrade Weerasinghe provided the first-floor room of his sawmill in Armour Street. We used it as the head office until the JVP was proscribed in July 1983, by the JR Jayewardene regime. We had a couple of meetings of the Human Rights Organisation at his house in Horton Place, Colombo. At the district level, we also had similar comrades who owned property either through parental lineage or acquired through business engagements. Unlike their opponents on the right who shamelessly plundered the state coffers, most of those comrades sacrificed their lives and used their wealth for the cause of building a better Sri Lanka.

The JVP had to sack several leaders because of their misuse of party funds and or property. Some of them had happily betrayed at the altar of Capital their ‘humanitarian’ principles they said to have valued most. Even today, we have them hoodwinking the masses while accumulating properties and funds and serving their corrupt capitalist masters to the best of their abilities. To the credit of the JVP leaders, they have taken up in public the allegations raised against them. The JVP has refuted such allegations and clarified how they or their families have come to acquire property through parental lineage. Unfortunately, their responses do not get the attention of many media outlets, particularly those outlets and personages enjoying enormous financial and material privileges for slavishly serving their masters.

Friedrich Engels in his early 20s

Simply because you own property like a house and a land does not imply that you are a capitalist. You become a capitalist when that property is made to acquire a social status in production. Capital is a collective product that can be set in motion only by the united action of many, and in the last resort, of all members of society. Capital is, therefore, not personal, it is a social power. The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, i.e., the means of subsistence, which is absolutely required in bare existence as a labourer. What we want to do away with is the miserable nature of this appropriation, under which a worker lives just to increase capital.

Karl Marx’s life-long friend and closest collaborator and political comrade, Friedrich Engels, published The Condition of the Working Class in England, when he was 25. This November 28th, it will be Engels’s 200th birth anniversary. His life appears replete with contradictions. He was a Prussian communist, a keen fox hunter who despised the landed gentry, and a mill owner whose greatest ambition was to lead the revolution of the working class. In passing, I recollect that the first booklet I read in year 9 was Socialism Utopian and Scientific, written by Engels in the 1880s.

He was born a son to a prosperous family with deep roots in the yarn and cloth industry. Under his father’s insistence, he acquired business experience. He was a firebrand radical, a campaigner for socialism, at the same time a respectable Manchester businessman. Engels supported Marx and his family financially for many years. He became Marx’s most effective popularizer and propagandist. Engels survived Marx by 12 years and continued Marx’s posthumous collaboration. Their long-term friendship and intellectual partnership have become known as “the most famous intellectual collaboration of all time”. Engels himself is called Marx’s General.

Core Group reiterate 'profound disappointment' over Sri Lanka's withdrawal from UN resolution

30 June 2020

Canada, Germany and the UK reiterated their "profound disappointment" over Sri Lanka's withdrawl of co-sponsorship from United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolutions promoting accountability, reconciliation and human rights.

Addressing the UNHRC 44th Session, the member states, alongside North Macedonia and Montenegro, stressed that any "accountability mechanism must have the confidence of those affected".

"Since March, Sri Lanka has been battling COVID-19, and has kept case numbers significantly lower than the regional average. However, as stated by the High Commissioner, extraordinary measures to tackle the pandemic should not be used to roll back human rights. We share the concerns of Sri Lankan human rights organisations over the targeting and marginalisation of minority groups, the pardoning of Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake and promotion of others accused of serious violations during the conflict, and the militarisation of a wide range of civilian functions and public initiatives."

"We call on Sri Lanka to ensure that the country's democratic space remains open and accountable. We call for detentions and arrests to follow due process and be compliant with international norms and universal rights, for example in the case of lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah, who has now been detained for almost three months without charge or presentation before the court. We call for an end to impunity for the violations and abuses of the past."

See the full text of the statement here.

COVID-19 accelerates Sri Lanka's slide into autocracy..! Sri Lanka's Response to Covid-19 (Status Statement - 6)

(Lanka-e-News -30.June.2020, 11.30PM)

By The Alliance of Independent Professionals

1. COVID-19 Response

On 27th May 2020, the Ministry of Health rejected the contents of AIP's last report on the COVID-19 crisis. We stand by the contents of the report.

With the general election now scheduled for 5th August, the government has banned the reporting of new positive COVID-19 tests except under exceptional circumstances. Daily testing is largely limited to returnees, and the same group of approximately 1,200 health workers, security personnel, intelligence officers and government ministers, officials and their families. Politicisation of public health reporting is one of the key factors behind the European Union's decision not to include Sri Lanka in its whitelist of countries from which to allow travel. EU officials are unable to reconcile inconsistencies in the figures coming out of Sri Lanka, and the government is thus not seen as credible.

The President and Prime Minister have targeted the 3rd week of July to announce the eradication of COVID-19 from Sri Lanka as its core election campaign strategy. The Chinese government has agreed to seek support from the WHO to felicitate President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Gen. Shavendra Silva for eradicating COVID-19, at the height of the election campaign.

The opening of the international airport has been delayed, as the government struggles with the inhumane conditions at quarantine camps. Several returnees who tested positive for COVID-19 have been taken to army camps where they have been placed in makeshift jail cells, with no ventilation, natural light, bed linen or toilets. They are forcibly required to remain in these conditions until they test negative and are denied food and beverages from the outside. Some returnees have complained that they are being housed along with criminals detained by the military on narcotics charges and in connection with underworld activities.

Doctors charged with overseeing health outcomes at these facilities are under incredible strain. One suffered a heart attack over the weekend. Several opposition politicians from the United National Party (UNP) and Samagi Jana Balaewgaya (SJB), as well as journalists from print and electronic media outlets, have been briefed on the conditions by returnees. None have chosen to highlight the plight of returnees in the press or on political platforms.

The Task Force forbade health officials from sharing information about new COVID-19 cases with the media or public without their prior permission. A surveillance unit from the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) has been assigned to each of the 23 regional health services departments to ensure that unauthorised information about community spread of COVID-19 is not leaked to the media or opposition prior to the general election. Each unit is led by a captain or major.

Meanwhile, public health inspectors, who are fighting on the frontlines to identify and trace new cases, have faced serious persecution and hardship at the hands of the government. They have not been credited for their successful strategies, which have instead been credited to the intelligence services. Major General S.H. Munasinghe, who was made Health Ministry Secretary in May this year, has refused to pay overtime or otherwise compensate health inspectors for the extraordinarily difficult conditions under which they have worked during the crisis, instead continuing to facilitate the military takeover of Health Ministry functions. In a bid to placate health inspectors and prevent a strike before the elections, the government has said it requires clearance from the Attorney General to meet their demands.

The GMOA had promised doctors that their efforts during the COVID-19 crisis would be recognised through increased monthly overtime payments of Rs. 75,000.00 to Rs.150,000.00 per month. Doctors have been allowed to import duty free vehicles from January 2021, which benefit has been denied to other public servants. Vocal sections of the GMOA have lobbied for trade union action to secure other benefits promised to doctors, but GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya has insisted that a strike at this juncture would damage the government and President during an election season and therefore insisted that strikes be postponed until mid-August.

As at 15th June 2020, at least 2,405 COVID 19 patients had been identified by health authorities, but the figure is undercounted as Army Commander Shavendra Silva, who heads the COVID-19 task force, has insisted on reporting only cases detected when testing returnees abroad, to avoid news of new patient clusters before the general election. However, between 15th May and 14th June, over 75 patients died of “unknown causes” in hospitals island-wide. Their corpses were cremated following COVID-19 protocols under military supervision.

The funeral of government Minister Arumugam Thondaman exposed the political calculations behind the government’s COVID-19 response and the way in which health officials trying to prevent community spread have been shouted down. The propaganda team of the SLPP used the event to launch their general election campaign in the Nuwara Eliya district. Prior to the funeral, the SLPP arranged for the late minster’s son to contest in place of his father, at a ceremony held at Temple Trees, the office of the Prime Minister.

Thondaman’s coffin was then brought to Parliament, an exercise that involved over 100 MPs, Parliament officials and staff. This event saw a gathering of over 1,000 together with several hundred military personnel providing security. At various places in the hill country, there were estate workers gathering without police intervention, and the SLPP were allowed to distribute their electoral propaganda material with pictures of the Prime Minister and Thondaman. None of these events observed health controls. On the day of the funeral alone, the government announced a nationwide curfew in response to public backlash.

2. Central Bank - China selects a member for the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka..

The President and Prime Minister were at odds over the selection of new members for the Monetary Board. Both leaders agreed on nominating businessman Samantha Kumarasinghe, who also serves on the Presidential Task Force for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Development. At the request of the Chinese government, the President suggested that the nominate Dr. Kenneth de Zilwa, who is a strong proponent of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, and a senior consultant at the China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC) Ltd. CHEC has been identified through Central Bank and police investigations as a major donor to Rajapaksa election campaigns. The Prime Minister objected to Dr. de Zilwa, on the grounds that appointing two pro-China members would anger India at a time when relations are already volatile because of Sri Lanka’s increasing economic dependence on China.
Instead, the Prime Minister suggested nominating former Hatton National Bank head Ranee Jayamaha, who was once Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. With the President’s consent, the names were sent to the Constitutional Council, which approved the appointment of Kumarasinghe and Jayamaha. It has since transpired that Kumarasinghe also has extremely close links with the Chinese and Russian governments. His was one of the loudest voices lobbying to scuttle the Indo-Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2015. He is also an advocate of replacing the US dollar with the Chinese Renminbi as Sri Lanka’s reserve currency. Kumarasinghe is a close friend and business partner of the President’s right hand, businessman Dilith Jayaweera. The duo has long advocated for distancing Sri Lanka from India and western democracies, and supported strengthening economic and strategic ties with China, Pakistan and Vietnam.

3. Defamation campaign on Prof. Hoole and move to intimidate him..

In close coordination with the government, Hiru and Derana TV and the Mawbima media group have been leading a campaign to smear and tarnish the reputation of Election Commission Member Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole, to force his resignation. He is known to be an independent and strong member who has displayed his commitment to rule of law, and he has been fiercely critical of all major political parties. The SLPP is working on several fronts to attack him. Within the government, the effort is led by Ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Prasanna Ranatunga. Tiran Alles, an SLPP national list candidate and media mogul on trial for embezzling several million dollars of government funds, has given a platform in his newspapers to plant false allegations against Prof. Hoole, accusing him of association with the LTTE terrorist group and seeking his arrest.

The Legal Advisor to the Commission, Nimal Punchihewa, is a close associate of the Prime Minister and classmate of EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya. Punchihewa has sought material pertaining to Hoole from several EC officials, much of which has subsequently found its way to negative media articles and attacks against Hoole from SLPP campaign platforms.

4. Presidential Task Force to militarise society..

The day after the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions filed by opposition parties and civil society groups that insisted that the President could not govern or spend public funds for more than three months without a Parliament, the President issued a proclamation appointing a task force to “build a secure country, disciplined, virtuous and lawful society”. The task force comprises the commanders and intelligence wing heads of the three armed forces, the acting IGP, the Director-General of Customs and the Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), both of whom are also army officers, and two Deputy Inspectors General of Police who are considered loyal to the President. It is chaired by the Defence Secretary, General Kamal Gunaratna. Eleven of its thirteen members are military officers.

The President has empowered the task force to “curb the illegal activities of social groups”, curb the illegal narcotics industry in Sri Lanka, “take legal action against persons responsible for illegal and antisocial activities in Sri Lanka while located in other countries”, and “investigate and prevent any illegal and antisocial activities in and around prisons”. While “anti-social behaviour” is not defined in the mandate of the task force, the move is widely seen among officials as a way of formalizing the efforts of the intelligence services to stifle critical speech and dissent.

Several members of the task force have been personally involved in moves to identify and oust government servants and expatriates suspected of being associated with AIP. The Defence Secretary and Chief of National Intelligence, General Jagath Alwis, are advised in these efforts by Chinese officials who set up similar surveillance programs to police and spy on public servants in China and the Chinese diaspora.

The President has personally briefed the heads of several intelligence services on a list of Sri Lankans living abroad whose locations he wants traced and movements followed. The list includes police officers who fled the regime, former diplomats, Sri Lankan journalists and media executives in exile abroad, family members of murder victims who are campaigning for justice, and key witnesses in murder investigations involving the President. The President wants their locations and day-to-day activities publicised to intimidate them against speaking out against the regime. Chief of National Intelligence General Jagath Alwis is overseeing this initiative.

The Defence Ministry has also sought the technical assistance of the Chinese government to establish a surveillance technology unit, linking the databases of the new electronic national identity card (e-NIC), licensed drivers, and passport control records with social media profiles and intelligence reports to replicate China’s “social credit score” to identify dissidents and so-called anti-social activists and their associates. The new task force has been charged with the implementation of this system. The Task Force is seeking to install a variety of electronic surveillance devices acquired from China and Israel to monitor communications networks and the movements of some journalists and rights activists, but has been stymied by the lack of personnel with the appropriate technical training within the military and the police. The effort has been taken over from the police by Col. Karunarathne of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), whose team is receiving assistance from a delegation of officials from the Science and Technology Investigative Division of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).

Among the first decisions of the Task Force was to deploy paramilitary police personnel to search prison cells of underworld figures who are not supportive of the government, and to transfer selected convicted prisoners to an island located off the coast of Batticaloa. This island has been previously used as a leprosy hospital. All police divisions been directed in writing by the Secretary Defence through the IGP to cooperate with the Task Force and to carry out the directives given by the Task Force.

The Defence Ministry has established another task force, empowered by the Cabinet to employ up to 100,000 "impoverished" Sri Lankans to do the bidding of the Defence Ministry. The program has been given a wide ambit, and there are no constraints on how the Ministry will select persons for employment, raising the likelihood of corruption and the use of the program for illicit activities.

5. Presidential Task Force on Eastern Archaeological Sites..

The President has appointed another task force to usurp the powers of the Department of Archaeology with regards to identifying heritage sites in the Eastern Province, where Gotabaya Rajapaksa polled less than 24% of votes in last year’s presidential election. Despite the fact that the East is predominantly populated by Tamils and Muslims, the monoethnic group is comprised exclusively of Sinhalese Buddhists, including monks, military officers, police officers, some public officials and the President’s close confidant, media mogul Dilith Jayaweera.

The task force has been charged with ensuring the publication of proclamations under Part III of the Antiquities Ordinance to seize lands occupied by Tamils and Muslims by declaring them as Buddhist heritage sites containing ancient monuments or trees, for the purpose of erecting new Buddhist temples and shrines. Two monks on the task force, Ellawala Medhananda and Panamure Thilakawansa, are close associates of President Rajapaksa who have long advocated seizing minority-owned lands in the East and populating them with Sinhalese from other parts of the country.

Dilith Jayaweera has a personal interest in the Task Force’s mandate, as he owns 105 acres of beachfront land in the Eastern Province, from which he has suffered a loss of almost Rs. 200 million due to his inability to build a hotel on the site due to antiquities restrictions. Jayaweera has lodged a criminal complaint against lawyer Prinsith Perera, for allegedly writing a false deed in connection with this land, causing a loss of over Rs.100 million to Jayaweera. The task force is empowered to release the encumbrance on Jayaweera’s land, or to pay him compensation for it.

Another task force member, Prof. Somadeva, is an archaeologist who has long advocated expelling Tamils and others from the East on the basis that they arrived in the area after the Sinhalese, a position refuted by the majority of independent scholars.

A senior official attached to the Sambuddha Viharaya told AIP that the Task Force has a goal of erecting at least 12 large Buddhist statues in the Eastern Province on state lands before the 2021 Wesak festival, to be held in the Eastern Province. Plots of land around the statues are to be granted to several hundred retired military personnel selected by the President, in appreciation of their service.

6. Foreign Ministry..

Foreign Secretary Ravinath Ariyasinghe has been promised that after the parliamentary election, he will be sent as Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to Canberra. Ariyasinghe had sought to be posted in New Delhi, however the President has insisted that Pathfinder Association Chairman Milinda Moragoda will be sent to India. AIP learns that it is very likely that after the elections, Ariyasinghe may not receive a posting at all, and may be forced into retirement. One reason is that he has been behind a propaganda campaign seeking to dislodge his likely successor, Additional Secretary to the President Jayanath Colambage, by painting him as a “pro-West” acolyte. The other reason is that Canberra is a post sought after by several former military officers and Viyathmaga officials who did not receive nominations to contest at the general elections.

Ariyasinghe enjoys widespread support among the local and international media, due to his links with journalists cultivated over his many years of support in the foreign service, while Colambage has the ear of the President.

On 14th June, the President summoned Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Ariyasinghe to the Presidential Secretariat to discuss the impending vote for membership in the United Nations Security Council. Norway, Canada and Ireland were the three countries up for election to represent Western Europe and ‘other’ states (those not in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America or Western Europe). The President inquired whether Sri Lanka could vote against all three countries, as he said they were American puppets who were enemies of Sri Lanka and needed to be taught a lesson. Ariyasinghe advised the President that each vote must be for a country not against one, unless Sri Lanka chose to abstain.

The President then instructed that Sri Lanka abstain from voting, which instruction was conveyed to the Sri Lankan mission at the UN in New York. Sri Lanka was the only country to abstain from this vote. Going forward, the President instructed his foreign policy team to oppose any economic or security initiative put forward by Australia, Canada, New Zealand or Western European countries, so long as these nations remain aligned to the US and hostile to China, which the President considers Sri Lanka’s most important ally.

As at 10st June 2020, over 39,000 Sri Lankans employed in Gulf countries such as Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, had sought repatriation to Sri Lanka. The majority are employed professionals, not domestic workers. The Foreign Ministry is inundated with a backlog of over 1,500 emails and letters from those individuals and their families, but the Ministry is unable to take steps to repatriate them due to lack of quarantine centres. As at 25th June, 39 Sri Lankan workers have died in the Middle East while an unknown number have contracted COVID 19.

The Jetwing and Citrus hotel groups, with close links to the President, are now proposing to accommodate approximately 2,000 individuals at a time for luxury quarantine at a room rate of Rs.7,000 per night for double-occupancy on full board basis, so long as the military takes responsibility for deep cleaning of the rooms and other clerical services free of charge. Several other organisations and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had proposed to accommodate the Gulf Returnees at their cost but the government has instructed the Task Force not to engage anyone else in repatriation procedures. There is pressure from SLPP groups to expedite the repatriation of foreign workers to avoid any backlash during the election campaign.

Many Sri Lankans abroad have not been able to have their expired Sri Lankan passports extended or to obtain new passports due to inaction in Sri Lankan missions. Sri Lankan missions in Gulf Countries, the US, Germany, France, South Korea and Australia have failed to give efficient consular services and informed many applicants that their hands are tied due to the Ministry not facilitating the exchange of diplomatic pouches for almost three months.

The Foreign Ministry has received a list of 250 names for appointments as domestic workers at foreign missions, who receive only a meagre salary below the minimum wage of their host countries. The list has been prepared by the Presidential Secretariat. With the appointments being granted, over 108 other staff members already working in those stations will soon be recalled.

7. Attack on Protesters on 10th June to Avoid Protest against China on 11th June..

A Black Lives Matter protest organised by the left-wing Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), a breakaway group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), was surrounded and brutally attacked by a group of over 500 police and military personnel on 10th June. Over 40 protestors were injured. At least two dozen, including several women and elderly people, received treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. Police arrested 20 protestors at the scene, and also arrested two human rights lawyers, Nuwan Bopage and Swasthika Arulingham. The lawyers were arrested in retaliation after they identified themselves as attorneys and asked the police to state the basis for arresting the protestors.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), which has in the past been at the forefront of defending the rights of attorneys to make representations to authorities without fear of persecution, declined to intervene on behalf of the arrested lawyers, for fear of angering President Rajapaksa. While silent on the rights of attorney facing arrest, assault and intimidation, the BASL has remained vocal in its campaign to attack trade and aid agreements between Sri Lanka and the United States. With the BASL turning a blind eye, lawyers had to appeal to the President’s personal lawyer and national list candidate, M.U.M. Ali Sabry, to seek the release of the arrested attorneys.

The ruthless and excessive show of force by security forces was calculated, and intended to deter a COVID-19 protest planned for the next day outside of the Chinese embassy. Acting Chinese ambassador Hu Wei appealed to the President and his aide Admiral Jayanath Colambage to prevent any protests in Sri Lanka relating to China’s handling of COVID-19. The Defence Ministry thereafter directed the police to use force to disperse protestors on 10th June in order to deter protestors from gathering on the 11th.

8. Presidential Commission headed by Justice Abeyratne on Allegations of Political Victimisation..

The commission has continued its work, directly interfering with several ongoing high court trials, by seeking to intimidate, question and examine witnesses in those trials on behalf of several accused persons who have filed complaints of political victimisation with the commission. These accused include navy officers on trial for murdering 11 youth, a senior police officer on trial for helping a rape and murder suspect to evade arrest, a former judge on trial for elephant trafficking and several former military officers and civil servants on trial for charges of bribery, corruption and firearms misuse in connection with an illegal armoury operated from Sri Lankan waters.

Attorney-General Dappula De Livera has assigned Additional Solicitor General Rohantha Abeysuriya to assist the commission and has declined to protect or otherwise represent police officers who are being targeted by the commission. The AG has, however, vigorously protested the commission’s persecution of officers in his own department. In a blistering letter last week, the AG criticised what he framed as attempts by the Commission to overrule trial courts and grill witnesses on behalf of accused persons standing trial in the high courts.

Former Justice Minister and SLPP parliamentary candidate Wijedasa Rajapakshe is widely believed to be the architect of the commission’s activities behind the scenes. He has strong financial ties with the main accused in the Avant Garde floating armoury trial, Nissanka Senadhipathi. The accused in the elephant trafficking case (interdicted Magistrate Thilina Gamage) was once a junior lawyer in Rajapakshe’s chambers and his brother, an active politician, is leading the campaign for SLPP for Maharagama and Avissawella for Wijedasa Rajapske. Rajapakshe is also a close friend of several of the navy officers accused of abducting and murdering 11 children in 2008 and 2009. Rajapakshe and Commission Chairman Upali Abeyratne were responsible for the President's decision to sack Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara from his post as army Judge Advocate, on the basis that he was prosecuting the navy abduction and murder case and had publicly refused to help stall the trial.

9. Arbitrary arrests and targeting civil society..

Since Sri Lanka’s lockdown began, almost 60,000 people have been arrested for various alleged violations of curfew orders, although there is no legal framework for these curfews in place. Police have not arrested anyone who is connected to the ruling SLPP for curfew violations. The war victory against the LTTE was celebrated by the government with one main event and several other smaller events. The clergy, SLPP politicians and supporters and family members of select military personnel were invited. There was a brief embarrassment when Buddhist monks protested the front-row seat afforded to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, who was asked to move to a less prominent seat.

No events were permitted in the North and East to commemorate the Tamil victims who lost their lives during the war. The police, accompanied by military intelligence officers, arrested three regional journalists for taking pictures of a mosque in the East on 30th May and disseminating information about a peaceful meeting in the north on 1st June.

A 14-year old Muslim child from Aluthgama suffering from autism was brutally assaulted by police in Kalutara in June. Following widespread social media outcry, two police officers were transferred out of Kalutara. The parents of the child were thereafter intimidated by police and men who identified themselves as CID officers, and were forced to withdraw the assault complaint.

Community organisations and NGOs have come under a new surveillance regime since April. In the North, intelligence officers have stepped up regular visits while recruiting local staff to gain information on the organisations. The NGO secretariat has been brought under the Ministry of Defence. Military intelligence officers have been given carte blanche access to their files to identify persons and organisations whose activities are deemed to be politically at odds with the government.

10. Militarisation of Police and CID..

Due to the inability of the CID to frame charges against former ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Rajitha Senaratne or Rishard Bathiudeen and former Director Shani Abeysekara within six months, the President ordered the removal of CID Director W. Thilakaratne, who he appointed in November 2019. The new CID Director, Prasanna Alwis, has been close to the President since the latter was defence secretary, when Alwis was the officer in charge of the Terrorist Investigation Division.

Alwis' CID was caught red handed last week by Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake, when they attempted to tamper with an identification parade being held to justify the arbitrary arrest of human rights lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah, by showing photographs of the lawyer to children who were to identify him at the parade. The magistrate subsequently cancelled the parade.

The new CID Director has also been implicated in destroying evidence to cover up the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Alwis also played a pivotal role in helping the Rajapaksa family cover up its financial dealings with the LTTE, after on-and-off Rajapaksa ally Tiran Alles exposed the terrorist payoff to the media in January 2010, following the destruction of his home by grenade launchers and other explosives. In his statement, he named Alwis and described his attempts to hush up the bribery allegations. Alles is now an SLPP national list candidate, while he is on trial for his role in siphoning millions of dollars in state funds to the LTTE as a payoff from the Rajapaksa family in 2006.

DIG SM Wickramasinghe, who was appointed as a Police Ombudsman at the President’s office, was instrumental in preventing series of investigations in respect of attacks by Budu Bala Sena in the Central Province. He has also been investigated for leaking investigation materials to Gotabaya Rajapaksa and military suspects in several murder cases, including the identities of confidential informants.

The President and Defence Secretary have planned significant structural changes to the police after the government secures a parliamentary majority and neuters the Constitutional Council. Specifically, they plan to appoint one of three short listed serving Major Generals as the next Inspector General of Police, and to reshuffle all divisional SSP positions effective from 15th August. Under the new administrative structure, a military liaison officer will be assigned to each territorial division. These officers will be colonels from the respective army areas, while functional divisions will be allocated to a brigadier general. In this manner, the CID is to be formally brought under the Director of Military Intelligence, and the Special Task Force under the Commando Regiment.

By The Alliance of Independent Professionals

(The Alliance of Independent Professionals consists of 28 Sri Lankan professionals and academics in both the public and private sector. The authors and members of the organisation remains anonymous due to the serious risk of reprisals by the government and military)
Related news:
* Assessing Sri Lanka's response to COVID-19 (Status Statement - 1)
* Sri Lanka's Response to Covid-19 (Status Statement - 2)
* Sri Lanka's Response to Covid-19 (Status Statement - 3)
* Sri Lanka's Response to Covid-19 (Status Statement - 4)
* Sri Lanka's Response to Covid-19 (Status Statement - 5)

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by (2020-06-30 19:32:19)

Vassalage to patrimonialism

The choice is nigh. Choose wisely – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Wednesday, 1 July 2020

Patrimonialism: “A form of governance in which all power flows directly from a leader. These regimes are autocratic or oligarchic and exclude the lower, middle and upper classes from power.”

If you can’t understand how someone like Trump can garner so much support, you probably have some misconceptions about how political salesmanship works. Let us take a look at political rhetoric from the perspectives of two giants of the Western intellectual tradition, Socrates and Sigmund Freud.

Socrates likens political rhetoric to junk food. Politicians, he claims, are more like pastry chefs than they are like physicians. They cook up sweet illusions rather than serving the public good.

“Pastry baking has put on the mask of medicine,” he remarks, “and pretends to know the foods that are best for the body, so that if a pastry baker and a doctor had to compete in front of children, or in front of men just as foolish as children, to determine which of the two had expert knowledge of good food and bad, it is a known fact that the doctor would die of starvation.

So what is the criterion that we should use to elect people to the Legislature?

The general consensus is that more intelligent people are thought to be moderate or centrist in their political views; and dogmatism and rigidity, are more appealing to less intelligent people.

If we are under the impression that education alone is supposed to increase political knowledge and provide a better understanding of the political system and their importance of participating in the system, then we have a think coming.

Consider Martin Heidegger and Gottlob Frege, the two most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, who were among the most intelligent, highly educated, and reflective people around at the time.

Martin Heidegger, German philosopher, counted among the main exponents of existentialism. His groundbreaking work in ontology (the philosophical study of being, or existence) and Metaphysics determined the course of 20th-century philosophy on the European continent; and Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philosophy, concentrating on the philosophy of language, logic, and mathematics.

What should be noted here is that both the celebrities were also ardent fans of Adolf Hitler—as were many other European intellectuals. Moreover, many prominent Nazis were highly educated. Hitler’s propaganda minister Josef Goebbels had a Ph.D. (in literature) from the University of Heidelberg, and eight of the sixteen men sitting around the table at the 1942 Wannsee Conference, where the horrific fate of Europe’s Jews was sealed, possessed doctoral degrees.

There is no dearth of such “intellectuals” in our country too.

These examples make clear, neither education nor intelligence safeguard one against the corrosive effects of political illusions.

In the remark attributed to the British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne: “What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.” Of course there are also plenty of cases where the opposite is true and informed opinion is correct and popular sentiment wrong. The point is that there is no general tendency for the opinions or decisions of the intelligent to be any better than those of the less intelligent.

Some of our politically oriented “intellectuals” are hell bent on trying to inculcate a potent moral influence in us and want us to believe that our politicians will deliver us from our own worst nightmares. The people who believe in them seem gradually to lose their individuality and to become fused into a not very intelligent but immensely powerful political monstrosity.

We are talking about politicians, government officials, semi-officials, or volunteers for political parties, about mayors, prime ministers, presidents or any ruler; they are all, supposed to have at least one thing in common: in that, they are ministers in the Latin sense of the word, which means “servants”.

They are chosen, appointed, or elected to serve the people, society, or their community. As Tony Blair said to his campaign team after he first won the UK national elections, “The people are the masters. We are the servants of the people. We will never forget that.

Does it happen? Is it what we all see? The servants suddenly become our masters.

Their reputation is very poor – The “servants” suddenly turned masters to an inadequate job of managing their reputations and they tend to focus their energies on handling the threats to their reputations that have already surfaced. This is crisis management. They are pretentions and ostentatious; always, pretending to be something or someone he or she is not; and at the same time, delights in flaunting who they are or what they have - speaking of oneself with much pride and self-indulgence.

Studies have revealed that less-intelligent people are usually incredibly confident and more intelligent people, by contrast, aren’t at all. Self-appraisal is a specialized skill; but one that requires intelligence; if you don’t have much of it, you don’t consider yourself flawed or ignorant, because technically you don’t have the ability to do so.

So if you want an intrinsically confident person to publically represent your political party or your constituency, an intelligent person would be a bad choice in many ways. This can backfire though; studies have shown that when a confident person is shown to be wrong/lying, they are then considered far less reliable or trustworthy than an unconfident person. This may explain the negative image of politics, which is mostly a series of confident individuals making big promises and failing miserably to keep them. That sort of thing really puts people off.

In fairness, it would be foolish to assume that all politicians are idiots, although individual definition of an “idiot” may vary. If they were, the whole infrastructure would collapse. Still, everyone assumes they’re despicable, so always assume the worst.

Like any other apparatus, the administrative personnel that constitutes the external form of the political ruling apparatus are not just bound in their obedience to the ruling powers by the idea of legitimacy or their dedication to the country and its people. It is, in effect, bound equally by two other factors that appeal to personal interest: material reward and social prestige.

Socrates describes politicians as having a knack for flattery.

The fiefs of vassals, individuals who owe allegiance and service to a powerful authority as well as the livings granted to patrimonial officials, vis-à-vis officials exhibiting shameless vassalage to patrimonialism, the salaries of modern civil servants, the privileges of conferring state lands, the status and power hashed out to official – these are the rewards, and it is the fear of losing such privileges, advantages and immunity that cements the ultimate and decisive foundation of the solidarity that exists between the administrative personnel and the ruling powers.

The same thing holds true for charismatic leadership: glory in war and booty for the military, while the followers of the demagogue look for “spoils” – the license to exploit the ruled through the monopoly of public offices, profits to reward their political loyalty, and prizes to flatter their vanity.

General Elections and the social media landscape

Facebook included its ad library tool to cover Sri Lanka from the last week of May. What this means is that now we can find out how much was spent on Facebook ads, the targeting details of the ads and spend. As per the details, the pages that spent the most were

Source – Facebook

In terms of ad reach, the Western Province appeared to overwhelmingly in the focus

Source – Facebook

1 July 2020

The ad library had been available for Sri Lanka since the November Presidential Election. The ads for which details would be available are those deemed political in content by Facebook. The issue with Sri Lanka is the thousands of gossip pages that have millions of followers. One very popular page has over two million followers. These pages can post ads veiled as posts.
They circumvent any oversight and rely not on Facebook’s ad placement but on their gigantic user base. There will be no details available. Politically aligned social media users have used their profiles in the past to strategically post material significantly political in nature and outright fakes sometimes. We will see this happen during the next month as well. In fact, some posts have been placed already.

· A Facebook official appearing on an online forum hosted by the Hawaii based East West Centre said a fortnight back that the platform was increasing its capacity on Sri Lanka as elections draw near.
However, as has been Facebook’s past practice, the official declined to elaborate what those actions entail or how many moderators Facebook has employed to deal with posts in Sinhala and Tamil.
During the November elections Facebook had a working arrangement with the Election Commission to take down posts that violated elections laws. But neither the Commission nor Facebook gave any details on the mechanism nor its impact.

It would be interesting to see if Facebook holds public interactions with journalists and others similar to those it

held during the runup to the Presidential polls.
Those forums were conducted under restrictions imposed by Facebook that prevented any type of independent, investigative reporting. Despite at least one local facilitating organisation assuring the writer that it was ready to act as an interlocutor between Facebook and Sri Lankan journalists, no tangible reporting has been forthcoming.
At least one organisation with a robust Sri Lankan operation distanced itself from conducting or facilitating these interactions based on the guidelines Facebook expected to be imposed.

Facebook has an ongoing dialogue with the Election Commission. However, sources with detailed knowledge of the EC working relationship with Facebook during the last Presidential Election says that there was no written agreement between the two entities.
Whatever working arrangement was only verbal. Facebook officials were visible at semi-public interactions at EC during the run-up to the Presidential Polls.
Facebook has also held at least one remote awareness building session with local election monitors, the same sources told me.

"At least one organisation with a robust Sri Lankan operation distanced itself from conducting or facilitating these interactions based on the guidelines Facebook expected to be imposed"

After I reported on the possible phishing attempt on several Sri Lankan journalists and human rights activists, most of the WhatsApp groups made up of journalists, rights activists and similar professional have gone almost completely silent. From the raucous gossip laced grapevine, super important to those whose business it is to be ahead of the chatter, they are now limited to exchanging press releases and birthday wishes.
Tik-Tok just got banned in India with a host of other apps. But in Sri Lanka, the app is gaining ground, especially among the youth. It is common to see political satire and spoofs on the platform. Some of the Sri Lankan posts appear to be done by private individuals, but on close examination, it is clear that at least some of these posts have the backing of semi-professional production teams and equipment.

One such user who seems to have taken a liking to spoofing a popular female ex-member of parliament has a great deal of access to a wardrobe that mimics and imitates the MPs dress-code. He has 42,000 followers and there is not an iota of doubt where his political allegiances lie.
The same problematic issues surrounding the gossip pages on Facebook are very much a concern here.

The writer is a Post-grad Researcher at CQUniversity, Melbourne focusing on online journalism and trauma
Twitter - @amanthap

Faces of Resistance: The Omnipresent Force of Bob Marley in Sri Lanka

Photo courtesy of myhero.com

SHENALI PILAPITIYA-06/30/2020

In Sri Lanka, the face of Bob Marley is a recurring visual motif- from tuk tuks, to street art, to reggae bars on the beach, and adorning various paraphernalia. But how did he come to occupy this visual space as a cultural icon? His face did not simply appear; it tells an integral story of resistance in Sri Lanka.

In popular representation, Sri Lanka and Jamaica are both subjected to a single story; desired tropical paradises, privy to the constant gaze of exoticism, and offering tranquility as a ‘Garden of Eden’ of sorts. Of course, this offers an unnatural construct, rooted in otherness, of these two countries. The shared histories of colonization, rampant corruption, and violent struggles quickly disrupt this single story; their narratives are complex and layered. And, just as Jamaica comes to represent an idyllic place with a turbulent underbelly, Bob Marley very much embodied this same essence. Often hailed as the King of Reggae, a symbol of the legalization movement, and a face of pacifism, Marley’s life was far from apolitical and conflict-free. Rather, Marley occupied a distinct social, political and cultural space as a musician, cultural icon and voice for Jamaica’s political struggles, as he threatened and undermined the political institutions of the country. The similarities between Jamaica and Sri Lanka’s histories, therefore, make Marley a relatable face of resistance.

Jamaica in the 70s: A Playing Field of Political Violence

The rise of socialism in Jamaica entered a decisive chapter in the mid 70s, in the lead up to the 1976 elections between Edward Seaga’s Jamaica Labor Party versus Michael Manley’s People’s Nationalist Party. The incumbent People’s Nationalist Party represented Jamaica’s socialist, leftist course, preparing the country for Manley’s fully-realized brand of socialism. The Jamaica Labor Party, on the other hand, positioned Jamaica to enter the capitalist market world order as a competitive player. In this tense electoral period, the result was a bloody feud between local garrisons loyal to either party – Kingston became a ‘checkerboard of war zones’, wherein local garrisons were bolstered to take up arms, and push the political battle on the streets. Jamaica became a hotbed of violence; polarized along political party lines, where the poor, the everyday folk, the working class, were co-opted to fight a political war.

Unwillingly and unknowingly, Bob Marley himself was co-opted into political campaigns, often being used as a symbol of Michael Manely’s party and the political left. Recognizing that he was becoming a pawn in a political war he did not support – and even surviving an assassination attempt on the eve of the 1976 elections – Marley turned to a practice of deinstitutionalized politics: operating his political position, beliefs, and activism outside of the sphere of mainstream and institutionalized party politics. Marley’s music, community initiatives, and force as an activist became his own political field, based on the tenets of Rastafarianism. He adopted a non-aligned approach to politics, famously declaring “We no defend Marxism, nor capitalism. We are strictly Rasta!”. He recognized the two political ideologies of left and right, Marxism versus Capitalism, as polarizing and divisive forces in Jamaica that had little to do with party ideology, and everything to do with oligarchy and personal power aspirations. Nonetheless, Marley’s fierce convictions never relegated him to a sphere of apoliticism or apathy – he was always a firm activist, spokesperson, and figure of radical discourse.

It is concurrent to these events that the message of Rasta gains widespread traction in Jamaica, largely popularized by Marley’s commitment to the movement and rise as a cultural icon. Rastafarianism is a social and religious movement, originating amongst Afro-Jamaican communities in the 1930s, and articulates a consciousness surrounding Black liberation. Rastafarianism iterates ideas of pan-Africanism, and the return to the continent for rooting the Black liberation struggle. When Marley began embracing Rastafarianism in the 60s, Rasta was a religion of the poor. The biblical parallel was the fight against Babylon: the system of oligarchy, whereby few powerful elites monopolize and centralize their hold on power over the many. And, his essence was the unity of peoples – White and Black – to which he famously stated, “Well, me no dip on nobody’s side. Me no dip on the Black man’s side, nor the White man’s side. Me dip on God’s side”.

A Face of Resistance: The Appeal of Bob Marley in Sri Lanka

The parallels are apparent. With our own history of socialist insurrections, a struggle against chronic corruption and elitism is revealed. The first socialist insurrection led by the JVP in 1971 was Rohana Wijeweera’s ideological battle; emphasizing a Sri Lanka-specific approach to Marxist revolution. Analysts also argue that the first insurrection was a rebellion against the Queen, and Britain itself, for its centuries of colonial rule. The 1989 insurrection took place at a heated conjuncture in history, now a fully-armed revolt using indiscriminate warfare against military and civilians alike. But these socialist insurrections were devastating failures, claiming over 70,000 lives in the Southern conflict alone, and quickly convoluting the original fight for the proletariat. An ethnic angle overshadowed the cause, merging the JVP with a Sinhalese-Buddhist populist movement and effectively exacerbating ethnic divisions between Sinhalese and Tamils. Marley’s own criticisms of the political left, which he recognized as an equally destructive force when distorted by ideological primacy and draconian enforcement, thus attracts popularity in Sri Lanka – whereby an entire generation, and generations to come, have become disenfranchised by the dogmatic socialist front due to the collective memory of its disaster and carnage.

Hence, Marley becomes an attractive figure to Sri Lanka, as he embodied much of the popular sentiments against oligarchy – but with a far more nuanced and humanistic approach to violent struggles and revolution. Marley was peaceful, and denounced the message of senseless violent revolution. But, Marley was far from a pacifist; he defended the armed struggle for Black liberation, and recognized that armed solidarity was crucial to the fight for rights. In this way, Marley better situated himself with thinkers such as Franz Fanon, rather than those of a purely Marxist orientation. Marley consciously engages in class struggles with the intersectional dimension of colonization and the construct of the third world, recognizing that colonialism was a state of total violence that could only be overturned through violent decolonization processes. This is, of course, a derivative of Fanon’s philosophy. However, as Fanon’s New Humanism explains, counter-violence is inevitable at the beginning of the revolution – but it is not to be sustained. The ultimate goal is therefore to build a new world order based on mutual recognition and love of humanity, both between former colonizers and the colonized. Here, Marley’s preaching of love and unity, of Rastafarianism and peace, are revealed as an amalgamation of post-colonial revolutionary thought that promotes the unity of humankind.

Of course, Marley’s overall rhetoric is progressive and left-leaning. But, his direct and personal interactions with the political left and right was proof that neither end of the political spectrum guaranteed true liberation for the poor and marginalized. Thus, his advocacy for an alternative form of socialism – one particularly concerned with a united front against colonization, oligarchy and wealth inequality – resonates within the Sri Lankan context. Marley’s humanistic revolutionary thinking, which distinguishes between the need for violent decolonization as a vehicle for liberation, versus operating as a state of violence, is particularly attractive to Sri Lanka – a nation that has dealt with years of civil war, bloody insurrections, government-sponsored violence, and local conflicts.

“Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgement there is no partiality.
So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
‘Cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble”
– Bob Marley, Zimbabwe, 1979.

Just as inner-city neighborhoods in Kingston became a playing field for party violence, pushing political battles onto the street is endemic to Sri Lanka – rarely do political battles shake the elitist core as they do for the everyday civilian. Marley critiqued this phenomenon with acute understanding, once again a probable factor behind his popularity in Sri Lanka today. Among Sri Lankan governing elites, there is an elitist solidarity that operates bizarrely, and almost exclusively, away from the public sphere. It appears to transcend partisan lines, political alignments, and even ethnic and racial lines that dictate so much of Sri Lanka’s internal conflicts today. It is why we see powerful political families on a first-name basis, attending each other’s weddings, socializing and participating in class solidarity. All the while, their political battles are carried out on the ground, with mutually-vilifying campaigns that attempt to delegitimize the other. It is also why wealthy businessmen from minority communities – notably, Tamil and Muslim – are coopted into elite political circles and recognized as a crucial business lobby, continually fluctuating between the SLFP and UNP. Meanwhile, ethnocentric, racist and intolerant sentiments are played out on the ground. It appears then, that political dissent only touches the poor; the deinstitutionalized; the vulnerable everyday citizens. How much are political institutions actively working to redress popular grievances, rather than exacerbating cleavages for a political agenda?

Bob Marley’s ‘Deinstitutionalized’ Politics

Bob Marley is often idolized as an apolitical figure, taking a formally politically neutral stance in an attempt to disengage Rasta from politics. To politicize the message of Rasta would run contrary to the crux of the movement – it would fall in line with the very institutions it attempted to dismantle and discredit, and it would inevitably result in division among members. Marley was, however, far from apolitical. While he did not buy into partisan politics, he illuminated a political consciousness through his message of Black, and poor, liberation. And, his political messaging transcended partisan party lines, and elitist political constructs. Marley’s acclaimed song, “Zimbabwe”, was a revolutionary ode to the independence-fighting rebel forces of Zimbabwe. The wealth of his politicized music comprised a repertoire such as “Exodus”, “Survival”, “Blackman Redemption”, and “Redemption Song”. “Buffalo Soldier” is the iconic liberation anthem of the Black resistance. “Get Up, Stand Up” is the politically charged call for the defense of one’s rights. He adopted an uncompromising dedication to Black African liberation, delivering three crucial albums – Rastaman Vibration, Exodus and Kaya – with an uninhibited voice for the pan-Africanist cause. Throughout his career, Marley engaged in a political consciousness that fell beyond the scope of political institutions. And of course, deinstitutionalized politics is in itself revolutionary.

It is unsurprising then, that many Sri Lankans identify with Marley’s deinstitutionalized politics. Feeling unrepresented by the political institutions that govern us is not apolitical – rather, it speaks to a dissatisfaction with the current institutional arrangement. Organized movements that have attempted to dismantle the status quo, such as the JVP insurrections, resulted in tragic losses that ultimately derailed their initial struggles for an equitable and transparent society. And, in formal politics, there has never been a Sri Lankan government that has not privileged the status quo. Regardless of the party holding political power, Sinhalese Buddhist supremacy is always the crux of the Sri Lankan political establishment; for example, Gnanasara and the BBS were endorsed under the SLFP, yet Gnanasara was granted presidential pardon and release from jail under the UNP. There has never been a government that has guaranteed full and free liberty of the press – from “white van” disappearances, to the assassinations of some of the country’s most esteemed and outspoken journalists: Richard de Zoysa, Taraki Sivaram, Lasantha Wickrematunga, and numerous others, which span over the course of both SLFP and UNP governments. There has never been a government that has effectively responded to corruption; even with the promise of Yahapalanaya, nepotism and corruption scandals continued. By the very virtue of our political arrangement, women and minorities have never been accurately represented by our government. Women, for example, constitute 52% of the population, and 56% of the voter population. Yet, women remain chronically disengaged from the political sphere, and comprise only 5% of the parliamentary legislature.

Inherently, however, recognizing a lack of representation within preexisting political institutions is also taking a political stance. We are far from an apolitical nation – rather, many Sri Lankans simply feel disengaged from political institutions, and practice their political life via alternative outlets. Polarized party lines have not equated to contrasting political platforms; the facade of left versus right, and progressive versus conservative, proves to veil a common desire for elitist power centralization. To then measure the power of one’s political engagement through institutional support and partisan lines is fundamentally misleading – especially when those institutions are never intended to reach the poor, the marginalized, and minorities. Disengagement, deinstitutionalization, and grassroots activism, could instead prove equally compelling courses.

Resistance in Sri Lanka, as in Jamaica during Bob Marley’s time, follows a shared narrative of opposition to elitism and oligarchy. The beaming face of Bob Marley that shines on your average tuk-tuk is a reminder of our own tumultuous struggles for freedom. And, there is something so refreshing and hopeful in this face of resistance that we see across Sri Lanka today. It tells us that our revolutionary struggles are far from over – that we have much to learn and unlearn from, and much to work towards.

Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations