Global Capitalism and Devastation in Haiti

Global Capitalism and Devastation in Haiti

by Tanya Golash-Boza / January 18th, 2010

The earthquake in Haiti has caused the whole world to spin around and look at the “poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” When we look, we see corpses, crying children, wounded mothers, desperate fathers, and other examples of human tragedy.

What you see when you look at the images of Haiti depends in large part on your perspective and knowledge of the country that shares an island with the Dominican Republic. For this reason, I think it is important to share my own perspective on what I observe when I see pictures of people desperate for a bucket of water or a bowl of rice.

Many people say this is a time to act, not to speak. But, really, what can I do? I am in Santo Domingo, a few hours drive from Port-au-Prince, but I have no on-the-ground skills that would help people in Haiti. I can send supplies in the many caravans that leave Santo Domingo each day. I have done so, and will continue to do so. As a writer, however, I think the best I can do is to think about Haiti, write about Haiti, and tell people why this is happening to Haiti and what it means for the rest of us.

You may critique this effort as opportunism — using the human tragedy for my own political purposes. To that charge, I say, this is the moment when people are interested in Haiti, so this is the time to tell the story of Haiti. This story is not unique to Haiti. The story of pillage and plunder and coups and the CIA is the story of much of the Third World. The story of global inequality is the story of capitalism. Except for, in Haiti, it goes back right to the beginning of capitalism.

Haiti, led by revolutionary Touissant L’Ouverture, defeated France in a war for its independence in 1804 — making it the first non-slave republic in the Americas. After losing the war, the French demanded reparations from Haiti, to the tune of 150 million gold francs. This was eventually reduced to 90 million gold francs — the equivalent of over $20 billion current US dollars. Haiti did not finish paying this crippling debt until 1947. Haiti provided more wealth to France than any of its other colonies prior to Haiti’s independence. After independence, the debt prevented Haiti from gaining a solid economic footing. France, in contrast, has flourished.

Throughout the 19th century, the United States and the rest of the Americas kept a close eye on Haiti, doing what they could to prevent any of the other nations and colonies from experiencing a major slave revolt. The specter of Haiti sent fear through the hearts of plantation owners throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Twentieth century Haitian history is marked by US interventions, occupations, and interference. Haiti was occupied by the United States military from 1915 to 1934. From 1957 to 1951, Haiti was ruled by “Papa Doc” Duvalier, a brutal dictator who was backed by the United States because of his anti-communist stance. When “Papa Doc” passed away, his son, “Baby Doc” became President. He ruled Haiti under the same reign of terror until he was finally overthrown in 1986. In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was democratically elected by the Haitian people — the first democratically elected president of Haiti. Eight months later, he was ousted in an effort orchestrated by the CIA. In a twist of events, US-backed forces restored Aristide to power in 1994, and the US military occupied Haiti from 1994 to 2000. Haiti was occupied again by US and UN forces in 2004. UN forces continue to occupy Haiti to this day.

The constant influence and interventions of the United States and Europe have kept Haiti a poor and tremendously unequal nation. A 7.0 earthquake is a horrible event whenever it strikes on or near a land mass. However, the proportions of the disaster were much greater in Haiti because of its poverty. Over twenty years ago, in 1989, a 7.0 earthquake struck the Bay Area in Northern California. In that quake, 63 people were killed. In Haiti, the Red Cross estimates that as many as 50,000 people have died in Haiti. Already, thousands of people have been buried in mass graves.

Poverty exacerbates natural disasters for many reasons. Some of these reasons are the poor structures people inhabit, overpopulation in urban areas, deforestation of hillsides, and a lack of an adequate infrastructure.

When “Baby Doc” was in power in Haiti, the Haitian business community and the United States developed a plan to implement neoliberal reforms that would take Haitians out of rural poverty and into the modern world. As a “modern” nation, Haiti could take advantage of its location close to the United States and supply cheap consumer goods to its wealthier neighbor.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) developed “aid” programs in Haiti that were designed to transform subsistence farmers into laborers for export-oriented farming. Peasants that could not find jobs as farm laborers could go to urban areas and work in the newly built low-wage sweatshops making T-shirts for Walt Disney Corporation and other US-based companies.

The farming for export idea failed and there were not nearly enough jobs for the working poor in the cities. The “development” plan did not work, and Haitians were left worse off. Of course, the USAID and other initiators of the plan never fixed the disaster they created. Eventually, the “American planners and Haitian elites decided that perhaps their development model didn’t work so well in Haiti, and they abandoned it,” leaving Haiti worse off than before.

Failed development initiatives left Port-au-Prince extraordinarily vulnerable to natural disasters. USAID initiatives in the countryside combined with dumping of US-subsidized agricultural products forced peasants out of subsistence farming and into the cities to seek out survival. Many of these urban migrants live in houses made of cinderblock or other substandard materials that are very susceptible to earthquake damage. The fact that so many people live in inadequate housing structures adds significantly to the destruction.

Poverty and underdevelopment have also led to deforestation. People too poor to afford kerosene or gas for cooking turn to wood for fuel. In addition, European and US companies have been mining Haiti’s natural resources (cement, marble, granite, aggregate, gold and copper) and razing forests for lumber for decades. The extreme deforestation of Haiti makes the country more vulnerable to landslides and earthquakes.

The story of Haiti — a nation that broke the rules from the beginning by standing on its own two feet — is the story of how global capitalism works to keep most people in poverty. When Haiti won its independence from France, France and its allies ensured through military means that Haiti paid its debt — and much more — to France. When investors in the US were looking for a source of cheap labor, they looked to Haiti. Maintaining global inequality though military force and profiting off of cheap labor from poor countries is how global capitalism works — or does not work, according to your perspective.

The earthquake in Haiti is a prime example of how unbridled capitalism kills. For this reason, it is crucial to think and to talk about Haiti, in addition to doing what we can to avoid as many deaths and injuries as possible during the current crisis. Perhaps then we can prevent the same mistakes from being committed in Haiti as they have elsewhere in the aftermath of disasters. Perhaps then we can truly rebuild Haiti, for the Haitians.

Tanya Golash-Boza: Assistant Professor of Sociology and American Studies at the University of Kansas,USA

Indian leaders mourn Jyoti Basu' death

Kolkata (by Bhavesh ): As veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu breathed his last on Sunday here at the AMRI Hospital at 11.47 a.m. after a multiple-organ failure, the nation lost one of its finest political leaders and a man of masses in him.
The grief of Jyoti Basu’s demise overwhelmed the entire political fraternity, as leaders expressed their heartfelt condolences as their last tribute to the Communist patriarch. He will always be remembered not just as the longest serving chief minister of West Bengal but also a leader who always stood by ethics in all seasons of his political career.
Union Finance Minister and head of West Bengal State Congress Pranab Mukherjee said: “He was architect of first United Progressive Alliance government. The nation lost a great Parliamentarian in him.”
Basu remained chief minister of West Bengal for 24 years in his long political career. He held Chief Minister’s post for five times.
Expressing her grief on the passing away of Jyoti Basu, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, “Basu was a leader of stature. I always admired him for his worth ethics.”
Conveying his condolence to Jyoti Basu, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely said: “We have learnt a lot from him. He was such a tall political personality who worked for the poor in his lifetime.”
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari described Jyoti Basu as “a leader who did politics of principles.”
An aggrieved Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who wanted Jyoti Basu to occupy Prime Minister’s post as the head of coalition, said: “ In Jyoti Basu’s death, a great era has come to its end.”
Communist Party of India leader D.Raja described Basu as “the finest Communist leader”.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his condolence letter to the departed leader’s son Chandan Basu, described his father as a legendary leader of the country.
“I was deeply grieved to learn of the sad demise of your father Jyoti Basu. The passing away of Basu from the scene marks the end of an era in the annals of Indian politics. In a political career spanning more than six decades, the veteran communist leader steered his party to power in West Bengal , leaving a legacy of uninterrupted rule by the Left Front that he forged through his leadership and legendary skills in building consensus,” Dr. Singh said.
“During his more than 20 years at the helm of affairs in West Bengal, he proved himself to be one of the most able administrators and politicians of independent India . He was a powerful regional voice in the national political scene and helped to strengthen Indian federalism,” he added.
Dr.Singh said he had the opportunity to work with Basu and had always turned to him for his sagacious advice on all matters, whether they related to West Bengal or to issues of national importance.
“His advice was statesmanlike but always pragmatic and based on unshakable values that he championed throughout his political career,” he said.
Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram, on this occasion said: “It is a sad day for us as we remember the great son of India. He has served for many decades, not only the people of West Bengal, but India...he dedicated his entire life to the nation. He was a great patriot, great democrat and a great human.”
“He suffered a lot for the last fortnight. I am deeply sad and offer my sincere condolences to the people and government of West Bengal,” he added.
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “Jyoti Babu was not only one of the longest serving Chief Ministers in the country but also an extremely popular mass leader. He was among the leading lights of the left movement in the country. In his death we have lost one of our tallest national leader and an ideological sage who always worked for the downtrodden.”
In his condolence message, Vice-President Hamid Ansari said that Basu made significant contributions to public life, and especially to the development of West Bengal.
“I have learnt with great shock and deep anguish the unfortunate passing away of veteran leader and former Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu. His demise is deeply mourned by the vast numbers of his friends and admirers in the country,” Ansari said.
“His demise leaves a void, which will be very difficult to fill. My wife joins me in conveying our heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and wide circles of friends and admirers and pray to give them strength to withstand this loss,” he added.
Jyoti Basu breathed his last at the AMRI Hospital of multiple-organ failure at 11.47 a.m. on Sunday. He was 95.
He was admitted to the hospital on January 1 with acute respiratory failure bordering on pneumonia. He was also undergoing treatment at the hospital for age-related ailments.
On Friday, doctors at the hospital said in a medical bulletin that his condition was very critical and hope for his survival was receding.
Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 24 years from 1977 to 2000.

Source: ANI
For more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyoti_Basu

Sri Lanka: Racism And “Exceptionalism”

By Charles Ponnudurai Sarvan

"Lay then the axe to the root"
(Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791)

The following is apropos an interview with Mr A. Sivanandan, published in New Left Review (London, Nov-Dec 2009 issue, pages 79-98) under the caption ‘An Island Tragedy: Buddhist ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka’. Steps towards ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka, Mr Sivanandan claims, were taken immediately after independence by the government of D. S. Senanayake: one of his first measures as prime minister was to disenfranchise the ‘plantation Tamils’ (p. 83).

Mr Sivanandan was born in 1923, studied in Colombo, entered the University of Ceylon (then situated in Colombo), married a Sinhalese, and spoke the language fluently. As a consequence of the anti-Tamil riots of 1958, the family left for England (and walked into the anti-non-white-skin Notting Hill riots of late August and early September). Mr Sivanandan went on to become Director of the Institute of Race Relations (London), and Editor of the highly-regarded journal, Race & Class. Sri Lankan readers may know him best as the author of the novel, When Memory Dies (London, 1997).
Sivanandan states that until the anti-Tamil riots of 1958, he had “no sense at all of being a Tamil” (82). When I was aged about fourteen, and a boarding-school pupil at St Thomas’ College, Gurutalawa, involved in a dispute, a fellow pupil taunted me with Para Dhemmala (foreign Tamil).

I was puzzled because ethnic classification then had no significance to me personally, as an individual. (See, Sarvan, ‘An extract from a personal memoir’, The Sunday Island, Colombo, 5 July 2009.) Being Tamil didn’t matter to me. It was a fact but without importance, like living in this town rather that, or preferring to swim rather than play cricket for the school. So it was with German-Jews in the first decades of the last century. They saw themselves as Germans who also happened to be Jews - that is, until the Nazis came to power, and a Jewish consciousness and identity were brutally forced upon them. The problem lies not in difference per se but in what we make of that difference. Difference and the resulting variety are welcome in nature, and when one travels as a tourist but not, it seems, in ethnic terms in one’s own country, particularly within certain lands where, obsessed with racial and / or religious “purity”, “impure” actions are committed: Nazi Germany, the Balkans and Sri Lanka come to mind.

In Sri Lanka, children and young people politely address those much older as “Uncle” or “Aunt”, even if the person is not related. Sivanandan recalls that in 1958, seeing someone he didn’t know in the house of his (Sinhalese) mother-in-law, he asked his eldest daughter, aged about five, who that uncle was. She replied in Sinhala: “That’s not an uncle, that’s a Tamil” (p. 87). Horrified that his own daughter had been poisoned with racism, and at so early an age, he decided to leave the Island. Some years ago, while teaching in the Middle East, I was friends with a Sinhalese family. Their daughter – let’s call her Nalini – was about twelve. One day, as I walked into their home, little Nalini met me at the door with a worried, earnest, expression on her face: “Uncle, is it true that you are Tamil?” Her eyes asked I should deny and reassure, say that someone was teasing her. It was as if she’d suddenly been told that I was, in fact, a paedophile.

This brings me to what I term the “exceptionalism” of racism and racists. What was the reaction of Sivanandan’s daughter when she understood that her own father was Tamil? What was the child told by the others? I don’t know, but it could have been something on the lines of “But your father is different. He’s not like (all) the other Tamils”. True, he’s Tamil but not one of those Tamils in general whom we distrust and dislike; want to expel or subordinate. “He’s a Tamil but not a Tamil Tamil: you know what we mean?” He or she is turned into an exception, serving only to prove the rule, to confirm the generality. Those individuals whose life and conduct confound the racist (or religious) myth and image are made exceptions so that stereotypes, unquestioned and unchallenged, continue to have their justification and existence. In this way, racist attitudes are preserved and perpetuated. (See the blanket suspicion of, if not hostility to, all Moslems where, in a mode known as ‘Block thinking’, a varied reality is fused into one indissoluble unit.) So it is that, even those who are suspicious of (if not hostile towards) Tamils in general may have a Tamil friend or friends; socialise, and be of mutual company and help. The contradiction, the inconsistency, is “rationalised” away on the basis of their friend (or friends) being an exception.

It’s an almost no-win situation: if you “behave”, you are seen as an individual, made an exception; if you don’t, then not just you, but the entire group is blamed. In the very early 1960s, a young man in London, I was befriended by an elderly English couple. Once when I asked them whether they visited the West End, they reacted with alarm: “Oh no, dear Charles. They’re far too many foreigners there.” Having got to know me as a person, they’d forgotten not only that I too was a newly-arrived foreigner but that I was non-white. To them, I had become an individual tree, and no longer part of the vague wood: threateningly out there, all around them, sensed rather than actually encountered and experienced.

Did Sivanandan’s daughter and Nalini, in later life, question adult attitudes or did they, utilising “exceptionalism”, continue in their culturally inherited prejudice? It is not easy to call into question the world of those one loves and respects, if not admires: to think independently, differently from them, becomes rejection and, worse, betrayal. It is difficult, very difficult, to extirpate group prejudice because its roots are spread wide and deep in the collective soil. (Varying the metaphor, about 90% of an iceberg lies below, and only 10% is visible above the surface.) But it’s by no means impossible, as post-war Germany has shown, emerging from a period of “now done darkness” with relief, wanting to understand the past, willing to make amends in the present.

While an undergraduate at the Peradeniya Campus, one of my closest friends was (let’s call him) Wijesooriya. I spent extended holidays with him at his parental home in what was then a little village off a little town. His mother was a personification of gentleness and kindness, wise and caring, yet ready to smile or laugh. It would not be an exaggeration to say she treated me as if I were one of her own family. Yet “Wije” told me that, while he was a growing child, she had related stories which portrayed Tamils not only as “the Other”, but which created the image in his mind and imagination of the Tamil as trouble and menace, to be distrusted, held at a distance and controlled. I have not the slightest doubt this was not her intention: she simply was not aware of the image of the Other that folk tales and folk history create; their effect on the mind and imagination of a child and, finally, on the hapless Tamil. Essentially kind, decent and good she was simply “innocent” (in the sense of being unaware) of the possible long-term effects of the stories she narrated, tales she told and retold simply to entertain her son. Folk history and stories help to explain the intensity of hatred, and the ferocity of attack, during successive anti-Tamil riots and pogroms. They form an unbroken line of suspicion, resentment and hatred from ancient times into the present.

“Wije” joined Royal College and found himself in a boarding-house in Colombo where all the others happened to be Tamil. He told me of his initial unease at having to live with those of whom he had, entirely unconsciously, built up a very negative image. But to his surprise and puzzlement, he found them no different; was welcomed and treated as a friend. “Wije”, having the mind of a sociologist, did not attempt to explain away the contradiction between received image and impression on the one hand and actual encounter on the other by making exceptions of the other (Tamil) boarders. Instead, he thought about and questioned the values and attitudes of adult society, including those of his parents.

One can perhaps set up three categories, the first consisting of those who are racist in thought and nature. (Often, such individuals and groups, avoiding the opprobrium attached to “racism”, claim they are “nationalists.”) Then there are those from religion and politics who see advantage in stoking, and keeping alive, a negative image of other ethnic groups, religious difference being a component of ethnicity. The third group is made up of those who are not aware of the nature and degree of their prejudice. Here the work of Mahzarin Banaji and other researchers is apposite.

Our brain, like a computer, quickly processes data so that we can react, and get on with the business of living. We cannot, in daily life, pause each time and reflect but must “jump to conclusions”. The question, “What role does our implicit association play in our beliefs and behaviour?” led researchers to the Implicit Association Test - a concealed test where the respondents did not realize what was really being tested. It was found that our attitude to aspects such as “race”, colour and gender operate on two levels. The first is what we (like to) think or believe is our attitude; the second is our unconscious but real attitude, that is, the immediate, automatic, association we make before we have had time to think. We don’t choose to make unfavourable associations with one group, but it is very difficult to avoid doing so if that group (or contrasting object or category) is frequently, if not constantly, paired negatively with another. Indeed, it was found that even those discriminated against could come to share in this negative association. For example, it was found that people of colour who took the Race Implicit Association Test (Race IAT) in the USA had stronger associations with whites than with those of their own skin-colour. An Implicit Association test conducted on a sample of Sinhalese on attitudes to Tamils (as on those with a white or fair skin-colour) will be revelatory, illumining and sobering. Of course, the association of all Tamils with the Tigers is damaging: see postscript below. An early step in combating “racism” is to bring about a realization, an awareness or consciousness, of the extent and depth of group assumptions and prejudice. (I thank Liebetraut Sarvan, particularly for her comments on this section.) Self-examination, both at the individual and collective levels, will lead to a cleansing of the mind of ancient, inherited, prejudice. Lay then the axe to the roots of the poison tree.

Postscript:
On the LTTE, Sivanandan says the following:
Their degeneration “began relatively early” (p. 92). “Instead of winning over people who disagreed with them, they wiped them out [...] The Tigers had begun to alienate the Tamil population, and gradually ceased having the support of the whole community. [T]he political dimension of their struggle had been subordinated to an ad hoc militarism [...” Unlike resistance movements elsewhere, the Tigers were politically underdeveloped. Weaponry was in command, not politics. “This was a critical weakness, and it created the conditions for the final defeat in 2009” (p. 93).
charlessarvan@yahoo.com
Courtesy: The Sunday Leader

Interview with Asanga Welikala on J.S. Tissainayagam's bail

from Centre for Policy Alternatives

Tamil Journalist Tissainayagam released on bail !

Tamil Journalist Tissainayagam released on bail !

Tamil journalist Jeyaprakash Tissainayagam can be released on bail tomorrow. He was sentenced to 20 years hard labour in jail for supportive writings for LTTE and critical for the present government. His appeal case of his conviction is pending and he can be released on bail tomorrow. Mr. Tissainayagam has to surrender his passport and pay money for his bail, said his attorney-at-law S.A. Sumanthiran.

Stop the lies now!

Sri Lanka's human rights dilemma

Politics and Language in Sri Lanka

Politics and Language in Sri Lanka

George Orwell, in his famous essay, ‘Politics and the English Language’ (1946) noted, inter alia, the following:
“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible.” Poor villages are bombarded from the air and the inhabitants driven out: this is called “pacification.” Peasants are “robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers.” Because, sitting comfortably, one cannot say, “I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so”, one says something like, “While freely conceding that the regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.” In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics”. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. Language, by concealing and misleading, can “corrupt” thought.
The Indian Defence Review report (see, Montage, Colombo, October 2009, pages 27-31) identifies factors that led to victory against the Tamil Tigers. The language used in that and other erudite reports and analyses reminds me of Orwell’s essay. For example, one factor cited in the report as contributing to military success were the steps taken by the government to “regulate” (sic) the media so as to ensure “a unidirectional flow of conflict information” (sic). This translates into plain English as media censorship and state propaganda, that is, into both suppression and falsification. The admired “Go to hell” attitude adopted by the government of Sri Lanka vis-a-vis foreign governments and humanitarian organisations means that humanitarian considerations and compassion were rejected. Innocent, trapped and petrified children, women and men were made to pay an appalling price in the unnecessary haste to ‘finish the job’: “wade through slaughter” to victory and power, and “shut the gates of mercy on mankind” (Thomas Gray).
Secondly, from incorrect questions one cannot arrive at correct answers but I would draw attention to a question not asked by the Review or by anyone else. Allow me to quote from ‘A “great” military victory?’ published by you recently (Sunday Leader, 25 October 2009).
It is thought that, at their height, the Tigers perhaps numbered 30,000. Towards the end, down to a few thousand (finally, a few hundred), they faced an army of (again, perhaps) 250,000. The Tigers did not have jets and helicopters. Their mono, propeller, planes were slow and clumsy, and of no real military value. Rejected by foreign governments, the Tigers were as isolated internationally as they were totally surrounded in geographic and military terms. In contrast, the government of Sri Lanka received help and advice from several countries, even from those states in competition with, and suspicious of, each other. The Taliban fight in mountainous, inaccessible, terrain, while the Tigers occupied flat land, albeit forested. Sri Lanka being an island (and the government of the nearest country, India, implacably hostile), the LTTE did not have borders over which they could easily slip, regroup, recover and return to continue the struggle. The wonder is not that the government eventually won but that it took so long for final victory to be achieved.
The last should surely be investigated: given the above facts, why did victory take so long? The answer will point to shameful elements, such as money made through war, including lucrative commissions on the purchase of weaponry (at times, of poor quality and / or of little use); political corruption, nepotism and military incompetence; covert political compromise and secret “horse trading”; foreign governments playing roles which changed in Machiavellian fashion (or, if one prefers an Eastern text, in the spirit of Kautilya’s treatise on government, Arthashastra) according to their perceived interests, and so on. Most damningly, those in political power, as well as those in military command, were indifferent to the injury and death suffered by rank-and-file soldiers, drawn largely from the rural poor and the working class. (See, Elmo Jayawardena’s poignant, Sam’s Story.) Wounded, traumatized and disabled soldiers were not adequately cared for; close relations (wife and children; parents) of those killed not financially sustained. These last help to explain why recruitment was then difficult; why, for long, morale was low, and the rate of desertion embarrassingly high; why, at times, the Tigers were able to equip themselves with weapons abandoned by fleeing troops. Of course, as already indicated, another factor that contributed to the prolongation of the war was that the Tigers, granted their ethical failures and political failings (both several and of a grievous nature) did fight with exceptional courage and tenacity. Mr Christopher Rezel (Sri Lankan writer and journalist, now in Australia) in a recent message to me, points this out:
“Be that as it may, the LTTE leader must have had (a) brave and (b) brilliant men and women. Otherwise, those daring and successful military victories could never have been achieved – and there were many such battle-victories against unbelievable odds and circumstances. As for (b) above, consider the building of an air force and submarines, however rudimentary; the construction of airstrips and ports. Given time, they may have even got guided missiles up in the air!”
But to take up, discuss or argue this aspect here would distract from the present focus.
It is well to bask in the glow of victory (and exploit it for maximum political mileage), but if corruption is to be reduced, an honest examination of the conduct of the war over the last thirty years or more should be undertaken. Uncomfortable questions must not be swept under the carpet. In the long-term interests of the Island and its well-being, not only the reasons for victory, but why a totally unequal conflict prolonged itself for so long should also be confronted and investigated. The people are entitled to, and deserve, the truth, the total truth.
The laurel crown of victory must not be allowed to serve also as the proverbial fig-leaf that hides embarrassment and shame.

Charles Sarvan

by courtesy of: The Sunday Leader

OPEN LETTERTo Heads of Government attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, November 23-26, 2009, Port of Spain , Trinidad & Tobago

Dear Heads of Government

On the occasion of the forthcoming meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government, Amnesty International would like to draw your attention to recent developments in Sri Lanka , and urge you to raise concerns regarding the human rights situation in that country with your Sri Lankan counterparts. In particular, we wish to alert you to continuing serious problems affecting the safety and dignity of Sri Lankans displaced by armed conflict. We also ask you to support our calls for greater accountability for abuses of human rights and humanitarian law suffered by Sri Lankan civilians.

Releases from Sri Lanka ’s camps for internally displaced persons have accelerated, but six months after the end of the war, Sri Lanka continues to confine people who fled fighting in closed displacement camps in uncomfortable and sometimes hazardous conditions. Camp shelters have deteriorated as Sri Lanka has entered the rainy season, and the UN reports that funds for shelter repair are running out. Amnesty International has a global campaign, “Unlock the Camps”, (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/unlock-camps-sri-lanka-20090807), calling on the Sri Lankan government to end its policy of forcibly confining people to camps, which amounts to arbitrary detention.

RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

Some 150,000 people displaced by war and living in government camps in Northern Sri Lanka are denied their basic human rights including liberty and freedom of movement. The camps remain military in nature. The military controls all decision-making related to management of the camps and the fate of displaced people in those camps; the military severely restricts the residents from leaving the premises even to seek medical care, and denies the displaced population basic legal safeguards.

While the government has widely publicised recent releases from the camps, Amnesty International has received reports that displaced people have been subjected to rescreening by local authorities to determine whether they had links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). There are also reports that some people who have been released, have been denied necessary documents to ensure that they are safe from re-arrest.

The government has not alerted displaced people about impending releases or conditions in their places of origin that would enable them to make plans about their futures. Nor has the government given the displaced people clear info rmation about their rights and obligations, their legal status or procedures for tracing family members. Displaced people have been given no voice in decisions regarding their release, return or resettlement. There is inadequate monitoring of the conditions of release, and of alleged return or resettlement.

The Sri Lankan government has prevented humanitarian organizations from talking to displaced persons, and obstructed their ability to conduct crucial human rights protections activities, such as providing legal aid or assisting with family reunification.

CONCERNS ABOUT SCREENING AND PROTECTION OF THE DISPLACED

The Sri Lankan government has legitimate security concerns, and there is a need to bring to justice members of both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces who engaged in abuse of civilians. Sri Lanka ’s displaced civilians suffered enormous physical danger and material deprivation during the war. As discussed below, both sides were accused of humanitarian law violations against these civilians, who were forced to remain at risk in the conflict zone by the LTTE, which used them as human shields against the approaching army. Adults and children were subjected to forced conscription.

Amnesty International stresses the need to ensure that in all cases, accountability is pursued through proper legal processes. Since the war ended in May 2009, many thousands of people detained in camps have been subjected to 'screening' by the security forces in an attempt to root out LTTE members. An estimated 12,000 people (including children) suspected of links to the LTTE have been arrested, separated from the general displaced population and detained by the authorities in irregular detention facilities, such as vacated school buildings. Amnesty International has received repeated, credible reports from humanitarian workers about the lack of transparency and accountability in the screening process, which is conducted outside of any legal framework and the increased dangers to detainees when they are held incommunicado. While screening is appropriate to ensure that LTTE combatants are not housed with the general camp population, proper procedures should be followed, and the screening process must not be used as an excuse for collective punishment.

The government denies independent monitors access to sites in the north housing adult LTTE suspects. Detainees have not been charged with any offense, and have been denied legal counsel and due process. Many are held incommunicado. UNICEF has access to former child soldiers detained in specialized “rehabilitation” camps for children, but there remains a need to verify that no children remain in facilities with adult detainees.

WAR CRIMES ALLEGATIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Sri Lanka has recently emerged from more than twenty-five years of armed conflict between government forces and the LTTE. In the course of fighting, both sides violated humanitarian law. The LTTE forcibly conscripted adults and children, and forced civilians to travel with its retreating forces and to serve as a buffer against the approaching Sri Lankan army. Thousands of these civilians died when government forces fired artillery into areas densely populated with civilians who were forced to remain at risk in the conflict zone. The LTTE reportedly fired at and killed civilians who attempted to escape.

Impunity for violations of human rights and humanitarian law has been the rule rather than the exception in Sri Lanka . On 26 October, the Sri Lankan government announced the appointment of a committee of experts to investigate alleged humanitarian law violations committed during the war. The Sri Lankan government has a poor record of providing genuine accountability through similar mechanisms: it has often appointed ad hoc Commissions of Inquiry in the past when it received adverse publicity for serious violations of human rights, but none of these has advanced justice. The President’s most recent proposal appears to be yet another attempt to deflect attention from repeated calls for an independent international investigation – calls supported by Amnesty International and many other international and domestic human rights organizations, and strengthened by the recently released report of the US Department of State’s Office of War Crimes.

ATTACKS ON CRITICS AND CONTINUED RELIANCE ON SPECIAL SECURITY LEGISLATION

The Sri Lankan government continues to justify its abusive policies and silencing of dissent, under the pretext of countering the threat of terrorism. Special security legislation, such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and the Public Security Ordinance and its accompanying emergency regulations (intended for states of national emergency, but imposed almost continuously for decades), remains in place and grants extraordinary powers to the authorities to arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals almost indefinitely.

In September 2009, journalist J.S. Tissainayagam was sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for writing articles that criticized the Sri Lankan government’s treatment of Tamil civilians during military operations in the East.

In addition to these restrictive laws and regulations, there is a pattern of regular threats and unchecked attacks against journalists (15 have been killed because of their reporting since 2004 and at least 11 have fled the country between June 2008 and June 2009), lawyers, witnesses against state forces, and human rights defenders by unidentified attackers presumed to have links to the state. The cumulative effect has eroded public faith in the justice system, and has also had a chilling effect on freedom of expression and association.

TIME TO ACT NOW

Your government could make a valuable contribution to improving the situation for Sri Lanka ’s war displaced and other Sri Lankans by raising these critical issues with your Sri Lankan counterparts during the course of the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting and in subsequent communications.

Amnesty International welcomes your upcoming meeting as an important opportunity to urge the government of Sri Lanka to address, in particular, these urgent concerns:

· Restore the rights of Sri Lanka ’s displaced people to liberty and freedom of movement, ensuring that those held in Sri Lankan displacement camps are there voluntarily;

· Ensure independent access to, and monitoring of camps housing internally displaced people to protect them against human rights abuse, and ensure that their humanitarian needs are being met;

· Institute a consultative process with displaced people that allows them to make info rmed and voluntary decisions about return and resettlement;

· End arbitrary detention; ensuring that all “screening” and detention practices associated with the displaced population are transparent, and are carried out in accordance with legal safeguards and international human rights standards. Individuals affiliated with the LTTE arrested and accused of crimes, should be charged with legitimate offences, tried and prosecuted in accordance with the law and without recourse to the death penalty;

· Ensure accountability for abuses to guarantee effective investigations, due process and swift prosecution of all perpetrators, including those enjoying political influence and high social status;

· End reliance on legislation intended for emergencies that curtail enjoyment of basic rights and freedoms and subvert due process.

· To accomplish the needed reforms and improvements, an independent field monitoring presence is required with a strong mandate to conduct investigations and assist the national institutions to deliver justice in relation to grave violations of human rights. To ensure independence, such a body must be empowered by an international mandate, not a presidential mandate.

Former MP for Madurai P. Mohan passes away

CHENNAI: P.Mohan, former member of Indian parliament from Madurai constituency and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) passed away on Friday at 7.00 p.m. in Chennai Apollo Hospital. Due to intestinal bleeding he was admitted to hospital a week ago. He was 60 years old and lost the last election in April 2009.