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Official News Magazine of the Peace and Solidarity Organiztion Sri Lanka (PASOS) (PASOS - is a Member of the World Peace Council)

PEACE MESSENGER Sri Lanka


2014 Volume 01

Sri Lanka

Archeology report was submitted to the Magistrates Courts. Without carrying out any investigation regarding the mass grave many Miss Chaturika Silva the Archeology report to determine as pseudo-experts came out with their Magistrate of Matale, ordered to when the bodies were buried in own theories. They were in a hurry the police to investigate the mass the hospital premises. to issue statements that the skeletal grave. The mass grave case took There were many attempts remains belong to the rebels who many new turns since then. The to mislead the people of Sri launched a rebellion more than Magistrate ordered a Forensic Lanka before the Forensic 150 years before against the British colonial rulers. Some others said that the skeletal remains belong to those who died during an epidemic of smallpox epidemic that took hundreds of lives in 1940s in the area. Many politicians at the top were behind these attempts. Some of them were serving in the district of Matale as commanding officers of the security forces during 19881990 when more than 75,000 people, particularly young people of Sri Lanka were cont 2 page

By an accident the largest mass grave hitherto came across in Sri Lanka was excavated from November 2012 till March 2013. The mass grave was found in the premises of Government Hospital Matale in Central Province of Sri Lanka.

JUSTICE DEMAND

The buried, whether from South or North, should get justice JVP
The persons, who have been buried, whether they are from the South or the North, should receive justice and fair play states the JVP issuing a press release regarding the mass grave at Mannar. The press release states: The media has reported that skulls and skeletal 1 remains of 70+ human bodies have been unearthed from the mass grave discovered at Manthai Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar. We believe this incident reveals a human tragedy that is similar to the one that is revealed by the mass grave at Matale where more than 150 skulls and skeletalcont 15 page

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JUSTICE DEMAND...

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killed. am personally inclined to feel that, in this case, by The report on Forensic Archeology has been whom soever for whatever reason there has been submitted to the Magistrate Courts. More than half an an infringement of the fundamental right s of 154 year passed since then. The Government is keeping individuals to demise themselves on their freedom of the report a secret. It is the duty of any responsible will. There is no doubt whatsoever that the skeletal government to make it available to the general public. The Forensic Archeology report says: the modus operandi of the entire byrial shown by the arrangement of individual remains are skeletons suggests that it is not compatible of the people with the accepted cultural norms of treating killed by the state the dead by any ethnic or religious group living in the who were killer squads and country. some of the physical deformations visible sponsored forces of Sri on the skeletons advocate that such were results of s e c u r i t y is the duty of the neither a natural disaster nor an epidemic. they were Lanka. Now it President and the government to forcibly induced and non reflexive. proceed with the conclusion legal process. in the above discussion, an attempt has been Instead of allowing the made to synthsis empirical data collected from Magistrate Courts to study of the burial ditch and its surroundings to with the investigation the present a possible interpretation of the time and p r o c e e d the space of the inhumation. the nature of the President has appointed a one man commission to burial event is straighforward as suggested by the inquire about the mass grave in Matale. The President needs not appoint a Commissioner to forensic investigations in both the but thinking beyond my inquire the mass grave in Matale as anthropological and archeological perspectives. the relative time professional horizons, i there is a case before the Magistrates periods that have been proposed am personally inclined Court. Matale mass grave episode could not were accorded stylistic comparison to feel that, in this case, by whom soever for be buried however much the government with the artifacts as well as the data pertaining to their depositional whatever reason there tried to shift the issue in other directions. has been an infringement Time and time again the government micro-environments. as suggested by the dates of of the fundamental right was trying to evade the issue without the manufacture of artifacts, this s of 154 individuals to initiating the due legal process. When the case was taken up in the inhumation has been carried out at demise themselves on Matale Magistrates courts on 8th a time not earlier than the year 1986 their freedom of will. May 2013, 13 families have submitted and not later than the year 1990. affidavits to the courts stating that they finally, i would say that there is no physical evidence that remains in the burial ditch believe that among the skeletal remains exhumed from i have investigated to formulate a complete narrative the grave there can be those who disappeared during about the agency and the motives of the inhumation. the 1988-1990 period of state terror and wanted a but thinking beyond my professional horizons, i proper investigation. 2

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Will capitalism save the world for

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the next generation?

lobal warming, drinking water and air pollution, acid rains, droughts, poisons and carcinogens in food , poor quality medicines, have been relentlessly reported all over the world. But most capitalists, liberalists and their propaganda is continuing to misinterpret the devastations as inevitable spinoffs of development and modern industry. On the contrary, the truth behind the rumours is that the world can face the demands of people without wrecking the environment. But because of inequity of distribution, over consumption and goals of capitalists of optimizing profits, the existing system has cold-shouldered the environment. Furthermore, as a direct impact

of environmental destruction 300000 people die in every year and it is estimated to be 5 millions, per year by 2020. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Below are some of the regional impacts of global change forecast by the IPCC:

in cities that currently experience them. Gradual replacement of tropical forest by savannah in eastern Amazonia; risk of significant biodiversity loss through species extinction in many tropical areas; significant changes in water availability for human consumption, agriculture and energy generation.

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North America: Decreasing


snowpack in the western mountains; 5-20 percent increase in yields of rain-fed agriculture in some regions; increased frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves 3

Europe: Increased risk of inland flash floods; more frequent coastal flooding and increased erosion from storms and sea level rise; glacial retreat in mountainous areas; reduced snow cover and winter tourism; extensive species losses; reductions of crop

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productivity in southern Europe.

contain toxic substances. Over the last half-century various organizations, movements and scientists have explained the risk and have engaged in protest campaigns to compel governments to protect environment and to lay down proper laws for its protection. Unfortunately the Governments and its laws do not have jurisdiction over capitalism but vice versa, because most of the political leaders with a capitalists mindset are

Africa: By 2020, between


75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to increased water stress; yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent in some regions by 2020; agricultural production, including access to food, may be severely compromised. Freshwater availability projected to decrease in Central, South, East and Southeast Asia by 2050s; coastal areas will be at risk due to increased flooding; death rate from disease associated with floods and droughts expected to rise in some regions. If this system gives some thought to human beings in spite of their class and profits, people can manufacture while safeguarding the world. If they are ready to cut-down their profits by one third by diverting it for proper dispose of waste and recycling, all the major industrial polluters can utilise proper waste disposal and treatment methods and recycling without contaminating land, ocean and drinking water. If they are determined to limit their overproduction it will be helpful to conserve the forest and minimize the green gas emission to slow down Global warming. If we can stabilize a system that has a sincere concern about nutrition and health of people despite mere profits, there would not be a demand for genetically modified foods, hormones containing meat and pesticides or fertilizers which

Asia:

funded for their election campaigns by industries that are run by capitalism. In 1989, NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies prepared a written testimony for Congress, which cited computer projections showing that the greenhouse effect would cause substantial temperature increases, widespread droughts, flooding of coastal plains and other calamities; that global warming from the greenhouse effect was already under way and that enough was already known about the human intensification of the greenhouse effect to begin taking strong international action against air pollution. But powerful elements of the ruling capitalist class did not want to be pushed into taking action against air pollution. 4

The owners of major polluting firms and others worried about the drain on profits generally if government pollution-control regulations were to be seriously stiffened and enforced, or if spending on pollution controls were to be greatly increased. And also despite a 1992 international agreement among major capitalist nations that recognized the problem and promised to negotiate reductions in greenhouse gases, history seems to be repeating itself. Inherited nature of the capitalism is invading everywhere for profits. They create new industries to rescue people from the effects of pollution which has been created by them. Multi-national companies are putting efforts in changing the ownership of all the drinking water sources to make it easy to sell it back to its genuine owners following purification. In the near future they might come-up with methods to sell unpolluted air as well. It is never too late to learn. Capitalism is pushing the world towards a time-bomb. Either we have to fight against this or we have to get dismantled. While fighting for a better system which bears a primary interest in its core about entire mankind rather than the wealth of the utter minority, we must be gathered together to protect our world for the next generation. Earth provides enough to satisfy every mans needs, but not every mans greed. Mahatma Gandhi

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n response to the shooting of unarmed civilians in Weliweriya and Balummahara by the Sri Lankan army, a group of Sri Lankans including two former Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva issued the statement below;

APPEAL Justice for Weliweriya : Time for Indignation!


of the export-oriented glovemanufacturing factory Venigros Ltd owned by Dipped Products PLC, a subsidiary of Hayleys Group allegedly responsible for contaminating ground water by disposal of dangerous chemicals. The company must also assume responsibility for the tragedy if it failed deliberately to take timely action to respond to the legitimate concerns of the people.

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Some party hack decreed that the people had lost the governments confidence and could only regain it with redoubled effort. If that is the case, would it not be simplerIf the government simply dissolved the people and elected another? - Attributed to Bertolt Brecht, The Solution [Die Lsung] (c. 1953)
The shooting of unarmed civilians in Weliweriya and Balummahara by army soldiers equipped with T-56 assault rifles, armoured vehicles, and bulletproof vests, is of unusual gravity for the consequences it will certainly have on the confidence placed by the ordinary citizen on those in power. What confidence can people have in a State that uses live ammunition against its own unarmed citizens, whose peaceful protest for drinking water cannot by any stretch of imagination be compared with participation in hostilities in an armed conflict situation? They were only exercising their fundamental democratic right to organise and to protest. Their demand was for the basic right to clean drinking water and closure

the army? Did those who directed the operation identify an external enemy or a lethally armed internal enemy to justify army intervention? Who decided to impose the unofficial curfew, electricity blackout, curtailment of telephone transmission, and stoppage of transport along the ColomboKandy road?

Why did the members of the Government, and local authorities in charge, fail to take action, and to prevent escalation by ensuring that the company fulfils its responsibilities, despite the matter having brought to their attention? A number of other pertinent questions arise. Who gave the army orders to intervene and deploy as it did? Who gave the army orders to fire? Did the law enforcement authorities exhaust all other means available to them before calling in 5

Why were representatives of the media deliberately targeted? When the military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya seeks to justify army action by arguing that a certain group had attempted to fish in troubled waters and denies, despite evidence to the contrary, the attack on journalists, does this reflect the position of the Government? Even if the claim by the Ministry of Defense is true, that a political group was indeed involved in organising the protest

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action, since when does that give the army the right to fire live bullets at unarmed civilians? Such actions are neither morally nor legally acceptable. They must be repudiated through clear condemnation and an independent, impartial inquiry that makes responsibilityfor the tragedy clear. The people also have a right to know the truth. How many have been killed? How many injured? How many arrested? How many disappeared? The fundamental principles, rules and standards that should govern every organised State in the world today, whatever form that State may take, were violated last Thursday, on 1 August, in Weliweriya and Balummahara when army soldiers fired on unarmed villagers, killing several, among them two schoolboys. News reports allege more, with injuries to numerous others, of whom three are in a critical condition under intensive care, and also assaulting of journalists as well as youth. It cannot be stressed enough that the role and responsibility of the armed forces of a State is to defend the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the country and people against external threats, an external enemy (international armed conflict) and to deal with internal (non-international) armed conflict situations. Ensuring law

and order within the territorial borders is the responsibility of the law enforcement authorities, primarily the police force. Law enforcement operations in situations other than armed conflict are conducted by the police and are governed by the human rights obligations of the State. During such operations, law enforcement officials must pay utmost attention to their obligations to respect and protect the life and security of all persons. When armed forces are required to come to the assistance of civil authorities to deal with internal disturbances and tensions, they must play a reinforcement role, subordinated to civilian authorities. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) lays down that the only time a government may take measures derogating from some of its obligations is in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed. (emphasis added). The right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to recognition as a person before the law, are among the non-derogable rights. In Weliweriya, the authorities clearly failed to abide by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and precaution, violating the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms

by Law Enforcement Officials (BPUFF), as well as the standards for law enforcement practices that are consistent with provisions on basic human rights and freedoms, as set forth in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (CCLEO). While extending our solidarity and support to the residents of Weliweriya and Balummahara and other affected areas of Gampaha, we would like to note that in this mobilisation, the people of Weliweriya and Balummahara are exercising their fundamental right to organise, mobilise and to take direct action for drinking water, the supreme right to life, without which all other human rights would be devoid of meaning. While it is the responsibility and duty of the State to create the conditions favourable and necessary for the exercise of all human and democratic rights, the role of law enforcement authorities is to guarantee those rights. It is understandable that the President has publicly refrained from apportioning blame on anyone prior to a comprehensive inquiry, but a public statement from him condemning the incident and promising severe action against those found responsible for the deaths and other excesses would have helped a great deal in reassuring the helpless victims of Weliweriya that the State would not shirk its responsibilities towards its citizens.h

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But is the role of the army in Sri Lanka now being distorted at the cost of human lives? Are Weliweriya and Balummahara a foretaste of what is in store for those who exercise their right of democratic dissent? Katunayake in May 2011, Chilaw in February 2012, Weliweriya in 2013, on top of numerous events in the North during this period, amount to more than coincidence, with so many instances of workers, fisherfolk, and villagers paying the price. Whos next? Is Weliweriya a turning point? Is the Government going to protect and promote the interests of a privileged few, at the expense of the toiling multitude and the citizens at large, with grave consequences for democracy, in which sovereignty resides collectively with the demos i.e. the people . Is it not immoral to actively encourage the construction of a 38-storey casino when the regime is not committed to the provision to 10,000 modest families of clean drinking water? We must recognize that, without assuming all provocative acts are by external agents, there are those within the State too who wish to provoke and polarize. But the vision they propagate, of domination rather than consensus, of violence for elimination of opposition rather than discussion,

will inevitably provoke similar extremism in others as we found to our cost over the last several decades. Popular mobilisation is never without reason. There is still time to awaken from our collective stupor and take our destiny into our own hands, to build a society in which we can all live together, as equals, in peace and

harmony, enriched by our cultural differences, in a united Sri Lanka. It is Time for Indignation! Let us take collective action to ensure respect for the rights and dignity for all! Signed by:
Tamara Kunanayakam, Economist, former Permanent Representative/Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva & the Vatican, and in Havana; Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, Journalist/President, Sri Lanka Journalists Trade Union (SLJTU); Dr. Sarath Buddhadasa, Management Consultant; Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, President/The Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA); Amar Gunetilleke. Consultant; Vajira Gunawardena, Artist; Jayanthi

Gunawardena, Tourism Professional; M.A.M. Fazul; Dr. Manoranjana Herath, Sculptor/Lecturer, University of the Visual and Performing Arts; Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Convenor, National Organiser, Socialist Student Union; DBS Jeyaraj, Journalist; Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, former Permanent Representative/Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, in Paris, and UNESCO; (Mrs) Sanja Jayatilleka, Accountant; Supipi Jayawardena, Lecturer, Monash College Sri Lanka; Dumith Kulasekera, Artist; Sanjeewa Kumara, Artist; Kamal Nissanka, Attorney at Law, Secretary General/ Liberal Party, Member of Rule of Law Committee, Bar Association of Sri Lanka; Subramaniam Nagendra, Engineer; Dr. Newton Peiris, Vice-President/Liberal Party; Selyna Peiris, Attorney-at-Law, former Chair/Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats Youth; Wasantha Samarasinghe, President/ Inter Company Employees Union (ICEU); Dr. Ranil Senanayake, Systems Ecologist; M.H. Mohamed Hisham, Former Convenor (20072009), Sri Lankan Youth Parliament; Easwaran Christian Rutnam, Journalist/Foreign Correspondent; Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Artist; Fr. Vimal Tirimanna, CSsR; Dr. A C. Visvalingam, President/The Citizens Movement for Good Governance CIMOGG; J.C. Weliamuna, senior lawyer and anti corruption activist; Priyantha Udagedara, Artist; Rajiva Wijesinha, MP; Javid Yusuf, Attorney at Law.

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World Bank directions decide


y now, international financial bodies and donor countries have acquired the powers of deciding the direction of many of the important sectors in Sri Lanka including health, education, transport, politics and economy, to a larger extent. The report released by the World Bank (WB) under the heading of Sri Lanka Development Policy Review-December 8 2004 is an important piece of document in analyzing the consequences of such interventions. The 110 paged report talk about many sectors, but here we will focus on its views and recommendation on education system. What the report says ? Appreciating the policy decisions taken in the first half of the last century, the report says (in its 1st page) Sri Lanka is justly famous for its early commitment to human resource development. It was one of the first developing countries to provide free and universal health and education services to its citizens. Together with a commitment to gender equality, social mobilization and an extensive food 8

the fate of our children

subsidy, they constituted the pillars of the early Sri Lankan welfare state, which had strong roots in colonial era laws and programs. As a result of these policies, Sri Lanka had achieved, by the mid-1970s, rates of school enrolment, literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy far ahead of other low income countries and better than many middle income ones Page number iii of the report states The success of liberalization policies over time won the support of the two main political parties the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to a more open, outward-looking economy with a growing private sector. Thus, when the SLFP-led coalition replaced the UNP government in 1994, there was no significant change in the broad direction of economic privatization efforts were intensified during this period. Comparing educational expenditure in late 1990s and early 2000s in Sri Lanka and other countries, the report says that spending on education

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in Sri Lanka is relatively low. Quoting the following assessment done in 2003, the report concludes that there is disappointing learning results.

World Bank recommendations After the status analysis, the report put forward some measures to the authorities to adopt. Some of them are as follows, 1. Increasing cost-effectiveness. Considerable Proportion of Primary Children Mastering Language and Numeracy Skills, 2003
Skill Sri Urban Rural Lanka Sector Sector 37 51 34 23 52 7 35

Sinhala or Tamil Language Skills English Language 10 Skills Numeracy Skills 38

savings could be generated by rationalizing schools, especially of small uneconomic schools; raising the student-teacher ratio (currently 21:1) at all levels of education; and rationalizing administration and staffing. 2. Increasing private sector participation.. Main recommendations include: developing a new education act and repealing the 1960s legislation which acts as a barrier for the 9

establishment of private schools; and increasing the understanding among the public at large that public funding of tertiary education is regressive and costly, and that international trends are strongly in favor of private investment in tertiary education. 3. Decentralizing education management. International experience shows that the quality of service delivery could be greatly enhanced by decentralizing education management to schools. 4. School rationalization. The costeffectiveness of operating the school system can be enhanced by consolidating and amalgamating the large number of small, uneconomical schools, where this can be accomplished without reducing access to schooling and affecting enrolment and attendance. This is feasible given that a sizable proportion of small schools are located close to other, larger government schools. 5. In consequence, there is a strong case for allocating the major share of any increase in public resources for the education sector to primary and secondary schooling, while carefully controlling the expansion of the public university system and allowing enrolment expansion in tertiary education take place mainly in the private sector. Opportunities for poorer students to access tertiary education could be expanded through schemes such as student voucher and student loans, rather than through direct provision. 6. ,strengthen school leadership by principles,. Response of the governments In addition to above, there are number of other

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conclusions and recommendations in the report. It is obvious that successive governments have, by now, either enacted or in the process of acting on these World Bank recommendations. Allowing closure of (rationalizing as worded in the report) hundreds of small schools (small uneconomic schools as worded in the report) through irrational school admission system and poor public funding for school maintenance/development, replacing previous legislations with new educational acts allowing unprecedented private participation in education, carefully controlling the expansion of public university system by way of insufficient funding for tertiary education, establishment of school management committees, (military-type) leadership training of school principles, huge propaganda through government politicians on the need of private universities, attempting to establish private universities including (substandard) medical schools, unregulated private tuitions and other private educational institutions, are among such measures. Probably, the one and only cost saving recommendation that has not been entertained so far is increasing student : teacher ratio. Even though number of teachers have been increased mainly as a response to rising pressure from un-employed graduates, due to lack of proper teacher training, lack of supportive infrastructure for education and misdistribution of teachers the quality and quantity of teaching have not been improved. This is evident by ever increasing private tuitions.

resulted in utter chaos in the education system as seen today. Lack of funding have resulted in closure of large number of schools, needing large number of students to travel distant schools wasting their time otherwise would have been spent on extracurricular activities and social integration etc. The resultant school transport has resulted in road traffic congestion, huge transport cost and man power wastage. Lack of school became a greater inconvenience to parents in admitting children to a selected few schools. Overcrowded classrooms, childhood fatigue, child abuse, addictions, lesser parental monitoring are among others. Parents are engaging in protests and tend to bribe and engage in other malpractices in finding schools.

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Restriction of the expansion of tertiary education have formed a bottle neck forcing majority of students to end their education career prematurely, the big competition in entering through the narrow bottle neck have paved the way for extra-school education through private tuition. Decentralization of school management including financial matter to principles led to the Throughout the report attempts have been made engagement of principles and teachers in financial to increase private sector participation and limit irregularities. Large number of principles were public funding especially for tertiary education. caught in disciplinary or legal proceedings. When perusing the report it is clear that the Educational opportunities among different recommandations of WB have been formulated social groups have widened. expecting an imminent economic crisis in which the Overall quality of education has not state would not be able to fund the education. improved to the level that is expected in the competitive modern world. Chaos in the education system Steps taken on these recommendations have Erroneous fundamentals 10

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This failure of education system in Sri Lanka we see today is no surprise given the fundamentally erroneous conclusions of the World Bank. The report attempts in its best to show ways of limiting governments expenditure on education. This is based on WBs conclusion that public expenditure on education is regressive and costly. Is this a rational argument?. The report itself highly admires educational achievement in 1970s. (In other words, The Knowledge Hub of Asia was Sri Lanka during this era). This is the time period two to three decades after the introduction of free education policy which guarantee universal access to education from primary to graduation. What does this means? The WB indirectly admits the success of free education policy. Next, the report points to failures of the quality of education highlighting an education quality analysis done in year 2003. This is the era two to three decades after the introduction of liberal open economy with which the education was opened for private sector and government gradually reduced its funding as highlighted by WB itself in the table (compared to most of the other developing countries). This cause and effect relationship can be shown graphically as follows.

some corrective measure as mentioned above. Ironically, these recommendations are based on the very same erroneous policies which put the education of Sri Lanka in to failure; the capitalist principles economic liberalization, free trade and open markets, privatization, deregulation, less public sector involvement and predominant private sector role in economy. Therefore, the chaos seen today and ever growing failure of our education system is not unexpected as it is based on irrational fundamentals. This is more evident in analyzing the first table; the countries which spent greater share of national income on education are showing the success of the investment. While India, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea which spent more on education showing greater socio-economic growth by now, Sri Lanka together with Pakistan and Bangladesh are lagging far behind.

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During last couple of years spending on education has been gradually reduced, further worsening the situation. If not identified and rectified, a bleak future will not be a surprise as universal education is the essential pillar in nation building and not meaningless political rhetoric like Wonder of Asia. -Peace & Solidarity Organization of Sri Lanka (PASO)11

Failure is not surprising Sympathizing on the failure of education during late 1990s and early 2000s the WB introduces

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he World Peace Council denounces the ongoing plans and actions to destabilize the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela by reactionary forces and groups with the support of imperialist forces. The recent violent orchestrated events in Caracas and other regions of the country show clearly the intention of the local oligarchy and its foreign supporters which are aiming in putting obstacles to the efforts of the elected government of the country to empower the people and to solve social problems and needs. The economic sabotage

WPC denounces the plans for destabilization of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
in multiple ways, the violent provocations and intimidation of the people are going hand in hand with the nostalgy of the old establishment which is loosing power and privileges and therefore is acting subversively against the efforts of the Bolivarian revolution and its forces. The WPC expresses its full-hearted solidarity to its member organisation in Venezuela, the COSI (Committee for International Solidarity), to

WPC Statement

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the anti-imperialist forces of the country and to the Venezuelan people. The World Peace Council and the peace loving people all over the world are confident that the Venezuelan people will win this battle on the road to become masters of their fortunes, with sovereignty and dignity.

The Secretariat of WPC 19th February 2014

We demanded from this government to establish an independent Truth and Reconciliation commission just one week after the war
ahinda Rajapaksa, who uses pseudopatriotism to deceit masses, was with the enemy when he was the Prime Minister while the local and foreign enemies were trying to divide and sell the country. He was nowhere to be seen when the country was about to be divided.. Speaking further, president of the PASOS said, The economic policy followed by the government is in crisis and the politics has become so corrupt and fraud is so rampant that the country has become a play ground of racketeers. The government has allowed imperialism to interfere in the country by attempting to further its power through illegal

Bimal Rathanyake - president of PASOS


means. When there was still time to dissolve the provincial councils the government dissolved them fearing it would be unpopular as time goes by. People asked for relief but the government gives them elections. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in a haste to hold elections as he fears that if elections are held at due time it would be disadvantageous for him. The anti-government feeling in the country is developing fast. Those government politicians who are involved in bringing ethanol and heroin are being revealed. The government has no alternative but to seek refuge in casino for funds. Masses have become aware of the colossal amounts of money 12

borrowed to be spent in wasteful programmes of the government. Also, there is dissent within the government. The local government councilors in councils ruled by the government are revolting against it. Budgets of many UPFA controlled councils have been defeated with votes of UPFA members. As the government cannot cont 15 page

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control this trend, files of 9 of their own members have been sent to the Bribery Commission. The government in its bid to win the elections is considering several groups to give nominations. One such group consists of racketeers, smugglers of ethanol and heroin and those who possess black money who could throw billions for the campaign. Another group is the sons, daughters and relatives of ministers who could use state resources and public money for the campaign. The other group consists of film and TV stars. The government also wants to use tears for the campaign. This is why the elections are fixed for 29th March. The UN Human rights Council meets in Geneva on the 28th and as a result of idiotic moves of the government there is a possibility that the Council would take a stand unfavourable to Sri Lanka. The government, despite the fact that Sri Lanka has not signed for necessary agreements to try anyone in international courts, hopes to use this meeting in Geneva to get sympathetic votes. The government, after the end of the war, could have closed all holes with which imperialists could wriggle in. Mahinda Rajapaksas government did not do anything to bring relief to Tamil masses that were battered as a result of separatist war. The government violated human rights, attacked media institutions, murdered and assaulted journalists, killed a worker who agitated to save workers EPF, shot dead a fisherman demanding a fuel subsidy, murdered two young people who asked for clean water. These are loopholes imperialists use to interfere in our affairs. The government plays the role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

It falls down on its knees before imperialists. It gives visas to Pillay, Rapp and the sort who present reports against Sri Lanka but gets its henchmen to carry out bogus demonstrations against them. The government invites the imperialists in English but lambasts them in Sinhala. Now the ministers are going round the country canvassing votes for their kith and kin instead of making an effort to canvass other countries to save the country. M a h i n d a Rajapaksa, who uses pseudo-

patriotism to deceit masses, was with the enemy when he was the Prime Minister while the imperialists were trying to divide the country. It was the progressive forces of this country that sacrificed a lot to save the country from being divided through Ranils so called ceasefire agreement and Chandrikas PostTsunami Operational Management Structure (P-toms). The government doesnt listen to the peoples voice, it has its own agenda of plunder of state resources, promoting racketeering and illegal means of furthering its power. The country has been burdened with a mountain of debt. The amount of debt has increased by three fold during Mahinda Rajapaksas rule. Now the government is attempting to exist 13

cont from page 14 with till money. The government is trying to get tons of Sri Lankan coins in tills in religious places in India put in there by Sri Lankan devotees touring Dambadiva. A person breaks open his till to get money only as a last resort. This indicates the frailness of the government. We all peace loving democratic minded Sri Lankans must join together to defeat the imperialists intervention to our country. There is no doubt about that. But at the same time and with the same importance we must join to defeat this anti democratic regime which is paving the way to imperialists to logically intervene to sri lanka. Weve to fight to protect the human rights and main civil rights of the sri lankan people. All over the world most of the time capitalist anti democratic regimes are being used to intervene to sovereign countries by the imperialists.This is what is happening in our country. We demanded from this government to establish an independent Truth and Reconciliation commission just one week after the war. We demanded to establish democratic and civil administration in the war affected areas with immediate effect. But these very important proposals and needs were not heard. Not implemented. Government only thought about votes and power .They tried to win the Tamil people of Northern Province by recruiting former top LTTE leaders to government ranks. But the people of this country asked for the democracy, peace, self protection, dignity etc. We the peace loving forces of this country must fight against this anti democratic regime as well as the imperialist forces .

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To defeat imperialism and repressive regime which invite imperialist interventions-PASOS


t present the imperialist camp headed by USA, UK and Canada are busy in preparing to level human right allegations against Sri Lankan government at Geneva Human Right Council. It is our duty to explain the reality behind this move to all peace loving brothers and sisters all around the world. At the time of independence from British rule in 1940s, the groundwork was laid by imperialist themselves in Sri Lanka to distance out different ethnic groups who lived harmoniously. Post independent native capitalist regimes were incapable of correctly identifying and rationally tackling budding disharmony among ethnic groups. These governments used nationalistic sentiments to grab and maintain power paving the way for their Tamil counterpart nationalist leaders to gather innocent Tamil community against countrys unity. In 1980s the issue culminated in to a full blown separatist movement with armed wings. The bloody war which evolved so in North and East parts of the island lasted three decades. It got ended in 2009 after a fierce battle. Though the war front got defeated

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the political front of the separatist movement and also nationalist views of many leaders of both ethnicities remained mostly untouched. It is in this background that imperialist countries started leveling allegations against human right violations alleged to have taken place during later parts of the war. We all are well aware of human right track record of those dictatorial countries which blatantly violate civil rights of even their own citizens. Rights of privacy, equity, health, freedom of information and speech are some of such rights that are deprived so. As exemplified during last few years, Right to Protect (R2P) move facilitated USA and other imperialists to violate all known human rights and invade any country they see as accessible. The government of Sri Lanka encouraged imperialist interventions by many means after the war. It failed to address genuine concerns of affected communities, were not interested in independent postwar assessment, inflicted interreligious violence, suppressed media and attacked peaceful demonstration at several places 14

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in the country. Presently, it is using imperialist interventions to enhance its image among Sinhalese as patriots. Apart from getting a foot-hold in Asias strategic geo-political locality, this human right dramatization of imperialist helps present Sri Lankan government to hide socioeconomic crisis that our citizens are faced with. We request all anti-imperialist progressive forces to rally together in defeating both imperialist interventions and despotic ruling regime which make room for imperialism. Establish an independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission immediately! Release all political prisoners! Protect Human rights! Stop imperialist interventions! Peace and Solidarity Organisation of Sri Lanka (PASO)

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remains of human bodies have been found. The excavations, carried out at the site brought to attention when a group of workers laying a water line found 3 skulls on 20th December, have uncovered several more skeletal remains revealing that the site is indeed a mass grave where murdered humans have been buried. The persons, who have been buried, whether they are from the South or the North, should receive justice and fair play. It is stated that many of these skulls that include several that could be of children, bear holes that could be due to being shot at. As such, the mass grave could be a small representation of a series of extreme inhuman massacres. This area is said to have been ruled by various sections. When sections in the government state the skeletal remains could be of civilians murdered by the LTTE or the IPKF, other sections say governments security sections should be held responsible for it. However, what is important is not using the mass grave to accuse each other but to reveal the truth and taking legal action regarding the perpetrators. The intervention of the government regarding such revelations is deplorable. For example, when more than 150 skulls were found from Matale mass grave the government appointed a Presidential Commission to inquire

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into it amidst strong objections from political parties including our party, the media and the public. This commission is among the disappeared at present. Such a fraudulent commission would merely deviate attention of the masses from the issue but would never fulfill justice. What is needed today is to expedite and facilitate the investigation process carried out by sections that enforce law and order and remove all obstacles for such investigations if there are any. We strongly demand the government to hold an impartial, expeditious and justifiable investigation regarding the mass grave at Mannar and fulfill justice to the dead.

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War Crimes Committed Against the People of Syria

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2014 Volume 01 Sri Lanka

Vietnam Solidarity Day held in Russian Cultural Centre,Colombo by Vietnam -Srilanka Friendship Foundation.

Upon the devastating Syrian Civil War, which now left behind nearly two and a half year, led to death toll of thousands of people, Peace Association and Lawyers for Justice in Turkey have prepared a comprehensive report to be used as a bill of indictment as well on the grounds of judging the figures and institutions that committed war crimes against Syrian people. You can find War Crimes Committed Against the People of Syria report.

Let Plaestine Live!

link:- http://www.wpc-in.org

Socialist Youth Union Sri lanka and Palestine Srilanka Friendship foundation held number of solidarity activities through out the country to mark the November 29,International Solidarity Day for Palestine. 16

This magazine is printed & published by Janaka Adikari of 12/2, Weeramawatha, Subhuthipura, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

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