Public Address | Cafe | OnPoint: Breaking Point in Sri Lanka

Karla Hill

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:41:51 +1200

Sport and politics are always a potent mix... Amnesty International has launched a "Play by the Rules!" campaign to raise awareness of the urgent need for independent human rights monitors in Sri Lanka and put pressure on Sri Lanka by delivering signed cricket balls to the government and the LTTE…

Charles Mabbett

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:33:19 +1200

I would even go as far as to surmise that the Herald might even have run the piece on northern Sri Lanka being a new Darfur because someone there saw Keith's blog and pointed it out to the world desk editor.

(I'm assuming that you did approach the Herald, Keith)…

Matthew Reid

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:10:58 +1200

One thing Keith didn't mention was the threat by the UNHCR to pull out its support and resources unless the Government stopped forceably repatriating refugees back into their original areas. In fact, my recollection is that the UNHCR acted on that threat in an attempt to force the Government to…

Keith Ng

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:00:15 +1200

Ben: The Karuna faction is the result of regionalism among the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Their raison d'etre is the perceived dominance of northern Tamils in the LTTE, and that the LTTE have continued the conflict when it should have settled for peace.

The government lets them operate with…

Che Tibby

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:31:48 +1200

i so, so miss SBS world news.

they'd talk about this.

Bob Williams

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:44:56 +1200

I was in Sri Lanka at the same time as Keith, spending a lot of time with agencies who are trying to bring some form of relief to those dispossesed by the current phase in the civil war (for that is what it is).

What Keith reports reflects much of…

Sam F

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:53:08 +1200

And what do you know? The Herald just ran a story on the situation today, far inferior to yours, which was taken from the Observer. Link is here. Did you contact them before?

Sigh.

Ben Austin

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:48:52 +1200

I guess the implication is that long runningwars, like products, need clever marketing to stay in the global news.

Che Tibby

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:19:48 +1200

Perhaps people were interested in good news stories as opposed to backsliding to the old status quo?

dunno. i think that this conflict has pretty much worn out its welcome in the media, at a guess.

we're talking about something with its origins in the 1950s, its major outbreak in…

Ben Austin

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:58:17 +1200

If I recall correctly there was a period of time when articles on Sri Lanka were more common, back when the peace process started off and was working. Perhaps people were interested in good news stories as opposed to backsliding to the old status quo?

Sue

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:53:18 +1200

eeep
that's where you have them already

Sue

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:50:22 +1200

The only time we hear about sri lanka at the moment is related to cricket.
heaven forbid newpapers report on anything other than that :/

The photos alone tell a moving story.
I'm thinking another way to get the word out is to post them up on somewhere like flickr?

Jackie Clark

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:36:17 +1200

Dear god, as if they hadn't been through enough with the tsunamai. I can so vividly remember one of the Sri Lankan mother's of a child I taught. She was standing with me in the playground, just talking with me about her son, as parents do with their childrens' teachers…

Ben Austin

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:53:30 +1200

Ver illuminating article. So can we assume this newTamil force, the Kurana, are purely proxies of the government, or are they merely in an alliance of convenience? I could fully understand that there would be support from some Tamils for a genuine alternative force to the LTTE but I would…

Public Address

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:53:30 +1200

Discussion from blog post.