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Defeating the result and the cause of war - Role of the mass movement
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by Sanjanah | December 7, 2008 at 09:31 am
104 views | 12 Recommendations | 2 comments
Although under-presented, manipulated and used, masses of Sri Lanka had always acted and would act an important role in solving the social aspect of this conflict. To be direct, a political solution implemented overlooking the masses or without adequate participation of the masses, will not be sustained. This article will be looking at the concept of the ‘civil society’ in Sri Lanka and their attempts to generate a peace constituency in the recent past (during and post peace process 2002-2005). In doing so, it will question the capacity of the civil society in building peace with its limited assets, particularly in terms of persons. It argues that peace building attempts of the civil society as well as those of the politicians should be extended to incorporate the political society represented by the masses if peace attempts to be successful.
An interesting article that looks at civil society writ large in Sri Lanka and the mobilisation of the 'public' for peace / peacebuilding. Read the article in full here.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 11:01 on December 7th, 2008
The linked article is worth a read: if a populace doesn't feel connected to their state and to each other, then stability will be nearly impossible to achieve. This isn't only true in Sri Lanka.
(Note: I've never personally been to Sri Lanka- I only know what I read about it and what friends tell me)
at 07:35 on December 8th, 2008
I have a real problem with "peace workers" and their impact on civil society. Organisations similar to the UK's International Alert, and other peace building endeavours can work with people like the declining Sarvodaya (for whom I used to work) organisation, but are they the groups critically involved in the conflict. Trying to reach whatever so called grass roots organisations does not necessarily connect with the power structures that manage and sustain the war, including the media in Sri Lanka, the Brigadiers who have much to gain from the continuation of the war effort, the politicised Buddhist monk movement in the country and all the other institutions that reinforce the conflict and the prejudices that sustaineed it.
Prabakaran has successfully assassinated most of the moderate Tamil polititians so that the Tigers can get a monopoly on on power in the North. I don't see much evidence of the government of Rajapaksa preparing for the peace by planning exactly what kind of autonomy the Tamils will be getting except more of the same decentalisation that covers all the other Provinces in Sri Lanka.
These 'peace builders' say they connect with grass roots movements but that is an emotional word. It is easy to get middle class professionals and other well meaning people to look to the peace builders but I don't hear many Singhalese people talking themselves about buildiung bridges with the Tamils.
There was a peace initiative in Sri Lanka at the same time as the Norther Ireland negotiations began. Now, after enormous courage and painstaking work of the critical stakeholders in Norther Ireland, the Good Friday agreement is paying off, fragile thouigh it is at times. Yes, it was partly sparked off by the protests and campaigning of the ordinary women in Northern Ireland but they did not do it through peace building exercises!
There is a hard struggle still to be gone through before the conflict will be laid to rest in Sri Lanka.