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Activists express concerns about racism, extremism

18 Jan 2021

A group named the Liberation Movement have expressed grave concerns about several matters of public interest, including the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lankan migrant workers stranded in foreign countries, and particularly the demolition of the Mullivaikkal monument constructed within the premises of the Jaffna University. The Liberation Movement claimed that for decades, since Independence, ethnic and religious communities have been pitted against one another, resulting in fostering suspicion, and even hatred between communities. “Effectively, this has prevented the Sinhala-Buddhist majority community, in particular from ever uniting with minority communities, to hold governments accountable to the people. This modus operandi is neither new, nor groundbreaking. ‘Divide and Rule’ was an extremely effective policy used by British colonisers to control and suppress native communities from rising up against the Crown. Our ‘Brown Sahib’ leaders, having learnt well from their White masters, were fast on their heels to continue the colonial legacy, in the decades that followed. However, what facist leaders in particular fail to realise is that, over time, people will start to push back and resist against brutal violence and repression. It is only a matter of time,” the Liberation Movement stated in a press release. The Liberation Movement appealed to the public to take a stand against what they called “state-instigated racism and terror”, and said that the Government ordering the destruction of the Mullivaikkal memorial was an act of systematic racism and repression. Remarking on the incident, they added: “This is hardly the first time, and previous Sinhala majoritarian Governments have clamped down on the Tamil community’s right to memorialise the dead. However, the timing of this move by the Government is particularly noteworthy. It comes at a time when the Government’s popularity is seemingly at an all-time low, due to the mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, in the lead up to a provincial council election. Successive governments have instigated racial violence amongst the people, as it has served as an ideal distraction from gross government failure to adequately provide for, and protect, citizens.” The Liberation Movement further commented on the issues faced by Sri Lankan migrant workers stranded in foreign countries owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and issue. They added that even those who paid for their travel back to Sri Lanka to vote for this Government, are now stranded in the Middle East, without jobs, accommodation, or food, having to resort to sex work to feed themselves. According to the Liberation Movement, some of these migrant workers have lived for months in public parks, in the middle of a global pandemic, and have relied on private donors to return to the country. They said that the Government’s actions concerning the forced cremation of Muslim and Christian victims of Covid-19, the destruction of the Mullivaikkal memorial in the North, and the arrest and prolonged detention without charge of Muslims under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), were deliberately racist moves. “We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the recent anti-minority actions by way of the mandatory cremation policy and the destruction of the Tamil memorial monument within the Jaffna University,” the Liberation Movement said in the press release, adding that they recognise these actions as part of a systemic attempt by governments to define Sri Lanka’s society and future by bitter divisiveness and polarisation.


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