A protean riot requires a protean response

 The riots that have engulfed London and other major cities in England over the past week have finally receded, but in the wake of the horrific scenes of violence, looting and arson that left people shaken, the real issues look set to take centre stage, especially as post-mortem examinations are carried out.

Yet while it would be easy for questions just to focus on the failures of the system, it would be a shame to simply gloss over examining the causes of the initial riot and the subsequent snowballing incidents of looting and criminality. The complication, though, is that the riot had multifaceted elements, and a proper approach to examining its causes is akin to the peeling away of the layers of an onion’s skin.

The government, for its part, is perhaps keen to highlight these incidents as “criminality” as opposed to anything deeper, despite David Cameron’s statement to parliament on its recall from the summer break, acknowledging the potential “context” of the riots. In a way, there is some justification to regarding some of the incidents as criminal, especially some of the copy-cat incidents that followed the initial wave of riots on Saturday night. However, to simply blame this on criminality is perhaps to be slightly naive, an attempt to put a Band-Aid on a very deep wound in British society.

Societal decadence

One should not underestimate the frustration felt by the social exclusion, disenfranchisement and wasted lives that an element of the people who rioted – especially on Saturday night – have. These people feel disengaged, not just from the political process – largely because politicians have also disengaged from them – but also from mainstream society (that constantly ignores them); who have no channel for their energy, anger and resentment; no sense that they can change society and no reason to feel responsible for the consequences of their actions. These are people who suffer from a structural inequality which is all too obvious in the poverty you see in the communities where they live. They have very little currently in their lives and very little to look forward to.

It is also obvious that successive governments took their eyes off the ball with regards to this issue. For the past decade or so, there has been a focus on programmes which, based on a security agenda, concentrated a majority of resources on counter-terrorism measures that ended up scrutinising a certain section of the community.

Consequently, real social issues ended up being sidelined and opportunities to address them appropriately wasted. Thus not only did a majority of the counter-terrorism initiatives not succeed, but a greater sense of isolation, disillusionment and a decline in community cohesion was the result.

The riots around England display a more sinister and disturbing problem. They show a crass disregard for other people and property, and – judging from the wide cross-section of people hauled before the courts – those who did the looting are not confined to a specific class, race or even educational level. These events are symptomatic of an unsustainable need to consume and acquire in the face of “declining morals”.

It is no coincidence that these riots took place at the same time as a global financial meltdown. The corruption of the politicians, media and police, the recklessness that has condemned our economies to decline and the big companies that evade taxes might be different in appearance, but they all have a common denominator. As one commentator explained, the moral decadence of the criminality displayed on the streets is not that different to the moral disintegration at the “higher echelons” of society. The unequal consumer society that we have become obsessed with, leading to the desire to affirm our status with the constant acquisition of material things means that morals and ethics can be disregarded, and decency and humanity have been swapped for selfishness and greed.

In this regard, we as a society all are culpable as we have allowed markets to dictate politics and community life. The culture of our society has become one fed on individual achievements – influenced by social status and virtual friendships. We have devalued social interaction to “chatting” with so-called friends on Facebook; we have allowed smartphones to become an appendage of our bodies and we have become desensitised to violence as a result of the entertainment we are exposed to.

Fragments of a mirror

As we peer into the mirror to ask questions as to what went wrong, we are faced with a shattered mirror in the analogy of Sir Richard Burton in the The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, who wrote: “Truth is the shattered mirror strewn in myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.” Thus, parts of the truth are everywhere and the whole truth nowhere, and it is with individual pieces that we start.

From the government’s perspective, they need to quickly distinguish between political policy and lived experiences. They will have to stop developing a set of policies that put people into silos and that view things through a security lens in order to understand the diversity of a cosmopolitan society at the grassroots, where everyone actually knows each other and respects each other. If anyone thought multiculturalism at a practical level had failed, causing people to dislike the country that they live in, then the evidence of various immigrant communities who readily stood up to defend their neighbourhoods during the riots points to the contrary.

Yet, unfortunately, in the debate in parliament following David Cameron’s speech, MPs seemed to skirt around the issues of tackling the degeneration of moral values in society – instead choosing to talk about policy, funding and policing.

So perhaps it is us – as communities and society – who will have to swap markets for morals in politics, business and community life. We have to rediscover the moral agency that will allow us to develop a shared language of universal morals, ethics and values in our daily lives.

In essence, we will have to rediscover a concept of a spirituality, of commonality, which will allow us to recognise the common space and substance amongst all doctrines that will provide the fuel for social change and trigger action for the unity of humanity. This shared language will enable us to develop a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together, despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes this improbable experiment of reconciling and rehabilitation of vulnerable communities possible.

This concept that we need to develop as a society in response to the terrible incidents of the past week must be an awareness of the interconnection of all things to provide the fuel for social change. It has to be about a sense of duty and sacrifice on behalf of those who are voiceless. It has to allow us to value behaviour that expresses mutual regard for one another, honesty, fairness, humility, kindness, courtesy and compassion.

People might scoff at the naivety of this statement, but the point is that we have no choice. We have got to a position where something new needs to happen. For too long, narrow interests have vied for advantage with ideological minorities seeking to impose their own versions of absolute truth. It is time we reassembled the pieces of the broken mirror.

Soul food

In order for this to happen, we need to engage with each other. The Bishop of London talked about nourishing relationships in order to develop an understanding of right and wrong. I would go even further; an extension is needed that includes the concept of linking and partnership for mutual learning. What we need is a change of paradigm of the post Second World War twinning initiative between towns in England, France and Germany which was done as a means to prevent future conflict in Europe through international friendship and solidarity at community level. The development of partnerships (local, national and international) in solidarity between towns, local authorities, schools, hospitals, religious organisations and youth clubs is needed to not only understand each other, but to strengthen communities, add to social cohesion and to contribute to personal and professional development through friendships made and work undertaken.

The concept of community partnerships is important in this globalised age of virtual borders and free-flowing information, so that people can understand the cultural contexts of other countries. They can develop the social skills to interact with each other, which ultimately increases not only community cohesion within the UK, but globally.

Within this spectrum of partnership, we cannot disassociate ourselves from the role of faith. As we talk about the development of new morals, ethics, values and spirituality, we need to consider faith and the role that faith organisations will have in adding to this new paradigm. Faith provides a narrative and a space in which one can start to explore some of the discussions of ethics and morals. In many small communities, faith and faith organisations play a pivotal role in responding to demands and pressures where they operate with local knowledge to address specific community problems. They are highly active in many fields of social service, healthcare, education, human rights, youth development etc. They are self-reliant and capable of harnessing the power of communities’ volunteers, their skills and resources. They serve very often as role models and access points for communities. They are invariably unswerving in their zeal and commitment and many organisations work entirely voluntarily in a spirit of service. Though there is an undeniable quality in the religious playing field that complicates matters, we cannot ignore their voices and their role.

Tuning to the same frequency

Thus, it is against this framework of potential disagreement and division which we need to build and sustain links. We need to realise that each of us (with our own faith, culture and community spirit) have a bit of that shard of broken glass from the shattered mirror. Only by piecing them together can we ever hope to move out of our silos and attain a much more cohesive community that better understands, respects and accepts each other.

Linking, partnerships, engagement – all mean the same thing: a sense of cooperation that leads to better understanding which should be encouraged and supported. This is a powerful tool for the promotion of dialogue, tolerance and harmonious living. Existing initiatives need to be strengthened and new ones started that have sustainable footprints in the community whilst providing a space for all stakeholders of society to play a role. The concept of linking should be enhanced through a comprehensive education strategy, both formal and informal, that breaks down the seemingly insurmountable divide of “us” and “them”. This education should begin at home, within families and small communities, where the benefit of dialogue and linking can be seen and felt. It should roll through schools, institutes of higher education and ultimately politicians, legislators, governments and multi-lateral organisations.

Tan Sen, the master musician at the court of the Moghul Emperor, Akbar, had some fifteen musical instruments in the Emperor’s chamber, which he had tuned to one frequency. Upon playing just one instrument’s musical note, the other fourteen started to resonate, much to the astonishment and delight of the audience. Ultimately, this story can serve well as a metaphor for how communities can work in harmony to achieve an enlightened result.

this originally appeared here on Al Jazeera

The English Riots - Where do we go from here?

The riots that have engulfed London and other major cities in the United Kingdom over the last week are finally receding in intensity but in the wake of the horrific scenes of violence, looting and arson that has left people shaken, the real issues look set to take centre stage especially as post mortems are carried out.

Whilst a lot of ground is being examined as to what the causes were, very little in my opinion is being said about where to go from here. Yet unfortunately, in the debate in Parliament following David Cameron’s speech, MPs seemed to skirt around the issues of tackling the degeneration of moral values in society instead choosing to talk about policy, funding and policing. It was as if the proverbial elephant in the room was ‘how do we tackle moral decline?’

So maybe it is not up to the politicians to take the first step. Perhaps it is up to us as communities and society who will have to swap markets for morals in politics, business and community life. We have to rediscover the moral agency that will allow us to apply universal ethics and values to our daily lives. This is not something that can be enforced by a government, but is something that has to be internally generated before it can be lived. For this, we will have to go back to the basics to develop a shared language of morals, ethics and values, which will feed into respect and understanding.

In essence, we will have to rediscover a spirituality of commonality which will allow us to recognise the common space and substance amongst all doctrines that will provide the fuel for social change and trigger action for the unity of humanity. This shared language will enable us to develop a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes this improbable experiment of reconciling and rehabilitation of vulnerable communities possible. These values and ideals will have to be living, which cannot find expression on paper or monuments or in the annals of history books, but which remain alive in the hearts and minds of people inspiring us to pride, duty and sacrifice. These living values will have to help us to build on shared understandings and should be the glue that binds every healthy society.

People might scoff at the naivety of this statement but the point is that we have no choice. We have got to a position where something new needs to happen. For too long, narrow interests have vied for advantage with ideological minorities seeking to impose their own versions of absolute truth.

In order for this to happen, as many people have already been talking about, we need to engage: with each other, at different levels and ultimately with the authorities. The Bishop of London talked about nourishing relationships in order to develop an understanding of right and wrong. I would go even further to say that an extension of nourishing relationships and engagement is the concept of linking and partnership for mutual learning. What we need is a change of paradigm of the post Second World War twinning initiative between towns in England, France and Germany which was done as a means to prevent future conflict in Europe through international friendship and solidarity at community level. What we need now is the development of partnerships in solidarity between towns, local authorities, schools, hospitals, religious organisations, youth clubs to not only understand each other but to strengthen communities, add to social cohesion and contribute to personal and professional development through friendships made and work undertaken across the partnerships. Whilst this is needed within the UK, it is also a feature that this should be undertaken between the UK and counterparts in the Global South.

The concept of linking and partnerships are increasingly important to people (especially those with counterparts in the Global South) because with the increasing global nature of the workforce; movement of industries and companies; the narrowing of the information border and the gradually interdependency we as a globalised community seem to be becoming, people (especially the youth) in the UK need to understand the cultural contexts of other countries so that they develop the skills to be employed in far flung areas; they develop the skills to interact with each other and ultimately they develop the skills to respect one another. It increases not only community cohesion within the UK but will also contribute to social skills and global cohesion.

Within this spectrum of partnership and linking, we cannot disassociate ourselves from the role of faith. As we talk about the development of new morals, ethics, values and spirituality, we need to consider faith and the role that faith organisations will have in adding to this new narrative. Faith provides a narrative and a space in which one can start to explore some of these discussions of ethics and morals. In many of the smaller communities (especially the minority ethnic and immigrant communities), faith and faith organisations play a pivotal role in responding to the demands and pressures of the local community, where they operate with local knowledge to address specific community problems. They are highly active in many fields of social service, healthcare, education, human rights, youth development etc. They are self reliant, capable of harnessing the communities’ manpower, skills and resources. They serve very often as role models; variously taking a stand against corruption, developing infrastructure, delivering “sharp end” programmes and offering relief, healthcare and educational resources- where they would not otherwise be found. They are invariably unswerving in their zeal and commitment and many organisations work entirely voluntarily in a spirit of service.

We need to realise that each of us (with our own faith, culture and community spirit) bring something to the table. Only by coming together can we ever hope to move out of our silos and attain a much more cohesive community that better understands, respects and accepts each other. We need to collectively work such that breeding violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate. We need to ensure that our youth are given accurate information about other traditions, religions and cultures. We need to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity and to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings.

Wicked Lessons to Remember

Last night as a birthday treat for my wife, I took her to see the hit musical Wicked in London.

Needless to say, I loved the whole story and the interconnection it has from the original story 'Wizard of Oz' especially as it tries to provide some insight into the origins of some of the main and original characters. However, what I really loved about it was the 10 lessons of life that I gleaned from the production (in no particular order as such):

Lesson 1 - There are two sides to every story. Someone whom you perceive to be bad might have an explanation as to why they have arrived at where they are especially as circumstances might have pushed them there. So never judge a book by its cover. Also seek to first understand.

Lesson 2 - Society has a part to play in condemning someone as a 'radical' or an 'extremist' simply because they choose to buck the status quo. Someone who thinks differently to us or simply outside the box should not be feared.

Lesson 3 - Just because the powers that be classify someone as as extremist, doesn't make it so. The truth is often what people want to believe and not what it is. So we should see the world as it is and not as we think it should be.

Lesson 4 - what is given as 'fact' for public consumption may be farther than the truth. Always choose to look beneath the surface before making a judgement

Lesson 5 - do not judge someone who dresses differently, looks different, talks different and thinks different. Difference is not bad. Diversity is the hall mark of humanity and should be embraced.

Lesson 6 - never under estimate the power of sibling love or even friendship. This is what will get you through the darkest periods of your life.

Lesson 7 - be cautious of people who 'claim' to have your interests at heart, especially people that you work with. It is often that they have something to gain from you as well

Lesson 8 - never discriminate between your children despite the many differences that may arise with them. Each one of them is special in their own way and will eventually excel in their own uniqueness.

Lesson 9 - people come into your life for a reason. always value and learn from your encounters with them

Lesson 10 - opportunities come across your path every day; your life is determined by how you respond to them. never regret the choices made

So there you have it. 10 lessons for life from the musical on how we can be better at doing things.

Worse come to worse, just go to enjoy some good music and a good laugh.


Amjad Saleem

Channel 4 Documentary - A Case of Moving Backwards

The recently telecast C4 documentary on ‘war crimes in Sri Lanka’ sheds no new light, in terms of groundbreaking evidence, regarding the incidents related to the end of the war in Sri Lanka, 2 years ago.  If anything, it will seek to entrench already hardened attitudes and decrease the ever reducing space for dialogue and reconciliation. 

From the government’s perspective, it will just seek to feed into the insecurity that it surrounds itself with, of a perception that the west has been influenced by a highly successful pro LTTE lobby and will therefore secure its ‘credibility’ especially as a ‘victim of an external conspiracy’ consequently rallying the people’s sympathy.  This means that making any genuine attempt to hold the government accountable for anything will be considered as part of this ‘conspiracy’.

On the other side, for the pro LTTE lobby (largely represented by their supporters in the UK, US and Canada) this will be a ‘vindication’ of their claims regarding the Government and its conduct of the war, thereby serving to boost their movement and support whilst ignoring the part that they have played in fund raising and supporting the LTTE. This has been helped by a sympathetic media which so far has tended to focus on the government’s part in the end of the war rather than attempting to hold LTTE representatives, sympathisers and fund raisers in the West, who have garnered support from MPs and International organisations (despite the proscription of the LTTE as a terrorist group), accountable for the crimes committed by the LTTE.  Unfortunately, this minority of voices tends to silence the majority of the moderate Tamil voices who whilst upset at the death of thousands of civilians and the internment of relatives in refugee camps, nevertheless do not subscribe to the LTTE line.   What this has meant in practice is that the pro LTTE lobby has hijacked the Tamil cause and intimidated and harassed those who seek to have any meaningful dialogue on post conflict Sri Lanka.

The fear in places like London is that these differences will also be used for political propaganda purposes and will play out on the streets.  There are reports of houses / shops belonging to Sri Lankans being vandalised and activists being sent death threats in the aftermath of the 2009 conflict.  Already in the lead up to the screening of the  C4 documentary, there have been email and sms campaigns being waged in an attempt to convince people to watch ‘the brutality of the Sri Lankan government’ or to encourage people to ‘protest against the bias of the one-sided coverage’.  The fear is as one Sri Lankan activist told me “We are preparing to once again be intimidated and unfortunately there is very little we can do”.

It is this decrease in the space to explore mutual understandings that lie at the heart of most people’s disapproval of moves like C4 or the UN to talk about the conflict. For those of us who have been and are active in trying to move forward, it is not about defending the indefensible.   We are not here to deny or  justify abuses. Even though war is never just or civil, especially when it is fought against a proscribed terrorist organisation that has a history of forcible child recruitment, ethnic cleansing and using their own people as a human shield, this is not an excuse for abuses to be meted out and if it has happened then those responsible on all sides have to be brought to task.  Therein lies the problem.  Whilst blame is very often vociferously laid at the feet of the Sri Lankan government for its actions, the welfare camps and so on, nothing is said with the same intensity about the atrocities committed by the LTTE such as: the ethnic cleansing of 100,000 Muslims from the north (who still live in refugee camps today in the north west of Sri Lanka); the assassination of key political and intellectual leaders (of all ethnicities); the forcible recruitment of child soldiers or the perfection of suicide bombing.  The reports do not carry any discussion of how most of the LTTE combatants  mingled with civilians and forcibly conscripted many civilians to fight for them in the final stages. Nor do they discuss the phenomenon that Mark Meadow’s 2010 book ‘Tea Time with Terrorists’, describes of how  former LTTE fighters have explained LTTE tactics such as “LTTE cadres dressing up in Sri Lankan army uniforms, then firing at unarmed civilians to put false blame on the army”.  For those of us who may have opposed how the war was conducted by the Sri Lankan government, we are equally if not more opposed to standing shoulder to shoulder with people flying the LTTE flag.

Unfortunately, in the midst of this flurry of interest once again in what happened in Sri Lanka, the real discussion is becoming sidelined, for whilst it is important to look at the past, it is vital that an eye is placed towards the future.  How can Sri Lanka learn from the mistakes of the past that sidelined the minorities and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians? Successive governments have always hid behind the pretext of winning the war and defeating the LTTE militarily without addressing some of the fundamental key issues concerning minorities. Now with the defeat of the LTTE, there is a real opportunity to address the legitimate grievances of the minorities to ensure that the country is not subject to a repeat of the conflict ever again.  How can  Sri Lanka, despite more than sixty years of independence, develop a constitutional framework that will satisfy the aspirations of all its citizens and deliver an environment of peace and harmony to engage its human and natural resources for the development of the country? Moreover at a grass roots levels, how can people work towards reconciliation between polarised communities (growing increasingly suspicious of each other thereby encouraging inward looking clannish tendencies)  and ensuring an environment of peace, justice and equity whilst holding politicians accountable for good governance?

Those involved in conflict resolution and peace building will often talk about a period of healing.  The bloody Sunday acknowledgement by the British Government took xx years to be done.  Poland and Germany only normalised strained relations after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The period of healing for Sri Lanka is still in an infant stage and this is what is not addressed in these various reports regarding the end of the war. As it stands it is doubtless felt that such endeavours will in fact damage efforts being undertaken to achieve reconciliation.  What is critical for Sri Lanka is the rebuilding of trust

Trust can only be rebuilt when a space is created for effective dialogue and understanding.  Rebuilding trust is about honouring unity and celebrating diversity, working towards equity and justice and ensuring the eradication of social prejudices in building a collective identity.  Rebuilding trust is about decreasing suspicion  and  infusing human values with an understanding of the need to move away from apportioning blame for deceit and destruction.  Sri Lanka needs this space in order for it to move forward.  It needs time for its people to go through the healing process.  Its people need to come up with their own locally developed solutions. I have always been confident that Sri Lanka has the answers to its own problems and does not need outside interventions.  After being involved in providing/organising humanitarian relief for four years post-tsunami and during the concluding stage of the war in Sri Lanka I have been touched by the  strength, passion and willingness of people to rally round and  work for a common purpose at times of adversity. This I believe is a unique Sri Lankan trait that is an asset to the country.  Yet passion without purpose can be misguided as the empty rhetoric of politicians without any substance can lead to irrelevant actions.

Michael Henderson in his book No Enemy to Conquer, talks about the journey of forgiveness and reconciliation as  the need to move beyond the concept of a clash between each other to reaching out and developing an alliance with ‘the other’.  This journey means to take an individual  responsibility to create a safe space for people to talk and share ideas.  This safe space entails not only moving beyond victimhood but also being cognizant of the past (accepting and facing up to the past honestly), the past should not become a ball and chain for the future.

Sri Lanka’s Expatriate community in the west also have their share of the responsibility to challenge the normalisation of the narrative regarding the conflict and reconciliation, and to rise above their apathy to be ambassadors of good will for their country of heritage. Those who are anti Rajapakse and who oppose the government not on principle but on party lines find themselves as natural ‘bed fellows’ to the pro LTTE camp who are also intent on ousting the government, in order to keep their movement alive. What this means is a lost opportunity to hold the government accountable on real issues of governance such as the rising cost of living or allegations of corruption whilst securing the credibility of the government especially as a ‘victim’.

Sri Lanka is now at the cross roads of moving forward, cleansed of the past and with a chance to develop a common vision shared by all towards collective nation building and prosperity or to plunge back into another unknown era of bitter interethnic rivalries fanned by divisive politics .Regardless of whatever different situations may demand, reconciliation has to ultimately work through the hearts of individuals who harbor pains from the long years of their inability to meet basic human aspirations or from loss of loved ones and properties as they became innocent victims of calculated and indiscriminate violent attacks between fighting forces. Constitutional amendments and projected development are not enough to make hearts to forget or forgive. It needs a platform for genuine and objective discussion to hear all sides of the argument in hope of moving forward towards achieving reconciliation and a new direction for the country. Sri Lanka’s expats have to step into be ambassadors of goodwill to provide the guidance for this platform to be nurtured. 

Transparency, accountability and social justice are the pillars of a mature democratic society.  Sri Lanka’s journey is still very early in trying to achieve this, but nevertheless it has started.  Where abuse has taken place, people will be held accountable, BUT this has to be on the terms and the time scale that has been determined by the Sri Lankan people themselves.  The release of this documentary and other supplementary reports provides unwarranted distraction from the main issues that the government (and any government in a post conflict country) should be held accountable for including: steps taken towards reconciliation, stemming the rising cost of living, tackling corruption and trying to ensure law and order.   By demanding it from outside, it also abrogates responsibility from all the stakeholders within Sri Lanka to play a part in this reconciliation and development process.

Spirituality: The Glue that Binds Us

As one gets older it is not surprising that one’s thoughts turns to how life was so much better in one’s youth. It just seems that the world is a much more different place today than it ever was. Some of it is really exciting in terms of the progress made in technology but there is still room for improvement, with poverty still rampant in some parts of the world, wars still raging and an inequality that separates those that have from those that do not have.

We live in an era of globalisation and technological change, cutthroat politics, and culture conflict. Many will argue that in this current globalising world such rivalry, competition, conflicts, and violence are a necessary tool to preserve the ‘values of freedom’.

However such violence is only perpetuated from deeply delusive and divisive assumptions of single exclusive identities by sectarian activists who want people to ignore all affiliation and loyalties in support of one specific identity. Such exclusive identities are often negative, stressing difference rather than belonging, ‘opposition to’ rather than ‘support for’ something.

Whatever the source of conflict, we know that conflict starts in the minds and hearts of people and when people shut themselves from reasoning, prejudice overtakes and communication breaks down. Conflicts reinforce rumour, hearsay and generalization which are the first steps that lead to the stereotyping of people (their faith, their culture and identity) and the denial of a diverse, lived reality, the opposite of respect, understanding and acceptance.

It is as a result of this that the world is experiencing turmoil and as such needs a new solution, new vision and new understanding which takes into account ways of relating with each other especially in an increasingly interdependent community. This new solution should involve the recognition of our plurality and the searching for commonalities within this pluralism that will lead to greater respect and ultimately greater understanding.

However we somehow don’t seem to possess a shared language with which to discuss this recognition, much less the tools to arrive at a consensus as to how we as a community and society and nation might work together, to bring this about.

This shared language can be the language of spirituality which will allow us to recognise the common space and substance amongst all doctrines that will provide the fuel for social change and trigger action for the unity of humanity.

This shared language will enable us to develop a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes this improbable experiment of reconciling and rehabilitation of communities at disagreement. These are living values and ideals which cannot find expression on paper or monuments or in the annals of history books. They remain alive in the hearts and minds of people and they should inspire us to pride, duty and sacrifice. We need these living values to build on shared understandings. Much of what ails us involves a breakdown in culture, respect, understanding and acceptance. This will not be cured by money. Values and spiritual life matter as much as GDP. These values are the glue that binds every healthy society.

Spirituality thus is an awareness of the interconnection of all things to provide the fuel for social change. It is the ability to recognise that diverse doctrines have a common space and substance as we all belong to this world and we need to live in peace with everything and everyone and protect it for those who come after us. Spirituality is about a sense of duty and sacrifice on behalf of those who are voiceless. Spirituality is a faith in something bigger than ourselves whether it is formal religion or way of life or ethical precepts. It is this faith that allows us to value behaviour that express mutual regard for one another, honesty, fairness, humility, kindness courtesy and compassion.

Spirituality is not religiosity or preaching your religious values, although these form components of a lived spirituality. It is about something greater. We are not here to preach to anyone or convert anyone. We are not here to denigrate someone and their ideals.

The Famous Victorian Explorer Sir Richard Burton once wrote that

‘All Faith is false, all Faith is true: Truth is the shattered mirror strewn In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own’ where he meant that you will find parts of the truth everywhere and the whole truth nowhere.

What he meant to say was that we all seem to think that we have the ultimate truth, yet, it is a truth that is part of a greater truth. So if we think in the grander scheme of things (beyond theology and ideology) to unite humanity with peace, respect and understanding, then each of us (with our faith and spiritual teachings) have a bit of that shard of broken glass. This can be pieced together on issues of commonality, as opposed to focusing on our points of difference. Then we would have made the first step towards spiritual reconciliation between communities.

Thus our task as change makers is to try and see how we can piece these broken bits of the mirror. What is the glue we will use? What are the tools? What does the final mosaic look like?

In such a climate as we have today, any assertion of shared ideals or common values might seem unrealistic or hopelessly naive- an attempt to gloss over serious differences or worse or a means of muffling the complaints of those who feel ill served by current institutional arrangements. The point is that we have no choice. We need a new alternative to what has been done so far. We have got to a position where something new needs to happen. Narrow interests have vied for advantage with ideological minorities seeking to impose their own versions of absolute truth that we are left cynical and unsure. It is time we reassembled the pieces of the broken mirror.

Tan Sen, the master musician at the court of the Moghul Emperor, Akhbar, had some fifteen musical instruments in the Emperor’s chamber, which he had tuned to one frequency. Upon playing just one instrument’s musical note, the other fourteen started to resonate, to the astonishment and delight of the audience

Ideally this story can serve well as a metaphor for how communities can work in harmony to achieve an enlightened result and serves as a lesson for how we can move forward.

June 20th was World Refugee Day.  For many it is about remembering the plights of many people the world over, who today are without rights, a state and an identity.  You can picture the Palestinians or the Rohingas or the Kurds.  Over the past week, in Sri Lanka, international attention has turned once again to the 300,000 refugees (or internally displaced people) after the end of the conflict in 2009.  Despite all this attention, very little is said about the plight of the other major victims and refugees of the 30 year old conflict, and that is the Muslim refugees in Puttalum

For centuries, the Muslim community has been scattered around Sri Lanka living in co-existence with the other two main ethnic communities (Sinhalese and Tamil) with very close socio-economic interactions among them. Despite the seeds for the minority rights crisis being planted at the time of Independence, the ethnic conflict that began to emerge at the end of the seventies only engulfed engulfing the Muslim community in the eighties.

In the north and east of the country, Muslims and Tamils coexisted with Muslim and Tamil children attending the same school and taking different roles in cultural displays and sporting events.  However as the ethnic crisis developed into armed conflict with Tamil youth taking to arms and the LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers for Eelam) being formed, it became apparent that in the early eighties, in the east of Sri Lanka, there was a conflict of interest between Muslims and Tamils.  Whilst this was initially at a manageable and political level, it slowly disintegrated in 1990 as the LTTE massacred worshipers in a mosque in Batticaloa and other attacks on Muslim civilians (for further details you could read SRI LANKA’S MUSLIMS: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE” by International Crisis Group).  The LTTE based in the North, gave its presentation of developments. It became an unspoken cliché that Muslims were ‘traitors’ as a result of many Muslims joining the government forces and setting up their own political parties. A number of intellectuals and the printed word began to break a  35 year old tradition which had previously categorised Muslims as part of the Tamil speaking  nation and now identifying the Muslims as different.  There was a total breakdown of communal relations in the East.

In the north however there was a different story. In every way Muslims and Tamils in the North had been traditionally totally integrated into local life as interdependent communities. There were Muslim traders, tailors, iron mongers, labourers and scholars. Several of them had even taken to farming in the Killinochchi area. The Muslims in Jaffna had lived next to each other and therefore densely occupied a small part of this town. As part of the arena of culture and scholarship, Muslims formed an important component of the historic University of Jaffna.

All this was to change on the 23rd of October 1990, when at about 8am in the morning, a voice blasting through the loudspeaker mounted on a moving vehicle declared that: “Muslims are given 24hrs[i] to exit from the ‘Tamil land’ and they should leave all their possessions behind”. Armed LTTE cadres had gone round every village and handed over letters from their district leaders forcing the chief trustees of all mosques to read out the letters over loud speakers. The letters ordered all the Muslims to vacate their respective villages within 48 hours and hand over all their belongings such as vehicles, radios, sewing machines, water pumps etc to LTTE cadres at a particular village school.  They said the orders were from the LTTE high ranks and anyone trying to disobey would have to face the danger of losing life. Twenty four hours passed, and armed juveniles came round to push the Muslim residents out of their homes: men, women and children were herded through a narrow passage and, at the point of exit from the village they were bodily searched for valuables. Metallic cutters were used to remove jewellery that could not be easily removed, and each family was only allowed to take about 200 rupees (5 US dollars at that time). In some cases, even a change of clothes was not allowed to be taken out.  All possessions were deemed by the LTTE to belong to Tamil Eelam.

By the 26th of October, it had become apparent that Muslims from Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi (other parts of the Northern Province deemed as land for the Tamils) as well had suffered the same fate.  Approximately 75,000 men, women and children were expelled. (For more details about this, please see UTHRJ; Report 6, Chapter 3, and http://jaffnamuslims.lk/)

In 1989, Mohamed Lateef (name changed) had just got married and had taken ownership of a rice farm and was looking to settle down to a quiet life of farming and raising his family.  That dream quickly shattered in 1990.

“ We were summoned to the mosque where we were greeted with this shocking news of the explusion ultimatum. Most of the people wanted to leave the place on the next day (Saturday). It was a nightmare and we were unable to sleep the night thinking of the agony of leaving the village we were born, keeping behind all our belongings, the junctions that created love and affection, the roads that told us many stories, the schools that taught & gained us employments, the mosques that made us humans, the Madarasa that taught us, books, exercise books, the burial ground that was keeping many of us, the play ground that gave us encouragement and the library.  The following day we started the journey with our children, grasping whatever little things we could carry in our hands. We were refugees. All the roads were full of our people from 9 days old baby to 95 years old man spread at a distance that could not find its end. We wandered aimlessly not knowing where to go and how long it would take us.  All that mattered was a safe place and even that in the current circumstance was uncertain”

Without knowing where they were going, these desperate people moved south in whatever mode of transport they could find. Most of them trekked miles and miles (those from Mannar braved the sea) for days, and those who could not stand the strain perished on the way and the rest reached Puttalam, the biggest Muslim settlement outside the Northern Province.

21 years on, and  Lateef is still in Puttalum with his family, living in the makeshift refugee camp, in  a coconut-leaf hut affording little respite to the elements, relying on daily wage earnings to support his family which has now grown to include 3 children, all born in the Saltern Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Puttalum.

“I don’t think about the past.  It just makes me sick.  There is no future for me to think about. I gave up thinking about the future a long time ago.  I just think about the present and how I can give my family at least two square meals a day,” he says wearily.

This incident has been largely forgotten in the annals of the Sri Lankan conflict.  Successive governments have failed to provide adequate reprieve and support for the displaced who find themselves in a political wilderness without much of a voice despite having representation in the government.  Problems with education, proper shelter and sanitation plague the camps and so the displaced people are dependent on menial jobs or handouts from philanthropists or the government and humanitarian organisations.  Unemployment is a massive problem for the majority of them who rely largely on seasonal demand for labour such as work in the salterns and various other odd jobs. They live in Cadjan huts, very often with two to three families crouched into one little hut.   On top of this, it has also become a delicate commercialized, criminalized and corrupt political scene.

“Yes we get support” remarks A.B. Niyas, the camp leader of the Saltern IDP camp, cynically.  “Every so often we get the refugee tourists, who come and see us, take photographs, give us some money, promise additional help and disappear.”

The order of expulsion had shocked the country with the forcible eviction creating a new dimension in the ethnic crisis distancing the three communities in their coexistence and wellbeing. What the Muslims from the north had experienced is a deliberate act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the LTTE.  However the questions to ask of that time are

• Why didn’t the government of Sri-Lankan armed forces move in to protect its citizens (these Muslims) against such an act of ethnic cleansing?
• What didn’t the Sri Lankan population react to this?
• Why did the international agencies keep silent when Muslims were being sent out of their homes on ethnic grounds?
• Why were the Tamil Diaspora silent when this was being enacted in their name?
• Why was the rest of the Sri Lankan Diaspora also silent when this was taking place?

And now, why do the same Diaspora who talk about responsibility and accountability for the end of the conflict, fail to mention these groups of forgotten people?

Puttalam still houses approximately 100,000 displaced persons across 141 welfare centres, from the five districts of the Northern Province. What were then considered to be temporary settlements have now become permanent abodes for these unfortunate victims of the LTTE’s horrific programme of ethnic cleansing.   Over the recent years, Puttalam has also played host to some Tamil and Sinhala IDPs who have been driven away from their homes in Batticaloa and Trincomalee.  The town is beginning to buckle under the pressure of hosting a large IDP population.

As some studies have pointed out, hosting a large IDP population has placed a great deal of pressure on the local services as they were not proportionally developed to meet the needs of the populace. Moreover, it has had a negative impact on the relations between the IDPs and the host community who originally welcomed the displaced people.

Recent incidents in the town have exposed these cracks.  There is now  a new fear that tensions between  the area’s original Muslim inhabitants, who have grown tired of the newcomers taking their jobs and, increasingly, buying their land, could lead to further crisis.

“We did all we could for them when they first arrived,” says Naleer, an amiable businessman and Puttalum Resident. “But they’re placing an unbearable strain on resources. They work cheap, so they’ve taken people’s jobs. They take education, healthcare, too.  They are supported by the government and INGOs on top of this.  We do not get anything from them. The situation has created a lot of hate.”   Many critics go on to say that the refugees are perpetually in this situation of desperation without doing much to help themselves, since they know that there will always be sympathetic support. “ This is a charge that M. Rahman, an activist from a local CBO set up by the displaced people refutes.  “We just want to go back home.  We don’t want to live anywhere else.  We are from Jaffna or Mullaitivu.  We lived side by side with our Tamil neighbors without much problem.  We want to go back to that”

After the Ceasefire Agreement was signed in February 2002, following what amounted to a public apology by the political leader of the LTTE and an agreement signed between the LTTE and main Muslim political party,  a number of these displaced families did  return to their homes in the North only to find their houses  occupied by displaced Tamils, or rebels, or destroyed. Those who stuck it out once again returned to Puttalum when the security deteriorated.

21 years after the evictions, the displaced Muslims still speak affectionately of their old Tamil neighbours and given the chance would return back to their home towns.  34-year-old Fatima Shafeek, a mother of two, vouches for this. “I was born in Jaffna and that will always be my home.  If I am given the chance I will go back“.  There are some though who are adament that they will not go back because they have stopped trusting the Tamils.  It is these who need greater support for healing to begin.

In any return for the displaced people, there are a couple of issues that would need to be considered such as:

1. Safety – Safety and security for the life of the displaced people and the dignity as well as recovery of lost properties to be appropriately discussed and  proper assurance given that this will be dealt with  during resettlement.
2. Basic Needs – Many people returning back would face shortages in basic needs such as water supply, adequate sanitation, basic health services, basic educational facilities, dried ration, compensation and opportunities to recreate employment for unemployed people.
3. Property Rights – As a result of  the expulsion in 1990, all documentary evidences in the government records have been destroyed such as ownerships of the properties etc. In any resettlement, positive and immediate arrangements need to be made to hand over the possessions of properties whilst returning land and compensating for this.  Any planned resettlement of outsiders in lands owned by these northern Muslims would need to be stopped forthwith The Government  to consider that  state lands adjacent to the lands owned by evicted Muslims  should  be given to them in keeping with the increasing demand due to an increase in population.
4. Relief-All relief, compensation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement activities should be done by a task force which includes district representatives of northern Muslims.
5. Education – Many of the schools have been damaged and destroyed due to the war. Special concessions would have be given to Northern Muslims in Education, government employment and livelihood programs.

In this delicate balance that has pervaded the war, there is now a call for restorative justice.  A period of healing has to be honoured.  People have to learn to trust one another. However in the politics that is ensuing, this is quickly being overlooked.  The real plight of people like this is being compromised by a failure to understand the process of restorative justice by all concerned.

Resettlement and rehabilitation of these Puttalam refugees are still major issues that need to be resolved.  It is no doubt that the internally displaced people would like to resettle in their original places, and therefore mechanisms for their right to return should be a major question answered by the government. The Government so far has failed to properly address these aspirations.  Likewise the communities (and the Diaspora that represent these communities) should also be working together to identify solutions at all levels of the spectrum.

There is however now a new generation among the refugees which has no affiliation with the parental roots to their villages in the Northern Province. They would prefer to continue living where they are now

As for Lateef, what does he make of the situation? Well just ask his ten year old son Mujeeb where home is.  He will reply that home is the coconut-leaf shanty in a camp in Puttalam

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[i] In some cases despite the 24 hour ultimatum in other Northern townships, those in Jaffna were given just two hours to leave or face extermination

This orignally appeared on Groundviews

A Hopeless Existence

In 1989, Mohamed Lateef had just got married and had taken ownership of a rice farm and was looking to settle down to a quiet life of farming and raising his family. That dream quickly shattered in 1990, when Lateef and 70,000 other members from the Muslim community were forcibly evicted from Northern Sri Lanka by the LTTE, only taking with them minimal possessions and limited amounts of cash with everything else being confiscated by the Tamil Tigers.

Without knowing where they were going, these desperate people moved south in whatever mode of transport they could find. Most of them trekked miles and miles, days on end with many perishing on the way. Eventually Lateef and the survivors found themselves in Puttalum, a town with a sizeable Muslim settlement. There they were received by the locals and housed in makeshift refugee camps.

Twenty one years on, and Lateef is still in Puttalum with his family, living in the makeshift refugee camp, in a coconut-leaf hut affording little respite to the elements, relying on daily wage earnings to support his family which has now grown to include 3 children, the oldest being 15, all born in the Saltern Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Puttalum.

“I don’t think about the past. It just makes me sick. There is no future for me to think about. I gave up thinking about the future a long time ago. I just think about the present and how I can give my family at least two square meals a day,” he says wearily.

This incident has been largely forgotten in the annals of the Sri Lankan conflict. Successive governments have failed to provide adequate reprieve and support for the displaced who find themselves in a political wilderness without much of a voice despite having representation in the government. Problems with education, proper shelter and sanitation plague the camps and so the displaced people are dependent on menial jobs or handouts from philanthropists or the government and humanitarian organisations. On top of this, it has also become a delicate commercialized, criminalized and corrupt political scene.

“Yes we get support” remarks A.B. Niyas, the camp leader of the Saltern IDP camp, cynically. “Every so often we get the refugee tourists, who come and see us, take photographs, give us some money, promise additional help and disappear.”

Puttalam still houses approximately 100,000 displaced persons across 141 welfare centres, from the five districts of the Northern Province. Over the recent years, Puttalam has also played host to some Tamil and Sinhala IDPs who have been driven away from their homes in Batticaloa and Trincomalee. The town is beginning to buckle under the pressure of hosting a large IDP population.

Recent incidents in the town have exposed these cracks. There is now a new fear that tensions between the area's original Muslim inhabitants, who have grown tired of the newcomers taking their jobs and, increasingly, buying their land, could lead to further crisis.

"We did all we could for them when they first arrived," says Naleer, an amiable businessman and Puttalum Resident. "But they're placing an unbearable strain on resources. They work cheap, so they've taken people's jobs. They take education, healthcare, too. They are supported by the government and INGOs on top of this. We do not get anything from them. The situation has created a lot of hate." Many critics go on to say that the refugees are perpetually in this situation of desperation without doing much to help themselves, since they know that there will always be sympathetic support.

This is a charge that M. Rahman, an activist from a local CBO set up by the displaced people refutes. “We just want to go back home. We don’t want to live anywhere else. We are from Jaffna or Mullaitivu. We lived side by side with our Tamil neighbors without much problem. We want to go back to that”

Until the 1990 incidents, the communities co-existed fairly harmoniously in the north. Eighteen years after the evictions, the displaced Muslims still speak affectionately of their old Tamil neighbours and given the chance would return back to their home towns. 34-year-old Fatima Shafeek, a mother of two, vouches for this. “I was born in Jaffna and that will always be my home. If I am given the chance I will go back“

After the Ceasefire Agreement was signed in February 2002, a number of these displaced families returned to their homes in the North only to find their houses occupied by displaced Tamils, or rebels, or destroyed. Those who stuck it out once again left back to Puttalum when the security deteriorated.

As for Lateef, what does he make of the situation? Well just ask his ten year old son Mujeeb where home is. He will reply that home is the coconut-leaf shanty in a camp in Puttalam.

So as the world celebrates World Refugee Day, 21 years on from when they were first evicted, the flame of hope needs to be reignited for these forgotten IDPs of Puttalum, to one day find resolution to their problems.