Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sri Lanka-the final remnants of the conflict


The Huffington Post has a good piece on the the Sri Lankan government's attempts to suppress journalistic freedoms in its final push to finish off the Tamil Tigers.

As it reports

At what is expected to be a gruesome conclusion, the world largely looks elsewhere. This can be blamed on the lack of what we call ground truth coming out of the country. The government has suppressed journalists, some of whom have been killed and others have disappeared. In the country's capital, Colombo, there is silence about the fighting and the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the northeast part of the island.


It publishes in particular this chilling piece from a citizen journalist

Motorcycles that follow close behind are fear. The letter box at the junction is fear. The ringing of a telephone is fear. Each email is fear. We channel surf fear. We listen to it on jingles. In the nervous laughter of journalists. Words which no longer appear, people who have disappeared. The firecrackers lit celebrate terror against terror. Editors culled by sharp instruments jabbed to their necks. A vicious defense secretary who goes for the jugular. A racist Army Commander who believes Sri Lanka belongs to his people. Everything, everyone consumed by war. An economy crumbling, rendering grotesque the nightlife bling in Colombo.

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