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Transcript of Memory & Transitional Justice - rukiiiii.files.wordpress.com · JVP –“November Heroes...
Memory & Transitional Justice
Ruki Fernando
10th May 2015, Jaffna
RECORD OF THE WEAK
We've got medals for the heroes
Statues for the brave
The memories of the powerful
Our history books will save
Garlands for the winners,
Give glory to the sinners
But no one keeps a record of the
weak
We keep records of the great
men,
We celebrate the strong
We love our anti-heroes
And we wallow in their wrong
We gave a Nobel Peace Prize
To a man who dropped the bombs
But no one keeps a record of the
weak
* Record of the weak, Record of the
weak
The unspoken tragedies
Who have no voice to speak
We nod in their direction
But can't hear the silent shriek
No one keeps a record of the weak
Truth is like a bullet, it tears you
apart
Goes straight through your flesh
And settles in your heart
But most of us are pacifist
And we never even start
To try to keep a record of the weak
(Repeat *)
Photos of those killed in last phase of the war
kept in family’s / relatives houses
Deeply Personal tragedies
has become Immensely Political
(“politics of memory”)
and also become subject of
research, academic studies
Right to Memory
is just ONE component of
Transitional Justice process
(Rights to Truth, Justice, Reparation &
Guarantees of non occurrence)
Contents
1. Some experiences from Sri Lanka
2. Obstructions
3. Tourism and Memory
4. Commemorating heroes (or Villains?)
5. Concluding reflections and questions
1
Some experiences
in Sri Lanka
JVP – “April Heroes commemoration”
“April viru samaruwa”
To mark the JVP 1st insurrection of 1971
“A great defeat
Unending aim”
Some of the 1971 revolutionaries who survived
U Mahathya
Podi Athula
Asoka
JVP – “November Heroes commemoration”
(“il maha viru samaruma”)
Since 1989 November killing of
JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera
“..to commemorate heroes who
laid down their lives for the
Motherland including the
founder of the party
Comrade Rohana
Wijeweera, will be
celebrated by the JVP at …”
ttp://www.jvpsrilanka.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=241:23rd-commemoration-of-november-heroes-on-the-13th-&catid=40:jvpnews&Itemid=73
JVP November Heroes
Commemoration in
London
Monument for disappeared
At Raddoluwa, near Katunayake airport
Commemoration of Lasantha
Wickramathunga – killed on 8th Jan. 2009
Commemoration of Tamil journalists killed -
World Press Freedom Day 2015 in Jaffna
“Mini Museum”
At Uthayan newspaper, Jaffna
Remembering Fr. Mary Bastian
(killed on 6th Jan, 1985,Mannar)
Remembering Neelan Thiruchelvam –
killed 29th July 1999, Colombo
Monument for young Buddhist Monks
massacred in Aranthalawa – June 1987
Remembering Massacre of Muslims at
Kathankudy Mosques in 1990
All this was tolerable…..
But…what was / is not?
3
Obstructions
Summons of 4th May 2015 issued to NPC member to come to
Police regarding light lamps at home to commemorate
LTTE heroes on 27th Nov. 2014
Remembrance of May 18 in Vanni (2012)
Photos of those killed in last phase of the war
kept in family’s / relatives houses
Monument put up by students destroyed by the Army in the Jaffna
university
Destroyed statue of a LTTE political leader who fasted to death
(Nallur, Jaffna - 2010)
Only remaining memorial in the destroyed cemetery
in Konavil (Sept 2011)
Destroyed LTTE militants memorial in Mulangavil
(Later a small Army camp)
“Shrine of Innocents” – built in memory of
those disappeared, killed in 1987-1989
insurrection in South. Destroyed in 2011
“Artists struggling underwater holding a
picture of ‘shrine of the innocence’ which was
demolished to create the Diyatha Uyana in the
process of development”
History of obstructions
• LTTE didn’t allow commemorations of rival armed groups
and of incidents where they stand accused
• JVP didn’t even allow proper funerals for those they killed
(coffin below the knee)
• Government has tried to block some commemorations
• Since 2009 May ..Govt dominant actor
- Destruction of cemeteries of LTTE cadres and other
monuments
- Arrests, threats, intimidations, harassments of those
organizing and participating in commemorations
- Obstructions to funerals (Nimalaruban in Vavuniya &
Roshane Chanka in Katunayake)
• Resistance to Govt intimidations & obstructions:
- 1990 – beginning of disappearances commemoration
that led to monument in Raddoluwa
- In the North
• Arrests, threats, intimidations, obstructions,
restrictions on remembering in the North &
East by the military, Police and politicians
has intensified after the war (2010 – 2014)
• Especially on 18th May (end of war) & 27th
Nov. (LTTE’s Maveer – Great Heroes day)
• What will happen in 2015?
4
Tourism &
Memory
(dark tourism?)
Some of the mainstream tourism attractions
are related to memory
– Newseum
– Holocaust - Auschwich, Berlin & all over the
world
– South Africa
– Rwanda
– Derry (Northern Ireland)
– Cambodia
Tourism counter at PTK junction manned by
military (2012-2103, not anymore)
Post war tourism in Sri Lanka -
(Primarily Sinhalese)
Tourist information centres
(PTK / Killinochchi
4
Commemorating
the heroes
(or villains)?
“Hasalaka Hero” – near Elephant pass
Families of slain LTTE cadres
5
Concluding
reflections &
questions
Sri Lanka has history of Memorialization
• JVP, LTTE and Government – to honor their
political leaders, cadres
• Massacres - e.g. Sathorokondan,
Kaathankudy Mosque, Aranthalawa
• Other collective incidents – e.g. Expulsion
of Muslims from North
• Individuals –Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam,
Lasantha Wickramathunga, Dr. Rajani
Thiranagama, Fr. Jim Brown, Fr. Mary
Bastians etc.
• Also have history of obstructions
Links to Tourism
- Run by one party that stands accused –
military
- How to ensure plurality of narratives to
“tourists” & public
- Ensuring educative and retention of history
- How to ensure victims, their families and
local communities are involved in design,
implementation, decision making and
benefiting, including financially
Some possible approaches • Official (Government) vs. Popular (civil)
• Monuments (individual / collective)
• Retaining damaged / destroyed buildings
• Retaining sites of tragedy (E.g. Prisons in Cambodia, South
Africa)
• Online (AHRC’s cyber graveyards for disappeared /
http://maaveerarillam.com/)
• Special day (s)
• Commemorative lectures
• Cultural activities
• School books
• Historical narratives (E.g. Northern Muslims /Recovery of
Historical Memory Project – Guatamala)
http://maaveerarillam.com
Recovery of Historical
Memory Project –
Guatamala
Gaza Monologues
Challenges:
• Inclusive remembering vs. Exclusive
remembering
– Considering victims from different ethnic,
religious groups, also by different perpetrators
• Should we commemorate those who
engaged in abuses and violence? If so how?
– Groups / Individuals
• Private commemorations vs. Public
commemorations
• Victims & Perpetrators…the blurred lines
• Seeing perpetrators as human beings – with
mothers and fathers, possibly children, spouses..
• Could it be done in a way that will enable
perpetrators to reconcile with themselves, their
families, and victims….recover their humanity, and
move on