“Sri Lanka’s surging cash reliance on China” by Dinouk Colombage

Since ending its civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka has become increasingly financially dependent on China, receiving an estimated $4bn worth of loans, grants and aid.

via: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/08/sri-lanka-economy-reliance-china-infrastructure-20148256345589851.html?fb_action_ids=1471234319799278&fb_action_types=og.recommends

“People like us will somehow make a living”, Produced by Sharni Jayawardena and Tarika Wickremeratne

Our effort is to see a slums and shanties free Colombo in year 2020 says the Ministry of Defence. In doing so, the MoD violently erases those like Nazaruddin.

Nazaruddin speaks with pride about all he has achieved today but assures us that is difficult work, driven forward only by an instinct for survival. “You can’t survive in this place if you can’t make a living” he tells us with all the conviction of first-hand experience. Yet, he is prouder still of his community and his generation – the ones who didn’t have the good fortune of a good education and the opportunities that came with it. Cut from the same tough cloth, they are a people, he says, who will do whatever it takes to ensure their families never have to miss a single meal.

See http://www.movingimages.asia/2011/04/“people-like-us-will-somehow-make-a-living”/
Produced by Sharni Jayawardena and Tarika Wickremeratne, as part of Walkabout: Slave Island. Watch the trailer to this series below, and visit the Moving Images website for more stunning content on Sri Lanka.


Also read http://groundviews.org/2014/08/08/slums-shanties-or-stories/

“Sri Lanka deports members of Ahmadi community” by Al Jazeera

Sri Lanka has deported more than 80 Pakistani asylum seekers. Most of them are members of the persecuted Ahmadi community – a group that believes there was a prophet after the Prophet Muhammad, something sacrilegious to Muslims and illegal in Pakistan.

via: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2014/08/sri-lanka-deports-members-ahmadi-community-201481116572662203.html

“Kattankudy Mosque Massacre Documentry 2012” by Kannan Arunasalam

Kattankudy Mosque Massacre took place in August 1990 by LTTE. more than 147 Muslims were killed while on Prayer in two mosques in Kattankudy on 03rd August 1990 at night. Also more than 200 has been wounded and lose their ordinary lives. One of remarkable massacre in the world war history especially in Srilankan Civil War. On the 22nd Anniversary of this event in a post war era in Srilanka, this fantastic documentary was made by Mr.Kannan Arunasalam and shared in their Website www.groundviews.org

via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPEW2rS44g

“The people smugglers Is the tough application of Canada’s immigration laws justified?” by Aljazeera

In August 2010 a ship called the MV Sun Sea reached Canada carrying nearly 500 Sri Lankan Tamils – a journey organised by people smugglers. After having spent 52 days out on sea, hidden deep in the belly of the cargo vessel, the Tamils had finally reached their destination.

It wasn’t the first ship with Tamil asylum seekers to have arrived into Canadian waters. Ten months earlier, the MV Ocean Lady, had brought 76 Tamil passengers. All of them said they were fleeing their homeland at the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE) by government forces.”

On People & Power we follow the arrival of two boats with Tamil refugees in Canada and asks whether the tough application of Canada’s immigration laws, resulting in many potential deportations, is justified.”

via: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2014/07/people-smugglers-20147239276629601.html and http://bcove.me/pcim3lnb

 

source: Aljazeera

“Lack of trust slows Sri Lanka reconciliation” by Al Jazeera

Five years after Sri Lanka’s war with the Tamil Tigers ended, the group’s former members say that cultural insensitivity from the government is still an issue.

via: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2014/07/lack-trust-slows-sri-lanka-reconciliation-2014715102222303152.html

“‘පිට අයයි ගැහුවේ’ අලුත්ගම සිංහල හා මුස්ලිම් වැසියෝ” by BBC

Eyewitnesses talk to the BBC about violence in Aluthgama

you can read more under the video—

Eyewitnesses talk to the BBC about violence in Aluthgama

you can read more under the video here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/sri_lanka/2014/06/140616_aluthgama_video_villagers.shtml

source: BBC

“Anti – Muslim Violence Instigated by Bodhu Bala Sena in Aluthgama and Beruwela Results in Three Deaths and Over Sixty Injuries;Muslim Owned Houses, Businesses and Mosques Torched” by D.B.S.Jeyaraj

“A curfew was clamped down in the Aluthgama and Beruwela Police divisions of Kalutara district in the Western Province of Sri Lanka following an outbreak of communal violence on Sunday June 15th 2014 that was triggered off by the “Ethno Religious Fascist” Organization the Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS).”

via: http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/30652

source: http://dbsjeyaraj.com

“Muslims killed in Sri Lanka mob attacks” by Aljazeera

Residents of the riot-hit areas said Muslims were leaving their homes and seeking shelter in community centres as fears of more violence lurked.

There were no reports of arrests.

The latest unrest came just weeks after Muslim legislators asked Rajapaksa to protect their minority community from “Buddhist extremist elements” blamed for a recent spate of hate attacks.

“The life and awful death of a Tamil asylum seeker in Australia” by Oliver Laughland

“Out in the living room, in this small, shared house in Geelong, Victoria, a shrine sits on the dining table. A wreath of white roses, chrysanthemums and daisies circles a framed photo of the 29-year-old Tamil asylum seeker, who set himself on fire on 31 May. A glass of milk and a glass of water sit – full to the brim – next to the flowers, left behind for Seemanpillai’s spirit to sip, according to a friend. He is the second Tamil asylum seeker to self-immolate in Australia over the past year – the first survived. Seemanpillai died on 1 June.”

via: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/the-life-and-awful-death-of-a-tamil-asylum-seeker-in-australia

source: www.theguardian.com

“« Dayana Mini Market », un air de Bollywood dans la vie d’une famille immigrée” par médiapart

Dayana Mini Market suit une famille tamoule originaire du Sri Lanka, installée en France depuis près de 30 ans qui, peu après avoir été expulsée de son logement, doit affronter la méfiance de la société française, les questions d’intégration et les conflits entre générations. La fragilité de leur vie, la force de leur désir, la tendresse qui les unit et les rêves qui les portent font toute la merveille de ce documentaire signé Floriane Devigne. Réalisé dans le cadre de la série documentaire d’Arte « Une place au soleil », Dayana Mini Market a été diffusé à la télévision en janvier 2013.

Lire sur le site d’Arte un entretien avec Floriane Devigne, la réalisatrice. Elle raconte comment lui est venue l’idée de filmer ses voisins ; comment après avoir été actrice, elle en est venue au documentaire ; comment le réel tragique s’est invité dans le tournage ; comment les clins d’œil à Bollywood sont « une sorte de ruse pour pouvoir raconter certains éléments de l’histoire sans faire des interviews face caméra »…

Médiapart offre la possibilité à ses abonnés de visionner ce documentaire sur son site: http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/040414/dayana-mini-market-un-air-de-bollywood-dans-la-vie-dune-famille-immigree

source: Médiapart

“‘I cried every day’: inside Sri Lanka’s ‘No Fire Zones'” by Channel 4

At the end of the Sri Lankan civil war the government of Sri Lanka held a press conference, writes Callum Macrae. Five doctors who had been trapped in the war zones – and had told the world of the awful suffering of the trapped civilians – were paraded in front of the world’s media.

And what they said could not be clearer – everything they had said from within the war zone was wrong. The government had not shelled hospitals. Only a few civilians had died. All the allegations of war crimes by government forces were a lie.

via: http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes-inquiry-doctor-varatharajah-thariajah?fb_action_ids=293277350829568&fb_action_types=og.recommends

source: www.channel4.com

“White Van Stories: Sri Lanka’s ‘disappeared’ – video” by Channel 4

“They come in unmarked white vans. The people they take are never seen again. Activists say one person is taken this way every 5 days. Leena Manimekalai met the families of Sri Lanka’s disappeared.”

via: http://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-video

source: www.channel4.com

“The Stream : The violent side of Sri Lankan Buddhism” by Aljazeera

We like to share a link to access a stream from Aljazeera about Hardline Buddhists in Sri Lanka and how they are making new enemies of Muslim and Christian minorities.

via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRB3aS75ZLY

source: Aljazeera