the new year
this morning, eagerly awaiting auspicious times to dawn, i turned on the tv to the state channel because they’re pretty reliable with their times.
what i witness there is a crock of shit. the president’s brother has traveled to the north east area of sri lanka and is distributing ‘new year gifts’ amongst the poor tamil refugees there, in the festive and giving spirit of the sinhala and hindu new year. there are shots of happy, playing children, happy, grateful people receiving their gifts with thanks in their eyes, women seated around playing a rabana (as if tamil people even play the rabana). it’s a picture of joy. and why? we soon find out. because of course, as the commentary tells us, the innocent people of the north and north east have been rescued from the jaws of the LTTE and its violent ways by the goverment and it’s policy under the ‘mahinda chinthanaya’. because of course the super efficiency and consideration of our good mr president has saved the people from a life of misery and given them a reason to celebrate the dawning of a new year with hope of prosperity and safety. it’s all because of him.
the blatant display of nationalism in hopes of fooling desperate, poverty stricken war victims in the form of gifts and a visit by the president’s brother, the false sense of patriotism they are instilling is every person that turns on their tvs, the mollycoddling of the refugess in the north east areas who’ve been victims at the hands of both sides, the way the mainstream media is being manhandled to get such a specific message across, is altogether shameless and far from subtle. it is, in fact, grossly obvious.
blinding the masses from the truth, holding us back from knowing the reality of the suffering of our fellow citizens, a fate that we may all soon be looking at, compelling us to mistrust the media horribly and turn instead to our gut feelings and bits of unbiased news we can illegitimately pick up, this is our new year. fan fucken tastic.
Correctly said! I too went through this and it was absolutely disgusting to see the way they staged this political drama. Anyway, bad acting I thought.
Comment by Anandawardhana — April 15, 2007 @ 3:25 am
It’s bullshit I agree, but I’m glad to finally see some counter-propaganda against the LTTE.
So the GoSL is pretending life is great for Tamils in those areas, so what? Ultimately if you want to live in a united Sri Lanka, we’re going to have to convince LTTE supporters that the GoSL is doing things for them, that they matter to the GoSL.
The LTTE have a lot of ground telling the world about the plight of their people under the terrible oppression of the Sinhala racist state. Consecutive Sri Lankan governments have ignored the propaganda machine of the LTTE, churning out falsehoods in order to raise funds and gain support.
Yes it is bullshit, yes it is lies, yes we all know that. But we are in a war for the hearts and minds of these people. We have to convince them that the GoSL offers a better future than the LTTE.
I think stupid childish propaganda stunts make some sort of difference towards that goal. God knows the LTTE has been using this tactic for decades now and it wins them oodles of funding and international sympathy.
Comment by Darth — April 15, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
I don’t understand the previous post. The lies that the LTTE and the GOSL are spreading is not meant to convince the people of SL, they are solely for the consumption of the international community. Do you really think that the people in refugee camps (or anyone in SL, or from SL, for that matter) are fooled by the once a year gift giving.
By the way, was the beaming gift giver, brer Basil? Because I happen to know that his daughter is attending Cornell. I Wonder where the real prezzies are going to this year?
Comment by anon — April 16, 2007 @ 1:59 am
Yes. Yes and Yes.
I agree Darth, it is high time the government did try its hand at counter-propoganda but even that has to be believable, n’est-ce pas?
This is a government that condones sectarianism and is wasting lives, time and money in achieving short-term goals. As if we needed more proof that our future’s damned. Go GOSL!
Comment by Azrael — April 16, 2007 @ 8:27 am
-we’re going to have to convince LTTE supporters that the GoSL is doing things for them, that they matter to the GoSL-
firstly, these people are not LTTE supporters? they merely, by some misfortune, happen to live in areas that are LTTE controlled. just because i live in colombo, it doesn’t make a government supporter, does it? these people are just people. innocent, poor people who have been evacuated from their villages because the army is presently shelling their homes into oblivion. and the gosl ISN’T doing anything for them, they DON’T matter. none of us do. not to the gosl, not to the LTTE. the only thing that matters is their own foothold on power and how well they can maintain it. it’s bullshit. they’re selling the people a story so that we’ll keep them in power. that’s all they need us for.
Comment by electra — April 16, 2007 @ 8:35 am
all comments are unbiased and commendable
Comment by kara — April 18, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
while using refugees for personal political propaganda is bad ( as bad as living off them as is the case with some ppl who do not want them to be resettled in their original homes ), your own understanding of the situation seem to be colored by another kind of propaganda. your own almost apologetic excuse for even watching state media says a lot. a person who wants to learn the truth will monitor all media on purpose including the most propagandistic like state media and ltte media ( and their peacenik parrots).
error of your claims about ‘mainstream media being manhandled to get such a specific message across’ can measured by going to the nearest newspaper stand. you will find most anti government ‘messages’ by all sorts of ppl including the ltte itself given ample coverage.
people who were freed from ltte oppression were in fact saved from a life of misery. and freeing them was the duty of the legitimate democratic government of sri lanka and all sri lankans. do you think ltte rule is not oppressive ? don’t you want ppl who are under it to enjoy the same rights as you do? shouldn’t government end that rule ? using violence if needed ( which is certainly the case ) ? and allow the ppl to settle back in their own property with security ( including some like the muslims of north ethnically cleansed out of their homes by ltte for 20+ years)?
i do, so do most sri lankans. and i don’t think we think so bc we are mislead rather bc most sri lankans have fairly good idea of what is happening here. if you think you are more knowledgeable please do inform us with the backing evidence. mere allegations however will not convince anyone tough you are free to make them as well. ( though ppl will challenge you to substantiate them )
“army is presently shelling their homes into oblivion. and the gosl ISN’T doing anything for them”
that is not correct. may be you are one of those ppl who believed the ltte propaganda ( parroted by others)that army shelled vakarai flat including the hospital? well it is time to accept the reality that was not the case. but would you believe similar allegations even after that fallacy was exposed? don’t live in denial. nor is it true that gosl isn’t doing anything to refugees. it is the government ( and thus all sri lankan taxpayers) that bears the most burden. ngos are just hangers on. ( as i said, i do agree that it is bad to gain personal political mileage out of what government do, but that is another comparatively minor matter) .
Comment by sittingnut — April 19, 2007 @ 12:05 am
correction of possible misunderstanding of meaning: sentence “i do, so do most sri lankans.” should be corrected as ‘i do think its oppressive and government should end it , so do most sri lankans’
Comment by sittingnut — April 19, 2007 @ 12:13 am
electra, spot on.
e.g. for u all: our gvnmnt opened kinniya hospital recently, the thera invited (in his speech) claimed it was done under mahinda chintanaya!!!?? this president hadnt even been elected yet when the project started!!!!?!?!?? wtf….! how pathetic. no funds from there, no help, no nuffink.
Comment by galleblogger — April 19, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
nice post electra.
sittingnut u sound like u don’t live in Sri Lanka. It’s sad that you just don’t get it.
Comment by C.S — April 21, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
c.s..
can you point to any statement by me above that is not in accordance with sri lankan reality. mere ( and wrong ) speculations about my location is not a valid argument.
Comment by sittingnut — April 23, 2007 @ 6:22 pm