2 Square Miles

It’s unfortunately more of the same this week in Sri Lanka, although more and more international players are calling for peace. As reported by the Hindu, a leading newspaper in India, the Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi has advocated “a permanent peaceful political solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue” without saying which side of the conflict he supports. This is significant because Indian officials have consistently supported the government’s position of a unified Sri Lanka. The shift may signify that they are becoming disenchanted with the level of seemingly endless fighting and are only looking for a “permanent peaceful political solution” or ceasefire.

The Indians’ call for a simple, lasting ceasefire are certainly justified. Humanitarian violations and subsequent denials by both sides continue, despite the fact that the rebels are reportedly down to holding only 2 square miles of land. According to the BBC, the Tigers are accusing the government of increased heavy artillery use in the safe zones- leading to civilian casualties. The Tigers claim that between 50 and 100 people are dying each day due to government attacks and that the wounded are dying in hospitals due to inadequate medical care. The government of course denies these claims. The government continues to call these allegations “propaganda,” saying that the Tigers only want international attention. They say that the government is “sticking by its undertaking” not to use heavy artillery so that civilians would not be harmed. In efforts to prove their point, the government has asked UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to come and inspect the displaced people camps. In return, the government is accusing the Tigers of holding civilians against their will as human shields.

According to Reuters, however, the situation is improving in terms of humanitarian aid. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is ferrying the wounded out and supplies into the conflict zone. 495 of the sick and wounded were reportedly ferried out yesterday, after they had been unreachable for a week due to heavy fighting. Jacques De Maio, head of ICRC for South Asia said that

"Heavy fighting is taking place near the medical assembly point at Mullavaikkal, which puts the lives of patients, medical workers and ICRC staff at great risk… This hampers medical evacuations of wounded civilians and their families."

However, since February 10 of this year, 13,000 civilians have been ferried out for medical reasons by the ICRC. Thousands remain in the area, but 25 metric tons of food were are to be distributed among civilians. Hopefully this means that the situation is improving significantly, although in the BBC article it was reported that the Tigers are accusing the government of blocking ICRC shipments. The fact that none of these claims are independently verifiable makes the entire situation much more confusing.

As these so-called “final stages” of the war in Sri Lanka drag on for months and months, international players including India are becoming fed up with endless strife and advocate peace on almost any terms. Whether a Tamil state is created or not, this war has been going on since 1983 and needs to end soon. As things are now, however, it seems more and more unlikely that both sides will ever be fully satisfied, although I do think that the end of the war is approaching (how much longer can the Tamils last on only 2 square miles?). What I am worried about is life in Sri Lanka after the war. That prospect is not something for which I envy Sri Lankans of any ethnicity, since entire generations have known nothing but war for their whole lives. Living a life of peace and stability in the aftermath of this epic war will be difficult to say the least. So, I think it is safe to say that the war must end relatively soon, but it is the months and years after that which will be truly difficult.

And They Won't Back Down...

The situation in Sri Lanka is coming to a head but stoutly refuses to actually be resolved. Early last week, government forces broke down part of a wall constructed by the rebels, allowing 63,000 civilians to escape the war zone! In “Mass Tamil exodus from rebel area,” from the BBC, military spokesman Brigadier General Udaya Nanayakkara says that “We went in and people came towards us and we rescued them and [have] taken them to a better location, where they can have a better life than what they had in this safety zone under the LTTE [Tamil Tiger rebels]."
Where civilians would have a better life is up for debate, since the rebels have accused the government of being responsible for 1,000 civilian deaths and 2,300 injuries since April 20. As always, the government denies these charges and there is no confirmation. However, given the choice I feel that the government is more trustworthy than the rebels, because the rebels are running out of other choices than propaganda right now. They are desperate and have been accusing the government of a lot of things which I don’t feel are necessarily true.
In any case, both sides are refusing to declare a ceasefire or stop the fighting in any way. A deadline set by the government for the LTTE to surrender passed last Tuesday, April 21 with no word. Later, rebel spokesperson Seevaratnam Puleedevan told the press that "LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people." Considering their previous claims that all they want is peace and that they have advocated a ceasefire from the beginning, this statement seems surprisingly incongruent. Hmm… I wonder if their earlier calls for peace were just a publicity stunt.
Mediation by other powers isn’t helping either. On April 25th, Voice of America reported that the United States is pressuring the Tamil Tigers to “lay down their arms and surrender to a third party.” State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood says that the international community is extremely concerned about the “safety of remaining civilians,” and says that it needs to “provide assistance to a large number of displaced persons.”
On April 29th, VoA also reported that two envoys from Britain and France were meeting with Sri Lankan leaders to discuss a ceasefire. The toured several displacement camps in the north but ultimately failed to secure a truce, and only got partial agreements to increased access for humanitarian organizations to the Tamil refugees. This is because the Sri Lankan government and Foreign Secretary Kohona question the ability of a ceasefire to actually be effective. Kohona asks,

"What are we going to achieve with a cease-fire? The LTTE will simply not let
anybody go. That is our experience. The world knows that. So I think a
cease-fire will not achieve anything like what the humanitarian lobby is
claiming that it would.”

As a result, the government immediately rejected a ceasefire proposal by the Tigers on April 26th. The article reports that according to the UN, between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the war zone.
Instead of trying another ceasefire like the New Year’s ceasefire, the government is focusing its energy on 1) capturing the rebel leader Prabhakaran, and 2) avoiding international condemnation for the humanitarian situation. They say they know Prabhakaran’s “general area” and are closing in. Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, head of the Sri Lankan army, suspects that Prabhakaran is hiding among civilians to take cover. Fonseka also suspects that Prabhakaran may try to escape by boat.
As far as international condemnation for the humanitarian situation, Voice of America reported on April 24th that the UN is sending a humanitarian team to northeastern Sri Lanka to aid the thousands of civilians still trapped behind rebel lines. These people are used as human shields from government attacks and are subject to (reported) heavy weapons fire. On a brighter note, VoA reported in that same article that since the army broke down the rebel barrier earlier that week, more than 100,000 civilians have escaped.
Although the government says that it appreciates the UN’s offer of humanitarian assistance, it claims that such assistance is not necessary since there is no humanitarian crisis. This I find at best difficult to swallow, because humanitarian violations are so clearly and so well documented. James Elder of UNICEF says: "Caught between competing military aims as this battle comes to its last bloody end, these people have had a lack of food, a lack of water, a lack of the most basic medicines. It's an unimaginable hell." The government claims to be doing its best to avoid any casualties.

Model UN: Crisis Simulation

In the Model UN exercise a few weeks ago, my group represented Iran. My favorite thing about the situation was actually the role-playing aspect of it. We had freedom to do as we wanted, but within the constraints of what Iran would be likely to do. We had clear goals and it was interesting to develop strategies and plans to reach those goals, because it’s not something that I usually do.

Looking back, I think that we were adequately prepared, but we could have done better. I feel that in our discussions, we knew all the basics that we needed to know, and only had to look up a few more obscure facts. However, there is always room for improvement and it might have been even better if we had read even more in preparation. I’m not sure what more we could have done after our paper on the basics of Iran and the paper on our concentration areas, but maybe more familiarity with other parts of Iranian policy than just our own would have been helpful.

Over the two-day simulation, my group took many actions, but the one I’m most proud of is our deal with China. In return for an intelligence base in Iran, China made up our daily oil deficit of some 300,000 barrels, essentially bringing our economy up to its full potential. This allowed us to send funding and weapons to groups whose objectives we agreed with, like the PLO. Indirectly, our interests in the area were greatly furthered by our deal with China.

The action that I wish had been undertaken was our contingency plan, which we released at the very end of the simulation. Although we gave it a go-ahead, in the confusion of the closing of the simulation it never materialized. Our plan was to have small fishing boats surrounding the US fleet in the Persian Gulf, and at a signal in the call to prayer, all the boats would release underwater missiles, destroying the US forces. The plan had been proven to work by a US general, and we were all looking forward to seeing the outcome. We were disappointed to be beaten without even seeing our plan in action.

Personally, I was glad to contribute to the group, even though my area (Education) was not exactly on the top of our priority list. Toward the end of the simulation, we got the opportunity to increase jobs for educated Iranians, which is a big problem, and deal with water treatment at the same time- a good compromise.

All in all, I liked the experience of the Model UN. It was really interesting, and although it took me some time to get into, I’m glad that I did it and might even be willing to do it again.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Sinhala and Tamil New Year, that is. This past week the holiday was celebrated in Sri Lanka with a government-declared temporary truce.

On Monday, April 13 the truce went into effect and lasted through Tuesday, April 14. The supposed intention of the truce was to allow the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 civilians still trapped behind battle lines to leave the area peacefully. However, very few of them took advantage of this opportunity.

In the article “Sri Lanka holiday truce under way” from the BBC, the government reported that its troops were instructed that during the truce, they should only fire if attacked. The government also reported that it had troops surrounding the war zone, ready to evacuate citizens if needed. The UN embraced this truce as “a good first step” and an opportunity to get humanitarian aid into the war zone. A humanitarian envoy from the UN, John Holmes said that “We would have liked a longer pause than this, a genuine humanitarian pause of a longer period than two days but this is a good first step.”

Many around the world seem to agree, since the article also reported that thousands of people- mostly Tamils- have been protesting in Western capitals, asking their governments to advocate a full ceasefire. However, the government has stated that Norway, whose government served as a mediator in the 2002 ceasefire agreement, will no longer have a role in negotiations.

Back in Sri Lanka, accusations have been traded as to the true intention of the truce.
According to the article “Sri Lanka ceasefire ‘a deception’” from the BBC, the LTTE has called the truce “merely an act of hoodwinking.” According to the pro-rebel website TamilNet, it was intended to “deceive the international community.” In fact, they say, the government shelled the “safe zone” where LTTE forces and civilians are trapped on the first day of the truce (the army has of course denied this- they say that the front was quiet except for a few minor clashes).
Instead, the LTTE has called for an internationally-mediated permanent ceasefire agreement. Furthermore, they say that they have consistently advocated such an agreement “to end the decades of bloodshed.”

"The LTTE desires that it should also create a conducive climate for a permanent
political resolution to the national question of the Tamils in a peaceful way.
The LTTE is ready to comply without any conditions to a ceasefire as described
above."

If you ask me, this is a big pile of B.S. To begin with, the LTTE has perfected several methods of terrorist attack, like the suicide bomber. If they had really been advocating peace this entire time, the war would have ended 20 years ago. This statement is simply FALSE. Secondly, the LTTE only wants a peaceful settlement because they’re losing, and they want to make it a big international deal because they think they can garner support and pity from the international community in establishing their separate state of Eelam in Sri Lanka. The LTTE is anything but humanists; they have no desire to end the bloodshed- unless it’s their blood being spilled. They only want to achieve their political ends and this is the best way for them to go about that right now.

On the other hand, the government has accused the LTTE of holding civilians hostage and using the two-day truce to “shore up defenses.” Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona actually accused the LTTE of forcing civilians to rebuild defenses (which the LTTE of course has denied). This would not be entirely unheard of: Human Rights Watch in its “War on the Displaced” report listed forced enlistment of civilians to military work among the human rights violations going on in Sri Lanka. Along these lines, the government has refused to extend the truce period because, "What is the purpose of keeping it extended if they don't let the people go?" as Dr. Kohona asked. Another government official said that "a longer pause was not possible because the Tigers have so far failed to demonstrate any genuine goodwill on their part in allowing the civilians to have free movement".

Personally, I think that this refusal to extend the period supports the LTTE’s characterization of the truce as essentially a publicity stunt. Of course with more time, more civilians would exit the war zone. If the government really wants to avoid civilian casualty, they should be focusing on evacuating civilians, not fighting the LTTE around civilians. They should extend the truce period and engage in real discussions with the LTTE, if not for peace, at least for the handover of civilians in the war zone.

According to the BBC article, “Sri Lanka rejects UN truce appeal,” the government has said since the conclusion of the truce that they would “not launch any massive military assault on the safe zone due to the presence of the civilians.” I also find this pretty hard to believe and I think that it’s only meant for propaganda. How else will they achieve their self-proclaimed goal of annihilating the LTTE than by “massive military assault[s]?” Instead, the senior civilian official in charge of the war, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse has said that the government is planning on extracting civilians “discreet [ly] and surgical[ly].” He said, “We are carefully monitoring the ground situation. When the time comes we will go in, it is purely for the field commanders to decide." This also seems to leave a lot of room for ambiguity. Unless I see some action soon, I personally see this as just talking the talk with absolutely no intention of walking the walk. In addition, Mr. Rajapakse has said that if the government forces find rebel leader Prabhakaran, they will “take him out” no matter what, though of course they will “take all measures to avoid civilian casualties.”

It is difficult to see that anything has been accomplished by this truce. Neither the LTTE nor the government really seem more inclined toward an ultimate solution, and they have kicked out mediators who tried to help them in the past (Norway). More accusations have flown back and forth, feeding the flames. And very few civilians escaped the war zone. One report said that only 18 had left by Monday, and another said that “a few hundred” had escaped by the conclusion of the truce. The LTTE said that people didn’t leave because they “feared the military,” but I think that the government’s explanation that the LTTE held them hostage and forced them to build up rebel defenses is more plausible. Either way, tens of thousands of people are still trapped and the country is no closer to an agreement. Here I have to agree with the LTTE that this was merely a publicity stunt on the government’s part, an attempt to get some good press. Ultimately, though we are no closer to peace than we were a week ago.

Not a Genocide, But Still A Crisis

One reason I think that the situation in Sri Lanka doesn’t get very much attention from the popular media and culture in the West is that it is seen as not as “bad” as other situations around the world, like the one in Darfur, for example. Certainly Darfur is an enormous tragedy- but don’t we have room in our heads for more than one tragedy?

Genocides get a lot of press because they are sensational. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, as in saying that tabloids are sensational. I mean that genocides have huge numbers of dead so that it is difficult NOT to notice them. Situations like Sri Lanka do not have nearly the same number of bodies, but the situation might be as bad or worse for the living, yet they go unnoticed because people are hidden in prisons or refugee camps instead of rotting in the street (sorry for the graphic detail). What I’m getting at is that Sri Lanka is a different breed of tragedy equally worthy of our attention and then advocacy.

According to the BBC, earlier this week the government took most of the north-east region of Sri Lanka and pushed the LTTE into about an 8-square-mile area that was designated as a safe zone. Then, they fired shells into the area. Over a period of about 24 hours, at least 60 civilians were killed, 300 injured, and two health facility compounds were hit. The Red Cross also reported that one of its aid workers was killed in the incident. As per usual, both the rebels and the government deny that these deaths were their fault, and neither can be proven because foreign journalists are banned from war-afflicted areas. However, the UN has estimated that 2,800 civilians have been killed and 7,000 injured in the fighting over the past two months.

These numbers may seem insignificant to some, or at least not more important than conflicts in other areas of the world. But it is important to remember that there are also many serious violations of human rights that are being committed regularly. Human Rights Watch keeps a close tally on these infractions.

- For one, the government has kicked out all humanitarian organizations, despite desperate poverty in some cases- a lack of adequate food, water, shelter, medical care, and clothing. Tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped behind rebel lines and are therefore inaccessible in any case. Those humanitarian aid workers or human rights defenders who remain are often targets for grenades or false imprisonment.

- Also, many people who the government doesn’t like are simply “disappeared” or abducted- in August of 2008, there were 43 reported disappearances in Vavuniya alone. Many more are not reported for fear of consequences (such as more disappearances).

- Many disappearances are a part of the misuse of emergency regulations, which basically allow for the suspension of habeas corpus in the interest of national security. Political opponents, journalists, human rights defenders, and Tamils may be arrested and detained by police under this law.

- Civil rights violators have impunity. Many take no responsibility whatsoever for their actions.

- There are wide reports of the use of child soldiers. In October 2008, the UN Children’s Fund reported 1,424 outstanding cases of abducted child soldiers by the LTTE.

To sum it up, the Genocide Prevention Project has put Sri Lanka (along with only seven other countries) on its “Red Alert” list for places where “mass atrocity” (i.e. genocide) is likely to break out. In short, Sri Lanka is a place to keep a critical eye on.

I think that part of the reason that the fighting in Sri Lanka is so intense is that the LTTE absolutely will not give up until they have achieved their aims or are destroyed. As a reporter for the Pulitzer Center said,

There is little doubt among observers that should the government break the LTTE
as a conventional fighting force, its remnants may regroup in the northern
jungles to wage a guerrilla war that relies on trademark suicide and
hit-and-run attacks. A lasting peace will prove elusive until the
disadvantaged Tamil community enjoys the political rights and equal economic
opportunities it has been denied by a regime steeped in ethnic nationalism.

The purpose of international law is to govern the conduct of nations in wartime. It is to ensure a relatively safe, secure livelihood for civilians, separate from the striving of armies. Clearly this is an ideal, but that does not mean that we should not still aspire to it. The gross human rights violations occurring now in Sri Lanka, perpetrated by both sides of the conflict are not acceptable and should not be ignored by the international community. Edmund Burke wrote that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing.” Our apathy allows this to happen. This is why the Sri Lankan government doesn’t want the press in the war zone- so that no one knows and no one can protest how they are treating their citizens. Not only the terror that Sri Lankan citizens are facing (on two fronts), but even more so, the invisibility of their suffering makes this situation absolutely worthy of our notice.

Please take the time to print and send one or both of these letters of petition from Amnesty International, either to the government or to the LTTE.

A Sri Lankan Beat

Although pop culture and the media are often charged with things like “brainwashing the youth” or providing meaningless entertainment, those mediums can also be very effective in facilitating political and cultural discussion. We see a prime example of this with the very public debate between two Sri Lankan hip-hop artists: MIA and DeLon.
The debate began when DeLon released an “MIA Diss” remake of her popular “Paper Planes” video, claiming that she supports the LTTE (which, as a reminder, has been called one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world by FBI). MIA responded that she does not support terrorism but preferred to leave the meaning of the video ambiguous.
MIA was born Maya Arulpragasam in Britain, but moved to Sri Lanka at the age of six months so that her father could “help fight for an independent Tamil homeland,” according to the New York Times. Her family traveled around northern Sri Lanka, fighting for the Tamil cause, until her mother and sisters moved back to London and her father remained in Sri Lanka.
DeLon, on the other hand, is Sinhalese.
The two artists’ personal ties to the conflict have sparked some debate as well. A blog entitled “Brooklyn Vegan” calls DeLon’s “Diss” an “educational video” and credits him with standing for “unity, positivity, and human causes that plague our society.” However, the 77 comments on this blog are anything but unified. It is interesting to see who has commented and what they say, depending on which side they are coming from. Many say that MIA is simply using her pro-LTTE stance to gain the spotlight, dubbing it “terrorist chic.” They cite the Tiger logos used in her videos and on album covers. Others take the other side, enumerating the violations of Tamil rights by the Sinhalese government and saying that DeLon is hiding the real facts, such as the fact that the LTTE government pulled out of a peace agreement in 2007. They also cite DeLon’s desire for fame as a reason for his anti-MIA stance.
For another blogger “DJ Jojo,” MIA represents simply a weirdly catchy, energetic artist. She states that she is bothered by the way that MIA creates a dichotomy between good and evil, but doesn’t know a lot about the conflict. But, MIA is a hit because she is flashy and draws attention to the issues in Sri Lanka.

“That’s part of the brilliance of M.I.A.’s whole persona. Her music, and the visual effects in her shows, and even her voice, are so flashy and noisy and chaotic. But I mean that in the best way possible. She seems to represent our
generation of media-saturated, globalized, de-sensitized minds. And she is somehow able to shout over all the noise.”

Taking such a distanced, artistic approach did not float well with some viewers. One angry Sri Lankan said,

“May be for you MIA represents your generation of media-saturated, globalized,
de-sensitized minds. For us, she represents the killers who brutally killed my
neighbour, a mother of two who had nothing to do with politics. She was
returning from work, and was killed when the Tiger killers started shooting down
the civilians after missing their main target (a politician).”

For these Sri Lankans, the debate between MIA and DeLon is more than artistic, as these bloggers remind us. It is a real struggle with real people and the media can provide a great outlet to educate people and bring awareness to the issue, as we saw when DeLon visited Elon University in November. One student said that she hadn’t known that much about the situation, but the DeLon show made her want to learn more. In this way, the debate can raise awareness and hopefully therefore grassroots advocacy to end the situation.

The World Capital of "Brain Drain"

The basics of the Iranian education system are fairly similar to those in the United States. Children attend a mandatory kindergarten (Pish Dabestani) at the age of five, and then attend five years of elementary school (Dabestan) and three years of middle school (Rahnamayi). At the high school (Dabirestan) level, only the first year is mandatory and the school is divided into theoretical, technical/vocational, and manual programs. After high school, students can attend various universities, institutes of technology, and community colleges if they pass the national university entrance exam (Konkoor). University students can achieve different levels of diplomas, again similar to those available in the United States: a Fogh-Diplom (Baccalaureate in technical engineering) after two years of study, Karshenasi (or license, roughly equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree) after four years of study, a Fogh License (or Master’s Degree) after two more years of study, and finally a doctoral program (“Education in Iran”).

A History of Education in Iran
The tradition of education on the university level in Iran goes back to the early years of Islam in the seventh century. By the 20th century, however, the system had become outdated and was in the process of being remodeled along Western lines. In the early 1970s, Iran was making efforts to improve the school system by updating curriculum, introducing modern textbooks, and training teachers more efficiently (“Education in Iran”).

However, the 1979 Revolution had huge ramifications on the education system in Iran. With the wave of conservatism, the education system was Islamized and the Cultural Revolution Committee was put in charge of inserting Islamic values into education. All students were segregated by sex and within six months of the revolution, new lesson plans based on Islam were introduced. By 1983, a wing of the Cultural Revolution Committee, the Center for Textbooks created 3,000 new college-level books with Islamic views. The country’s 16 universities were closed and gradually reopened between 1982 and 1983. In the meantime, professors were investigated and dismissed if they followed Marxism, liberalism, and any other “imperialistic” ideology. They were only allowed to reopen with Islamic-based curricula (“Education in Iran”).

The education system today is mostly free for both public and private schools at all levels, elementary through university. However, university-level students are required to either serve in the government for the same number of years that they study or pay a low price (“Education in Iran”).

Issues in the Educational System Today
Surprisingly, women make up more than 50 percent of enrollment at Iranian universities, and some fields in science and engineering have faculties of 70 percent women. This progressive feminism was one good result of the 1979 Revolution (“Education in Iran”).

Literacy is a problem in Iran. According to the 2007 edition of the CIA World Factbook, 77 percent of the population over age 15 can read and write. This includes 83.5 percent of the male population and 70.4 percent of the female population (“Iran”). Before the Revolution, the government had concentrated on literacy training. A literacy corps was established in 1963 to send educated conscripts to villages, and helped 2.2 urban children and 600,000 adults become literate in its first 10 years. However, the corps was shut down in the 1979 Revolution (“Education in Iran”).

The phenomenon of “brain drain” is also a major problem in Iran. In fact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that Iran had the highest rate of “brain drain” in the world after a survey of 61 countries. Each year, more than 150,000 educated young people leave the Iran in hopes of finding a better future somewhere else. According to journalist Golnaz Esfandiari, there are several factors driving this exodus. Youth cite reasons of economics- even a well-paying job is not enough for a really comfortable life, and students can easily earn as much or more abroad. Young people are also looking for more social freedom than is available in Iran- one Iranian PhD student in Canada cited not being able to listen to his favorite music in his car in Iran, as well as facing barriers to free speech. Also, the education system is Islamized, which limits how much students can really learn. For example, the Internet is censored by authorities and libraries lack modern books. It may be difficult for students to attend conferences or submit papers to professional groups. One professor said that another reason for “brain drain” was that society has not been able to absorb new young people and respond to their needs. The unemployment rate in Iran is around 20 percent, and even higher for young people. Ideally, about a million new jobs should be created each year, but in reality, there are only about 300,000 new jobs. This forces young people to take jobs below or outside of their qualifications. The cost of “brain drain” is expensive- economic loss mounts to $50 billion a year or more (Esfandiari).

The Minister of Education
The current minister of education in Iran is Mr. Ali Reza Ali-Ahmadi. He was recently approved into his position in February 2008 and was previously the chancellor of Payam-e Nour University. He replaces Mahmoud Farshidi, who resigned in early December of 2007 (“Education Ministry Nominee Okayed”).

Iran

So, I’ll be shifting gears a little this week to talk about Iran.

Iran, also known as Persia, is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, dating back to 7000 BC. The first dynasty was formed in the Elamite kingdom in 2800 BC but Iran wasn’t unified for many more years, until the Iranian Medes in 625 BC. For the next 1000 years, Iran was governed by a succession of dynasties which expanded the Persian language and culture throughout the Iranian plateau. Iran was re-unified in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty, which promoted Shiite Islam. In 1925, the Pahlavi dynasty took over until it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This revolution surprised the world because it was not the result of a military defeat, economic recession, or peasant revolt, and it happened remarkably quickly. As a result of the revolt, a theocratic republic was established and Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to rule. Sorry if this is boring, but the history major in me just feels it necessary to go over this stuff. :)

Following the Revolution, Iran-US relations deteriorated quickly as a group of students seized the US embassy in Teheran in November of 1979 and held it with hostages inside until January 1981.

In the wake of the Iranian Revolution and the occupation of the US embassy, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to capitalize on the chaos in the region and expand his country’s access to the Persian Gulf. On September 22, 1980, Iraqi forces invaded Khuzestan, a province in West-central Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq War. Although Iranian troops pushed out the Iraqis by 1982, Ayatollah Khomeini dreamed of expanding the Iranian Revolution into Iraq and so pushed it until 1988, when he reluctantly agreed to a truce engineered by the UN. During the Iran-Iraq War, there were between 500,000 and 1 million Iranian casualties, largely due to Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, which they later denied.

Ultimate political authority in Iran rests with the Supreme Leader, currently Ali-Hoseini Khamenei. This position is appointed for life to a religious scholar by the Assembly of Experts. The head of government is the president, currently Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who was elected by popular vote in 2005 for a four-year term.

Previous to Ahmadinejad, since 1997, the president was a reformer by the name of Mohammad Khatami. He advocated freedom of expression, a free market, and a tolerant society. However, conservative elements in society coalesced and so the movement was largely unsuccessful and actually culminated in the 2005 election of Ahmadinejad.

Geographically, Iran is the 18th-largest country in the world, just a little larger than the state of Alaska. Its mountainous terrain is divided into 30 separate provinces, with the national capital located at Teheran. However, the most important things about Iran’s geography are its vast oil deposits and its strategic location on the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Both of these things contribute to its status as a major oil producer and exporter.

In the past, high oil prices have allowed Iran to expand its economy greatly, amassing over $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves. However, now that oil prices have dropped, the government is facing difficulties because of its extreme dependence on oil. Both inflation and unemployment have expanded uncomfortably, at the same time as increasing “brain drain” as young professionals leave to work in the West. Part of the problem is that the state is very in control of most economic activity, leaving only small-scale workshops, services and farming to the private sector. Additionally, the economy is weighed down by various price controls and subsidies, which President Ahmadinejad has been trying to reform. However, his previous measures have been met by resistance.

Unfortunately, the economy of Iran provides a hotbed for corruption and informal market activity, including trafficking of heroin from Afghanistan as well as trafficking of women and children who come to, through, and from Iran.

Socially, Iran is relatively homogenous. The population is about 65,875,224 (as of July 2008) and is ethnically 51% Persian and 24% Azeri, with the remaining 25% made up of a few ethnic groups including the Kurds, Gilaki and Mazandarani, Arabs, Lur, Balochs, and Turkmen. 58% of the population speaks Persian and Persian dialects, and 26% speak Turkic and Turkic dialects. As a theocratic state, it is religion which most unifies Iran, however- 98% of the country is Muslim, with 89% of that number being Shiite. The remaining 2% includes Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Baha’i.

Iran has one of the highest urban growth rates in the world. Seven million people, a full 11% of the population, live in the capital city of Teheran. Throughout the rest of the country, 60% of the population lives in cities such as Isfahan, Ahvaz, and Qom. The UN predicts that by 2030, 80% of the population will be urban. This has led to some environmental issues, however, such as heavy air pollution over Teheran. To cope with this problem, the Iranian government announced in July 2007 its intention to no longer produce cars that run solely on gas; but rather Iran will only produce gas/electric cars. Iran is party to the Kyoto Protocol.

In terms of military, my impression of Iran is that although there are no overt, outright problems, the state is certainly a potential threat. Their military spending is only 2.5-3% of the GDP, the lowest of any Persian Gulf nation. Also, Iran has not invaded any country in two centuries; their military doctrine is based on deterrence. However, GlobalSecurity.org estimates that the Iranian government could mobilize an army of a million men.

They also have nuclear ambitions and have refused calls from the US and UN to halt their uranium enrichment program. In August 2008, the informal deadline set by the West for the end of Iran’s nuclear program passed unheeded; in September, the UN passed new resolutions prohibiting its uranium enrichment program. Nevertheless, no new sanctions were imposed, so the program continues.

It is the fact of Iran’s belligerence in Israel and Lebanon that worries Western powers. Iran refuses to acknowledge Israel as a state, and the situation was made worse in July 2008 when Iran announced the test-firing of a new long-range missile called the Shahab-3 that can hit targets in Israel. Iran has also been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in Lebanon and elsewhere. So although the government is relatively peaceful at face value, it is the under-the-table forces in Iran which present a problem to world security.

To sum up Iran’s foreign policy, Wikipedia says:

“Iran’s foreign relations are based on two strategic principles: eliminating
outside influences in the region and pursuing extensive diplomatic contacts with
developing and non-aligned countries.”

On the whole, Iran is a very interesting country. It seems to have always been an anomaly- in the past, its literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and art have been major influences in the Middle East and around the world. Today, it is a regional power with an unstable economy, under-the-table economic and military activity, and potentially lethal capabilities- and yet pursues policies of deterrence (at least officially) in its relations.

No one did it, but somehow it was done

Looking for recent news on Sri Lanka, one is presented with contradictory messages: according to Time magazine, “Sri Lanka Promises Not to Endanger Civilians;” however, according to the BBC, the government has found it necessary for “civilian attacks [to be] denied.” However, it is not the biases of the two authors that clash, but rather the material they have to work with. In the chaos and mayhem of the last stages of a 25-year-long civil war, both the government and LTTE are blaming each other for wildly varying numbers of civilian casualties, while prohibiting independent media from entering to verify the numbers or attribute blame either way.

In the Time article, written at the beginning of this month (February 6), Ravi Nessman reports that the Sri Lankan government assured the United Nations that the military would protect civilians in the northeastern conflict areas. After capturing some key bases of the LTTE, the government was evidently confident that, in the words of President Rajapaksa during a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, offenses against the LTTE could be “would be carried out without harassment to the civilian population." In fact, the military had reported that citizens had begun fleeing from the conflict area to government-controlled territory. A military spokesman predicted that it was going to become “a mass movement now.” At the same time, the government has refused calls for a brief ceasefire to let civilians flee the area, preferring to let them figure it out on their own. Clearly, the few weeks since this article was written have shown that no “mass movement” followed the government’s capture of bases at Chalai, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, and other areas. Somewhere around 250,000 civilians remain trapped in rebel-held territory, unable to leave and victimized regularly. For example, the UN reported that between the escalation of the war and the writing of this article (a space of about a month), around 300 civilians had been killed.

Furthermore, the government since September 2008 has barred all aid agencies and nonprofits from the country, as well as making it very difficult for foreign journalists to gain entry. In essence, they are closing themselves off so that no one knows what is really going on. Meanwhile, their own people are left to suffer and fend for themselves.

The weakness of the government’s claims was revealed only a few days after the Time article was published, when according to the BBC article, government bombs hit a makeshift hospital set up by the Red Cross in Putumattalan, killing 16 people. Although the government denied responsibility for these 16 deaths, the Tamil Tigers have also denied shooting down 19 people fleeing rebel territory- and yet these 30 people are somehow still dead. No one did it, but somehow it was done.

The Red Cross, the Sri Lankan government, and the LTTE have all commented on these incidents:

Paul Castella, head of the Red Cross: “We are shocked that patients are not
afforded the protection they are entitled to."

Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, military spokesman: "We did not fire at this location on Monday and it is quite possible that the Tamil Tigers attacked them."

C. Ilamparithy, a rebel spokesman: “Sri Lankan military machinery, which has relentlessly killed and maimed thousands of civilians during the past four weeks, is now engaged in a propaganda drive to divert the mounting pressure on the Colombo government by the international community."

Castella’s comments reflect the general reaction of the international community, as far as I know. But Nanayakkara’s and Ilamparithy’s remarks are much more indicative of the political climate within Sri Lanka- again, as far as I understand the situation. Both are almost laughably caricatured examples of finger-pointing and unwillingness to take responsibility for action. Both the government and the LTTE are like drowning people who already hate each other, pushing each other under for the sake of victory in war as well as for the sake of public image. The situation in Sri Lanka is terrible, with abuses on both sides, and the only way that either side will survive relatively unscathed is to take advantage of the chaos in the region and blame the other.

Finally, Human Rights Watch (HRW) takes the obvious position, saying that both the government and the LTTE are “responsible for the dramatic increase in civilian casualties during the past month - approximately 2,000 killed and another 5,000 wounded, according to independent monitors on the ground.”

This article is a summary of the much longer report released recently by HRW, entitled “War on the Displaced: Sri Lankan Army and LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni.” In the report, various human rights abuses by both sides are enumerated. On the government side, these include not only shelling of civilians (even those in government-declared “safe zones”), refusal of humanitarian aid agencies to the areas that need them (and resulting inadequacy of medical care, food, water, and shelter), internment of civilians who escape from rebel territory in military-guarded refugee camps, and arbitrary detainment of suspected Tamil Tigers (including the disappearance of many). Lately, the government has declared that everyone in the rebel-held territory is a potential Tiger, so indiscriminate bombing is justified. This declaration “effectively sanction[s] unlawful attacks,” according to HRW.

On the other side, the LTTE is not only shooting civilians who try to escape to government-held territory, they are even forcibly recruiting them to help with military efforts for which these civilians have no training. As a result, most are killed quickly.

The report from HRW provides many personal stories from the front lines in Sri Lanka, but this one affected me the most:

"Some 150 people started out together, but when we tried to leave, at
Suthanthirapuruam, the LTTE tried to stop us. There was only a narrow path to
leave by. The LTTE caught us. There was fighting, arguments. They were shooting
at us. Many people were injured and killed. It was shocking to see. Only 65 were
in my group when we came out. One father was carrying his child on his back. As
they were running from the LTTE, he was holding him by the arms so hard - in
order not to lose him - that he broke both of the child's arms." – Anonymous
35-year-old Sri Lankan father of three

Essentially, although the Sri Lankan government promised to protect its citizens, it and its military have harmed the people at least as much as the LTTE has. Both sides show blatant disregard for the welfare of the people of Sri Lanka, but deny their roles in the violence vehemently. They don’t want anyone to know what’s going on within their borders. Spread the word.

Free Press Issues in Sri Lanka

I noted in my last entry that both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have grievances to repay as well as sins committed. Most of the world decries the LTTE as a terrorist organization- the “bad guy” in this situation, and while I cannot disagree, I must also point out that the government is no saving grace either. While skimming the news recently I have come across several articles on the Sri Lankan government’s oppression of free press in Sri Lanka.

In one New York Times article about wounded civilians near Trincomalee (in the northeastern part of the country), the reporter mentioned not only the numbers of civilians killed and wounded, but also the rarity of a reporter making it to the conflict zone. He said that:

“The Sri Lankan government has barred reporters and most foreigners from the
conflict zone, so the accounts of the injured here in government-controlled
territory provided a rare glimpse into the predicament of at least 100,000
civilians trapped behind the front lines.”

From the way that the rest of the article described the scene in the conflict zone, it is no wonder that the government doesn’t want the world to see it. According to the author, there were 368 patients (including children, nuns, and the elderly) being treated at the hospital he visited (for wounds inflicted by both the LTTE and the government, by the way), and another 160 set to arrive in a few days. A doctor reported that most of the wounds were infected and that humanitarian aid was having a difficult time finding the patients who needed it.

That is, for those who can still use humanitarian aid- many civilians are killed as they try to escape the conflict zone. One elderly nun was reported as saying that “at least 10 to 15 people die a day, and no one is there to bury them.”

Because of the situation and the intensity of the war, the army has tried to block access to refugees in camps and the wounded in hospitals. The New York Times reporter was in fact only reluctantly allowed into the hospital.

For me, the issue here is separate from the arbitrary killing that is going on (as terribly tragic as that is). The issue here is that the government doesn’t want anyone to know what is going on. This tells me that they are doing something wrong- and they know it. It tells me that the LTTE’s accusations have at least some basis in truth, and that the government IS responsible for some of the killings, accidental or otherwise. They thought that they could keep it a secret, and maybe they could have 20 years ago. But in this day and age, everyone knows everything about everyone. Secrets are hard to keep, especially one of this magnitude. In trying to keep theirs, however, the Sri Lankan government is denying basic human rights to their people and probably making the world more suspicious in the long run than it would otherwise be.

In fact, the oppression has gotten so bad that extrajudicial killings have been resorted to. In a very personal article in TIME magazine, journalist Jyoti Thottam writes about the late Lasantha Wickrematunge, a Sri Lankan contrarian journalist. Wickrematunge disagreed openly with the government through his paper, the Sunday Leader, for the past 14 years. He criticized government officials and politicians of every party with “cheeky” editorials and exposés alleging corruption and other shady dealings. What’s more, he was openly critical of a government which demanded absolute loyalty and conformity of thought form its people. According to Thottam, Wickrematunge was completely against the ideology expressed in 2006 by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa:

"You decide whether you should be with a handful of terrorists or with the
common man ... You must clearly choose between these two sides."

This viewpoint has prompted the government to make the war zone “all but off-limits to the media,” a fact which Wickrematunge vehemently opposed. For his views, Wickrematunge was killed while driving to work on January 8. Of course, there is no clear evidence pointing to who is responsible.

In his last editorial, Wickrematunge noted prophetically:

"Much of the media has been bought, or cajoled and bullied into silence. Dozens
of journalists are dead and others have been incarcerated without trial for
months…. Who then survives to provide the public with a contrarian view?"

Unfortunately, it seems to me that Wickrematunge was right in saying that those reporters providing a “contrarian view” are fewer and fewer. It also seems to me that the government, as well as the rebels, is growing more desperate as the war reaches its end (or perhaps just its climax). They have reached a new level of desperation indeed when they are resorting to simply murdering their opponents (while it cannot be proven that the government is responsible for Wickrematunge’s or other journalists’ murders, all signs do seem to point that way). I just hope that the war ends before they feel much more pressure to keep the media silent.

Even though the Sri Lankan government is trying to keep the rest of the world from finding out about their restrictions on the press, the rest of the world can’t be fooled for long. Earlier this month, the BBC reported that it would suspend its broadcasts on FM radio through the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) after receiving news that many of its reports in English, Tamil, and Sinhala had been disrupted or only partially broadcast. Oftentimes, the current events portion of the report was not broadcast, and although the BBC spoke directly to the SLBC Chairman, Hudson Samarasinghe, their broadcasts allegedly continued to be disrupted.

In a statement, Samarasinghe told the BBC that because of “terrorist attacks” on Sri Lanka, his organization had a duty to “restore peace and harmony” in the country. He also said that “some foreign news centers created fabricated news items about Sri Lanka,” including the BBC. He further accused the BBC of trying to broadcast the voice of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on rebel “heroes day” this past November, and said that the SLBC is not allowed to broadcast Prabhakaran’s voice.

The BBC plans to keep up its AM transmissions in Sri Lanka in English, Tamil, and Sinhala, as well as its web component.

In this dispute, I side with the BBC. For one thing, the BBC has a record of good journalism, and all official forces in Sri Lanka (the government, the rebels, the media, etc.) have records of (accusations of) bad journalism. Combined with other reports of the government’s oppression of the free press, it is not surprising that officials wouldn’t want even their own people to know what’s going on in the country.

In all, this whole situation is an unfortunate mess. I for one never think in a war like this about the cost of individual freedoms, such as speech and the press, which we in America take for granted. It seems unimaginable for a journalist to be killed for simply telling the truth, or for current events just not to be broadcast. It is ridiculous that the Sri Lankan government is so ashamed of what they’re doing and so worried about it getting out that they have resorted to these measures. Even if they defeat the LTTE and Sri Lanka is at peace, there may be another war in store to get rid of this government, or at least elect a more liberal leader.



P.S. After having finished this blog entry, I found another blog which perhaps sums up the free press issues in Sri Lanka better than I did. The author- who as a part of the Pulitzer Center is in Sri Lanka now- knows more about the situation, so he puts it in context better and emphasizes its direness. So... click here. The September 5, 2008 entry really speaks to what I wrote about.

60,000 and Counting

Welcome to my blog! Over the next semester, I will be reporting on and analyzing the civil war in Sri Lanka.


Many people do not know about the conflict in Sri Lanka, or even where the country is. So, before going any further, I would like to discuss the background of Sri Lanka and the civil war it is now enmeshed in.

History to WWII

The BBC in its “country profile” of Sri Lanka reports that Sri Lanka is a beautiful and potentially prosperous island country located off the southeastern coast of India. For centuries, it has been known to travelers for its beauty and to traders for its tea industry. It was originally inhabited by groups of Sinhalese people, with a Tamil minority in the north and east. Later, it was colonized by the Dutch and British and known as Ceylon.

The Outbreak of War: 1983

After the British left in 1948, Sinhalese resentment toward the Tamil population, who they saw as the recipients of British favoritism, expressed itself in tensions between the two groups. In 1976, the group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was formed. Other pro-Tamil groups were formed during the same time period, but this group is the most important because it is one of the primary belligerents in the war today. In the 1983, civil war finally erupted following the murders of 13 government soldiers in an LTTE ambush. After the attack, Sinhalese all over the country attacked Tamils in the streets in an event that came to be known as “Black July” and killed between 400 and 3,000 civilians. This brought about the open aggression that has now persisted for over 25 years.

Modern History of the Conflict



Most of the fighting has happened in the northern part of the country, although the LTTE also used suicide bombings in the southern capital city of Colombo in the 1990s. There was a ceasefire agreement reached in 2002, but was violated continuously by both sides and then in January 2008, the government pulled out just before the agreement expired. In all, more than 60,000 people have been killed in this conflict, out of a population of 19.3 million.




LTTE Goals


Besides seeking reparations for the wrongs done to them, the LTTE is also fighting in pursuit of securing a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka. However, most Tamils in the country live peacefully with the Sinhalese and do not support the actions of the LTTE.

A Terrorist Organization

In fact, according to Wikipedia, 32 separate nations have declared the LTTE to be a terrorist organization. Although both sides have been shown to exaggerate or lie at times in this conflict, the group no doubt does participate in some questionable activities. For example, many charity organizations around the world that claim to be fighting for the rights of the Tamil minority actually are fronts for the LTTE. Sadly, they make millions per year using these schemes.

The Basics of Recent Developments

Recently, the Sri Lankan government (led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa) has taken much LTTE territory in the north and reports that the war will be over soon. On February 3, 2009 the United States, European Union, Japan, and Norway issued a joint statement urging the LTTE to lay down their weapons and surrender, since the war will be over soon anyway. Nevertheless, the rebels (led by Velupillai Prabhakaran) have vowed to fight on, utilizing the guerrilla tactics which are their main advantage.

So… Who is Right?

It is difficult to say who has the side of “right” in this conflict, because both sides have provoked conflict, and both sides have their reasons for fighting. Maybe in the long run it doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong, but it is interesting to look back at what has happened so far in the conflict. An article by Al Jazeera English sums up the events from 1948 to 2009:
- 1948: The “Citizenship Act” denied citizenship to the Tamils whose ancestors were brought to Sri Lanka by the British to work on tea plantations.

- 1956: Sinhala is made the official language of Sri Lanka. Peaceful protests by the Tamil population are broken up by a mob.

- 1970: Buddhism is the official religion of Sri Lanka, which further alienates the Tamils who are predominantly Christian or Hindu.

- 1976: LTTE formed.

- 1983: “Black July.” The murder of 13 soldiers sparks riots that in turn spark the civil war.

- 1987: India deploys a peacekeeping force (the IPKF) to Sri Lanka.

- 1990: The IPKF withdraws. Over 100,000 Muslims are expelled from LTTE-dominated areas.

- 1993: Ranasinghe Premasdasa, President of Sri Lanka is killed by an LTTE suicide bomber.

- 1999: Chandrika Kumaratunge, the first female President of Sri Lanka, is wounded in an assassination attempt at an election rally.

- 2002: Ceasefire (brokered by Norway) comes into effect.

- 2004: The LTTE splits between two influential commanders: Colonel Karuna, who goes on to form a pro-government movement, and Prabhakaran.

- 2007: The army takes back the LTTE-held town of Vakarai, and the LTTE attacks Colombo airport among other targets

- 2008: The government formally withdraws from the ceasefire.

- 2009: The government has reportedly captured Kilinochchi, the political hub of the LTTE. War could end in the next few days.

As you can see, both sides have traded blows. The way I see it, both the LTTE and the government do have some legitimate reasons to be angry. For the sake of peace, I just hope that they can lay aside their differences, as clichéd as that sounds. After 25 years, I think that they should be able to let bygones be bygones and all that.

Civil War is not Enough!?

Sri Lanka also faces the devastation left on the southern shores in the wake of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, which killed 30,000 Sri Lankans.

More Information…

If you want to read more detail, here are the links to the articles I used.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1168427.stm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War
- http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/blanktemplate/2008/11/2008111061193133.html