Janakaraliya has been working for a culture of peace at the community level in Sri Lanka for almost a decade as a mobile theatre group. Its crew is recruited from groups whose voices are farthest away from the political debates that are going on in the centre, coming from distant areas to the capital. The often monolingual team members come from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Once they join Janakaraliya, they live, learn and perform together as a family. In this process, they model coexistence to their audience and beyond

Ronika Chamalee (left) and Selvaraj Leelawathi (right)

For the first time, a Tamil play co-directed by Tamil and Sinhalese directors is representing Sri Lanka at an international festival. The play, ‘Payanihal’ (passengers), was originally written in Sinahlese by the director Dharmasena Pathiraja. Rasaiah Lohanandan, another Tamil member of the Janakaraliya team who joined as a monolingual but achieved fluency in both Sinhala and Tamil through his journey with Janakaraliya, translated the play for Selvaraj Leelawathi and Ronika Chamalee. The cast and the credits list are also multi-ethnic, as is often the case with Janakaraliya. The play will be performed at the Delhi International Drama Festival organised by the National School of Drama on the 8-22 January 2012.

It is not a surprise that Janakaraliya is the group to take this inaugural step: it has a track record of winning awards at the national drama festival over the past few years. In the 2009 and 2010 National Drama festivals, Ronika Chamalee was awarded the best actress and best supporting actress while Selaraj Leelawathie was selected for the Best Makeup and Best Stage Management awards.

Janakaraliya carefully avoids the pitfall into which many ‘Peace through Arts’ initiatives fall: that of sacrificing the artistic quality for the political statement. The philosophy of peace behind Janakaraliya has become complementary to its aesthetic quality, adding value to it. Thus, the inter-communal coexistence and cultural sharing that takes place through Janakaraliya succeeds in winning acclaim while making its voice for peace to be heard in increasingly large circles, opening up a path towards a shared Sri Lankan culture.

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Trauma and experiences endured by both ethnic groups become affected by ‘selective forgetting and remembering’ and this forms a constructive past in order to validate emotions and threats felt in the present. In a protracted social conflict, ‘us’ and ‘them’ both construct their own threatened world; this dichotomy is a result of constructive memories, traumas and threats. This group identity and their shared trauma and experiences cannot be expected to disappear with the end of the armed conflict. This strong ethnic consciousness has been passed down to the children and young people in society, many or most of them born after the beginning of the conflict in 1983 and never viewed the ‘Other’ as anything but an enemy. Personally, I see that this should be seen as the one of the main barriers in achieving sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.

During my time in Sri Lanka in August 2011 I was able to speak to the members of CPBR. When interviewing them I asked them about their opinions of the organisation itself and how it had changed their lives. A fourteen year old Sinhalese girl told me that:

Earlier I felt I was different to Tamils but now I don’t feel I am different… I have positive attitudes towards Tamils, I feel no difference in religion, caste system or language, and we are all human beings…

This evidence shows that CPBR have helped break down barriers of ‘us’ and ‘them’ through workshops and letting the members meet the ‘Other’. In an article written on peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, peace researcher Camilla Orjuela argues, that children can, in a post-conflict context, actually play an important role in building ‘trust and dialogue between different groups of people who have been socialised to see the ‘Other’ as the enemy…’ This argument can be strengthened with another quote from the fourteen year old Sinhalese girl as she said:

…even my father had a negative attitude but his attitude has changed. I feel like I can use this with others and within the whole of Sri Lanka and break down these barriers…I want to promote these ideas using CPBR.

The affect of children or youth as agents of peace building may only really be revealed in the future. However, they should not be neglected as this kind of work done by CPBR does help bring about change in communities, in mindsets and eventually in the whole of society. Children and young people are not only indirect actors but probably the most significant target groups for the future because some of them will be the future leaders of their communities and perhaps even country. This underlines the impact of reconciliation and rehabilitation of the youth in Sri Lanka.

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Oliver kindly agreed to be interviewed about his research, transcribed below. His research focused on the Sri Lankan peace process, 2002-2008, though his findings offer insight into both the current situation in Sri Lanka after the defeat of the LTTE, and also relationships between international donors and civil society in conflict situations more broadly.

Insight on Conflict (IoC): What impact has the international engagement in Sri Lanka had since 2002?

IDPs arrive at a transit centre on their way home, Oddusuddan, Sri Lanka, 2010. Photo from DFID, uploaded under a Creative Commons Licence

In Sri Lanka, the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) became closely connected to the peace process. Some nationalist groups used NGOs as scapegoats against an international intervention. These groups argued that international actors posed a threat to Sri Lanka and its sovereignty, its society and values. There was also a widespread view that international actors are seeking to influence the peace process and support the LTTE side.

Academics and international policy-makers have criticised the way that international donors have tended to focus their attention on a so-called ‘charmed circle’ of English-speaking NGOs in Colombo. NGOs are often considered by locals as rather money-focused (a problem which exists in many countries). NGO workers receive higher than average salaries, which can help to create a negative perception of NGOs amongst the wider population.

IoC: You point out in your article that international engagement in Sri Lanka has been counterproductive. What kind of alternative approach would have been more productive?

IoC: You argue that existing modes of donor peacebuilding have tended to depoliticize civil society. How can international donors make their support to NGOs more effective and credible?

OW: At the time when the peace process was breaking down and the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime was beginning to pursue a more authoritarian approach, some argued that NGOs should develop a more confrontational attitude against the government: that they should have challenged the government concerning human rights violations or played a bigger role in shaping the peace process, that they should have tried to ensure that more political aspects are addressed in Track I negotiations rather than only economic ones.

I would argue that it is important to look at the historical context of civil society engagement in Sri Lanka to understand the potential for NGOs to play these roles. Sri Lankan politics is highly centralized, making it difficult for NGOs and civil society groups to effectively mobilise opposition to influence the state. There are very few examples in Sri Lanka’s history where civil society groups were able to successfully confront the government in this way. The state and the political parties dominate the national political arena and have generally co-opted civil society groups when they have grown to prominence.

A more constructive way to improve peacebuilding activities is to give local organisations more flexibility in developing their own strategies. It is important for donors to engage with a broader range of organisations and not just the normal circle. This is quite a common refrain, but in reality it is quite difficult for donors to actually engage with this wider section of civil society. They need to invest more in building capacities for this kind of organisations and support them to develop their own strategies.

During my research, I also came across a small number of NGOs that were trying to develop a more genuine and participatory approach to peacebuilding, based on strengthening the capacities of local communities and leadership, but most did not do this, partly because of the constraints placed on them by donors. This approach appeared to be an effective model of community peacebuilding. If donors provided NGOs with more space to develop their own peacebuilding strategies, it seems likely that more NGOs would start functioning in this way.

IoC: One of the consequences of this backlash was that the fairly neutral-sounding terms such as ‘peacebuilding’ became heavily politicized. Some civil society groups tried to distance themselves from the terms peace and peacebuilding. Why was that?

OW: When I was doing field research in Sri Lanka in 2006/07 I wanted to find out how peacebuilding organisations managed their legitimacy as the public environment for their work was becoming more hostile. One of the strategies I identified was that NGOs sought ways to engage in peacebuilding without using the term ‘peace’. Since 2002, the term had become quite politicized.

During the early part of the peace process the government was very supportive of the so-called peace NGOs and actively encouraged them to support the peace process. However, this quickly changed with the new government after 2004. NGOs were put in a very difficult position. These organisations started trying to develop ways to do peacebuilding without using the actual word ‘peace’. They started replacing it with other words that seemed to be appropriate to the current context such as ‘dialogue’, or ‘community problem-solving’.

IoC: Are there any general lessons you would draw in terms of how international actors should engage with civil society, or how civil society should engage with international donors?

OW: International actors need to have a better understanding of the struggle for legitimacy that NGOs are experiencing. They need to engage constructively with the organisations on the ground and give them the chance to make decisions on their own. NGOs can react in a flexible manner if the situation on the ground shifts and adapt to the new circumstances. Therefore, one of my conclusions would be that we need to give local actors more flexibility in these kinds of environments.

Mine risk education by HALO in Sri Lanka. Photo by DFID, uploaded under a Creative Commons Licence

IoC: Finally, what are the prospects for peace in Sri Lanka? How has the end of the war in 2009 had an impact on the peacebuilding process?

OW: The war has ended and it seems quite unlikely that major violence will return at least in the short- to medium-term. The population is relieved that the war is over. However, Sri Lanka’s peace is a victor’s peace, which is potentially storing up various problems for the future if the more fundamental issues that caused the violence are not addressed. The current regime has made little effort to address the most fundamental issues such as human rights and political representation for minority groups. The political trends that facilitated the end of the war such as the militarization of society and politics, and the growing centralization of power around the President and his family have had very negative consequences for Sri Lanka’s post-war politics and will continue to damage the prospects for long-term peace in Sri Lanka if they are not addressed.

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There have been a number of views on this, expressed by different individuals. Professor Rohan Gunaratna’s is certainly a much-heard voice – locally and internationally – on the Sri Lankan conflict and the LTTE as a terrorist group. He is currently the Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technology University, Singapore.

As he does as the keynote speaker of the recent seminar on ‘Defeating Terrorism: Sri Lankan Experience’, hosted by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, Professor Gunaratna identifies three challenges for today’s Sri Lanka in the video below:

1. to develop a Tamil leadership in the North and the East;
2. to improve state reputation suffering as a result of LTTE propaganda;
3. to promote reconciliation and relationship building among all the groups in the country.

Professor Gunaratna flags two positive turnings after May 2009:

1. the rising economy;
2. the booming tourist industry.

These indeed are good beginnings. But in order for these seeds to take root and prosper, concrete actions grounded in the community itself are required in the immediate future. Justice, equality and transparency come to the fore; peace will be beyond us untill these are securely established and ensured. Increasing economic benefits in the absence of these values will only water the seeds of anger, discrimination and injustice.

The former President Chandrika Kumaratunga emphasises the significance of promoting inclusive practices that respect the diversity of each different group at the recently held Justice Palakidnar memorial oration. She observes that though the state has won the war, “it has not even begun to win the battle for peace.” For peace, a democratic and pluralist state is needed. And peace is the only way to honour the cost of blood and tears we have paid as a country – South as well as the North – for this end to war.

As a state, it is important to care about our international image: as people who have suffered more than enough from nearly a thirty-year long conflict, it is even more important to mainstream reconciliation and initiate concrete socio-political reparations that are acceptable – and indeed welcomed – by the communities at the ground level. It is necessary to go beyond talking about cohesion and a united Sri Lankan identity merely for political propaganda, and take concrete steps towards promoting a truly pluralist state. As both Professor Gunaratna and Ms. Kumaratunga notes, this is indeed a milestone for Sri Lanka. However, it still remains to be seen whether the current government will indeed choose to walk towards peace.

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Reliance on the police and the armed forces to ensure a peaceful atmosphere has increased. Forces are to be placed within 25 meters of each polling station, adding to the usual security provided by the police. A Special Task Force is to be positioned in each counting station. Five hundred checkpoints and roadblocks are to be established all over the country, to deter and prevent violent action and transportation of illegal firearms. All these preparations are for the election day, to ensure a ‘free and fair’ election.

Image by Yim Hafiz, published under a creative commons licence

But election-related violence is not absent. The two impartial non-governmental election monitoring bodies in Sri Lanka, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE), are hard at work to mobilise impartial election monitoring teams and advocacy to minimise election violence. PAFFREL had mobilised over 10,000 people for poll-monitoring purposes in 23 administrative districts, and CaFFE already has a database of 406 election-related violent incidents taking place from January 27 to March 15. These include two murders, a bomb attack, shooting and abductions, which hint at the tensions underneath the election.

War refugees in Puttalam Vavuniya are provided with state transport facilities to travel to their relevant constituency to vote, while campaigning by certain political parties not aligned with the current government is hampered by police intervention. Thus, the state policy appears to play a dual role that favours only what is supportive of the existing regime.

As individuals and civil society, we are witnessing alarming tendencies in these happenings. Violence continues, presence of armed forces is widespread, and people’s interest towards voting indicates a steep decrease.

This lack of public interest in voting is the most alarming. It is not merely due to the difficulties or the hassle of voting. It indicates a lack of trust in the rulers, from the voters’ perspective. It denotes lack of trust in democracy, in the policies and procedures of our country. Does it also indicate an indifference to what is going on? Or an abject resignation and a sense of powerlessness?

As civil society, this is what we are asking at the moment. Is this the underlying tension that we all feel at the moment? Is this how we want to live, and continue living?

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Despite the political support for this war recovery programme, the skies seem to be against these projects. Two weeks of heavy rain has destroyed 404,163 acres of cultivated paddy fields and 967,155 have been directly affected by unprecedented levels of rain and floods.

These Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs), whose lives have only very recently begun to see a new dawn, have again been herded back to refugee camps. The worst affected district, Batticaloa has barely begun recovering from the devastating effects of the conflict and 2004 tsunami. According to the government, 122,047 people from 32,641 families in the Batticaloa district are housed in relief camps. 1,727 houses have been completely destroyed, and a further 13,878 houses damaged.

While this is indeed unfortunate, we can find small comfort in the fact that people are joining together irrespective of cast, religion, ethnicity and colour to support each other to escape from and overcome the disaster.

People everywhere, including Colombo, are collecting food and medicine as organised groups and individuals instead of waiting for government or international aid. The beauty of this sad story is that harmony of the people in Sri Lanka that appears at times of disaster, as it did following the tsunami, despite years of conflict.

Many local organisation have already started to support affected people in the North and East. Some of these organisations are featured here on Insight on Conflict, such as the Sewalanka Foundation, Centre for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation (CPBR) and Sarvodaya. These organisations, together with many others, are already supporting the severely affected people in the North and East. Mr Nirosion Perera, Peace Coordinator of Sewalanka, comments that they have already dispatched five teams to the affected areas with food, medicine and other essential goods for people.

We need to remember our histories, histories of the people living in different areas of the country and their unique experiences in tackling humanitarian issues, even though these are emergency relief provision. Our actions at a time like this can be woven into different narratives, with the potential of becoming either divisive or cohesive. We need to consider this latent impact of our actions and act in a way that will promote harmony between different ethnic communities in Sri Lanka and pave the way forward for all of us to move to a new era of harmony and reconciliation.

Buddhika Harshadeva, Sri Lanka Local Correspondent. 13 January 2011

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The changes in Sri Lankan politics towards the war made it obvious that war was only a political game to the decision makers. There was no space for humanity: children, mothers, fathers and brothers die. And this is what I voice in my music, in my songs.

During the war, Ajith travelled through the worst affected areas. Places where the shelling continued on a daily basis. Walking through the army posts carrying only his guitar. In public spaces of the North and East, where there were a handful of people around, he sang John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’ in all three languages used in Sri Lanka: Sinhalese, Tamil and English. People gathered around him to sing along. For them, he was a ray of hope, a touch of humanity that penetrated their strict isolation with its daily experiences of tension and fear. His music, his songs speak of co-existence and the sensitivity of human beings, irrespective of ethnic definitions. They describe the futility and the horror of war for those who on the front lines. He has collaborated with many different organisations and groups working for peace and reconciliation, including the Centre for Peace Buillding and Reconciliation, and Fict. Ajith also directed music for the film ‘Alimankada Sita’ (The Road from Elephant Pass) on the futility of war.

However, his music is not to be found in the mainstream: popular media has no space for Ajith Kumarasiri. He refuses to sell his music arguing that it is the voice of and for people and therefore has to be freely accessible for everyone. Ajith is categorized as a radical artist, who stands strong for peace and love among all Sri Lankans during and after war.

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The full profile of the NPC, with another video from Dr Perera also, can be viewed here.

Buddhika Harshadeva, Sri Lanka Local Correspondent. 21 September 2010

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• Integrating Gender, Conflict and Development
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict
• Conflict Sensitive Economic Recovery

The full programme can be viewed here (pdf).

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When I was in East Sri Lanka  recently I met a retired school teacher, aged 74. I talked with him to get an idea about the thinking of Tamil people at this time. He said “I have seen so many dead bodies so I don’t want to see that again. I don’t know whether the government can take care of and support us to solve our problems but still I have a hope.” It seems that people still live in hope for peace and justice in Sri Lanka.

Buddhika Harshadeva, Insight on Conflict Sri Lanka Local Correspondent. 27 May 2010.

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