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Posted on February 18th, 2021
C. Wijeyawikcrema, LL.B., Ph.D.
Introduction
Lemkin who lost 49 family members to
the Holocaust coined the term Genocide in 1943/4. Applying his definition to
past events, the first genocide took place in USA when, white man distributed
blankets soaked with smallpox germs to native Americans (Red Indians). Perhaps,
even before that in 1818 and 1848 genocide took place in the British colony,
Ceylon. Genocide is primarily a European-Christian affair. It is also a growing
organic idea in the hands of ex-colonial masters. However, what Vigneswaran is
trying to do in Sri Lanka is to turn this idea upside down deploying five SIVA
408pp.
When I started reading Razeen Sally’s Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Island, I thought I would be reading a travelogue, but soon realised that it does not seem correct to call this book simply a travelogue.
It is certainly much more than that. It is an autobiography, a personal memoir, a socio-cultural history, a political critique and a nostalgic journey into past and present Sri Lanka. You can see the landscapes of the island, the flora and fauna, you learn about its history, you meet people of various ethnicities and religions, and you start understanding the current political issues that Sri Lanka faces. After reading the book, one feels almost as if one has lived on this paradisiacal island oneself for decades.
The Island editorial (28/12) titled ‘Muck, bucks and impunity’ made me sad and even angry. Sad because this little land of ours cannot take it anymore. It is being battered from all sides: deforestation, serene beaches are turned into hotels, rivers are losing their precious sand, wildlife is threatened by encroachments into their natural habitats for the sake of development, and garbage and rubbish is dumped almost everywhere with absolutely no concern for the environment and, on and on.
How can a human being stoop so low: importing foreign waste and dumping it in his country? Now, we all know who (or the majority of them) can be behind these ugly deals, don’t we, anyway?
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