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Memory & Transitional Justice

Ruki Fernando

10th May 2015, Jaffna

RECORD OF THE WEAK

We've got medals for the heroes

Statues for the brave

The memories of the powerful

Our history books will save

Garlands for the winners,

Give glory to the sinners

But no one keeps a record of the

weak

We keep records of the great

men,

We celebrate the strong

We love our anti-heroes

And we wallow in their wrong

We gave a Nobel Peace Prize

To a man who dropped the bombs

But no one keeps a record of the

weak

* Record of the weak, Record of the

weak

The unspoken tragedies

Who have no voice to speak

We nod in their direction

But can't hear the silent shriek

No one keeps a record of the weak

Truth is like a bullet, it tears you

apart

Goes straight through your flesh

And settles in your heart

But most of us are pacifist

And we never even start

To try to keep a record of the weak

(Repeat *)

Photos of those killed in last phase of the war

kept in family’s / relatives houses

Deeply Personal tragedies

has become Immensely Political

(“politics of memory”)

and also become subject of

research, academic studies

Right to Memory

is just ONE component of

Transitional Justice process

(Rights to Truth, Justice, Reparation &

Guarantees of non occurrence)

Contents

1. Some experiences from Sri Lanka

2. Obstructions

3. Tourism and Memory

4. Commemorating heroes (or Villains?)

5. Concluding reflections and questions

1

Some experiences

in Sri Lanka

JVP – “April Heroes commemoration”

“April viru samaruwa”

To mark the JVP 1st insurrection of 1971

“A great defeat

Unending aim”

Some of the 1971 revolutionaries who survived

U Mahathya

Podi Athula

Asoka

JVP – “November Heroes commemoration”

(“il maha viru samaruma”)

Since 1989 November killing of

JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera

“..to commemorate heroes who

laid down their lives for the

Motherland including the

founder of the party

Comrade Rohana

Wijeweera, will be

celebrated by the JVP at …”

ttp://www.jvpsrilanka.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=241:23rd-commemoration-of-november-heroes-on-the-13th-&catid=40:jvpnews&Itemid=73

JVP November Heroes

Commemoration in

London

Monument for disappeared

At Raddoluwa, near Katunayake airport

Commemoration of Lasantha

Wickramathunga – killed on 8th Jan. 2009

Commemoration of Tamil journalists killed -

World Press Freedom Day 2015 in Jaffna

“Mini Museum”

At Uthayan newspaper, Jaffna

Remembering Fr. Mary Bastian

(killed on 6th Jan, 1985,Mannar)

Remembering Neelan Thiruchelvam –

killed 29th July 1999, Colombo

Monument for young Buddhist Monks

massacred in Aranthalawa – June 1987

Remembering Massacre of Muslims at

Kathankudy Mosques in 1990

All this was tolerable…..

But…what was / is not?

3

Obstructions

Summons of 4th May 2015 issued to NPC member to come to

Police regarding light lamps at home to commemorate

LTTE heroes on 27th Nov. 2014

Remembrance of May 18 in Vanni (2012)

Photos of those killed in last phase of the war

kept in family’s / relatives houses

Monument put up by students destroyed by the Army in the Jaffna

university

Destroyed statue of a LTTE political leader who fasted to death

(Nallur, Jaffna - 2010)

Only remaining memorial in the destroyed cemetery

in Konavil (Sept 2011)

Destroyed LTTE militants memorial in Mulangavil

(Later a small Army camp)

“Shrine of Innocents” – built in memory of

those disappeared, killed in 1987-1989

insurrection in South. Destroyed in 2011

“Artists struggling underwater holding a

picture of ‘shrine of the innocence’ which was

demolished to create the Diyatha Uyana in the

process of development”

History of obstructions

• LTTE didn’t allow commemorations of rival armed groups

and of incidents where they stand accused

• JVP didn’t even allow proper funerals for those they killed

(coffin below the knee)

• Government has tried to block some commemorations

• Since 2009 May ..Govt dominant actor

- Destruction of cemeteries of LTTE cadres and other

monuments

- Arrests, threats, intimidations, harassments of those

organizing and participating in commemorations

- Obstructions to funerals (Nimalaruban in Vavuniya &

Roshane Chanka in Katunayake)

• Resistance to Govt intimidations & obstructions:

- 1990 – beginning of disappearances commemoration

that led to monument in Raddoluwa

- In the North

• Arrests, threats, intimidations, obstructions,

restrictions on remembering in the North &

East by the military, Police and politicians

has intensified after the war (2010 – 2014)

• Especially on 18th May (end of war) & 27th

Nov. (LTTE’s Maveer – Great Heroes day)

• What will happen in 2015?

4

Tourism &

Memory

(dark tourism?)

Some of the mainstream tourism attractions

are related to memory

– Newseum

– Holocaust - Auschwich, Berlin & all over the

world

– South Africa

– Rwanda

– Derry (Northern Ireland)

– Cambodia

Tourism counter at PTK junction manned by

military (2012-2103, not anymore)

Post war tourism in Sri Lanka -

(Primarily Sinhalese)

Tourist information centres

(PTK / Killinochchi

4

Commemorating

the heroes

(or villains)?

“Hasalaka Hero” – near Elephant pass

Families of slain LTTE cadres

5

Concluding

reflections &

questions

Sri Lanka has history of Memorialization

• JVP, LTTE and Government – to honor their

political leaders, cadres

• Massacres - e.g. Sathorokondan,

Kaathankudy Mosque, Aranthalawa

• Other collective incidents – e.g. Expulsion

of Muslims from North

• Individuals –Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam,

Lasantha Wickramathunga, Dr. Rajani

Thiranagama, Fr. Jim Brown, Fr. Mary

Bastians etc.

• Also have history of obstructions

Links to Tourism

- Run by one party that stands accused –

military

- How to ensure plurality of narratives to

“tourists” & public

- Ensuring educative and retention of history

- How to ensure victims, their families and

local communities are involved in design,

implementation, decision making and

benefiting, including financially

Some possible approaches • Official (Government) vs. Popular (civil)

• Monuments (individual / collective)

• Retaining damaged / destroyed buildings

• Retaining sites of tragedy (E.g. Prisons in Cambodia, South

Africa)

• Online (AHRC’s cyber graveyards for disappeared /

http://maaveerarillam.com/)

• Special day (s)

• Commemorative lectures

• Cultural activities

• School books

• Historical narratives (E.g. Northern Muslims /Recovery of

Historical Memory Project – Guatamala)

http://maaveerarillam.com

Recovery of Historical

Memory Project –

Guatamala

Gaza Monologues

Challenges:

• Inclusive remembering vs. Exclusive

remembering

– Considering victims from different ethnic,

religious groups, also by different perpetrators

• Should we commemorate those who

engaged in abuses and violence? If so how?

– Groups / Individuals

• Private commemorations vs. Public

commemorations

• Victims & Perpetrators…the blurred lines

• Seeing perpetrators as human beings – with

mothers and fathers, possibly children, spouses..

• Could it be done in a way that will enable

perpetrators to reconcile with themselves, their

families, and victims….recover their humanity, and

move on

Thank you!

Ruki Fernando

rukiii@gmail.com

+94-77-3874160