The post STATEMENT ! appeared first on Asia Commune.

මාධ්‍යවේදී තරංග ගුණරත්න මහතාට දෙහිබාලේගෙන් තර්ජන – ජීවිත ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරන මෙන් නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය පොලිස්පතිවරයාට දැනුම් දෙයි. 

වැලිගම ප්‍රාදේශීය මාධ්‍යවේදී තරංග ගුණරත්න මහතාට දෙහිබාලේ යන අන්වර්ථ නමින් හඳුන්වනු ලබන සංවිධානාත්මක අපරාධකරුවෙකු ජීවිත තර්ජන එල්ල කර ඇති බව ඒ මහතා පවසයි. වෙඩි තැබීමක් සම්බන්ධ පුවතක් ඔක්තොම්බර් 07 වනදා දෙරණ නාළිකාවේ විකාශය වීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඔක්තොම්බර් 08 වෙනිදා දුරකතනය ඔස්සේ මෙම තර්ජනය කිරීම සිදුව ඇත. 

දෙහිබාලේ යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වාගත් සංවිධානාත්මක අපරාධකරුවෙකු යැයි කියන පුද්ගලයා සිදු කළ තර්ජනය සම්බන්ධව මාධ්‍යවේදී තරංග ගුණරත්න පසුගිය 09වැනිදා මිදිගම පොලීසියට පැමිණිලි කර තිබේ. එහෙත් ඔහු පවසන්නේ තවමත් පොලිස් විමර්ශන සිදුවන බවක් පෙනෙන්නට නොමැති බවයි. එවැනි පසුබිමක සිය ජීවිතය අනාරක්ෂිත තත්ත්වයකට පත්ව ඇති බව ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි. 

සංවිධානාත්මක අපරාධකරුවන් සම්බන්ධ වෙමින් මෑත කාලයේ පුද්ගල ඝාතන ගණනාවක් සිදුව ඇති පසුබිමක මෙය නොසළකා හළ හැකි තර්ජනයක් නොවන බව නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරයේද මතයයි. මෙවැනි තර්ජන මගින් මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට සිය වෘත්තීය නිදහසේ සිදු කිරීමට නොහැකි වන අතර ස්වාධීන මාධ්‍යකරණය අකර්මන්‍ය වීමද සිදු වේ. එබැවින් මෙම තර්ජනය කිරීම හෙළා දකින අතර පොලිස් පරීක්ෂණ කඩිනම් කරමින් මාධ්‍යවේදී තරංග ගුණරත්නගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා මෙන් නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය පොලිස්පති වරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී. 

ලසන්ත ද සිල්වා 

කැඳවුම්කරු  

දිලීෂා අබේසුන්දර

ලේකම්

The post මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි appeared first on Asia Commune.

Media Release

Five journalists reporting to the Al Jazeera news service have been brutally killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City. Among them was the world-renowned reporter Anas al-Sharif. He and the other journalists were killed in a targeted drone strike while reporting in a tent near Al-Shifa Hospital. This indicates that the attack was a deliberate and premeditated atrocity.

The Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka extends its deepest respect to these fellow journalists who revealed the truth about the genocide of the Palestinian people taking place in the Gaza Strip. We mourn their loss. Furthermore, in a context where foreign journalists are banned from entering Palestine, the killing of journalists working there is intended to silence the voices of people who are victims of genocide. We strongly condemn this.

According to CPJ reports, since October 2023, the number of journalists killed in Palestine has reached 186. The BBC, AP, and AFP have issued a joint statement highlighting the severe difficulties faced by their reporters, noting that they do not have enough food to survive. The BBC, in a special report, revealed that three of its freelance employees and their families had gone without food for days.

This is the true face of the media repression carried out by the Israeli government amid the genocide of the Palestinian people. We call upon the entire global community to recognize and stand against both the mass killings that go beyond any genuine need for national security or counter-terrorism, and the media repression intended to silence the voices of the Palestinian people who have become victims of this genocide.

Free Media Movement – Sri Lanka

The post FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT UNEQUIVOCALLY CONDEMNS THE KILLING OF JOURNALISTS AND SUPPRESSION OF  PALESTINIAN VOICES appeared first on Asia Commune.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි

ඊශ්‍රායලය ගාසා නගරයට එල්ල කළ ප්‍රහාරයකින් අල්ජසීරා පුවත් සේවයට වාර්තා සපයන ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන් පස්දෙනෙකු බිහිසුණු ලෙස මරා දමා තිබේ. ලෝ ප්‍රකට වාර්තාකරු අනාස් අල් ෂරීෆ්ද ඒ අතර වේ. ඔහු ඇතුළු මාධ්‍යවේදීන් පිරිස ඝාතනය කර ඇත්තේ අල් සිෆා රෝහල අසළ කුඩාරමක රැඳී සිටියදී ඉලක්ක ගත ඩ්‍රෝන ප්‍රහාරයකිනි. ඒ අනුව පෙනී යන්නේ මෙය සැළසුම් සහගත දුෂ්ට ප්‍රහාරයක් බවයි. 

ගාසා තීරයේ සිදුවන පලස්තීන ජන සංහාරය පිළිබඳ සත්‍යය හෙළිදරව් කළ එම සහෝදර මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරයේ උත්තමාචාරය හිමි වේ. අපි  ඔවුන් පිළිබඳව ශෝක වන්නෙමු. එසේම පලස්තීනයට ඇතුළු වීම විදෙස් මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට තහනම් කර ඇති පසුබිමක එහි සිට වාර්තාකරණයේ නියැලෙන මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ඝාතනය කරන්නේ සංහාරයේ ගොදුරු බවට පත්ව සිටින ජනයාගේ හඬ නිහඬ කිරීමට බැවින් ඒ පිළිබඳව අපගේ දැඩි විරෝධය පළ කරන්නෙමු. 

CPJ වාර්තාවලට අනුව 2023 ඔක්තොම්බර් මාසයේ සිට මේ දක්වා පලස්තීනයේදී ඝාතනය කර ඇති මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ගණන 186කි.  BBC, AP, සහ AFP ඒකාබද්ධ නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් තම වාර්තාකරුවන් මුහුණ දෙන දැඩි දුෂ්කරතා අවධාරණය කළ අතර ඔවුන්ට යැපීමට තරම් ආහාර හෝ නොමැති බව සඳහන් කළේය. BBC සේවය වාර්තාවක් මුදා හරිමින්, දින ගණනක් නිරාහාරව සිටි තමන්ගේ නිදහස් සේවකයින් තිදෙනෙකු හා ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල් පිළිබඳ හෙළිදරව්වක් සිදු කළේය. 

මේ ඊශ්‍රායල්  ආණ්ඩුව පලස්තීන ජනසංහාරය අතරතුර දියත් කර ඇති මාධ්‍ය මර්ධනයේ සැබෑ ස්වරූපයයි. රටක ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව සළසා ගැනීම හෝ ත්‍රස්තවාදයට පිළිතුරු දීම තුළ හෝ පවත්නා සැබෑ වුවමනාව ඉක්මවා සිදුවන මේ සියලු සංහාරද එහි ගොදුරු බවට පත්ව සිටින පලස්තීන ජනතාවගේ හඬ නිහඬ කිරිමට සිදුවන මාධ්‍ය මර්දනයද හෙලා දැකීමට අප හා එක්වන මෙන් සමස්ත ලෝක ප්‍රජාවගෙන් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය

The post මාධ්‍යවේදීන් මරා දමා පලස්තීනයේ ජනහඬ නිහඬ කිරීමට එරෙහිව විරෝධය දක්වමු – නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය appeared first on Asia Commune.

ගෝතම ළමා සංවර්ධන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ 1978 සිට 1984 දක්වා මා නේවාසිකයකු වීය. ඊට පෙර මගේ අම්මාට මාව පෝෂණය කිරීමට නොහැකි තරමේ දිළිදුභාවයෙන් අප පෙලුනේය . ඒ වගේම මා ඉතා දඟකාර / අකීකරු ළමයකු වීම ගැනද මගේ අම්මා බිය වූවාය.

මා කොතරම් දඩබ්බර ළමයෙක්දැයි  කීවොත් මම වයස අවුරුදු දහයේදී  වීඳී දරුවන් සමග රාත්‍රී 9:30 සිනමා ශාලාවේ චිත්‍ර පට නරබා, දුම්රිය ස්ථානයක බංකුවක රාත්‍රීය ගතකල අවස්ථා ද , ප්‍රවේශ පත්‍ර නොමැතිව දුම්රියේ ගමන් කල අවස්ථාද වීය.

මගේ අනාගතය ගැන අම්මා බිය වීම සාධාරනය . කුඩා සරත්ව ඈ පොලීසියට රැගෙන ගියේ මාගේ ඥාති සොහොයුරකු වූ නිමල් අයියා සමගය. ඔහු  මට වඩා වැඩිමහළු වූ නමුත් එකල මගේ සමීපතමයකු විය.

ළමා නිවාසයේ උදේට පරිප්පු හොද්දක් සමග පාන් ලැබුනේය. දවල්ට සහ රාත්‍රියට බත් ලැබුනේය.. පිලිවෙලට ඇදුම් ඇදගෙන පාසල් යා හැකිවීය. ඊට කලින් මට එතරම් හොද ඇදුම් තිබුනේ නැත. මා එහි යනවිට පාසලේ හතරවන පංතියේ වීය. 

කෙසේ වෙතත් පාසලේ හයවන පංතියේදී ළමා නිවාසයෙන් පැන ගොස් ගාල්ලේදී පොලීසියට හසුවූ වී මාස තුනක් සිර ගෙවල් වල , ළමා රැඳවුම් කදවුරු වල සිටි කාලය මට කිසිදිනක අමතක වන්නේ නැත. කිසිදු ළමයකු එවැනි හිංසාවන්ට  ලක්විය යුතු නැත. 

නැවත ළමා නිවාසයට පැමිණි මා කිසිදිනක එවැනි දඩබ්බරකම් කලේ නැත.1984 අධ්‍යාපන පොදු සහතික පත්‍ර සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ විභාගයෙන් මා සම්මාන සමර්ථ හතක් සමග සමත්වීය. 

එය මට වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපනය සදහා යොමුවීමට මහත් උඔඅකාරීවීය. ඉන් අනතුරුව ජීවිතයට එක්වූ අලුත් අත්දැකීම් බොහෝය. 2009 දී මව් බිම හැරදමා මෙහි ආ පසු වෙනත් ආකාරයේ අත්දැකීම් ජීවිතයට එකතුවීය. 

මා අද ගෙවන ජීවිතයට ස්වීට්සර්ලන්තයට මෙන්ම ,මට අතහිත දුන් සැමට ස්තූතිවන්තය. කුඩා කල මා හැදීවැඩුනු තැනටද මගේ ස්තුතිය පුදකිරීමට මා කැමතිය.

ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේ ගෝතම ළමා මාගේ නිවාසයේ චිත්‍ර ප්‍රදර්ශනයක් පැවැත්වීමට මා අදහස් කලේ එබැවින්‍ ය. එහිදී ලැබෙන ආදායම ළමා නිවාසයට පරිත්‍යාග කිරීමට මා තීරණය කර ඇත. 

ඒ ගැන ළමා නිවාසයේ පාලක මංඩලයේ  ප්‍රියත් සල්ගාදු මහතාගෙන් මා විමසූ විට ඔහු ඉමහත් සතුටට පත්වීය. ප්‍රියත් සල්ගාදු මහතාගේ සීයා , මව් පියන් අහිමිව අසරණ වූ , වීදියේ අතහැර ගිය  ළමුන් සදහා 1954 දී ගෝතම ළමා නිවාසය ආරම්භ කිරීමට ප්‍රමුඛ වූ අයෙක් බව මට දැන ගන්නට ලැබුනේ ළමා නිවාසයේ කලමණාකරු මුදිත ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතාගෙනි.

ඒ කතාව මෙසේය 1956  දී 2500 වන බුද්ධ ජයන්තිය මහ ඉහලින් සැමරීමට ලක්වැසියන් යුහුසුළු වීය.” බුද්ධ ජයන්තිය  යනු බුදුන්වහන්සේ පිරිනිවන් පා වසර 2500 ක් සම්පුර්ණ වීමය. .රිචට් සල්ගාදූ මහතා තවත් පිරිසක් සමග 1951 දී ” පානදුර බෞද්ධ සංගමය ” ආරම්භ කරන්නේ ඒ අනුවය.සමාජ සත්කාරයක් ලෙස පානදුර බෞද්ධ සංගමය මගින් 1954 දී ළමුන් හතර දෙනෙක්ගෙන් ගෝතම ළමා නිවාසය ආරම්භ කල අතර මා 1978 දී එහි ගියේ 464 වැනියා ලෙසය.

ඊශ්‍රායලය ඝාසා හී කුසගින්නේ දරුවන් මරන විට ගැන මාගේ කම්පනය වැඩිවන්නේ , කුසගින්නේ සිටි මගේ ළමා කාලය ගැන මා හොදින් දන්නා බැවින් ය.

මෙලොව උපන් දරුවන් කුමන රටකට , ජාතියකට , ආගමකට අයත්වුවත් , ඔවුනට ජීවත්වීමේ අයිතිය හිමිවිය යුතුය.

ඔවුනට අවැසිවන්නේ ආදරය , පෝෂණය සහ රැකවරණ මිස , කුසගින්න , වෙඩි උන්ඩ සහ බෝම්බ නොවේය..

සරත් මද්දුමගේ විසිනි

The post මොලොව උපන් දරුවන් කුමන රටකට , ජාතියකට , ආගමකට අයත් වුවත් ඔවුනට ජීවත්වීමේ අයිතිය හිමිවිය යුතුය… appeared first on Asia Commune.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission 

SRI LANKA: IMF observations on an Independent Prosecution office for Sri Lanka

IMF in its recent report issued in September titled Sri Lanka; Technical Assistance Report-Governance Diagnostic Assessment, has directed its attention to the problems relating to the independence in conduct of prosecutions into crimes in Sri Lanka. It points to the absence of independent prosecutor in Sri Lanka and also notes that this given rise to real or perceived impression about the weaknesses of the existing system. 

Asian Human Rights Commission has for many years pointed out that one of the major reasons for thebreakdown of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka is the functioning of the prosecutors role within the framework of the Attorney Generals department, which even the IMF report points out has come under very serious criticism from many sources over a considerable period of time. The dual function of the Attorney General as the advisor to the government in legal matters and the task of prosecuting crime in a manner required by the law has come to a visible conflict. 

Asian Human Rights Commission also pointed out that a prevailing unprecedented economic crisis is not merely a crisis created through purely economic factors but due to failures of the system of governance in the country.  One of the major weaknesses of the system of governance is the inability to prosecute crimes effectively, impartially and with due credibility. 

Therefore Asian Human Rights Commission highly recommends that IMF observations contain in this report regarding this issue should be carefully studied and urgently implemented. Creating of an independent prosecutor’s office separate from the Attorney Generals department should become a major political demand in the country if Sri Lanka is to find its way out of this economic crisis. 

A popular poem exhibited in some banners even in front of the Colombo public library in the nineteen eighties had already raised this issue poignantly. The translation of this verse is as follows;

Oh, Attorney General, oh, Attorney General

Criminals are raping girls

Committing murder and suppressing justice 

Why do we need a Lord of the law

When the country has no law?

Click here to read the IMF report.  The relevant potion relating to issue of prosecution is at the page 129 of the report.

We are also reproducing an article relating to the difficulties involved in prosecuting crimes in Sri Lanka.

The Inability to Prosecute

By Basil Fernando

The central question that has been discussed over several decades now and which, particularly since the 2019 Easter Sunday massacre, has become perhaps the most central question regarding the nature of the Sri Lankan State is the issue of it’s will and the capacity to prosecute crimes. 

The unwillingness to prosecute

The issue about the unwillingness to prosecute is now taken for granted. It is known to everyone that there are literally thousands of crimes, most of which are extremely serious crimes, regarding which the State has clearly shown that it has no will to prosecute. The case of the Easter Sunday crimes highlights the issue. However, it is not the only issue that reminds of a State that very openly and blatantly refuses to prosecute large numbers of extremely grave crimes

Why does the State refuse to investigate serious crimes? The reasons for such a failure may be of two kinds. The first of these two categories comes from the top and the other from the bottom. Those that come from the top generally arise from political grounds. Prosecuting crimes may have a very disturbing effect to a political system where the abuse of power may have become very much a part of the political culture. In fact, the working of the political and administrative system may depend on the room that is available for those at the top to commit acts which are in fact crimes. Such a system will not be able to function if these crimes are to be prosecuted. A further reason is that if such crimes are to be prosecuted, overwhelming numbers of persons holding high posts may be threatened with the possibility of going to jail. Hence, people need to be protected from being held responsible for the crimes that they have committed. What is more, if such prosecution is to take place, political alliances that keep a Government afloat may collapse.

The second category that objects to prosecutions may arise from the bottom. That is from those who carried out illegal orders and committed acts which count. The whole institutional culture may have undergone a transformation for the worse and lost the resistance against following illegal orders or commands. If crimes committed by them are to be prosecuted, the whoâ€s who of the institution may face a profound challenge.

The incapacity to prosecute

Much more worrying than the unwillingness to prosecute, is the question as to whether the Sri Lankan State has the capacity to prosecute. This is much more important than the very important first issue, which is about the will to prosecute. Whether the State has the capacity to prosecute has received very little attention and one may even say, no attention at all. While there are many who for many years have seriously worked towards demanding prosecutions into serious crimes, whether those crimes are directly affecting them, or whether their interest on these prosecutions is of a general nature, if there is no real capacity to prosecute, those demands will never be realised. 

Criticising the absence of will to prosecute may be an opportune political move. It is quite a legitimate political demand to prosecute crimes and particularly those crimes which have had an enormous impact on the “mind and the soul” of the society as a whole.

However, the issue is not merely one of legitimacy but whether the goal itself is realisable. If it is not realisable within a given context, then, that issue also must receive central attention if the ultimate demand for prosecuting is to succeed at all.

How then is one to assess whether in real life today, the Sri Lankan State has the capacity to prosecute all serious crimes? What criteria are to be used in the assessment of the prevailing situation, to come to an understanding about the possibility of prosecuting these crimes in terms of the “capacity of the State”? However, we suggest the following criteria to be applied in time to assess this problem.

• First of all, one needs to assess whether the Sri Lankan State, as it exists today, accepts the obligation to prosecute all crimes. 
• The next issue will depend on the answers to the first issue, because if the State, as it is in the present structural form, does not absent the obligation to prosecute all crimes, then, it will follow that such a State will not create the necessary structural framework which is essential to the very serious task of prosecuting crimes. If the State does not accept the obligation of prosecuting crimes, then, it cannot be accepted that the State will provide the necessary political and social backing for the institutions which are dealing with the prosecution of crimes to function as they should. A prosecution is like every other task of the State. It requires State institutions.  State institutions mean the laws which grant the mandate and lay down all the basic rules that anyone working under those institutions are bound by in dealing with the task of prosecuting crimes. It further requires that human and material resources should be provided to those institutions to carry out those obligations which are imposed on them by the law, and which they are bound to omit. It is not possible to obey in carrying out these obligations unless there are officers who have all the capacities to carry out these obligations and who are not constrained by any higher orders or authorities which could prevent them from carrying out their legitimate duties. This means the required levels of education, training, and the required levels of morality and integrity needed in carrying out these obligations. Added to all these in particular in modern times is the technological requirements that are necessary for the efficient functioning of such institutions and for the officers who work for such Institutions. Making necessary judgements involving professional work require the ways of gathering data and the assessment of the data, which are all functions in modern times, which are highly sophisticated and require the necessary equipment and the know-how to deal with these matters.

Prosecuting basically can be divided into two functions. One is the investigative function and the other is the function of the direct prosecuting work. The investigative function requires the permissive legality which allows independent investigative functions, which belong to a highly specialised category of work, about which there is enormous knowledge in the world today. Investigating is such a highly skilled task and of course, it has the same needs of human and material needs as mentioned above. However, all that becomes possible only when there is a permissiveness which recognises this as a fundamental function of the State about which no exceptions can be allowed.

Investigations among other things also require the maintenance of legally required secrecy so that the matters investigated could be pursued to the very end without being interfered by those who may be adversely affected by such investigations. In other words, criminals who may be subjected to investigations should not be allowed in anyway to be in a position to interfere with these investigations and to act in any manner, disruptive or destroying or disturbing the process of such investigations. Therefore, the investigators should not be subjected to any other control than those required by their own professional conduct. The diverging of the secrets should be a “criminal offence”. On the other hand, every attempt to interfere, to disturb such secrecy and prevent the investigations leading to just and fair conclusions, also belong to the same category of criminal activities.

The maintenance of evidence, that is the protection of evidence, and the protection of witnesses is a further function if the prosecuting is to happen in the manner required as a part of a serious function of a State.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post SRI LANKA: IMF observations on an Independent Prosecution office for Sri Lanka appeared first on Asia Commune.

The recommendations submitted by the MPs take astoundingly regressive positions on reforms to the MMDA. Some of the most egregious recommendations include:

1. The bride’s signature on the marriage register to have no value without a male guardian signing, denying women their autonomy.
2. Muslim women continue to be excluded from holding public office under the MMDA, which will have only male registrars. Inclusion of women Quazis (judges) has not been specified.
3. Maintain the Quazi system without any changes, including criteria and process for appointing Quazis.
4. Exceptions to minimum age of marriage to allow under 18 year-olds to marry.
5. Rejection of equal divorce procedures and retaining the current highly discriminatory divorce system and procedures. 
6. Rejection of new provisions (introduced in the draft Bill) for sharing of matrimonial property and securing the best interests of children.
7. Maintaining the discrimination between different sects and madhabs (schools of jurisprudence) of Muslims in Sri Lanka.

The post Sri Lanka – Muslim MPs betray MMDA Reforms appeared first on Asia Commune.

“The victim community has no confidence in any local commission or tribunal created by the Sri Lankan Government state. These commissions have in fact revealed the intentions of successive governments to scuttle truth-seeking and the victims’ quest for accountability. Leading functionaries and politicians have time and again declared publicly that the government will not betray the war heroes and patriotic forces.” 

The post Sri Lanka – Statement by Civil Society on Proposed Truth-Telling Mechanism! appeared first on Asia Commune.

“What does a revolutionary say… to the Ukrainian people: “What matters to me is your attitude towards your national destiny, I will support your struggle for independence with all my might!”

Leon Trotsky. The independence of Ukraine and sectarian confusion-ism. July 30, 1939

The world’s media, Pentagon officials, and the US military announce that Russian military forces are massing up to 175,000 soldiers on the Ukraine border. The global communication chains fueled by the State Department raise the specter of World War III. What is happening in Ukraine? Is Putin preparing to invade it? Is this going to unleash World War III between Russia and NATO?

The whole campaign about “Impending World War III” is not new. What imperialism, Putin, the Stalinists, and the imperialist media intend with this campaign, is to hide from the eyes of the masses of the world the extraordinary revolutionary process that the people of Ukraine have been carrying out in their struggle for independence. , and for national self-determination for 8 years now. A fight that has the sympathy of millions in all the former republics of the USSR, and we must support it with all our might.

This revolutionary process is moving Europe because it takes place in a very rich country, the largest in Europe after Russia, which has the same population as France in the heart of European imperialism. The struggle of the Ukrainian people has infected the peoples that make up the Russian Federation, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, and together with the people of Russia, is putting Putin’s reactionary capitalist dictatorship on the ropes.

“Inter-imperialist” war or counter-revolutionary war?

The charlatans in the pay of imperialism pretend to show the reality of a prospect of war between Russia and NATO, an “inter-imperialist war” like the First World War of 1914. But the reality is very different. What there is is an attack by the Russian armed forces against the people of Ukraine. Putin’s army at the service of the millionaire capitalist oligarchy, permanently attacks a people that is fighting for its self-determination and independence.

For eight years there has been an aggression by Putin against Ukraine that began with the attack on the Crimean peninsula and Donbass, and has caused 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians dead, in addition to more than 1.9 million displaced Ukrainians. But if Putin’s troops enter Ukraine, this may be Putin’s Vietnam. Thousands of Ukrainians train every weekend, workers, students, peasants, etc., preparing for an eventual invasion of Russia.

Putin’s generals and 170,000 soldiers will meet 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers grouped in scattered units of soldiers, reservists and civilians who will attack their positions, and communications. An invasion by Putin would have to face a popular resistance that, in addition to the thousands of Ukrainian volunteers, will be reinforced by Russian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, and Latvian fighters, who hate Putin and will join the Ukrainian troops to end his sinister dictatorship.

NATO’s presence in Ukraine is practically symbolic: NATO has 4,000 US soldiers in Ukraine, and 150 military advisers. This is the product of the fact that Ukraine does not belong to NATO, nor to the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) led by Russia, also made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

In other words, we are not facing any “inter-imperialist war” in the events that are taking place on the Ukrainian border. We are in a counterrevolutionary war, a confrontation between the revolution and the world counterrevolution that influences the course of events in Europe, and the global revolution. This is how the Trotskyist revolutionary Nahuel Moreno explained it: “From the postwar period (1945)… A stage in the character of wars is closed and a new one is opened. The stage of inter-imperialist wars is closed and in the stage of the counterrevolutionary wars” (1)

The Ukrainian Revolution: The struggle against the ex-Stalinist oligarchy begins

The Stalinist groups around the world who describe Ukraine as a fascist-dominated state do so in an attempt to make Putin, his corrupt, rotten, and reactionary capitalist regime appear progressive. But nothing is further from reality than Ukraine being a state dominated by fascists, it is exactly the opposite: Since 2016 Ukraine has been experiencing a revolutionary process, a bourgeois democratic regime in crisis, and a crisis of all the parties that defend the interests of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, a process that spreads to all the republics of the former USSR.

After the fall of the former USSR, both Russia and the former republics that made up the former USSR became governed by former Stalinist officials, former members of the KGB, the Armed Forces or the espionage services that privatized, gave away, and they handed over all the wealth of those nations to imperialism, and joined the imperialist corporations to enrich themselves. The Yeltsins, the Putins, the Yanusoviches, the Lukashenkos, the Nazarbayevs, went overnight from Communist Party officials to bourgeois oligarchs and millionaire capitalists.

The new capitalism of the former Stalinist oligarchs meant corruption, mafias, injustice, and social inequality, which caused millions of people to sink into poverty in all the republics of the former USSR. In Ukraine the crisis reached even higher levels than other former Soviet republics: The average salary in Ukraine was 2 to 2.5 times lower than in Russia and Belarus, and much lower than in the EU. Economic growth froze, industry fell, causing widespread poverty to advance.

The oligarchs established legislation that exempted them from paying taxes, allowing them to enrich themselves obscenely by exporting tens of billions of dollars worth of minerals, metals, ammonia, wheat and sunflowers, stashing the profits in tax havens. Meanwhile, the crisis worsened, and the national, regional and municipal governments began to have problems paying salaries.

Many oligarchs also withheld the salaries owed to state employees to speculate with these masses of money. Not paying salaries became a common practice for governments, and the budget practically stopped allocating funds to social programs. The situation was aggravated by the rise in gas prices, and the corrupt Party of Regions that led the country controlled by ex-Stalinist oligarch Victor Yanukovych, was not capable of proposing a plan beyond the businesses controlled by the sons of he.

Euromaidan explodes: the ex-Stalinist oligarchy falls

Between the years 2007, 2008 the sharp peak of the global crisis of capitalism broke out, and the crisis in Ukraine worsened. Soon popular discontent detonated a rise of the masses that forced Yanukovych, pressured by the rise, to propose a way out of the crisis, which he promised would come through an agreement with the European Union. It was signed on March 30, 2012, and Yanukovych urged the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, to pass laws so that Ukraine could comply with EU requirements.

On September 25, 2013, Volodymyr Rybak, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, said that the legislative body would pass all necessary laws, but on November 21, 2013, a decree of the Government of Ukraine suspended preparations for the signing of the agreement on association. Yanukovych attended the EU summit on November 28-29, but the deal was not signed.

In the months of January and February 2016, the opposition leaders called for mobilizations repudiating the decision of the Yanukovych government not to sign with the EU, and the country exploded. Millions took to the streets throughout the country, the mobilization quickly surpassed the initial slogans and overwhelmed its capitalist leaders to raise democratic and economic demands: work and decent wages, health, education, against the oligarchs and finally, Yanukovych to go.

Independence Square in Kiev became a dual and popular power where decisions were made, amidst barricades and popular weapons. On February 21 Yanukovic and the opposition, under the patronage of the EU and the presence of German, French and Polish foreign ministers, signed an agreement for Yanukovych to continue and elections were called in December. The pact was applauded by the United States and Russia. Opposition leaders went to announce it in the square, but 200,000 people rejected the agreement in Plaza Independencia, shouting “traitors!”

The next day the police disappeared from the streets of Kiev and Yanukovych fled. One hundred police officers apologized on their knees to the protesters in Plaza Maidán. Yanukovych’s fall was a revolutionary triumph that opened the stage of struggle against the Stalinist oligarchies in Ukraine and in the other republics of the former USSR. The triumph of the Ukrainian revolution brought profound changes in the country’s political regime.

The Party of the Regions, which governed for almost 20 years, left power, and an average abstention rate of 40% occurred in all the elections that were called from 2016 to today, showing the crisis and wear of bourgeois democracy in Ukraine. The last elected president Volodymyr Zelensky, who beat the old regime parties in 2019, suffered a beating in the 2020 elections, where he lost in all the main cities of the country. But the most important change was the shock wave that the triumph of the revolution caused in Russia, and all the republics under its rule.

The revolution in Ukraine spread like an oil stain, first in 2020 the “Sneaker Revolution” broke out in Belarus against the Government of Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus in the midst of elections in which Lukashenko was seeking a sixth term in The charge. The following year the mobilizations began in Russia against Putin, and this year 2022 began with the uprising of the people of Kazakhstan that had to be put down with Russian troops.

For an Independent Ukraine! Out of NATO! Down with Putin!

We completely reject the intervention of NATO forces, and the sectors of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie that propose unity with NATO. Ukraine has every right to defend its territory from any aggression, but anyone who proposes to place that defense under the wing of the Pentagon, or NATO is only leading that struggle to defeat. We Marxists support with all our might the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence and national self-determination.

We also reject the “Summits” , and negotiations between the imperialist government of Biden and Putin. These summits seek to stop and divert the revolution of the Ukrainian people, and their struggle for national liberation. The right of the Ukrainian people must be in your own hands! Out with the diplomats of the State Department, the military of the Pentagon, and the intrigues of the Kremlin, on the rights of the people of Ukraine!

We follow the path that Vladimir Lenin proposed in his presentation of the struggle for the rights of the oppressed nations as part of the struggle for socialism: “… the main practical task, both of the Russian proletariat and of the proletariat of every other nation: the task of daily agitation and propaganda against all kinds of state-type national privileges, for the right, the equal right of all nations… because only in this way can we defend the interests of democracy and the union, based on equality of rights of all proletarians of all nations” (2)

We are for the national self-determination of Ukraine, against the historical oppression that its people have suffered from Russia, and other nations. To the Stalinists who argue that the Ukrainian struggle is “reactionary” because it is “nationalist,” this is how Lenin responds:“To accuse the supporters of freedom of self-determination, that is, of the freedom to separate, of promoting separatism is just as foolish and hypocritical as accusing the supporters of freedom of divorce of promoting the breakdown of family ties. Just as in bourgeois society the freedom of divorce is contested by the defenders of privilege and venality, on which bourgeois marriage is based, so in the capitalist state deny the freedom of self-determination, that is, of separation from nations it does not mean anything other than defending the privileges of the dominant nation and the administrative police procedures to the detriment of the democratic ones” (3)

Lenin combated the privileges of the oppressive nations, and denounced the leaders and political currents that do not defend the right to national self-determination, even if they call themselves “Marxists” : “The real class significance of liberal hostility to the principle of political self-determination of nations is one, and only one: national-liberalism, safeguarding the state privileges of the Russian bourgeoisie. And all these opportunists among the Marxists of Russia, who just now … have attacked the right of nations to self-determination…in reality they simply lag behind national-liberalism, they corrupt the working class with national-liberal ideas”. (4)

The slogans that we raise in the Ukrainian struggle are the same as those formulated by Lenin: “Complete equality of rights of nations; right of self-determination of nations; fusion of the workers of all nations; such is the national program that teaches the workers Marxism, taught by the experience of the whole world and the experience of Russia”. (5)

This struggle is the starting point of the socialist revolution, because the decrepit and decadent Ukrainian bourgeoisie is incapable of carrying out the slightest democratic task, it is the workers and the people with their permanent struggle, who will break the chains of oppression of the Putin’s dictatorship and the Great Russian oligarchy.

This is how Leon Trotsky explained it: ” Ukraine is especially rich in experiences of false paths of struggle to achieve national emancipation… only political corpses can continue to place hope in any fraction of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie as the leader of the national struggle for emancipation. Only the Ukrainian proletariat is capable not only of carrying out this essentially revolutionary task, but also of taking the initiative for its solution The proletariat and only the proletariat can rally around itself the peasant masses and the genuinely revolutionary national intelligentsia ” (6)

From La Marx International we unconditionally support the struggle of the people of Ukraine for their independence and national self-determination, we promote the revolutionary struggle demanding the end of all interference by NATO and the imperialist powers, fighting for the defeat of the Russian troops, and the unity of the peoples of the East and the world for the fall of the reactionary capitalist dictatorship of Putin. This is the path to continue promoting the world struggle against capitalism, and for Global Socialism.

Notes

(1) Nahuel Moreno. “Transition Program Update” . 1980

(2), (3), (4) and (5) Vladimir Lenin ” The right of nations to self-determination” May 1914

(6) León Trotsky. “The Ukrainian Question” April 22, 1939

Republished From: https://www.revolucion.org.es/en/for-an-independient-ukraine-out-of-nato-down-with-putin/

The post For an Independent Ukraine! Out of NATO! Down with Putin! appeared first on Asia Commune.

March 24, 2023

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: Best of Laws and the Worst of Law Enforcement – The IMF and the IGP

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility has approved a fund to assist Sri Lanka at this time of terrible economic crisis. While there are many things to talk about that issue, we wish at the very beginning to highlight what we think is the most important issue that should be brought to the notice of the people on this matter. 

The IMF has strongly recommended, in fact, has made it one of its key demands, that the corruption in the country has to be brought under control or to eliminate it as a condition of this loan. 

That is quite understandable, because otherwise, this money will also land where other monies have landed in the past, to benefit most ‘individuals’, rather than the country. The IMF recommends that for this purpose of the elimination of corruption, very comprehensive laws should be passed in Sri Lanka regarding the elimination of corruption. 

However, at the very start, we wish to highlight that the mere passing of a law as the IMF suggests is wholly inadequate to deal with this objective of the elimination of corruption in Sri Lanka. Sometimes, the experts from Western countries may think that once a law is passed, it will get automatically implemented. 

That is not the case in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has had a very developed system of law, and at the same time, it has also in recent times brought in some very progressive international laws under the pressure of international agencies. However, the problem in Sri Lanka is that while the law exists, the law is not enforced.  The Executive can be very comfortable in passing any legislation, if they have the adequate majority to do that in the Parliament, because that will remain just in a book and nothing else will happen. 

Examples are many.  For example, Sri Lanka, passed the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel. Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22 of 1994, which is one of the most remarkably developed laws when compared with international laws. Similar laws have been passed in other matters, like children’s rights, women’s rights, and even on issues like poverty alleviation and many other matters. 

They are all good looking laws, which are, as you know, never touched and never implemented.  The reason is that Sri Lanka’s crisis is essentially a crisis of law enforcement, not the lack of laws. Law enforcement is understood more like the use of violence and you know, direct punishments, rather than the enforcement of the law, through a proper system of a functioning policing system. 

The Policing system has been seriously criticised even by the Supreme Court (SC), including in a very recent case where the SC said that “the Sri Lankan Police has ceased to be a professional force.” It was referring to a case of ‘extra-judicial killings’, and the Court noted that it is a very frequent practice, despite many reminders by even the SC, and the Police authorities including the Inspector General of Police (IGP), having done almost nothing to improve this situation.  In fact, the situation is deteriorating. If you ask the Police, unofficially, they will say, ‘this is not due to their fault, it is because of external forces, particularly politicians who interfere with their work, and that if they in fact do serious work, they get punished.” 

And, there are glaring examples of very ‘credible work’, done by some very competent investigators, into some very serious crimes and the result has been that they have been taken out of their jobs, while some had to flee from the country, and others had to remain, go to even jail for some time, and now await trials which are kept on being postponed, the latter which is also a way of punishment in Sri Lanka.  To put a ‘faults case’, and then keep on postponing for years and years so that the officer loses his/her job during that time, while his/her family and himself/herself, suffer for many years for nothing is the norm. And, that is a way that the law enforcement officers serious about their jobs are being treated. 

The obstacles to investigations into allegations of corruption maybe summed up as follows:

The failures in the investigations into corruption in its various forms, are due to many factors. Some important factors are as follows: 

1. A lack of a clear policy of the State to require strict investigations into all complaints regarding crimes related to corruption. In fact, the existing policy is to discourage such investigations on the basis of many considerations which favour those who engage in such crimes. 

2. The lack of trained Police investigators into crimes in general, but most specifically, into crimes relating to financial and other forms of corruption.  Investigations into crimes other than those committed by those who are called ordinary criminals has been very rare, as a result of which, the experience processed by the law enforcement agencies into such corruption is very limited. Thus, without a considerable effort to improve the quality of the investigations into corruption related crimes, it is very unlikely that the IMF recommendations on this matter will be practically put into effect. 

3. The resources that are needed for investigations into financial and other crimes are also not available to the investigation agencies. The development in this area of more technologically based investigations has been very negligible. Besides, such investigations require equipment in order to conduct such inquiries thoroughly and also to preserve evidence, and this is hardly available to the investigating agencies. 

4. Perhaps the most disheartening aspect on this matter is the absence of protection for independent and committed investigators. There are highly publicised cases of such investigators being punished without any basis and some having had to flee the country as a result of serious death threats. Thus, the professional environment that is needed for the proper performance of their functions is virtually absent.

5. Direct political interferences into investigations into crimes related to corruption.  The laws relating to interference or the obstruction of justice is hardly being enforced. 

6. There are public attacks, directly or indirectly led by the Executive on oversight mechanisms such as the Auditor General’s Department, the Judiciary itself and other agencies such as the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka which have the legal obligations to oversee the prevention of corruption.

7. There are heavy attacks on the media which seriously pursue information relating to corruption and constantly call for investigations. This has created a very serious setback to the work of the media. Meanwhile, cultivating a politically biased section of the media which pursues the critics and creates baseless propaganda campaigns against those who are demanding investigations into corruption is also a negative factor. 

8. The cultivation of underground elements to engage in physical attacks and even make death threats and sometimes commit extra-judicial killings against those who make complaints of corruption or those who in various ways engage in anti-corruption work also creates a climate of fear affecting proper investigations into allegations of corruption. 

So, there is a glaring problem of the collapse of the system of law enforcement.  And, a test can be seen within the coming days, concerning who will be selected for the IGP position. Will it be a person committed to reforming the policing system, to enforce the rule of law strictly and bring it to the respectable institution that it once was? Or, will it be another self serving officer who will serve ‘political masters’?  Now, that is the kind of issue that the IMF loan will be faced with soon. 

It is not only in the policing that there is a problem, as in other law enforcement agencies for example like the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, they face the same problem.  In countries where there is successful law enforcement regarding corruption, one of the first steps is to eliminate all police officers from the ‘investigative functions’ in the Commission. The Commission develops its own ‘professional staff’, as investigators, who will work independently for the Commission.  Like for example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Hong Kong, one of the most effective corruption control agencies. 

Now, will the Government and will the Executive, be willing to enforce that kind of a system in order to ensure that corruption is eliminated.  The IMF will be able to find the answer very soon. 

It is time for the people, the Parliament, and also the IMF itself, to examine this question now itself.  ‘What is the capacity of Sri Lanka to enforce good law enforcement related laws once they are passed’?. 

The enforcement aspect should be addressed within the law itself and of course, the resources should be made available for effective implementation. Otherwise, very soon, it will be discovered that the recommendations that were given by the IMF on this occasion, have not borne any fruit, in the same way that the earlier pronouncement about corruption elimination has also borne no fruit.

# # #

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014. 

Read this Statement online

The post SRI LANKA: Best of Laws and the Worst of Law Enforcement – The IMF and the IGP appeared first on Asia Commune.