Choke on definitions

DEMOCRACY

Demos = people +  Kratia = power, rule

The modern definition of democracy is “Form of government, where a constitution guarantees basic personal and political rights, fair and free elections, and independent courts of law.”

Therefore the key elements of a Democracy are:

• Guarantee of basic Human Rights to every individual person vis-à-vis the state and its authorities as well as vis-à-vis any social groups (especially religious institutions) and vis-à-vis other persons.

• Separation of Powers between the institutions of the state:

Government [Executive Power],

Parliament [Legislative Power] and

Courts of Law [Judicial Power]

• Freedom of opinion, speech, press and mass media

• Religious liberty

• General and equal right to vote (one person, one vote)

• Good Governance (focus on public interest and absence of corruption)

The U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) defined democracy as: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

The Sri Lankan style democracy can be defined as “Form of government appointed by the people, where a constitution is just a piece of paper, governing body decides the rule of the country as the ignorant people are duped to accept all that is dished out to them by the anointed governing body”.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka even the governing body is ignorant of the meaning of a democracy…the country is somewhat a monarchical oligarchy…!

await for more…

What more do you need?

Today I address the diaspora in these articles:
Excerpt: More than 25,000 Tamils, especially youth, across the Europe took to the streets of Brussels on Monday demanding EU to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to allow medicine and food to the civilians besieged by its military in all fronts and to demand the Sri Lankan military to pull out from the Tamil homeland.
40,000 Tamils stage protests in front of EU, UN in Europe

Protesters in Brussells

Rally in New York urges UN, US to intervene to stop genocide

Rally in New York

Excerpt: More than 200 expatriate Tamils protested in front of the Office of the United States Mission to the United Nations Monday, urging the United States and United Nations stop Sri Lanka military from firing into the ‘safe zone’ on the Tamil civilians. Demonstrators shouted slogans calling upon US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, to ensure that refugees fleeing the war zone are given shelter and basic facilities, and not confined to internment camps without any freedom to lead a normal life.

Tamils jam Toronto, demand Sri Lanka to stop genocide

Protesters in Toronto

Excerpt: More than 100,000 expatriate Tamils crowded downtown Toronto between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday to raise the plight of the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the war in Vanni, and subjected to continuous artillery attacks and aerial bombardment by Sri Lanka military.

My question to the ranting diaspora on the streets of Toronto, Brussels and New York is why would you want to help save Prabhakaran and not the fellow Tamil citizens who are living in IDP camps and those that are being used as shrapnel guards for the LTTE!?! They keep on shouting genocide and to recognise Tamil Eelam from their safe havens in the European countries whereas the Tamil citizens being imprisoned by their so-called liberators in Sri Lanka are going through unspeakable atrocities as we speak at the hands of the LTTE.  Have we seen even a single one of these diaspora willing to help these fellow citizens? Have they tried to reach out to those that escaped the clutches of LTTE? What is visible is their selfish demand for a Tamil Eelam on the expense of the poor souls who are left in the Wanni and the war stricken areas.

The diaspora need to clarify facts from fiction. If they have stepped in to the country at least once after leaving it some twenty years ago they would realise what is going on. This is where I think the government needs to act wisely. If we are to enlighten not only the diaspora but also the international community of the plight of the war stricken civilians the government needs to open up the doors to an independent media. It needs to create a media space for the benefit of all instead of the false propaganda stations they allow at the moment. People need to realise that not only are brave soldiers sacrificing their lives for the betterment of ours but the government is doing an injustice to their slain lives by blindfolding the general population. Certain government top guns have taken matters to their own hands and personalised this war which is quite evident by the out lash in the recent SBS video documentary “Hunting the Tigers”.The extent of the government propaganda stunt is quite visible in most of the comments left on this article by fellow Sri Lankans. Emulating the Bush propaganda the current government propaganda screams “either you are with us or against us” in all it’s media rantings creating a “good vs evil” scenario. This is reason enough for people to see even SBS as a pro-LTTE site, and who knows people who are brave enough to read this article to the end might be thinking that I am pro-LTTE as well just because I love my country and want to be able to point out the wrongs from the rights and make the government who ever and which ever is in power a better one at providing guidance to the betterment of the country.

Unfortunately for most of the people in Sri Lanka they have no freedom to express their views in the current situation. Everyone is talking about the human rights of the people indisplaced by or in the midst of the conflict. This has quite ironically shrouded the fact that the state of human rights in the whole country is appalling. Abductions, killings, threats and misery lies at all corners aiming people in the media to ordinary dwellers and bloggers. What more do you need to understand that the government needs to pave way for an independent source of information not only to educate the diaspora but also the international community. By restricting this the government is backing in to a corner which ends in totalitarianism.

We are all patriots and as Mark Twain once said “Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.” True we salute the government for its efforts to stop the war but that does not mean that the all that the government does in the pretext of war is justified. Think my fellow Sri Lankan citizens what more do you need?