‘Our education system creates young dinosaurs’ - Ruwanthie de Chickera

Award winning playwright and director Ruwanthie de Chickera believes that there is no gender inequality in the contemporary Sri Lankan arts field and that the field is very open to women today. “Yet, however, other pressures of society – like judgment of women artistes, pressures of family life, prejudices and double standards of society pull women artistes down more than they pull male artistes down,” she said. “Within the industry itself, I feel that there is a lot of respect and space for women to work,” she said speaking to The Nation about her latest play and the path she traveled.

Working in the field for more than 15 years now, Ruwanthie’s plays have been produced in Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, India, Australia and the Philippines. She reminisced that the influence she received from her school, Methodist College, Colombo, played a big part in setting the path in writing and theater.  She recalled the memories in the school theater. “Playing a female role for the first time in my final year in school is an unforgettable memory. Because of my height, I had been always cast in male roles,” Ruwanthie said adding how she wrote a play which finally allowed her to play a female role on school stage. “I wrote a play with only female characters. And that finally set things right.”

Ruwanthie was just 16 years old when she was first put on the professional stage. She says that she is unaware of the factor which inspired her to develop affection towards theater and art, yet whichever that is, it is deep seated and also continues to motivate her. She wrote her first professionally recognized play at the age of 19 and it was picked up by the Royal Court Theater in London’s West End and was first performed there. “I guess this was the turning point which pretty much decided my future,” she reflected.

Her first play won the British Council International New Playwriting Award (1997) and was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London. In 2000 she was awarded the Gratiaen Prize. She is also the recipient of the 2001 Presidential Scholarship for Theatre from the Government of Sri Lanka. 

In 2000, Ruwanthie, with a group of friends set up the Stages Theatre Group which she considers as another significant milestone in her career. Stages Theatre Group is a theatre company committed to create socially conscious and cutting edge original Sri Lankan Theatre.  

 Ruwanthie’s first screenplay ‘Machang’ won several awards internationally, including Best Film at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and the Best Screenplay Award at the Durban I.F.F. She believes that Machang is a special movie because of the balance it maintains between a comedy and a tragedy. “I am a big fan of this mix.  I believe it brings out truths in an unusual way,” she said, admiring her work. “I was very lucky with Machang. I knew the movie would get made and shown. This is very rare opportunity for an artiste in Sri Lanka,” she added.

According to the critics Machang evidenced that Sri Lankan movie makers could still make films with powerful messages, meaning that there is a lot of potential in the field. Yet, the critics themselves condemn the field for not producing acceptable Sinhala films. When asked, Ruwanthie said that there is couple of reasons behind why we don’t see many fine Sri Lankan productions or powerful movie plots. “This happens mainly because our artistes have to struggle so hard, against such odds, for so long to make a movie. Then, even after they make it, they can't show it. There is no money and there is so little support,” she stressed that it is very frustrating situation.  

When asked whether she is satisfied with the effort made by the young artistes in the film industry today, she said that she doesn’t believe that the problem lies with the effort that is put into the industry. “There is a lot of people who are working very hard, completely alone, to make films.  However there is no support for them.” She reiterated.  

“What 'needs to be done' is a can of worms isn't it?” she asked. “Basically we need a complete re-addressing of our priorities as a society.  Unless we become a country and a people and a government that value good and quality art, who value the depth and the heights that art can take society to, we will always be in this rut of sporadic success stories in the midst of many, many failings,” she said. “If we support our artistes properly, we can then demand that they produce quality work,” she added.

Speaking further about the contemporary Sri Lankan theater, she pointed out that we do not have a strong culture of criticism which could help shape fine dramatists and take art to a higher level in society. She explained that a strong culture of criticism is necessary for art to survive and to penetrate deeper into people's lives and also for self-reflection and social change. “We don't have a strong culture of criticism. There are a few good critics but they also work very much on their own - and their work is not picked up adequately by society.  This is because we don't have a surrounding culture which supports criticism,” she pointed out.

As she elucidated, at a very basic level, in order to produce good critics, we need to produce people who are familiar with critical thinking - people who are drawn to the practice of 'thinking critically'. “Unfortunately our entire education system, which runs on ridiculous levels of reproduction of notes and memorizing, does not produce young people who are prone to critical thinking,” she said. . “In an age where exams are redundant and information is no longer a privilege, our entire education system runs on forcing millions of children to spend almost 20 years of their lives memorizing and memorizing useless notes in order to pass exams. Young people we are creating are dinosaurs; not equipped to be useful to society.  Because society no longer needs people who have stored up buckets of knowledge about things that already exist,” she added.

 “With a very few exceptions, most of our schools and universities are still producing people who can only reproduce what has already been taught them.  They cannot look at something and see what it could be, what is lacking, cannot connect it to wider and deeper issues, or think of anything original,” she expressed her dissatisfaction.

She reiterated that the problem of lack of critical thinking goes beyond arts. “We are very far behind, as a society, compared to where the world is headed,” she said. “This problem of lack of critical thinking is wider than an arts issue.  In fact the arts seems to be one of the few disciplines that even sees this as something important to instill in society,” she noted.

There are many fine Sinhala theater productions today. Yet, not many gets adapted to English or Tamil. Ruwanthie supposes that adapting the dramas to English would help them claim international recognition. “This is one of the reasons that we have stated working in both English and Sinhala. We want our plays to be both local and international, immediately.  This opened up many doors. You have to put in a little more effort for this, but it is worth it,” she emphasized.  

She also spoke about her latest play, ‘Walking Path’. This is a play that was devised along the several walking paths of Colombo.  It is a play that tries to understand what is happening to the city and its people as a result of the emergence of the walking paths of Colombo city.  It addresses the city’s new found interest in exercise and healthy living; it profiles the urban dweller’s obsession with technology and recreation.  It looks at the control and maintenance of these places created for public use. The drama was first staged in July this year.

She said that the drama is an examination of human behavior in the pleasure parks. “There is no plot.  There is a concept.  The concept is the impact of the walking paths and this intense drive to 'beautify' Colombo after the war, on society.  It’s an examination of human behavior in these parks. It’s simply about what this tells us about our people, and our country,” she said.

Yet, ‘Walking Path’ is a play without words. “Communication is not only through words.  In fact, words are often a big obstacle to communication. They often stand in the way of honest communication.  We pay far too much attention words when we communicate,” Ruwanthie said adding that removing words from the performance was a relief almost. “It left us with the basics of human communication - which is incredibly complex and subtle and open when it is not limited and defined by words,” she explained. Also, in these parks, all behavior is on public display.  We can see everything but we don't hear anything. The play reflects this situation of people watching people,” she added.  

Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena commenting on Ruwanthie’s play said that the play pushes the boundaries of the imagination about the lifestyles created by the contemporary socio-political base in the near future. The most dangerous suppression may not come in the familiar image of suppression, but in an innocent image beloved by you. When things you love are compiled and supplied by the system, look at it with judgment and suspicion.

Ruwanthie commenting on the audience’s response she received so far said that she is overwhelmed by it. “People have truly responded very strongly to the play.  They have loved its relevance; they find it timely and very insightful. They seemed to find it very politically interesting,” she said. “Also, they loved the form we chose, the 'no words' discipline of the performance. It seemed to have created a new theatrical experience for the audience,” she added. 

Finding the story behind the story

 Interview with the author of ‘A known story’ Lakshaman Piyasena

Sri Lanka was in the wrong track long before the Portuguese invasion and India’s impact on the country was present since the Maha Parinirvana of Buddha, says the latest book written by veteran journalist Lakshman Piyasena. The author launching his book, Danna Kathawak (A Known Story) attempts to discuss the ways in which the country can work to re-establish the joy of mind and reconciliation that has been lost. Piyasena said that he named his book ‘A Known Story’ because it explains the situation of the country which is illusive to the citizen. “It’s the present situation of the country and my experiences gathered from newspaper journalism. Although it’s a known-unknown story to everyone else,” Piyasena laughed.

Piyasena worked as a journalist for Divaina newspaper for almost three decades. He said that becoming a writer or a journalist was not something he planned to become when he was a child. It was mid 1980s. As a young schoolboy Lakshman loved music. He had a habit of listening to songs. When he was in grade nine, a year before he sat for his Ordinary Level Examinations he experienced a dramatic incident which inspired him to write. “We didn’t have television or mobile phones during this era. Our main source of entertainment was the radio and the comic newspapers. Also we used go watch films. Therefore I developed a taste for songs; both Sinhala and Hindi,” he said. “I was interested in information on the singers and started to collect small books with song collections. We used to exchange books. But it was against school regulations,” he recalled.

He sneaked a collection of songs by Priya Sooriyasena into school. His book Danna Kathawak explains the incident in detail. “Each song in my song book was written about the sweetness of love…All these lyrics were of Premakeerthi. Although I get to know about Premakeerthi who penned about ‘love’ in such an amazing way much later, I was a huge fan of Priya Sooriyasena. I remember how I used to enjoy humming the songs in this song book as if it happened yesterday. Unforgettable sequence of events commenced with the disappearance of this song book. My song book disappeared on this day.” (Pg 18)

Since it was against the school regulations, Lakshman couldn’t make a complaint and he had to remain silent about the lost book. Miraculously, the song book reappeared in his school bag a week after its disappearance. He was happy to get his book back, but what he saw inside the book was even more fascinating. “There were startling changes made in the book. A line or two from each song were highlighted… When you read it in the underlined sequence it gave out a particular message. When I read it I felt like I had the most amazing write-up in my hands. Sweetness of love was overflowing in the lines that were underlined, which formed something similar to a love letter.” (Pg 21)

He believed it was usually girls who underlined songs like this. Yet he said that he never found out who underlined the songs in his book. “This incident made me realize how remarkable it would be to write. I was changed and a new world was opened in front of my eyes,” he said adding that this inspired him to write poems and essays to newspapers continuously.

Piyasena is from Bombuwala, Kalutara and studied at Mathugama CWW Kannangara Central College. His journey began when he moved to Colombo from his village searching for a job. It was the 87-89 insurgency. “I didn’t have plans to join a newspaper. But with the recognition of writing to newspaper and the connections I had built by then, I was recruited as a trainee journaist at Upali newspapers,” he recollected. From this day onwards he was a fulltime journalist at Divaina until he left his job there in 2007. Apart from his excellence in newspaper journalism he was also recognized as a critic. He authored several books including Wawe Banda Hotalaya (Critisism), Wasunu Mangpeth (Political), Wishmitha Vishwaya Madin, Sahalluwe Genawa (Poetry), Niwena Mihira (Poetry) and We Diya Borawa (Novel). He is also a celebrated poet and a lyricist. His latest book Danna Kathawak describes his experiences as a media man, observations and opinions on sociopolitical issues in the country.

Piyasena stressed that he left the job at Divaina because he didn’t feel that he can perform as a true journalist in the contemporary media field. “The satisfaction of being a journalist was gone,” he said. He said that he didn’t see a point of hanging onto an unmoving field and therefore he walked out. He opined that the fall of electronic and print media in Sri Lanka started when the authorities started giving priority to commercial amusement instead of the joy of mind.

“Amusement given by a person who dances after studying dancing is different from the amusement given by a child who is made to dance on television. Singing with an understanding about music and knowing the limitations and a singing of an amateur on electronic media who is said to be better than the veteran do not provide the same entertainment. It’s clearly two different forms of amusement. Singing and dancing with an understanding of literature enhance the joy of mind. Singing and dancing made to be performed by the media encourages the commercial amusement in the audience. Electronic media which saw light after 1994 clearly draws a fine line between commercial amusement and the joy of mind.” (Pg 219-220)

He further explains his opinion on the topic joy of mind in fourth chapter of Danna Kathawak.

A main topic in Danna Kathawak is the historical signal which he refers to as Ithihasa Sangchawa and he explained that it is not wise to depend only on popular written historical sources to get the correct historical signal. He also pointed out that there are two types of written history. “One is the written history the other one was made to be written. Mahavamsa was made to be written, not everything included in it is reliable. It could have been influenced by the rulers of the era in which it was written,” he explained. He said that he believes that a person should be following folklore if he or she wants to find out the real situation during a particular period. “Folklore was not forced to be written or remembered. Therefore we could assume that there is no exaggeration in those stories,” he opined.

Another debatable chapter of the book is Siripade Samanola Kanda Pene. Piyasena explained the content included in the subtopic Athuru Mithuru Dambadiva Thuru. “There was a Pali mission in Sri Lanka in fifth centaury. Historical sources in favor of the country were mostly preserved by the folklore and folk rhymes (Kata mathura) if looked into the depths even the political conspiracies can be identified,” he iterated. He mentioned two folk rhymes which have hidden meaning. “Kotte kalale kisille – datha mada ganna raale and the famous athuru mithuru dambadiwa thuru are such folk rhymes,” he said. ‘Kotte kalale kisille…’ warned about a possible threat to the Tooth relic by the Portuguese.

“‘Athuru Mithuru…’ speaks about a political influence which Sri Lanka should be alert about at all times,” he further said. According to him when this riddle is simplified it says, ‘Hathuru- Mithuru Dambadiwa Nirathuru’ (Always Enemies- Friends India). (Pg 306). “India started envying us from the day Buddha said that Buddhism will be protected long-lastingly in Sri Lanka. Since then they try to get Sri Lanka to abide by them,” he said. “They also tried to get this done when Sri Lanka was given freedom in 1948. Fortunately their efforts were in vain,” he added.

He reiterated that contemporary political ideologies were prevailing in the country in empowering the weaknesses of its population. “This started back in 1956. Changes occurred in with the 1956 political revolution planted the seed of hypocrisy in the society,” he expressed his view adding that this led to the 21^st century’s feudalistic   backward ruling.  “Today this is further empowered by the leftists and Bikkhu politics,” Piyasena added.

“Political revolution in 1956 Panchamaha Balawegaya is a turning point in Bikkhu politics. This political revolution politicized Buddhism to an extent that the Buddhist temple became a party office. After 50 years the next step of this was seen that the bikkhus contested for parliament demanding a Darma Rajya.

It won’t be a mistake to compare with the events started in 1971 JVP terror politics and its advanced terrors after 17 years from its initiation.” (Pg 103)

Yet Piyasena noted that the country can have a positive attitude towards its future since the new generation is open to new information. “I believe that generation of the 21 centaury is the best generation. They are open to new information. They have the power to break this hypocrisy and move towards,” he said hopefully.     

Street art of Art Street

Pics by Ravindra Dharmathilake

If one takes Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, now called Nelum Pokuna Mawatha, to travel from Nelum Pokuna Theater towards National Art Gallery, the paintings displayed along the road cannot be missed. The exquisite paintings of realistic, wildlife, modern to integral styles as well as portraits grab the attention of passersby. Paintings on novel themes or revolutionary pieces show that the art street is a place where artists perform experiments and reach out for novelty. If one happens to visit Art Street during weekends he or she will be able to observe more than a thousand unique paintings. Yet, this experience is given to you free. 

Art Street is a collection of achievers; a group of talented artists who displays their creations for art lovers. Representing all the artists on Art Street, Rajakaruna Ananda, coordinator of the Open Air Art Society; the society functioning among Art Street painters, spoke to ‘Fine’ about the functions of Art Street. “We prefer to call this Art Street, as this is the only such place in Sri Lanka,” Ananda said proudly.

Art Street is located along Ananda Kumaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 7. “This is the only art street in Sri Lanka. There are countries where they have streets like this in the major cities in the world, where people can inspect, learn and buy paintings.” He explained that street art is simply visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues and an art street is where an artist exhibits and sells art work.

Art Street is located in the center of tourist attractions. Art Street runs along opposite the back boundary of Viharamaha Devi Park, where Nelum Pokuna Theater is on one side and Kala Bhawana and National Museum on the other. Ananda pointed out that this road, frequented by tourists and art lovers, helps to promote their work. “In a way, this street contributes to the country’s economy through foreign revenue. Many tourists are attracted to this because this street is only a few minutes away from the Independence Square, Laksala and Colombo based tourist hotels,” he said.

A person who visits the Art Street might ponder whether these painters are unfortunate to not have a proper place to exhibit their creations. Yet, artist Ananda said that each and every artist on Art Street stays there voluntarily and they do get the best of appreciations from buyers as well as art lovers. “We are all happy to be here,” he said. “This is not a mere art sale; this also adds beauty to the city.” He said that almost all artists on Art Street are quite well-off and they are not here because they are unable to procure space in a private gallery.

Most of the artists on the street represent an art society, ‘Open Air Art Society’, and as Ananda explained this society maintains the quality of the paintings. “Our paintings will last a long time, much longer than our own lifetime. We also discuss our basic needs and future plans to function as a society,” he said. The foundation for the Open Air Art Society was laid over 15 years ago by the students of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts out of frustration that they weren’t able to find a gallery for their work.

“This society started functioning officially under this name seven years ago. Their attempt was successful and Art Street became a permanent place for painters to exhibit their talent.” Open Air Art Society has more than 50 members from different parts of the country, who use different styles.

According to Ananda, artists on Art Street are a mixed bag. “There are self-taught artists to artists who have received their bachelor’s degree in arts. There are wildlife painters to modern artists. There are the young and the adult,” he said. “Yet, we all follow the same guidelines to produce the best we can and I can guarantee that these paintings are of the finest quality, similar to most art you find in private galleries,” he added.

The busiest days of the Art Street are during weekends. Most of the artists can be seen alongside their paintings and some will also do new paintings during this time. It is a place of wisdom for them where they share their experiences, novelties and ideas. “Most of the artists here are engaged in other occupations. Most among them are art teachers. Some get invitations to paint for private institutions like hotels and companies. There are plenty of those who provide their paintings to private art galleries or foreign buyers,” he said. “Therefore, they will not be available on Art Street during the weekdays. But everyone flocks here on Saturday and Sunday.”

He also spoke about the customers of Art Street. “We have both foreign and local customers. We’ve been on the street for a long time now. We will not be able to survive for this long, if our paintings are not of the finest quality,” he explained. Art Street artists can also be commissioned. “If art lovers can’t find what they like on this street, they have the ability to choose their favorite artists and get them to paint what they desire using the colors they want and according to the canvas size they want,” Ananda pointed out another specialty of Art Street.

When buyers visit an art gallery hoping to buy art, they might not get the chance to talk to the artists. They only get to speak to the mediator who collects art and exhibits. If buyers could buy the paintings directly from the rightful owner, the price of a painting is less. When a mediator gets involved, the price goes up. “Most of the art galleries address only to a particular level of society. But Art Street is open to everyone. There are people who provide paintings for galleries here. It’s the same quality, but two prices,” he said.

“But we do not duplicate those paintings painted for galleries here. You can’t find the same painting here and at a gallery,” he noted. He also mentioned that on average Art Street sells five painting each day. “We sell more on weekends and less on the rainy season,” he said. There are paintings worth Rs 1,000 to 80,000 on the street. According to artists, buyers mostly demand traditional paintings which represent Sri Lankan culture. Ananda also mentioned that the demand is very good that they cannot complain about the local buyers for lack of demand. 

“Sometimes it is surprising to see the enthusiasm of the art lovers. Art Street is the best place where art lovers of any level can come and enjoy art,” he said. 

He further explained how the value of a painting rises when it is exhibited at a reputed gallery. He explained how the space allocated to a single painting; time and space the art lover has inside a gallery and the special attention towards a single painting becomes the factors which increase the price. “All this should be calculated when the price of a painting is determined. This is why there is a difference in prices,” he explained. 

Art Street is not a burden to anyone. All the artists on the street are satisfied with their current placement. “Few years ago, we were placed around Viharamaha Devi Park. We were allowed to display our paintings on their iron fence. That fence was taken down when the park was modified and consequently we were asked to move here,” he said that everyone is happy that the Ministry of Defense has promised that the Art Street will continue to function along Nelum Pokuna Mawatha.

Originally published : http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/30183-street-art-of-art-street.html 

Prose’s fall from grace (An Interview with Jayathilaka Kammallaweera)

Jayathilaka Kammallaweera, one of the leading short story writers in Sri Lanka who began his journey writing short stories to Rasa Katha and poems to Geethanjalee; weekly papers of Dawasa newspapers, published his first short story collection Kalu Sapaththu, which won the State Literary Award in 1985, at the age of 40. After taking off as a full time political activist, Kammallaweera continued his work as a writer mainly focusing his work on problems of the working class. So far he has published 24 books including seven novels and ten short story collections. Five books are among the State Literary Award winners

Pic by Chanadana Wijesinghe

 

“The prize for a person who comes first in a reality show, singing someone else’s songs on stage exceeds 17,000,000 rupees. But the person who wins the State Literary Awards, receives only 55,000 rupees. That is the status of literature in Sri Lanka. How would you expect a progress in the field?” Jayathilaka Kammallaweera raised a question. Kammallaweera pointed out that the department of Cultural Affairs can find more than enough willing sponsors for the prizes. “That is not a difficult task. Over two million is spent on the ceremony of Swarna Pustaka Awards and the prize also exceeds Rs 500,000. Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association knows that they can earn a great deal from the nominated books and that they won’t lose by spending on the award ceremony. Similarly, Cultural Affairs Department could also treat the artistes better if they make an attempt,” he explained.

According to him this unwillingness of the ruling classes plays a big role in the fall of the interest in literature which would severely damage society in the long run. “Literature disciplines people. Look at a child reading a book. He cannot engage with anything else when he is occupied with reading. Reading a book for an hour equals an hour of meditation. Apart from that the child learns to identify human emotions and start empathizing. This gives him the ability to become a good human being,” Kammallaweera pointed out.

Decrease in book sales indicates less number of readers and decreased reading point to lack of discipline and good qualities in society. Kammallaweera believes that neglecting humanities also aggravates the issue. “Humanities studies in the university syllabuses are on the ledge and will be discarded very soon. It is true that science subjects are important. We need good hearted citizens as badly as we need doctors and engineers,” he said. “Look at the doctors today. They treat hundreds of patients a day apart from the service at the government hospitals. They charge their private patients over 1,000 rupees per session. Look how money centers around one level of the society. There is no need for them to charge so much if they get such a large number of patients. They won’t do that since they are incapable of harboring such sentiments. Their brains are nurtured with science but their hearts are not nurtured with humanity. That is why an aesthetic subject is essential in higher education,” he elaborated.

Kammallaweera supposes that a transformation in the current education system would resolve this issue. “Regardless the government in power, they should accept that the development of the country cannot be measured only by its physical advancement. Spiritual growth should also be a measurement,” he said. “For this, literature should become a mandatory subject which is not limited to a few questions on an exam paper. As the first step, all the teachers should be educated on teaching student how to grasp art,” he suggested.

‘They are not interested in books or reading as we were’, is a common complaint against youth today. Kammallaweera identified the fact that children are not taught to grasp the ideas in literary work, as the major reason for this. “This also reasons out the decrease in book sales and in printing,” he reiterated. “When you look at the crowds at the annual book fair, you might think that the sales are relatively high. But it is the other way around.” He explained that a couple of decades ago an amateur writer would also print over 2,000 copies in first print. Now it has come down to 500 copies, he complained.

Another writers’ woe is that book publishers are reluctant to accept short story collections. Kammallaweera believes that this reluctance is a negative trend. “Not only the short story, poems are also given step motherly treatment by publishers. This happens because it is hard to make profit from short stories and poetry collections. These collections don’t contain many pages therefore can’t be prized more than 200 rupees. The publisher could profit only if they manage to sell all 1,000 copies and have to go for a reprint. Earlier they accepted short stories, but now it has also fallen from grace,” he lamented.

He continued to speak about the Swarna Pusthaka Award ceremony organized by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association. “They have the ability to reestablish the interest in literature through this although they are more concerned about sales.” However Kammallaweera reiterated that the organizers should also consider the appreciation of the short story and poem. “They have overlooked this. I know they have had this discussion within the association, but many are against it.” 

Kammallaweera compared the novel and the short story. “There are novels written for different levels or readership depending on the degree of understanding. There are some novels which are not rich in language or story value, but records high sales. So anyone can choose the novel which suits his or her level. But not everyone can read and grasp the message of a short story,” he pointed out. “A short story is tender than a novel. A high level of maturity is required to understand it. An in-depth understanding of life, society as well as language and literature is required. The short story could be re-promoted if the reader could be made to reach that level of maturity from school going age,” he restated.

Most of Kammallaweera’s work revolve around the labor party of society; in other words people who work. According to him most of his work is inspired by his experiences with the laborers during his political career. “Over 90 percent of my work is based on true experiences I gained over 12 years of labor politics. That is why it’s all about the working class.” According to him, his efforts are to retell the stories that occurred during a bygone era with different political settings. “Time goes by and people tend to forget,” he reasoned.

Comparing his earlier literature he said that now he is focusing more on the literary skills rather than the content. “I’m aware of this change. Take my first short story collection, Kalu Sapaththu, for example; the literature in that is not aesthetic, but very promotional.” He explained that he now focuses more on the artistic quality of a story, which is essential improvement if the Sri Lankan Short Story is to be taken to the universal level. “But you have to see that you build a readership around this or else all the effort will be in vain,” he iterated. “Writers romanticize these working class characters. This is a marked negative feature in populist story writing which was fashionable at the time I wrote Kalu Sapaththu,” he added.

Thaththalage Kawathawa which was selected as one of the Excellent Novels in 1991 by the State Literary Panel is a story of three children of a leftist political leader who cared only about making a better society and a country and neglected his own children. “I wanted to express my great distress over some incidents that took place during 1988 and 1989. There was a group of people in the socialists’ movement who worked towards building a better society with fullest commitment. It is true that they couldn’t come in to power, but they succeeded in instilling a sense of caste, class and gender issues and the need for equality in society. At the time, the Samasamajakaaraya (leftist) was considered a hero in the village as he was bold, fearless and always ready to criticize bad and support good. Twenty-three people like this, whom I worked with very closely, were murdered branded as traitors. I am still shocked that this happened.”

He explained that this situation occurred due to a theoretical mistake socialists made. “They joined the Samagi Peramuna to establish a coalition government. For example after Dr. NM Perera became the Minister of Finance he placed many financial sanctions. He had a great plan for developing the country; in fact he succeeded in making Sri Lanka a debt-free country. But on the other hand there were all sorts of barriers like Haal Polu and Miris Polu, restrictions on individual quota. A government like that, established with no effort could not take decisions as a government established by a revolution. That is what went wrong. It gave JVP an opportunity to brand them ‘traitors’ and kill them,” he said. “They weren’t just people; they were extraordinary human beings even though they could not fulfill their dream.”

Characters like the father in Thaththalage Kathawa are real characters according to him. “Their aim was to build a nation with equal rights and they believed that the success of their family would follow the success of the country,” he added.

Kammallaweera’s latest contribution; Prince is a story of a young man of a wealthy family. He is a mixture of both reckless qualities of his wealthy family and the influence of leftists. This influence of leftists’ politics makes him different from his brothers and also brings him closer to the reader. Prince never engages in an occupation but spends all the money he inherited. He respects equality and wishes women to have their freedom. He is even ready to grant sexual freedom to his wife. “I wanted to create a character like this along with a slight criticism of politics in the country,” he explained how he developed the story of Prince. “The Buddhist monk who preaches to us to renounce all mundane things wants to expand the temple grounds. Raja; a Tamil who has converted to a Sinhala man, gets killed by racists and Moorthi, a Tamil who has never set foot in Jaffna, born and raised in England cannot forsake his inherent Tamil culture when it comes to his dowry. That is how people truly are,” Kammallaweera scoffed at society.

He has also tried to discuss the cultural aspects that were neglected by the leftists. Similar to the father in Thaththalage Kathawa, many revolutionary characters in his stories, are failures in their personal lives. As Kammallaweera explained, it happened because they had only one goal; making the society better with equality. “Look at Trotsky’s life. His wife and children were abandoned. That should not be made the ideal,” he said. At one point in the novel, Prince says that a new left should be created if the country needs uplifting.

“This is my personal opinion coming out in Prince’s words. Indeed we need a new left but that doesn’t mean it should come in all red. What we need are people with morals. I have demonstrated how this should be done with the character of Prince,” he said. “We have only taken the mechanical aspect of Marxism. It taught us that everyone in the ruling class is heartless and it showed us the difference between the laborers and the rulers; not the similarities. Not all rulers are evil, there are people with compassion and empathy among them too,” Kammallaweera pointed out.

“An ideal human being should respect others’ point of view, recognize his faults and welcome change. Socialism and communism only focused on the class diversity. They protested to change the society but not the minds of the people living in it. The society cannot be changed without changing their thought patterns,” he opined.

“The artiste has a great deal of responsibility towards change. They could use their work to discuss socially sensitive topics like caste, abortions or gender issues. The artistes could become activists,” he said.

“When we were young we talked about the country and its future whenever we got together. Look at the topics of today’s youth. Reality shows and soppy meaningless topics. Not only the manner in which TV and radio program presenters present the shows but the way people respond to these shows are pathetic. It’s no surprise when leaders of this country take front row seats in these shows,” he lamented.

http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/23822-prose%E2%80%99s-fall-from-grace.html 

Sri Lanka highlighted for upswing in sexual attacks

About four years ago, foreign media warned that Sri Lanka is not a safe place to visit due to the armed conflict. Now that the armed conflict is over they seem to have found a new reason to continue discouraging foreigners from visiting Sri Lanka. This they do by emphasizing that Sri Lanka is a place ‘too dangerous’ to visit. On May 6, 2013, the US State Department’s travel advisory warned that foreign women should ‘exercise vigilance’ when visiting Sri Lanka, due to an upswing in sexual attacks against female visitors. Just a few days after the US State Department, the UK also issued a travel advisory asking the visitors to be mindful of organized and armed gangs known to operate in the country who have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence.

However a recent United Nations study involving multiple countries affirmed that more than one in ten men in Sri Lanka had admitted to having committed rape at least once. The study queries , ‘Why do some men use violence against women and how can we prevent it?’, it is based on a population based quantitative survey component of the study, which was conducted from 2010 to 2013 with more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women in nine sites across Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The report also mentions that they received the lowest responses from Sri Lanka.

The report produced from the study points out that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence against women globally. Twenty-one percent of the Sri Lankan participants reported that they’d experiencing at least one act of physical violence and 30 percent of female participants of Sri Lanka reported experiencing at least one emotionally abusive act by a male intimate partner in their life time where 41 percent reported using at least one emotionally abusive act against their intimate partner. According to the survey most of the violence in Sri Lanka occurs between married people and according to the survey this was particularly true for marital rape, which is known to be the most common form of rape.

However, under Sri Lankan law, marital rape is not a crime unless a judge has ordered a spousal separation. “This is spoken under the penal code of 363 section (a). Penal code 363 states, ‘A man is said to commit ‘rape’, when he has sexual intercourse with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the following descriptions - (a) Without her consent even were such a woman is his wife and she is judicially separated from the man.” Therefore if a woman needs relief she should be judicially separated from the man,” said Justice of the Peace and Unofficial Magistrate Ranjith Kumara Caldera.

Commenting on the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, Caldera said that as a lawyer he does not think that it needs any immediate amendments. “It is still in the process of being implemented. So we have to wait and see whether it is effective enough,” he explained. “But the amendment of penal code 363 section (a) should be considered since it does not provide relief to a woman experiencing marital rape. But then again the rights of a husband is challenged if that section is to be amended since it is considered a right of the husband to have sexual intercourse,” Calder explained.

It appears that economical abuse is also an important element of intimate partner violence. Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner’s access to economic resources. Economic abuse may involve preventing a spouse from resource acquisition, limiting the amount of resources the victim has access to, or by exploiting economic resources of the victim. This includes such acts as the denial of funds, refusal to contribute financially, denial of food and basic needs and controlling access to heath care and employment. According to the report, in most sites including Sri Lanka, what was most commonly reported was a man prohibiting his partner from working or earning an income or withholding earnings from a partner for household expenses.

The main topic of the study was rape. The study claims that the questionnaire did not contain the word ‘rape’, because of the researcher’s belief that most men do not think they have raped when they force women to have sex. Instead, participants were asked questions like whether they ever “forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex,” if they ever “had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it” or forced a partner, when she did not want to. Out of 10,000 men 2,418 who participated in the study has admitted that they had committed rape. According to the study alcohol and drug abuse appears to have a serious relationship with sexual violence in some countries including Sri Lanka.
Emma Fulu, Research Specialist and Partners for Prevention and coordinator for the study in an exclusive email interview with The Nation that the men who admitted of raping had a correlation with physical, emotional or sexual abuse in their childhood. “We did find that men who had experienced or witnessed abuse as children were significantly more likely to use violence later in life. For example, more than 65 percent of men in Bougainville, PNG and the site in China reported experiencing emotional abuse or neglect as children and these men were at least twice as likely to use violence against a female partner,” she said.

Parenting programs needed
In particular, the study found that men who experienced childhood emotional abuse and neglect as children were more likely to perpetrate physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner. Men who experienced childhood sexual abuse were more likely to report perpetration of non-partner rape. “This tells us that we need to address child abuse and promote healthy families, for example through parenting programmes, comprehensive child protection systems and policies to end corporal punishment,” she pointed out.

According to Emma Fulu, the study has also found a link between men’s perpetration of rape and men’s use of transactional sex or sex with a sex worker. “Men who reported engaging in transactional sex or sex with a sex worker were more likely to perpetrate rape against a woman. This correlation is not just about men seeking sex, but rather reflects broader notions of ‘what it means to be a man’ that emphasize men’s heterosexual performance and dominance over women,” she said.
“To prevent violence against women, those notions need to shift, to promote non-violent and caring ways to be a man, for example through sustained school-based or sports-based education programmes,” she added.

Focus on Asia

Though the study claims to cover the Asia and Pacific regions, India, one of the most important countries was not included in it. “The research sites were selected to reflect the diversity of the region, with sites from South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, including two post-conflict sites. India was not included because a similar study, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) had been recently conducted. We aimed to include study areas where little research had been conducted on men’s perpetration of violence. But we of course encourage and welcome further research on this,” Emma Fulu added.

Prof Neloufer de Mel of University of Colombo, Pradeep Peiris of Social Scientists’ Association, independent consultant Shyamala Gomez, Social Indicator team members and Kamani Jinadasa of CARE Sri Lanka were named in the report as the Sri Lankan country study team of the survey.

When contacted Pradeep Peiris of the Social Scientists’ Association refused to comment on the study report and asked to contact Prof Neloufer de Mel for the relevant information. Neloufer de Mel was not contactable. United Nations Population Fund, Communication Analyst, Lankani Sikurajapathy said that this survey was not done in country level, but in regional level and therefore she was not able to comment on the process through which the participants for the survey were selected. “CARE Sri Lanka is the institution in Sri Lanka who could comment on the process,” Sikurajapathy said.

When Fine contacted CARE Sri Lanka, the institute informed that Kamani Jinadasa no longer worked there. Ashika Gunasena of CARE Sri Lanka who returned the call on behalf of Kamani Jinadasa also refused to answer the questioned asked about CARE Sri Lanka funding a UN survey. Gunasena said that she could not make comments without the permission of directors.

Although the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment is aware of the survey, the minister said they cannot count on the survey results. “We cannot trust the accuracy of the survey results as there were incidents in which certain reports published inaccurate facts and figures,” Minister Tissa Karaliyadda said. “But if the figures are reliable it is true we must be vigilant about it. I don’t think this can be solved by just imposing laws and educating people,” he reiterated.
He further said he cannot think of a reason why foreign organizations would want to highlight Sri Lanka in such cases. “There are countries in this region which are much worse than Sri Lanka. I do not know why they discriminate Sri Lanka like this,” Minister Karaliyadda lamented.

- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/20892-sri-lanka-highlighted-for-upswing-in-sexual-attacks.html#sthash.MNdHRZfF.dpuf

About four years ago, foreign media warned that Sri Lanka is not a safe place to visit due to the armed conflict. Now that the armed conflict is over they seem to have found a new reason to continue discouraging foreigners from visiting Sri Lanka. This they do by emphasizing that Sri Lanka is a place ‘too dangerous’ to visit. On May 6, 2013, the US State Department’s travel advisory warned that foreign women should ‘exercise vigilance’ when visiting Sri Lanka, due to an upswing in sexual attacks against female visitors. Just a few days after the US State Department, the UK also issued a travel advisory asking the visitors to be mindful of organized and armed gangs known to operate in the country who have been responsible for targeted kidnappings and violence.
However a recent United Nations study involving multiple countries affirmed that more than one in ten men in Sri Lanka had admitted to having committed rape at least once. The study queries , ‘Why do some men use violence against women and how can we prevent it?’, it is based on a population based quantitative survey component of the study, which was conducted from 2010 to 2013 with more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women in nine sites across Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The report also mentions that they received the lowest responses from Sri Lanka.
The report produced from the study points out that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence against women globally. Twenty-one percent of the Sri Lankan participants reported that they’d experiencing at least one act of physical violence and 30 percent of female participants of Sri Lanka reported experiencing at least one emotionally abusive act by a male intimate partner in their life time where 41 percent reported using at least one emotionally abusive act against their intimate partner. According to the survey most of the violence in Sri Lanka occurs between married people and according to the survey this was particularly true for marital rape, which is known to be the most common form of rape.
However, under Sri Lankan law, marital rape is not a crime unless a judge has ordered a spousal separation. “This is spoken under the penal code of 363 section (a). Penal code 363 states, ‘A man is said to commit ‘rape’, when he has sexual intercourse with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the following descriptions - (a) Without her consent even were such a woman is his wife and she is judicially separated from the man.” Therefore if a woman needs relief she should be judicially separated from the man,” said Justice of the Peace and Unofficial Magistrate Ranjith Kumara Caldera.
Commenting on the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, Caldera said that as a lawyer he does not think that it needs any immediate amendments. “It is still in the process of being implemented. So we have to wait and see whether it is effective enough,” he explained. “But the amendment of penal code 363 section (a) should be considered since it does not provide relief to a woman experiencing marital rape. But then again the rights of a husband is challenged if that section is to be amended since it is considered a right of the husband to have sexual intercourse,” Calder explained.
It appears that economical abuse is also an important element of intimate partner violence. Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner’s access to economic resources. Economic abuse may involve preventing a spouse from resource acquisition, limiting the amount of resources the victim has access to, or by exploiting economic resources of the victim. This includes such acts as the denial of funds, refusal to contribute financially, denial of food and basic needs and controlling access to heath care and employment. According to the report, in most sites including Sri Lanka, what was most commonly reported was a man prohibiting his partner from working or earning an income or withholding earnings from a partner for household expenses.
The main topic of the study was rape. The study claims that the questionnaire did not contain the word ‘rape’, because of the researcher’s belief that most men do not think they have raped when they force women to have sex. Instead, participants were asked questions like whether they ever “forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex,” if they ever “had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it” or forced a partner, when she did not want to. Out of 10,000 men 2,418 who participated in the study has admitted that they had committed rape. According to the study alcohol and drug abuse appears to have a serious relationship with sexual violence in some countries including Sri Lanka.
Emma Fulu, Research Specialist and Partners for Prevention and coordinator for the study in an exclusive email interview with The Nation that the men who admitted of raping had a correlation with physical, emotional or sexual abuse in their childhood. “We did find that men who had experienced or witnessed abuse as children were significantly more likely to use violence later in life. For example, more than 65 percent of men in Bougainville, PNG and the site in China reported experiencing emotional abuse or neglect as children and these men were at least twice as likely to use violence against a female partner,” she said.
Parenting programs needed
In particular, the study found that men who experienced childhood emotional abuse and neglect as children were more likely to perpetrate physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner. Men who experienced childhood sexual abuse were more likely to report perpetration of non-partner rape. “This tells us that we need to address child abuse and promote healthy families, for example through parenting programmes, comprehensive child protection systems and policies to end corporal punishment,” she pointed out.
According to Emma Fulu, the study has also found a link between men’s perpetration of rape and men’s use of transactional sex or sex with a sex worker. “Men who reported engaging in transactional sex or sex with a sex worker were more likely to perpetrate rape against a woman. This correlation is not just about men seeking sex, but rather reflects broader notions of ‘what it means to be a man’ that emphasize men’s heterosexual performance and dominance over women,” she said.
“To prevent violence against women, those notions need to shift, to promote non-violent and caring ways to be a man, for example through sustained school-based or sports-based education programmes,” she added.
Focus on Asia
Though the study claims to cover the Asia and Pacific regions, India, one of the most important countries was not included in it. “The research sites were selected to reflect the diversity of the region, with sites from South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, including two post-conflict sites. India was not included because a similar study, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) had been recently conducted. We aimed to include study areas where little research had been conducted on men’s perpetration of violence. But we of course encourage and welcome further research on this,” Emma Fulu added.
Prof Neloufer de Mel of University of Colombo, Pradeep Peiris of Social Scientists’ Association, independent consultant Shyamala Gomez, Social Indicator team members and Kamani Jinadasa of CARE Sri Lanka were named in the report as the Sri Lankan country study team of the survey.
When contacted Pradeep Peiris of the Social Scientists’ Association refused to comment on the study report and asked to contact Prof Neloufer de Mel for the relevant information. Neloufer de Mel was not contactable. United Nations Population Fund, Communication Analyst, Lankani Sikurajapathy said that this survey was not done in country level, but in regional level and therefore she was not able to comment on the process through which the participants for the survey were selected. “CARE Sri Lanka is the institution in Sri Lanka who could comment on the process,” Sikurajapathy said.
When Fine contacted CARE Sri Lanka, the institute informed that Kamani Jinadasa no longer worked there. Ashika Gunasena of CARE Sri Lanka who returned the call on behalf of Kamani Jinadasa also refused to answer the questioned asked about CARE Sri Lanka funding a UN survey. Gunasena said that she could not make comments without the permission of directors.
Although the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment is aware of the survey, the minister said they cannot count on the survey results. “We cannot trust the accuracy of the survey results as there were incidents in which certain reports published inaccurate facts and figures,” Minister Tissa Karaliyadda said. “But if the figures are reliable it is true we must be vigilant about it. I don’t think this can be solved by just imposing laws and educating people,” he reiterated.
He further said he cannot think of a reason why foreign organizations would want to highlight Sri Lanka in such cases. “There are countries in this region which are much worse than Sri Lanka. I do not know why they discriminate Sri Lanka like this,” Minister Karaliyadda lamented.

- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/20892-sri-lanka-highlighted-for-upswing-in-sexual-attacks.html#sthash.MNdHRZfF.dpuf