Feliz Navidad with Crackers and other Hazards

11:45am, Christmas morning. The sky is just a heavy dark grey mass of shit. The streets of Wattala are a little quieter than normal, the majority of people celebrate Christmas in this suburb: the shops are closed, people waking up late at home, fielding phone calls from relatives abroad, enjoying kiri bhat (milk rice) and lunu miris (chili paste; also known as my lesson in "tastes good going in, burns on the exit").

I'm grumpy because some mosquitoes infiltrated my net last night, and the undersides of my feet itch like crazy and my forehead looks like someone hit me with a teeny weeny hammer in several places. My uncle comes up to me and says cheerfully: "Good morning, putha, shall we light up some crackers?"

My heartbeat races. Can it be that time already? Is this how my calling to join the revolution on the streets starts? My uncle, a sleeper cell, can so callously ask his nephew to join the worldwide fight against white supremacy? Should I go get my ski mask and AK? I'm about to say, "yeah, let's get those fools," when he pulls away the newspaper wrapping from the object in his hand.

Oh, firecrackers.

12pm. BOOM! Wattala and the neighborhoods beyond my auditory reach explode in a loud and smoky celebration of Jesus and gunpowder. It's great. I think about the people on the trains, leaning out the windows and yelling inside the tunnels, and I make a monkey face and make a monkey sound. I don't know, I guess monkeys would probably do the same if they didn't realize that everyone around them was planning to light firecrackers at the exact same time. They'd probably also hurl their poop at everyone, but I'm waiting to get a little more solid.

As the explosions continue, I think about how last time I was here in 2007, I don't remember that happening on Christmas. My uncle reminds me that at the time, as the war was ratcheting up, the government in Colombo was on edge, and the celebratory fireworks were most likely prohibited.

Today is a day of visiting people and getting lots of fried foods and sweets forced down your throat. Rich cake, coconut rock, sausages, more rich cake, cutlets (Jacob, your heaven), pancake rolls, eat eat, finish it, have some more, why are you not eating?

I'll leave you with a proposal to the late George Carlin. I read the Daily Mirror yesterday, and I did not see my reflection. Bummer. But I did read this article entitled "SL has been able to overcome post war hazard - Gotabaya."

SL being, of course, Sri Lanka.

Gotabaya, being Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Defense Minister and coincidentally, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother, Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa's brother, Speaker of the Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa's brother, Member of Parliament for the Hambantota district (whose shady, multi-million dollar international airport brought in an "excuse me? WTF" revenue of Rs. 16,000 - $120! - last month) Namal Rajapaksa's and Director of Sri Lankan Airlines Shameendra Rajapaksa's uncle, Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US (thank you for my visa) Udayanga Weeratunga's cousin, among others, as well as a supporter of the nationalist-fascist group Bodu Bala Sena and architect of the Sri Lankan army's "kill LTTE leaders and cadre who surrender" policy at the end of the war. I apologize for that long, run-on sentence.

Post war hazard. The article says:

"While claiming that in a post war situation anywhere in the world, soldiers have a tendency to suffer from numerous mental disorders, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said yesterday that Sri Lanka had been able to overcome this hazard productively.  

He also said that, having gone through the cruelty of war, it was essential for the soldiers to be involved in religious duties to recuperate."

George, can we add "post war hazard" as the latest iteration of "shell shock"? Less syllables, sure, but soon we'll possibly be using just a sad face and thumbs down emoji to describe "shell shock".

(here's the link in case the video above doesn't appear)

The crackers are still being lit up as I finish this.

Journey North

A good article appeared in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, entitled "In Sri Lanka's Post-Tsunami Rise, China is Key." See past the anti-Chinese sentiment of pro-Western business WSJ, and you have a very good picture of what's happening with with Sri Lanka's economic development model. Which is, just build anything as fast as you can, wherever you can get it. If you have read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, the premise of the article won't surprise you: natural catastrophe is used as a pretext to remove unwanted peoples and make way for big-dollar development projects that may end up having little to no benefit to the people of Sri Lanka.

Many people I have talked to have spoken to me about China's investment in the country, some with appreciation, others with skepticism. China - alongside Israel, Russia and Pakistan, all countries with dark records of oppression of uprisings by minorities within their borders - supported Sri Lanka militarily and politically during the final months of the war against the LTTE, despite numerous credible and disturbing evidence of human rights atrocities that were being committed. (In March 2015, the UN will review a thorough report of Sri Lanka's actions. For a great report, check out Channel 4's documentary "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields"). Now, the newly paved highways that unite the country (or carve up, depending on your point of view), the airports that sit empty, the artificially-created harbors, all built with Chinese megafunds and in some cases Chinese prisoners, are testament to this relationship forged in blood and bombs. It's neoliberal development on speed.

And the politicians are raking in the profits. I can't verify the amounts, but people tell me that if a road costs, say, $20 million to build, government officials will claim it costs $40 million, take the loan (apparently Chinese loans comes with a relatively low interest rate), and tell the people that these megaprojects will somehow benefit them.

People in the Tamil-dominated North with whom I spoke echoed the sighs of relief of the Sinhala-dominated South that the war was over. They could move more freely. (For foreigners to go to Jaffna, you are required to get a clearance from the Defense Ministry. The reason: intelligence officials claim that some groups have attempted to "provoke public disturbance and conflicts among civilians in the North." Sri Lanka does not like reports critical of the public forces' actions.) Though people were happy that bombs were not raining down on them anymore, Tamils I spoke with said they felt that the army controlled everything, from schools to land purchases (I saw soldiers in Casuarina Beach in Jaffna constructing very fancy lodgings, which I assumed to be tourist hotels and not barracks. After capturing Marble Beach from the LTTE on the East coast, the army built and controls several resorts and hotels) to other civilian matters. Sinhala soldiers patrol Jaffna at night. When the train passed through the LTTE's former administrative capital of Kilinochi, I saw soldiers on practically every side-street. It may be simply pre-election posturing, but it definitely gave the feel of an occupation. Which will always breed resentment.

In a televised event in Mullaitivu, the LTTE's military capital and scene of the final and most dramatic battles in May 2009, the president asked Tamils to forget the past.

But along the highway to Jaffna and throughout the North the reminders of the war - and of who won it - persist. At Elephant Pass, the tiny stretch of land that separates Jaffna from the rest of the island, an LTTE tank is placed at the foot of a memorial to a young Sri Lankan army corporal who blew himself up in an attempt to stop the LTTE from bringing the explosives-laden vehicle onto a base in 1991. Now, it's a tourist stop for Sri Lankans eager to know a formerly unknown area of the country, with buses stopping and their occupants flooding the souvenir shop, run by the army. Signs denounce "terrorism" and unflinchingly praise the Sri Lankan Army.

In Batticloa, the tsunami-battered majority-Tamil city on the East coast, on December 19, President Rajapaksa held a very well attended electoral event, which was heavily covered by the press. That night, locals told me that rumor had it that villagers from the outskirts were bussed in for the event and paid 2,000 rupees - with locals being paid 500 rupees - a LOT of money in a country where an average teacher makes roughly 25,000 rupees a month, or about $190.

While all that money is been thrown around, at least 35,000 people became homeless in the past three days due to the heavy rains that flooded much of the Eastern and Northern parts of the country, which had been preceded by a severe drought between August and November that wiped out a many rice paddies' harvest. Though in the past few weeks, President Rajapaksa has suddenly lowered taxes on fuel, water and electricity, along with raises and some subsidized motorcycles for public servants, even the middle-class for some time has been complaining about the cost of food and living. Sri Lanka, like the rest of the "modern" world, is widening the gap between super rich and super poor.

The New York Times ran a piece two weeks ago about how foreigners are snapping up Sri Lanka's precious coastline real estate. Another nail in the coffin of the working poor.

We'll see how the elections go on January 8. Right now, there have been only a few incidents (that I know of) involving fighting between party militants on the street. The opposition candidate, Maithrpala Sirisena, is running on an anti-corruption platform and has pledged to do away with the executive powers that allow the president to be accountable to no one, but it sounds hollow to me. After all, Sirisena was the Sri Lankan Freedom Party's (Rajapaksa's political party) general secretary and a Minister of Health until last month. And now he is the opposition? Hmmm.

Sorry for this long piece. I'll catch you up on everything else later. Check out the pics here!

And big solidarity abrazos to the folks at DC Capital Bike Share who just voted to join the union! 

Peoples Power Assembly Movement on shooting of police in Brooklyn

Just wanted to reprint the following declaration from the Peoples Power Assemblies (www.peoplespowerassemblies.org), issued on Dec. 21, which is a very clear and focused piece about what the movement against police brutality can expect following the Brooklyn cop shootings. Sending all my love and energy to the people on the streets who have always resisted and continue to resist!

And here are two articles from SOA Watch Prisoner of Conscience (2001) Peter Gelderloos. 
Part 1: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/09/the-nature-of-police-the-role-of-the-left/
Part 2: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/19/learning-from-ferguson/
Part 3: Stayed tuned!

The police have been desperately searching or waiting for some occurrence that they can use as a weapon to crush the most powerful, widespread, national mass uprising against racist police terror and murder since the 1960s.

Until yesterday, the frame-up of activists from#MillionsMarchNYC on Dec. 13 was the weapon. We demand immediate amnesty for those targeted activists accused of the alleged attacks on New York Police Department detectives on the Brooklyn Bridge.

But now, the police — and the powers that be who rule over society and whose interests the police “protect and serve” — have got a much bigger weapon. The Dec. 20 killing of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, allegedly by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who afterwards allegedly killed himself in a subway station, is NOW that weapon.

We underscore the word “allegedly” because all we know about what happened is what the police have told us.  And while at the moment we have no information that counters the police story, we always suspect whatever the police say because they lie all the time.

One of the reasons that many of us prefer the strategy of a mass, social and political uprising against the whole system, over individuals targeting police, is because history has shown that more often than not, when people engage in individual, random attacks on police, it's used by the government, the police and the system to attack the movement with violence baiting, in order to justify ratcheting up repression against the masses.

That said, we also know that anger over police repression and murder is so deep that it should come as no surprise to anyone that somebody would, sooner or later, act on that burning rage. Especially when the so-called justice system demonstrates time after time after time that police can, and do, murder with impunity.

Neither do we forget that 99.9 percent of the violence comes from the police.

No repression against the movement

From this point on, the establishment media and all who benefit from or serve the system will insist that we forget that the police have been waging a racist, violent and deadly war against Black and Brown people, especially young people.

The new narrative coming from on high will be that the murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Ramarley Graham, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tamir Rice, John Crawford III and thousands of other young people of color don't matter anymore.


We are about to witness a no-holds-barred campaign to criminalize and break the powerful movement sparked by Ferguson, Mo., which every day has brought many thou

sands of people into the streets of cities and towns across the country.

The rhetoric from rulers about “respecting the right to protest” will be replaced with “the 

protesters are guilty of murder” – and so the right to protest will be revoked.

The strength of the uprising has rocked the system and weakened the capacity of the police to crack down on the protests, which, after all, is the ultimate goal of the police. How else can they continue their war against Black and Brown people?

Let us not forget: It is the police who kill without mercy, without regret, without concern for the families of their victims. It is the police who function like a gang, alien and hostile to most of society that's not privileged by class or race.

The only concern of the police is that their violence, their cover-ups and lies not be questioned.

The people who really value all life, who want a world free of repression, violence and all forms of injustice, are the people who have been marching with signs that say “Black Lives Matter.” It is within this tremendous new movement against police violence that genuine humanity and the understanding of the pain of those who must face the holidays without their slain loved ones are rooted.

Most importantly, we must not let what happened in Brooklyn on Dec. 20 be used to destroy, harm or shake this movement for justice. We demand no escalation of repression against the movement. 

This movement is the hope of the future. The oppressors hate it and fear it. We must see that it is not set back.

The Island of a Thousand Mirrors

Thanks to my sister for recommending the book, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, by Nayomi Munaweera. I just devoured it, and was hoping it would be longer. Without even getting to the issue of the war in Sri Lanka, I found myself smiling every time she described a smell or a comment from a parent or a frustration - I just identified with much of that. Anyways, you should check it out. Gail had also mentioned it to me and about the NPR piece with the author.

Check out some more pics from my recent trip to Kandy. The last time I saw the Temple of the Tooth  - supposedly where one of Buddha's canine teeth is stored - was in 1993, before the 1998 bombing by the LTTE. A lot of the history around the tooth is wrapped in religion, wars and bloodshed, so I wonder what the future will be for it and the country. 

I wandered off into the Udawatte Kele (Kele is Sinhala for forest), which is directly behind the Temple. It was the old sanctuary for the Kandyan kings and queens, and was where they bathed and played, but also where they escaped when the city was being attacked. There were lots of cute macaques, of course. And tons of soldiers. There are rumors that the LTTE is regrouping in the North, and coupled with elections coming up (the LTTE rumors could be an electoral ploy), there is no doubt that the country is getting even more militarized. I'm looking forward to next week's trip to Jaffna and the North.

At one point, I walked up the Kodimale trail to the highest point of the jungle and sat on a rock to enjoy a delicious seeni sambol bun and a yummy banana. I felt a little prick on my arm, and instinctively slapped at the mosquito. But my hand came back a little gooey. I looked down, y qué coño, it was a leech. I tried not to panic, and I took a picture, because it's not everyday that you get attacked by a non-capitalist leech, right? I started downhill, thinking about how I would get rid of this guy (because they latch on real good), when I felt another prick on my right arm. They seemed to be falling from the sky. I looked down, and they were swarming on my shoes. It was like The Walking Dead. They blindly hustled across the loamy ground and attached to my shoes, then quickly raced up my socks. I was burning, stamping, kicking and ripping them off. The one on my left arm had already swelled up with my blood and grew from the size of a inch worm to a centipede in about 5 minutes. I quickly calculated and figured at that rate, I'd have a Siamese twin in 30 minutes. So I had to rip him off. I fled the kings' forest sanctuary, the little monkeys with their mouths in a big wide O at my panic. 

I visited another statue of Buddha way up on a hillside. Got suckered into giving a donation, and they asked me to write my name on the certificate, which stated: "The Fund accepts the sum of Rs.        100      donated by Mr./Mrs.      Donald Duck     of the      USA     to be used for all kinds of construction works..." It also stated that "Donations may cause the well-being of both this and the next births." May cause?! What a rip-off! I want guarantees, Buddha!

Oh, one interesting thing. I realized on the train ride to and from Kandy, that it appears that Sri Lankans like to scream out the window when the train goes through a tunnel. Each time we entered a tunnel, a loud howl started to rise. I thought it was the excited kids in front of me, but then I saw a young couple laughing and yelling out the window. It was awesome. I made a sort of muted monkey sound out the window. I didn't want to keep my mouth open too long as all the smoke from the engine was pouring in through the windows.

People are soooo friendly. People laugh and sing on the train. I offered my fellow passenger a banana, and they offered me sandwiches. A security man at one statue asked me to come and have tea with him. Even the military. They have a really hard look when you first encounter them, but then if you smile, and huge toothy smile is reflected back at you. It's hard to imagine such smiley people killing each other. Damn. 

PS: On a different note, I'm sure those of you on Facebook have seen this, but Alice told me about this article. About privilege in racist, sexist USA.

Back again!

A lot has happened in four years. Apologies to my two blogspot followers who have been waiting impatiently for my next comunicado.

Here are some thoughts from Sri Lanka.

Today, I finally ventured out of Wattala over to Colombo. Technically, Wattala is the burbs of Colombo, but the madness just out the front door on Negombo Road is anything but the maddeningly peaceful suburbs of gringolandia. I walked to the post office, asked (in Sinhala!) how much to mail some letters, gave the right amount, and headed down station road, to the Wattala train station.

The traffic blasts by you, and since there are no sidewalks, you have to jump over the sewer ditch when a diesel guzzler charges right towards you. You walk for 5 minutes and you feel the grit already clinging to the sweat drops trickling down your face. Three-legged dogs wag their tail at you. Every single inch of possible land is taken up with shops, and people seem to come out of every single alley way and doorway. Even the coconut trees and the weeds refuse to back away from the madness. It's just seething with life.

I took a train to the Colombo Fort station, and blundered about for awhile trying to get out of the station, because the station manager at the Wattala station didn't sell me a ticket (guess he didn't understand what I wanted at the ticket-sales booth). Finally, after getting out, I went to go buy another ticket for the express train to Kandy. Waited 30 minutes to get to the vendor, and when the man in front of me was about to ask about his ticket, the salesman got up and said he was going to lunch. Be back in a half hour. So we all had to wait until he stumbled back in, sleepy after his mid-day rice feast.

Bananeira in Galle - click to see more pics so far.

So, nothing special about this post or the past few days. Except that I am using my meager Sinhala. The mosquitos are having a field day with my fresh blood. And we saw the beach at Galle. I was just asked by my uncle if I wanted to go to church. No thanks, I'll pass. Again. I'm hoping my lack of faith will not make my super religious family here despair and kick me out, as they've asked me a few times if I want to go with them to church. The food is delicious - I'm soooo excited that every single dish is super spicy!!!!

Today is also Nomination Day in Sri Lanka. That's when candidates are officially nominated to run for president. Elections are January 8th. The current president, Percy Mahendra ("Mahinda") Rajapaksa - but I want to emphasize the irony of his name Percy despite him claiming to be so nationalistic-, is running for a third term, much like another fascist tried to do in Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. He'll probably win. The newspaper showed a picture of a motorcycle rally by government officials in support of Rajapaksa. They had all been gifted the cycles by the government in return for their allegiance. Along the highway (Sri Lanka boasts some impressive new Chinese-built and -financed highways across the country, another way to control and divide territories) from the airport, there is a brand new apartment complex, and the only people who get to live there are those who support the president's party, the United People's Freedom Alliance.

Came across a good website today - Center for Policy Alternatives - http://www.cpalanka.org/.  They have some good documents, including some about hate speech on Facebook. Since the war against the LTTE ended in a fiery, genocidal blaze in 2009 (upwards of 70,000 people killed in the final months), trouble continues in the North with accounts of forced sterilization (though this is still being investigated by the Permanent People's tribunal to see if it adds up to genocide), ongoing internment camps, attacks on and arrests of journalists and witnesses and a complete militarization of the Northern provinces (some 150,000 troops alone in the North). In addition to all that, CPA states that now anti-Muslim hatred is higher than anti-Tamil hatred was at the height of the war.  And, of course, the politicians keep fanning those different hatreds in order to get into office.

Will keep you posted on the elections.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get my curry eating on. From Colombo to Ferguson, FTP!