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SAJA presents the first in a series of webcasts about Sri Lanka. #1 is about the state of the civil war and economy and situations affecting civilians and minority communities.
Why you should be paying attention now:
According to The New York Times, "With Sri Lanka's military making its deepest push into rebel territory in a decade, Asia's longest-running civil war appears to be edging closer to a military solution — though one that has already extracted a high cost for the divided country's civilians." Are 25 years of war nearing an end? And at what price?
Featuring: Ahilan Kadirgamar, spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum; Vasuki Nesiah, director of International Affairs and Brown University; Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.
Moderator: V.V. Ganeshananthan, SAJA VP and author of "Love Marriage," a novel set in Sri Lanka and the diaspora.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Noon-1 pm NY time
10:30 pm-11:30 pm Colombo time
See local time around the world: http://bit.ly/lankawebcast
Listen live or to a recording:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/saja/2008/12/12/Sri-Lanka
(you can go and set an e-mail reminder for yourself)
or listen live via your phone by dialing this NYC number +1-347-324-5991
SPEAKERS:
Ahilan Kadirgamar is a spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum, an international network of Sri Lankan activists that formed in 2002, and is committed to democratization, human rights and a political solution in Sri Lanka.. In that capacity he has worked on the peace process in Sri Lanka. His concerns have included the need for state reform in Sri Lanka, particularly a political solution to the ethnic conflict through the devolution of power and constitutional reform addressing the grievances and aspirations of the minorities. He has written about the international dimension of the peace process and worked on human rights concerns related to the conflict.
Vasuki Nesiah teaches International Relations and is Director of International Affairs at Brown University. Her current research is on international interventions in conflict/post-conflict contexts. Before joining Brown Nesiah was Senior Associate and Head of the Gender Program at the International Center for Transitional Justice and Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia. She has published and lectured in international and comparative law, feminist theory, law and development, postcolonial studies, constitutionalism, and governance in plural societies. Nesiah completed her JD and her SJD in public international law at Harvard Law School.
Muttukrishna Sarvananthan (Sarvi for short) hails from Point Pedro (Northern Sri Lanka) and is a Development Economist by profession and the Principal Researcher of the Point Pedro Institute of Development, Point Pedro, Sri Lanka. He is a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University in Washington, D.C. from October 2008 to April 2009. Sarvi was involved in the post-conflict needs assessment undertaken by several UN agencies, WB and ADB in the conflict region in early 2003 and specialises on economic dimensions of civil war in Sri Lanka and other conflict-ridden countries. He is the author of the Economy of the
Conflict Region in Sri Lanka: From Embargo to Repression (Policy Studies
44, East-West Center, Washington, December 2007) and Children of War:
Aspirations and Opportunities (awarded the first prize under the
Research Award Scheme of the Sri Lanka Economic Association in 2008), inter
alia.
You can ask your questions via phone or the live chatroom or post them below in the comments section, please. We will read our questions and comments to the panelists during the show. You can also e-mail saja[at]columbia.edu (subject line = webcast)
Read SAJAforum's in-depth coverage of Sri Lanka
Read Somini Sengupta's recent article about the war in The New York Times
See SAJAforum post on Time's Top 10 Underreported Stories of the Year (Sri Lanka is #3)
Listen to Feb. 2008 SAJA-Asia Society event on the 60th anniversary of Sri Lankan independence. Speakers included Asoka Bandarage, Ahilan Kadirgamar andl Rajiva Wijesinha.
Post your comments and questions below, please.
