Topic: London Today | Colombo Today

[iris]

~~ from a forwarded email

[Nady_Dil]

I don't understand the meaning of this comparison  , if someone can explain me, I'll be grateful to him/her 

[iris]

mmm.... wel Nady its like this,,
here it's a comparison between the current situtations in London and Colombo ....
In Colombo now u can move freely, anywhere with no fear,, but in London people are terrirified with the riots..
There was a time we sighted these situations other way round, that is, Colombo was at risk,suicide bombings, assasinations stuff like that,,,

why we show them the difference is;
in those times the West (especially Britain and America) even issued travel warnings to their citizens to avoid travelling in Sri Lanka..

but at last our brave troops defeated the most ruthless terrorist organization
In Colombo u can move around anywhere with no fear...

But now in London its a mess with riots,, looting, thuggery, city is in flames (as u can see in the pictures)
its not even one precent of what we exprinced here in colombo but we never issued travel warnings to Sri Lankans...

But the British Police took a lot of time to control just a few thousands of protesters, and even violated human rights we heard...

We don´t rejoice on any hardship for any country but this is an opportunity for UK to realize how we suffered under LTTE terrorism for thirty long years.

[w乇乃ﾶﾑ丂ｲ乇尺]

nice explanation..!
this is the realty which most "suddas" are not ready to accept yet..!

[Nady_Dil]

Even now, I don't understand the comparison because in my point of view you are posting about two completely different settings: a war and a social protest, terrorists and a young social class which is not protected by State (of course, as always happens, in this group there are also idiots and violent people), 5 days and... how much? More or less 30 years?.
I'm a pacifist so I don't like to measure the seriousness of human rights violation, because human rights don't have to be infringed in any case.
But... no there is not but, I agree with you about human rights.

Think about it... It's like when Akmadinejad (or Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe, or the chinese Huanqiu Shibao) criticized UK for inhuman and violent repression: you know... in english we say "he talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk".   
A country has to respect human rights, independently of what other countries do.

I know that UK is one of most liberal and easygoing country of Europe; in those days the government has taken extraordinary measures which are not usual for a state such as UK is (the use of water cannons and plastic bullets). Ok... well, PLASTIC bullets and WATER cannons! This is what Cameron defined "hard line". Nothing compared to what happened in Genoa (Italy) during 2001 G8.
This doesn't mean that i'm on Cameron's side, on the contraryI hate him and his politic view/line.

This comparison is too simple to explain the complexity of what has happened in UK

I don't know what SL government has done, but here in Europe each country recommended to their citizens not to go to London.
I think that Europe, after II world war, can understand SL's tragedy much more than Sri Lankans think.

http://en.peacereporter.net/articolo/29932/Disenfranchised+in+London

This is just my modest opinion... people has freedom of thought, also this is a human right
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6815885.ece ...maybe not everywhere. 
Anyway, thank you Amnesty International for his release!

Sri Lanka has still a long way to go, pardon, World has still a long way to go in regard to human rights, tolerance and open mentality.

Don't make comparisons, make the difference. 

[iris]

yes Nady,, I too agree with you – “make difference not comparison”

True enough,, 
But the thing is, there is a certain section of people who doesn’t see the difference though its there. So in that case, we have to use “comparison” to show the “difference”   

Anyway,
When it comes to Human Rights, I too respect as you do. As a concept it’s good. And also as u, me and all Sri Lankans are aware, Sri Lankans very well know and practice Human Rights for more than 2500 years through five precepts.

But u know what the problem is ? The way Human Rights are used and handled currently.
(sorry for deviating from the topic but this is another aspect of it)

Now, Human Rights have become a profitable business.
Rich countries (western and European basically) “buy people” from other countries (especially Asian, middle-east and Arabian). (In each country there is a certain amount of people who’ll do anything for money.) Then use those people against their own countries to create issues.
These issues ascertain survival of the rich countries. That’s how the process goes.
But after all, the mastermind of this plan is CIA. 


Besides,
Just check this out Nady; see how much each country had spent on this Libyan issue – which I think as an unnecessary thing,.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/countingthecost/2011/08/201182616463797527.html


See this as well…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/10/somalia-drought-worst-humanitarian-crisis-_n_894072.html

The drought in Somalia is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. People die without water and food. Very less attention has been paid for these people. why can’t these Human Rights be protected ?

That’s why I said Human Rights are a profitable business; unless you get profit, you won’t bother for anybody. U get paid, there u open your mouth to shout. The amount of Respect they have for Human Rights depend on how much you are paid. This is just like a trend; though u and I feel for our fellow citizens.

[Nady_Dil]

Middle East, ask to Aisha what she thinks about Human Rights:
http://www.ansa.it/webimages/mida/foto_large/2011/2/11/6b77be8e95fd06e50d4e4e6536e6a138_800265.jpg

Burma, ask to Aung San Suu Kyi (Noble Prize for peace 1991) what she thinks about Human Rights
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi-bio.html

China, ask him and 100.000 chinese students/people what they think about Human Rights
http://cdn.politicalive.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/piazza.jpeg

Tibet, ask to Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama) and his government what they think about Human Rights

Italy, ask to Carlo Giuliani's family what they thinks about Human Rights
http://www.greanvillepost.com/2011/07/24/remembering-carlo-giuliani-14-march-1978-–-20-july-2001-and-some-lessons-from-genova-italy/

Libia, ask her what she thinks about Human Rights
http://ethiopiaforums.com/ethiopian-maid-found-burned-and-suffering-in-muammar-qaddafis-son-hannibal-and-his-wife-aline-skaf-home

America, ask to Guantanamo's prisoners what they think about Human Rights

Human Rights aren't a business are the grim reality.
In the United Nations Human Rights Council there are 47 members, 13 Asians, 13 Africans, 8 South America, 7 West Europe, 6 East Europe, 1 America.... not just "western country"
Mmm... Libya. I hate wars, but at the beginning in Libya there was no a war, but a Revolution which was started by Libyans in order to obtain freedom (Gaddafi was a dictator, we don't have to forgot that) and then they asked the help of NATO. In a country without democracy a revolution is necessary in order to obtain democracy itself and freedom.
Somalia... it's not just a food and water problem, is much more complex: in the last 50 years has seen a war against Ethiopia, a dictatorship, the failure of ONU mission (determinated by local "war-boss"), millions of people were murdered and human rights were violated, ONU, Amnesty International and other no prof org tried to help them (they're still trying).
Sri Lanka (not Sinhaleses or Tamils, but Sri Lanka), as long as other countries, doesn't practice so much Human Rights and the link that i have posted in the previous post is a clear example.
Anyway, I don't care about countries, I care about people. They are the first victims.

This is my last post (I'm going OT and I don't have nothing else to say, this is my opinion and I can understand your position). Thank you for the discussion