Sport cannot turn a blind eye

Peter Roebuck July 7, 2011

Cry for help: Wounded Tamils in a makeshift hospital in Vanni in 2009. There have been calls for Australia to cancel its tour of Sri Lanka. Photo: Reuters

Chilling images of slaughter demand firm action.
IF THIS column has contributed anything to the game it has been to push it towards recognising a wider responsibility. Sport is not a trivial distraction but part of our daily lives. It is not an escape but an embrace. Cricket, especially, has an opportunity to advance racial and religious tolerance. Have not these causes united all men and women deemed great?       Read more
===============================

Beyond the horror, seeking voiceless victims of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields

By Elisha Yoon
ShareThis

Channel Four’s film on Sri Lanka’s civil war. (Photo credit: Channel Four Television Corporation)

6 July 6, 2011 [MediaGlobal]: The documentary screening of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, held in New York, laid bare disturbing images of execution, death, and murder.
“I think this is a blatant lie,” Palitha Kohona, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United Nations, declared before gathered journalists, diplomats, and human rights activists.
Sponsored by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the screening inflamed passionate debate. “Because it provokes independent observers like you, it clutches at your heart-strings and provides the feeding ground for propagating this myth,” said Kohona. “It is easy to provoke people, get them emotional with this type of video.”              Read More