PROGETTO DEL CSDC DI SOSTEGNO ALL’INTERVENTO
DI NONVIOLENT PEACEFORCE (NP) IN SRI LANKA
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N.B. Il governo tedesco ha stanziato Euro 50.000 per il progetto NP in Sri lanka
Il Centro Studi Difesa Civile (CSDC) www.pacedifesa.org
è membro dell’Organizzazione Non Governativa internazionale Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP)
www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org
e propone per l’Italia il seguente progetto di sostegno in tre fasi:
Il progetto del CSDC si articola in 3 fasi:
1) invio di un’equipe di cineasti professionisti in Sri Lanka per realizzare un video-documentario sulle forze di pace di Nonviolent Peaceforce già dislocate.
2) Costituzione di una rete di collegamenti telematici per una rapida attivazione in caso di minacce e rischi del contingente dislocato e della popolazione locale qualora riemergesse la violenza.
3) invio di volontari italiani che faranno parte del gruppo di NP, con relativo sostegno logistico e finanziario.
Nonviolent Peaceforce(NP)
NP ( www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org
) è un’Organizzazione Non Governativa che si è costituita formalmente nel dicembre del 2002 dopo due anni di preparazione. Si occupa di conflict resolution attraverso i suoi gruppi di lavoro nei sei continenti e la partecipazione di circa 150 Ong di diversa nazionalità tra cui in Italia il CSDC ed i Berretti bianchi.
Progetto in Sri lanka
Dall’inizio di quest’anno è stato avviato il primo progetto sul campo in Sri Lanka. Questo paese dal 1983 è stato oggetto di una guerra civile che finora ha prodotto 64.000 morti e 1.600.000 di rifugiati. Pur essendo in corso delle negoziazioni di pace vi è il pericolo che il conflitto riesploda. Per questo motivo NP ha inviato degli operatori di pace per aiutare le organizzazioni locali ad evitare il risorgere di un conflitto. Il dislocamento di un gruppo di operatori di pace internazionali permette un monitoraggio della situazione e del rispetto dei diritti umani da parte delle fazioni in conflitto e un accompagnamento delle persone minacciate dai vari gruppi armati, che spesso sono gli appartenenti delle ONG locali. Si è dimostrato che già la sola presenza di cittadini stranieri organizzati può attirare l’attenzione della pubblica opinione mondiale, dei mass media e dei governi, creando talvolta un ostacolo all’uso della violenza e lasciando più spazio alla ricerca di soluzioni negoziali.
Richiesta di partecipazione
Il CSDC richiede ad associazioni ed enti locali la partecipazione a sostegno delle iniziative già in atto e/o a quelle future, che sarà possibile scegliere tra le seguenti in base a un Protocollo d’Intesa che sarà siglato tra gli enti interessati.
Forme di partecipazione
1) realizzazione del video-documentario
2) invio e supporto dei volontari
3) costituzione di una rete di informazione sul progetto
4) gemellaggio con le comunità locali in Sri lanka
5) costituzione di iniziative di vario genere, quali convegni, seminari, laboratori sul progetto NP in Sri Lanka
6) offerta di servizi
7) partecipazione alla rete di emergenza per aiutare gli operatori di pace NP in Sri lanka
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Una Volontaria scrive
dallo Sri Lanka
November 28, 2003
The kindness I've been shown since coming here has been incredible.
When I
was ill, I received absolutely loving care of an older woman where
I was
staying. She prepared concoctions for me hourly felt my forehead
humming and
hawing every few minutes. When I was robbed, I was offered help
and money.
Anytime I've mentioned something in my first few weeks living
Batti town,
someone has insisted on helping me get one. If I don't mention
what I need,
they asked. Homes, bikes, a refrigerator. I've had to actually
stop my
landlord from bringing me tea and breakfast every morning,
although I'm a
sucker for her homemade cakes and samosas. I have been given meals
and
tours. I've been offered rides from local activists and strangers,
in
trucks, 3-wheelers or bicycles. I was even offered the bike of a
passing
stranger, while he would share his friends. I really can't list
all of the
acts of kindness I've received.
I knew a lot of people from this region had left to Canada. I had
no idea
how many. "Where are you from?" is a favourite question
of my new neighbours
and unsolicited escorts home. "Oh Canada! My brother is there...",
"My
children are there...", "My friend is there...".
I try out my little Tamil.
"You to school in Batti go?". They try out their little
English. "Peace in
Canada?".
We have completed our six-week training program that included four
weeks in
the classroom, interrupted by two weeklong visits to our field
sites to
gradually start our work
The mornings were spent in three to four hours of intensive
language study.
Each group had two members learning one language and one member
learning the
other, depending on the region. My Indian team-mate and are
learning Tamil.
The afternoons were initially filled with talks and information
sessions. We
had different speakers, from different communities, doing
different work and
with different perspectives. Through the speakers, we
started to learn more
about what life was like during the war, the present political
situation and
the challenges and barriers for them as community members and
activists
during this time of transition. The afternoons gradually became
group
sessions on our work. The challenge and learning that comes from
having 11
countries, 14 personalities, diverse experience and many
perspectives in the
same room continued. So did more acts of kindness from my
team, including a
birthday party.
We had our final deployment to our field sites a couple of weeks
ago. We
will meet again in December for some non-violent communication
training. I'm
in the Batticaloa district with an Indian man and American woman.
The landscape in Batticaloa, like much of the Island, looks like
it was
pulled off of a postcard. The north and east of the Island are
arid
technically and the ground is sandy. The place is still
incredibly green.
Palm trees, coconut and mango trees, beaches and lagoons. Even on
the
impossibly crowded buses between villages in the middle of the
afternoon
sun, I can't help but enjoy the incredible scenery. But the
country roads in
particular are filled with the shells of houses and barbed wire
though.
Lots of barbed wire. In some stretches there are more ruins of
houses then
liveable homes. Some half a kilometre stretches of just lost homes.
There
are also buildings that look like they were schools and markets.
Sometimes
there is just an empty plot with an abandoned foundation. When
there are
long stretches of ruins and shelling house going past the bus
windows, I
think of the local homes I've been invited into to filled with
families,
snacks and tea. I imagine what these bombed houses would I have
been like
and I wonder where are all the people are now. Are they alive?
Were they
detained? Did they abandon the area and start somewhere else after
having
lost their home, livelihoods and loved ones. Some areas are also
mined and
army watch posts and checkpoints are still there. Stretches of the
road are
closed, and more so at night.
People don't talk about the war immediately, but it is clear.
References to
'those years' don't come up right away, and are often vague and
trailing
off. Conversations eventually include references to vengeful open
fire on
civilians, massive roundups of crowds and long detentions. Women
coming for
help while they look for their children and husbands, being unable
to move
and having no food in the area. There are also the opportunity
costs of the
war to the schools, hospitals, roads and general infrastructure.
The war was
drawing the attention and the funds for two decades. People do
talk about
local areas, family, friends, homes, farmland and fishing grounds
that they
hadn't been able to access, some since they were children. I get
the feeling
people don't bring up the war and it's effects for two reasons:
either
because it's common knowledge here, because they worry about the
ceasefire
or because they just don't want to talk about it in detail much
these days.
So I don't ask too much.
Many residents remember our Project Director William Knox from
when he
lived and worked in the area with Quaker Peace and Service.
It is clear
that Nonviolent Peaceforce has attained some respect simply
because of our
association with him. We have heard more then once that he was
with them
'during the worst times'. He was working with them when people
couldn't
leave their houses, couldn't work and couldn't eat.
In Batti town itself, most checkpoints seem dismantled, but the
army
continues to occupy buildings and land. Solders ride bikes alone
and talk to
shop keepers in our area, which at this time around the LTTE
heroes’ day is
decorated with lights and the LTTE billboards and archways. At the
same time
that there is no war at the moment, there is also not peace. Some
say that
community violence in our area has increased since the ceasefire.
The
country villages contain burnt out shops from riots and clashes
between
Muslims and Tamils. More stories of massacres and lost homes,
livelihoods,
children and lives. People continue to lose access to their
livelihoods
either because of land disputes, 'ethnic trouble' or army/police/LTTE
occupation.
On each visit we learned more about the situation, the conditions
in which
people lived and their efforts to change their environment. The
amount of
good work people are doing was incredible. Local and
international NGO's
have large bristol board charts and lists telling you their
programs and
funders. Canada is often represented on the chart. Commonly
included are
programs focusing on the most vulnerable and marginalized
communities, cross
cultural exchange and understanding programs, and programs
focusing on
youth, children, women headed households, victims of domestic
abuse,
orphans, nursing mothers, detainees and released detainees.
Unlike talking
about the war, people become animated when they describe the
cultural
exchanges involving children or integrated preschools.
It was on the basis of our preliminary visits that our team choose
to locate
our office in the village of Valachchennai. The Batti district,
and the east
of the island in general, have seen a lot of violence between
Muslim and
Tamil residents since the cease fire. It seems so unfair that
civilians who
survived the war here should face new challenges. The main road
between
Valachchennai and Batti town brings you through alternating Tamil
and Muslim
communities. The poles and lines are covered with flagged ribbon
in most of
the villages. The red and yellow colours of the LTTE in Tamil
areas and the
green and yellow colours of the SLMC in the Muslim areas. All you
have to do
is look up to know where you are.
Violence has been a problem generally where the villages are close
together,
but the village of Valachchennai contains both communities and was
identified
as the most volatile in the Batti district. The communities
are in close
proximity, but extremely polarized. Different civic offices,
different
schools, different buses. Neighbours who don't trust each other
and have not
spoken for a generation. On Main Street in Valachchennai, every
house and
shop to the west side is owned by a Muslim and every home and shop
to the
east is owned by a Tamil. It is on this street that we are opening
our
office. It has been burnt down in previous riots, and inhabited
recently
only by animals. We picked the office location for the same
strategic
reasons we picked Valachchennai -- to try to choose a location
where an
active presence might have the most impact. There don't seem to be
any
full time foreigners in this area, and people laugh and smile when
we tell
them this is where we will be. This location will be accessible to
both
Tamils and Muslims. We learnt that a location only 50 metres
within one
community areas or too close to an army post would be inaccessible
during
times of trouble.
During those times, joint efforts have been made between leaders
and members
in both communities to deescalate the situation and quell rumours.
We
received some early feedback that there might be a helpful role
for us to
play in these efforts, especially once we are more established
here. Local
NGO's have also organized workshops, dialogues and cultural
sharing.
Community leaders have started joint committees and early warning
systems,
on top of their heavy burden of their daily responsibilities. The
local
office of the national Sarvodaya movement has started a Shanti
Sena program
for local youth. They have 60 Muslim and Tamil members in our area
who meet
every week. These are just the efforts we have learned about thus
far and we
continuously learn about more programs and individual efforts.
Each field team is such a different location and different
situation. We
have other teams of two in Jaffna in the north, (members from
Kenya and
Philippines). They have described militarised occupations and
refugeeism. We
have a team in Martara in the south where violence seems linked to
poverty
and politics, (members from Ghana, Japan and U.S.A.). There is
also another
team in the east - eventually in Muthur, but temporarily housed in
Trincomalee at the moment, (members from Brazil/Palestine, Germany
and
U.S.A.). In Muthur they have watched nightly migration. The
families with
their children and blankets too scared to sleep in their homes. On
one side
of the street the Tamil families head to the church, on the other
the Muslim
families head to the Mosque. They pass each other again in the
morning,
sometimes exchanging salutations. That team has already
received requests
and have helped when people are too frightened to contact
international
agencies for help.
Here in Batti district everything is complicated. I have had
surreal moments
on a very regular basis. Of those who can, many have left
Batticaloa. Many
who I have met here have been forced here from somewhere else on
the island. Some
people have a great deal of hope in the ceasefire and some are
scared, don't
know where to turn for help or don't think that there is anyone
who to help
them. It is clear that civil society remained active throughout
the worst
times of the war, and is extremely active and engaged now. At the
same time,
it seems clear that barriers to activism and life exist, including
among
other things, fear, violence and severe repression. The civilians
have been
and are continually forced to 'accept' far too many gross abuses
of their
human rights and they continue to feel the affects of the war here
in the
east. I've intentionally avoided too many conclusions about the
local
situation, but I have decided to remove the word 'side' from my
vocabulary
and the concept from my mind. In addition to establishing our
office and
ourselves, our current work plan is intentionally slow. We are
focusing at the
moment on our meetings with the community, getting a wider and
deeper
understanding of the area, building trust and relationships. Our
future
day-to-day activities I describe as 'flexible', which seems to
just come
across as 'vague' to some people. We continue to receive
great input to
help us develop our local mandate and encouraging feedback that we
can have
a positive role in this community. Some tangible tasks have
already been
suggested to us; particularly as an outside party trying assisting
the local
work between Muslim and Tamil communities, helping with the
de-escalation of
rumours and helping people overcome the violent barriers they face
to reach
the existing agencies established to meet their needs. However
vulnerable
now the local population is, my first impression is that they are
the ones
who are affecting the most change.
Angela Pinchero
Operatrice di Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka.
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ALTRE INFORMAZIONI DALLO SRI LANKA
Il seguente messaggio proviene dalle Nonviolent Peaceforce dislocate in Sri
Lanka dove c'è una improvvisa situazione di tensione.
05/11 09:12
Sri Lanka,dichiarato stato d'emergenza
La presidente dello Sri Lanka,Chandrika Kumaratunga, ha decretato oggi lo
stato d'emergenza in seguito alla crisi costituzionale scoppiata con il
licenziamento di tre ministri e la sospensione del Parlamento. Ieri erano
stati rimossi dal loro incarico i ministri della Difesa, dell'Interno e
dell'Informazione. In precedenza il capo di Stato aveva assicurato che non
ci sarebbero stati cambiamenti nella tregua siglata con i ribelli Tamil nel
febbraio 2002,tuttora vigente.
04/11 13:38
Sri Lanka, sospesa attività Parlamento
La presidente dello Sri Lanka, Chandrika Kamaratunga, ha sospeso il
Parlamento per due settimane dopo aver disposto la rimozione di tre ministri
del governo e innescato una crisi costituzionale senza precedenti.
Kamaratunga ha anche ordinato all'esercito di presidiare alcune
installazioni strategiche a Colombo per prevenire disordini. Assediate la
Zecca, una centrale elettrica, Radio e Tv di Stato Il premier ha accusato la
presidente di gettare il Paese nel caos. ***
Hello to all of you supporting us out here.
Thanks so much for your concern for Sri Lanka and for us at this
difficult time.
All of us in Sri Lanka are well and gearing up for deployment into
the field as we enter our last few days of in-country orientation.
When we first heard the news of the President's actions yesterday,
we broke the training half an hour earlier than normal as a
precaution. As far as we're aware, there has been no violent
reaction either here in Colombo or elsewhere. The public appears to
be heeding the President and the Prime Minister's instructions to
their supporters to remain calm.
Outwardly, Colombo seems little different from the Colombo of 48
hours ago. There are a few more police and troops on the streets. A
keen observer would notice that one or two bunkers that were
unmanned last week have their full compliment of soldiers today.
There are no tanks, no demonstrations, no closed shops or any other
very visible signs of tension and worry.
We're monitoring the situation closely, consulting our Sri Lankan
friends and other international agencies here. At the moment
everyone is carrying on as normal and, as of today, we have no
intention of changing our plans to deploy the four field teams in
Batticaloa, Jaffna, Matara and Trincomalee next week. The team are
excited and prepared for the task that all of you in the Nonviolent
Peaceforce have laid upon us. We're sure the team will be worthy of
the trust and effort that you have placed in us.
Thanks again for all that you have done to bring us this far.
William Knox and the Sri Lanka Team
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS AS WIDELY AS YOU PLEASE.
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