{"id":120297,"date":"2014-02-20T12:46:16","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T07:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=120297"},"modified":"2014-03-18T23:14:31","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T17:44:31","slug":"learning-from-wanathamulla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/learning-from-wanathamulla\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning From Wanathamulla"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tisaranee Gunasekara<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Defence Secretary came here\u2026.Mr. Gotabhaya told me \u2018I want to speak to you\u2019. He and I are of different status. So I asked him, \u2018Is it right for me to speak to you\u2019? He said, \u2018No you can say anything\u2019. Then I made certain criticisms\u2026.He got angry\u201d –\u00a0<\/i>Sunil Samaradheera of Wanathamulla[i]<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

In 1940, a year before they began implementing the \u2018Final Solution\u2019, the Nazis had a trial-run. A group of German-Jews were deported and the Gestapo watched closely for the reaction of their non-Jewish neighbours.<\/p>\n

\"Secretary<\/a>

Secretary MOD<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018The surrounding populations\u2026.hardly noticed\u2026.\u201d Reinhard Heydrich stated in his report. [ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

What if the \u2018surrounding populations\u2019 chose to notice the plight of their Jewish neighbours? What if they protested that trial-run? Perhaps a partial answer can be gleaned from what happened when a group of non-Jewish Germans did protest the deportations.<\/p>\n

In 1943, in a vengeful response to Stalingrad, Josef Goebbels declared Berlin a Jew-free city. 1,800+ Jews with non-Jewish spouses were arrested as part of the final roundup. Undeterred alike by the Nazi\u2019s brutal might and the freezing cold, around 200 non-Jewish Berliners, mostly women, camped outside the Rosenstra\u00dfe detention-centre demanding the release of their Jewish husbands\/relatives<\/p>\n

After a week of threats, the authorities gave in.<\/p>\n

In his fascinating account of the Rosenstra\u00dfe Protest, Nathan Stoltzfus argues that this small group of protestors \u2018could exercise disproportionate influence\u2019 because the Nazis were concerned about the \u2018negative effect\u2019 of their protest on the larger populace. \u201cThe protest was effective because it made the Jews more costly to obtain.\u201d[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Impunity is not exclusively a function of power and force from above. It is also a result of apathy and indifference in the middle and bottom. Often resistance is absent not because it is impossible, but because the victims are too cowed and their neighbours are too uncaring.<\/p>\n

The people of Rathupaswala<\/span><\/a> would still be living next to a toxic-factory, if they did not protest.<\/p>\n

Sunil Samaradheera is a leader in his community\u2019s resistance to the Rajapaksa attempt to evict Wanathamulla\u2019s legal residents, take over their lands sans<\/i> compensation and<\/b> force them to buy<\/b> smaller, poorly-constructed flats (which are subject to de facto<\/i> military-control). He reportedly had a heated encounter with Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> himself.<\/p>\n

The next day he was \u2018white-vanned\u2019.<\/p>\n

The people of Wanathamulla<\/span><\/a> demonstrated in their thousands demanding the safe return of Mr. Sunil. DIG Anura Senanayake reportedly announced that Mr. Sunil will be returned but the people rejected such political promissory-notes. They refused to leave until Mr. Sunil gets home, safe and sound.<\/p>\n