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The Democratic Socialist Republic of
Sri Lanka has a population that
speaks a mixture of languages,
predominantly Sinhala and Tamil, and
adheres to various religions
including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam
and Christianity.
The island has vibrant history, but
its recent life has been under the
shadow of conflict, distrust,
suspicion and misunderstanding on
individual and community level
resulting in communal clashes and
civil war, which has already taken
lives of 70.000 people. The main
victims of war have been minds of
all Sri Lankan civilians who live in
constant fear of violence; many of
them have become even more
distrustful and suspicious towards
each other and to all who are
different.
A significant factor contributing to
the atmosphere of conflict and
violence is the traditional
fragmentation of the Sri Lankan
population into caste and regional
groups.
Also the devastating Asian tsunami
of 2004 that left 35.000 people dead
and in particular the subsequent
relief response have led to further
exposition of tensions within and
among communities.
Due to all the social and historical
developments, Sri Lankan people
nowadays often lack ability to
communicate without use of power and
blame, which results into
perpetuation of violence and
communal passivity.
What PCA is trying to do?
PCA
believes that strengthening
relationships between individuals,
communities, and societies is the
only effective and sustainable way
to increase trust, improve
connection and understanding between
them and develop real peace. We
recognise that
people in all communities have
similar needs: the needs for access
to their rights (human rights, land
rights and the rights of women and
children); for access to livelihoods
and economic opportunity, for
freedom, humanity, democracy and
representation. However, we believe
that, underlying these there are
more basic needs for security and
care; connection with other people;
understanding; space to interact
freely with each other and for self
development -above all the right to
live in a non violent environment.
We think that the only long term
solution to the problems of
communities is to help people to
meet these underlying basic needs
for themselves, by empowering them
to explore, develop and implement
their own solutions. We want them
to be able them to think and act
independently and
to change the way they interact with
others:
to
be able to make and develop strong
relationships with each other;
to talk openly and honestly to each
other and to listen to each other
without judgment. We want them to
really know and understand each
other, so that they begin to adopt
different behaviours and attitudes;
no longer focusing on the past
or
on their own fears and judgments or
the judgments of their of societies
and communities, instead to
begin to take
responsibility
for themselves, coming together to
focus on analysing and addressing
core needs.
This is a much more ambitious
objective than simply teaching them
analytical or problem solving
skills, but we know that it really
works.
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Situation of Sri Lankan People