The promise of citizen journalism, Sanjana Hattotuwa

KVB Tharoor — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The "war on terror" - that diplomatic, political and military offensive after the 9/11 attacks - is a war that has been silently waged in Sri Lanka for over 27 years. Generations are woven into the spiral of violence. Citizens across the island, particularly in its north and east, have suffered the twin effects of terrorism and the equally reprehensible counterterrorist strategies of successive governments that have trampled on fundamental rights and humanitarian norms.

Human dignity and respect for human life have eroded so dramatically in two decades of bloody conflict that the killings of a few dozen are now no longer exceptional. Days in which there are only a few killings are now considered "good" days, given the striking rise in violence on the ground in 2006.

Sri Lanka's own "war on terror" over the past two decades, looked at from the perspective of a citizen, is a multi-faceted and complex series of struggles to secure human rights, basic human needs and above all, the hope for a just and sustainable peace.

The need for reform

Those who stand in the way are not just the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE) - a known terrorist organisation listed by the United States State Department and critiqued by human rights activists - and the Tigers' breakaway faction now largely in control of the east of the country. State authorities - the military and the police - have not been above using terrorism to achieve their own parochial ends. Not just the pogrom in 1983, but also the Marxist uprising in the late 1980s demonstrated unequivocally the brutality of the state. In dealing with dissent, Sri Lanka is a country almost pathologically conditioned to use violence as a first option, with negotiations only a distant alternative.

Dealing with terrorism requires us to look at systemic change of the social, economic and political status quo. Recognising that the roots of terrorism lie in the effective marginalisation of the aspirations of distinct communities, we realise that addressing such deep-seated systemic inequality requires a radical long term reformist agenda; a commitment to putting a stop to discrimination in all forms; the strengthening of the legitimacy of democratic rule through measures that enable citizens to hold their representatives accountable; and more transparent and responsive governance.

Governments, however, are resistant to change, choosing populist strategies with guaranteed high visibility in the media - such as military offensives that generate supposed "victories" against terrorism - over measures that produce real reform. The flames of communal strife continue to be fanned by inequality and discrimination.

Building civil society

What we are left with is an ever-shrinking space for concerned citizens - often called civil society - to articulate dissent towards the actions of those who perpetuate violent conflict and destroy further hopes for peace and reconciliation.

"Citizen journalism" can help move the country towards peace. Through web-based technologies, even citizens in Sri Lanka who have been effectively cut out of mainstream media - bursting, as it is, with the propaganda of political elites - have found new ways of expressing themselves, their concerns, their aspirations and their ideas for resolving conflict.

Often, this new age of citizen journalism lacks the grammar of age-old diplomacy and socio-political norms - the conversation is raw, visceral, impatient, irreverent, pithy, provocative. In Sri Lanka, it is a conversation that's largely still in English, and also limited to urban centres.

The potential of citizen journalism, however, is its ability to provide a forum for all citizens - male and female, of all ethnicities, castes, classes and religions - to express themselves freely, society will better accommodate ideas and measures that engender peace.

Committed to this end, Groundviews was launched in December 2006 as the first tri-lingual citizen journalism initiative in the country.

An open and participatory space

Anyone, from anywhere in Sri Lanka, with access to an internet-connected computer, can submit their thoughts in Sinhala, Tamil or English to the website. Groundviews is also a tool to report on Sri Lanka's democratic deficit, the culture of impunity and the flagrant violations of human rights through simple, compelling stories that seek to humanise the ongoing violence.

Different perspectives lead to a fuller understanding of why we are once again at war. Many of the ideas and opinions on Groundviews, even a month after its launch, come from the battle-weary north and east, demonstrating that even faced with death and starvation, Sri Lankans still believe in a negotiated settlement as the only means to achieve a secure lasting and just peace.

Other submissions explore the many contradictions between the words and deeds of the government, the LTTE and other armed groups; flesh out issues related to the economy; and celebrate community-level dispute resolution mechanisms, which are flourishing in some parts of the country.

Changing society.

These stories offer hope for diversity and coexistence in Sri Lanka. Such stories will possibly never make it into the mainstream media. Ordinary citizens, weary of violence, write them. Artists, human rights and media activists, academics, young bloggers and thinkers - few of them with any background or training in journalism - write them.

Groundviews is already an arena for the thrust and parry of debate that is sorely lacking in mainstream media, and is crumbling in mainstream polity and society. It is, finally, an experiment in progress - the enactment of new anti-terrorism legislation by the government that threatens to shut down voices of dissent - is a Damoclean sword for Groundviews, and all websites in Sri Lanka, that seek to air the views of citizens committed to federalism, democracy and peace.

There is no guarantee that Groundviews will foster a new social movement in support of peace. There is no guarantee it will secure peace, in any greater degree, on the ground and in the north and east of Sri Lanka, where it is needed most. There is no guarantee that hate speech will not take over the timbre of online debate. The more Groundviews is successful in fostering new voices in support of peace, the more it will become a target of concerted attacks to prevent its growth.

And it is here that our greatest challenge lies. Not in the technology itself, but in the creation of a social and political movement - one fostered by citizen journalism mediated through new media and new technology - that is able to maintain, in some small way, the hope of a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka.

This hope fuels Groundviews, not as a simplistic magic bullet against terrorism, but as an increasingly important vehicle for ordinary citizens to record their views in support of democracy as the only way through which terrorism can be effectively combated.

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The promise of citizen journalism, Sanjana Hattotuwa