Sri Lanka: A journey into the wounds of civil war
By Antonella Palermo - Mannar (Sri Lanka)
Stay on the island or emigrate? This is the crucial question facing young Sri Lankans with few prospects, who suffer most from the consequences of a collapsed economy.
In the most remote areas, the MAGIS Foundation (Movement and Action of Jesuits Together for Development) is sending help, especially educational help, as an opportunity to enable the younger generations to choose their future with more awareness and more skills.
Mannar: site of the first martyrdom in South Asia
From the Satyodaya Centre for Social Research and Encounter, in Kandy, founded 53 years ago when the country's prime minister was a woman (the first woman in the world to hold this position); and located in a true oasis of peace that hosts anyone who wants to spend some time restoring the spirit and also delving into the history of the Jesuit missions, the itinerary of President Ambrogio Bongiovanni continues to get to know the realities supported in the country formerly known as Ceylon.
The destination is Mannar, in the north. Here, the village of Tottaveli is remembered for the murder, in 1544, at the behest of the then-King Cankili, of six hundred Catholics who had converted from Hinduism. It is counted as the first martyrdom in South Asia.
Here, even today, one finds the highest concentration of Christians in the country. The Church of the Queen of Martyrs, built on the site of the massacre, has a compound where there are two mass graves and has become a popular pilgrimage site.
Palm trees: an unattainable resource
The landscape towards the northern edge of Sri Lanka is a continuous triumph of palm groves and rice paddies. It was these native trees that were the main source of livelihood for the population, who drew fine liquors and syrups from the fruit.
The government, however, began to ban this activity, further bringing the villagers to their knees. The processing of palm wood to make fences, huts, and furnishings has also been greatly reduced. It remains possible to use palm leaves for the handcrafted creation of various types of utensils, but the market is minimal.
These people have therefore had to reinvent themselves by working in the fields on a daily basis to provide themselves with the necessities of life, which are always very few.
Here are the contradictions already highlighted by Laudato si': poverty and social injustice are exacerbated when the management of resources does not benefit the locals, who cannot find sufficient alternatives for a dignified life.
Socio-economic contradictions in agriculture
It is a particularly critical time for agriculture in the country: farmers are facing a real threat to their livelihoods. A new element seems to have come with the government's “Urumaya (legacy) of the president” programme: since 5 February, full ownership of fields has been granted to farmers.
This act, however, is not granted to implement agriculture, but only for commercial cultivation for export.
“It is an attempt to make farmers sell the land cheaply,” say the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reforms. It means that maize and banana crops, mainly, must be allowed to spread over thousands of acres, as well as solar panel “fields” or stone quarries. Enormous investments are needed, so in reality, the presidential circular is paradoxical for the farmers, it is reported locally, are in fact gradually being removed from this activity. “Urumaya” nationwide will still reach two million farming families and has a budget allocated for 2024 of two billion rupees (around six million euros) for the implementation of the programme.
Environmental paradoxes
Every time one crosses the Isthmus of Mannar, one has to undergo police checks positioned here to prevent drug shipments from India from entering Sri Lanka. The Jesuits work in 48 villages in Sri Lanka, about 20 of which are not reached by any NGO.
Visiting one of the villages farthest away from the town of Mannar, with 85 families, means exploring an area lacking basic infrastructure, where the post-civil war condition of thirty years ago has remained. Help from the parish is guaranteed, but the houses are in a dilapidated state, and only a few public toilets make up for the lack of sanitary facilities in the homes.
Vast expanses of gigantic wind turbines on the strip of land that stretches out below the southern part of India are on the one hand the symbol of a sustainable energy production projected into the future, but on the other hand, a kind of paradox too, considering the socio-environmental context that is actually deprived of this glimpse of the future.
The dreams of children and young people
Usually, in a family of four children, only one manages to continue their studies. Teacher, bank manager, nurse, priest. These are the dreams expressed by the youngest in the sober but colourful classrooms.
One girl, among the older ones attending the Centre, says she wants to leave the country of too many sacrifices: every day she travels thirty kilometres to go to school, and when she returns home, a village of 42 people is waiting for her, living with a small water well for everyone.
“Maybe later I will be able to return to Sri Lanka with more maturity,” she explains. Another young woman has promised her family that she will stay here to promote Tamil culture.
The traces of the civil war
“I saw with my own eyes, in the five years I was Jesuit Superior in Mannar, the damage of the civil war still lingering among the very shaken people," recounts Father Roy, the Associate of the current Provincial, referring to the 25-year war that is estimated to have claimed the lives of almost 100,000 people.
The conflict that has bloodied Sri Lanka originated in the lack of recognition of equal status with the Sinhalese to a large Tamil community settled in the northeast of the country. Resentment mounted until the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were formed in 1976, a group that chose secession and armed struggle.
Little use was made of an intervention by the Indian army, which withdrew in 1990, while thousands of Muslims were expelled from the northern areas under the control of the LTTE, which in 1991 was guilty of the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Gandhi and in 1993 of the murder of President Premadasa.
In 2002, the government and the LTTE rebels signed a ceasefire mediated by Norway, but the following year, the fighting started again. It was not until 2009, after a bloodbath, that the Tigers were defeated, but the Tamil question was all but resolved.
In 2012, the UN urged Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of the conflict with the Tigers, but Colombo is not budging. In 2016, Colombo acknowledged for the first time that about 65,000 people were missing.
Between 2021 and 2022, the economic crisis has deepened, leading to street riots and total default. The former war hero was driven out of the country by popular protest.
The work of Jesuit Reconciliation Solidarity Sri Lanka
Father Robert, SJ, the director of Jesuit Reconciliation Solidarity Sri Lanka, which is supported by MAGIS, explains the activities of this educational centre, which mainly offers English teaching to the Tamil people.
"There are many requests, but we can only take in up to a hundred. We offer a kind of pre-college, also integrating some elements of computer science and graphics. Originally, the facility was owned by JRS, which distributed basic goods here for the Tamil refugees; it has been somewhat adapted to this new function.”
The generosity of the teachers and mothers of the children is also astounding here. In the parish, a priest's resourcefulness and marked ability to animate youth groups are driving forces for the Catholic community, which, precisely in the rituals and periodic meetings, finds a sense of belonging and an important reason for living, for social redemption, and for self-awareness of its rights.
“We want to send our cry of joy to Pope Francis,” he says as he urges the little ones to sing hymns for the beloved Pontiff.
The next installment of this report, the last, will return to where we started, in Negombo, near the capital, in that church of St. Sebastian, where five years ago the infamous Easter bombings claimed the lives of 269 victims. What justice? What path of dialogue is being built in the country?
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