hv a good day
bye.

Do we avoid Russian because of Chechenya, India because of Jammu Kashmir/Gujarat, China because of Kashgar/Tibet, Israel because of Palestine and US/UK because of Guantanamo/Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan’s Swat Valley/extraordinary rendition?

All of these countries’ governments (probably Mr David’s as well) have violated, have supported, will continue to violate and will continue to support the violations of human rights.

In Sri Lanka’s case, a very ugly civil war with faults on both sides – e.g. the civillian casualties were magnified by the fact that the rebels used civilians as human shields – has just ended. The end of this war for us Sri Lankans means the promise of prosperity and I think most of us – Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese – are happy that it is over. For us, it is not the war that concerns us but how far and fast we can grow now that it is over.

You can throw around all kinds of words like Nazi and some people, those who see the world as black and white, often do. For the rest of us, the world and Sri Lanka is kind of gray and we understand that the people you hurt by boycotting tourism aren’t the people who can do anything to change the situation.

They can just drive you around the country, show you some of the sights, give you somewhere to sleep and something to eat. Most tourist operators in Sri Lanka are small and medium entrepreneurs; they pay little to no direct taxes as they barely stay above water most months. I’ve lived and worked here on a rural development project from 2004 on and every hotel I visited last year usually just had one or two rooms occupied.

Taking away their meagre earnings isn’t going to affect the ruling elite nor is it going to effect any change. But, like the fat guy who orders a Big Mac and a Diet Coke, you can continue to delude yourself that your internet tough guy pose has made a difference.

The places reserved for tourism, you can not see what is happening or happened. There are beautiful beaches and palm trees. But it is an unfair and false illusion. Serpent (SL government) lies producing this as real Sri Lanka.I want you people to see the whole picture.
You may well enjoy your holiday there, but do not forget that there are places in Sri Lanka, where people right now are kept locked up like animals, actually worse than animals.

Thanks.

Sri Lanka is one of the worst corrupt countries in the world and one of the most dangerous places for journalists to be in, also many human rights are violated and Sri Lanka ,also rank as the top candidate in other negative contexts. I would not attach you with links and another to justify my assertions. But you can “google” on human rights in Sri Lanka and you will get a lot of results. It’s really ugly pictures (Channel 4 – which the Sri Lankan military executes young Tamil men with cynicism and cold blood).

In your final sentence, it seems as if you are suggesting tourists avoid all travel to Sri Lanka because of what has gone on during the end of the civil war? It hasn’t worked for Myanmar/Burma and if this is true, China among others needs to be avoided as well. The truth is, tourism,especially socially conscious backpackers, put money into the local economy and can sometimes create opportunity for those who have none, whether they be Tamil or Sinhalese. I fail to believe the average Sri Lankan deserves to be penalized for actions of their corrupt government.

As Matador’s managing editor, I received Nick’s initial pitch for a photo essay about Sri Lanka. I reviewed many of Nick’s photos and when I passed Nick’s pitch on to Hal, I specifically stated that I was interested in focusing on the people.

None of us at Matador are naive about what’s happening in Sri Lanka. But we choose to tell the stories that are often overlooked, and I think you’ll agree that most stories about Sri Lanka are negative (a fact which we acknowledge in the introduction to this piece). For all of the negative things happening in Sri Lanka, there are positive things happening, too, and it’s important to share them.

I’d like to invite you to contribute your knowledge and opinion more constructively in the future. We’re all for promoting conversation, but when someone launches directly out of the gate with clearly hostile language, it’s obvious that that person isn’t really interested in advancing dialogue, which is a shame. You could have used your knowledge to enlighten other readers. Instead, you used it to distance.