From
left, Robert Sullivan, director of the honors program, Sonali Samarasinghe,
international visiting scholar in honors, and Jason Freitag, associate
professor of history, share a laugh at the welcoming event for Samarasinghe
Sept. 19 in the Klingstein Lounge. Photo: Durst Breneiser/The Ithacan
| by
Kristin Mansfield
Courtesy:
The Ithacan
(
October 2, 2012, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) She didn’t run from the
people who threatened to hurt her. She didn’t run from the newspaper that made
her and her husband national targets by the Sri Lankan government.
Sonali
Samarasinghe didn’t run away at all. She was kicked out.
Freedom
of Information has been an ongoing battle in Sri Lanka. According to the
Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2004 former President Chandrika
Bandaranaike’s cabinet approved a Freedom of Information Bill, but nothing came
of it after the Parliament was dissolved. In 2011, a relabelled Right to
Information Act was also denied.
Her
whole life Samarasinghe believed in freedom of speech and open communication
between the government and the people, things that Sri Lanka didn’t have. These
beliefs only grew stronger after the assassination of her husband, Lasantha
Wickrematunge, editor in chief of the Sri Lankan investigative newspaper Sunday
Leader, in 2009.
“I’ve
realized many things,” Samarasinghe said. “When the horrible death happened, I
realized that humanity can be ugly and very wicked. But I also realized that
there is goodness in people and compassion, and that really amazed me.”
Samarasinghe
and her husband were threatened to shut down their newspaper numerous times,
but they felt they had a duty to write about government wrongdoings.
Shortly
after his assassination, she was exiled.
The
well-known Sri Lankan lawyer, journalist and human rights activist was welcomed
as an International Visiting Scholar in Honors to Ithaca College on Sept. 19.
This program is in cooperation with the Ithaca City of Asylum, which supports
writers who have escaped their country and whose works are suppressed.
Dan
Renfrow, chair of the ICOA, said Samarasinghe is a perfect candidate to host in
Ithaca as a Writer in Residence from 2012-2014 because of her work in activism
towards freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
Samarasinghe’s
experiences are not only inspiring, Renfrow said, but are very timely because
of the growing number of ways people can share views and information with new
technology.
“The
liberty in our country for freedom of the press and freedom of speech doesn’t
exist everywhere,” Renfrow said. “So it’s important for all of us to stand
united in protecting those rights and trying to make certain that others have
those rights as well.”
A
witness to civil war and extreme journalistic censorship, Samarasinghe said she
will use her knowledge and passion to teach courses in the areas of politics
and communications this fall.
“The
faculty and I have been able to discuss collaboration on many subjects and
across many departments like anthropology, history, writing and modern
languages and literature,” Samarasinghe said.
Samarasinghe
has written many articles about political corruption and extreme human rights
violations. She also had a large following at the newspaper, the Morning
Leader, at which she was the editor in chief.
“Really,
when it comes to legal studies and journalism I am in my element, because
that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 25 years,” Samarasinghe said.
As
an International Visiting Scholar in Honors, Samarasinghe will teach special
courses and lecture on topics such as the forgiveness factor in reconciliation
and transformative justice. The lectures will be open to all students, she
said.
Barbara
Adams, associate professor in the department of writing, is a member of the
ICOA and a founding member of the organization. Samarasinghe is the first
journalist they’ve hosted. Adams said she will give the Ithaca community
insight into how those in other countries may have to fight for their freedoms.
“We
live in a privileged society where we often take our freedom of speech for
granted,” Adams said. “It’s enormously valuable to have access to any
individual, but particularly writers, who has a very different sense of what it
means to speak in a country where free speech is constrained as it was for
her.”
An
important aspect of Samarasinghe’s job at the college will be to raise
awareness of the dangers of the Internet and how it can be used by not only
activists, but also the government. In Sri Lanka, the government makes sure all
news websites, even those created in the country, are registered with the Media
Ministry in Sri Lanka, she said.
“In
a way, what has happened with repressive regimes and the Internet is that it
has become a lot more difficult to hide the truth, and that is a good thing,”
Samarasinghe said. “But you must understand that they too have that tool. They
could send us misinformation.”
Democracy
and justice are important to Samarasinghe, she said, which is why she didn’t
let her husband’s death impede her commitment to exposing the truth.
“Journalists
are at the forefront of history,” Samarasinghe said. “They are able to change
the world. Move forward, do what you’re doing, and do it better and do it
faster and do it harder.”
When
something as defining as her husband’s death happens, it changes you and gives
you hope, she said.
“I’ve
learned that when something horrible happens, like death, to respond to it with
life,” she said. “When ugly happens, to respond with beautiful things.”
