By M.C. Rasmin, Director Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF)
Text derived from official press release by SDJF.
Sri Lanka forum theatre program that aimed at solving societal issues through Gender-Sensitive Active Nonviolent means, promoting dialogues, enhancing religious and ethnic tolerance, promoting religious and ethnic acceptance thereby building a violence-free united nation, concluded successfully in the Eastern province. This program was organized by the Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF).
24 young artists, belonging to diverse ethnic groups namely, Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim, in the Eastern province were selected for this program. This also gave them an opportunity to present their creativity, and to bring out their positive ideas and attitudes in terms of coming up with new creations in promoting Gender-Sensitive Active Nonviolence (GSANV) and tolerance. Through this program, they also received knowledge and skills to become representatives who inculcate ideas of nonviolence in the society.
Youth created 20 Forum theatres deeply reflecting the ideas of tolerance and rejecting the idea of violence. Out of these forums, 10 were performed in Ampara district whereas the other 10 were performed in Batticaloa district. Through these forums, SDJF was able to spread ideas of GSANV and religious tolerance to more than 15,000 community members living in the Eastern province.
One of the important features of Sri Lanka Forum theatre is that through this program, the community members from Buddhist, Tamil and Muslim ethnic backgrounds, were able to develop non-violent and peaceful values, which could further enhance tolerance, in collaboration with the forum theatre members. In addition, the community members also engaged in dialogues creating the timely strategies that could be utilized in solving issues related to religious tolerance in the Eastern province through peaceful means. Further, the community members also brought out such strategies by acting jointly with the young performers.
According to the survey carried out after the program, 80% of the participants showed their interest to engage in similar dialogues in the future. 73% of the participants showed their interest on taking part in such forum theatres as performers in the future. The participation of young artists representing three main ethnicities was a special characteristic of Sri Lanka Forum theatre Program and 95% of the participants agreed that due to this diverse feature, they were able to gain an advanced knowledge about the diversity in these three religions. These ideas can also be considered as factors that reflect their keenness in standing on behalf of non-violent ideas.
During the first phase of the program, 24 youth were given a professional training on using forum theatre as means of promoting culture of GSANV and religious tolerance through connected values. Through this, youth created 20 initial scripts of the forums. These forums were based on the theme “Let’s Reject Violence and Promote Dialogues”. Furthermore, the necessity of utilizing forum theatre as a mean to engage civil society collaboratively producing anti-violence messages was also discussed in depth. In the second phase, the youth successfully performed these forums in 20 locations of the eastern province.
This program was organized under the guidance of the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, Ministry of Education, Land and Land Development, Transport and Culture. Thuruvam Youth Media Network also supported this program as regional coordinators.
The forum also analyzed ideas of tolerance and nonviolence in depth while bringing out creative values of religious diversity. It also depicted the necessity of developing a united identity as Sri Lankans while respecting the individuality of each religious identity. While these forums were performed, various social issues were identified. There was a huge gap in the past between Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities. However, in the post war situation, a platform has been created to enhance the social connectedness of these communities in a gentle manner. Unfortunately, with the impact of recently emerged anti-religious moments, people have started looking at each other with suspect. Here, people utilize religion as a tool that separates each other.
There is a tendency where many people believe visibility of religious diversity of one religion would affect the existence of another religion in a negative manner. Sometimes, they even bring out militancy with the aim of protecting their religious identity even when there is no such conflict. These ethnic groups also have the idea that they are more superior than other diverse ethnic groups. Depth in the ideas perceived by the society regarding religious pluralism and ethnicity is lacking.
Even though Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups have a similarity in terms of the language, they have a hindrance in understanding their religious and ethnic diversity in depth. Therefore, 90% of the participants believed that strong dialogues and activities based on this issue should be promoted in the province. These ideas of people were found out through the survey conducted by SDJF and the responses of community members to forum theatre performances.
Religion intolerance and violent actions are capable of destructing the day to day lives of everybody including youth, females, adults and people with lack of opportunities. It was pointed out that women are the immediate segment who are victimized and they are the ones who face the repercussions of these issues. It was identified that women have a huge role in promoting tolerance and nonviolence. It was also realized that women should be the primary stakeholders in promoting these concepts. In fact, 85% of the participants of forum theatre program were women and sometimes this percentage even increased up to 95%. Thus, it was evident that more attention should be paid on women in organizing activities that reject religious intolerance and violence.
The youth highlighted that, when promoting religious tolerance and gender sensitive active non-violence, more attention should be paid on developing a united identity. They highlighted the necessity of developing a united identity as Sri Lankans through the diversity of different identities. They further conveyed that the special message of this program is to provide an equal respect to all religions under a united identity. The youth mentioned that ‘we are not different than others, yet we are different like others’. The media conference and the distribution of certificates to the young artists of the program were held on 30th March in Kalmunei.
M.C. Rasmin joined Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) as the Chief Executive Officer & Director in 2009. He was one of the participants in the WPP 2012-2013 Asian Training of Trainers Cycle "Together for Transformation: Gender-Sensitive Nonviolence for Sustainable Peace".
Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum is an organization that promotes media, arts and culture as tools that transform society in a positive manner. SDJF is engaged in community media and social transformation, media and development, media training, and producing awareness programs to the society based on media. This organization also contains high competence in the fields of pluralism, women’s rights, youth and virtue. For more information, visit the website of SDJF.
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