{"id":95654,"date":"2019-11-25T17:25:24","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T00:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95654"},"modified":"2019-11-25T17:25:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T00:25:24","slug":"understanding-bbc-for-whom-is-bbc-pulling-jak-seeds-kos-ata-out-of-hot-coals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/25\/understanding-bbc-for-whom-is-bbc-pulling-jak-seeds-kos-ata-out-of-hot-coals\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding BBC- for whom is BBC pulling Jak seeds (kos ata) out of hot coals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ramanie de Zoysa<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

There is an apt\nSinhala saying balallun lava kos ata bawanawa\u201d; the phrase literally means\nsomeone is using a cat\u2019s paw to pull out (roated) Jak seeds (kos ata) from the\nfire. Jak seeds roasted in a woodfire is a tasty treat eaten by Sinhala\nvillagers; once roasted, one needs a fireproof utensil to pull out the roasted\nnut.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC has been\none of the most prominent mouthpieces for the terrorist group LTTE (Liberation\nTigers of Tamil Eelaam) that ravaged Sri Lanka for over three decades; killing\nover a hundred thousand people and maiming countless civilians both physically\nand psychologically and destroying millions of dollars\u2019 worth of public\nproperty. BBC has, right throughout the 30 years, been an unashamed and\nunapologetic spokesperson for the Tamil insurgents and their organisers living\nin the affluent West- distorting real facts, running falsehoods spewed by LTTE\nfrontmen as news items or documentaries, producing via Channel 4 complete fake\ndocumentaries which have astounded Sri Lankans due to their venomous\nmisrepresentation of facts or outright deception and audacity. Is this done out\nof ignorance of the real situation on the ground or is BBC pulling jak seeds\nout of the fire for the voracious consumption of someone powerful? Once we know\nthe answer to this question we can evaluate our methods of responding.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If no one has\never corrected BBC and put before them the real facts, one can understand the\nignorance argument to mitigate BBC\u2019s callous disregard for the truth and its\nco-habitation with key LTTE figures. However, for decades hundreds of people\nhave made submissions, written letters and used a multitude of other ways and\nmeans to put BBC right- to no avail. One can wake someone who is asleep but\nwhen the sleeper is faking sleep, how do you wake the fake? BBC is not\nignorant- therefore it is not asleep. Instead, BBC is faking sleep and we are\nwasting our time and effort trying to put forward facts before it to wake BBC\nup. Instead, we need to understand the under-currents that motivate BBC to play\nsuch a terrorist friendly role. For a start, who is BBC and how does it acquire\nfunds for its existence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC (British Broadcasting\nCorporation) is a British \u2018public corporation’- which means BBC is a\npublic company incorporated by the British Government. It is one of 23 or so\npublic companies incorporated by the British Government similar to National\nHealth Service (NHS), Royal Mint, Post Office and the Land Registry.\nThe BBC is established under a Royal Charter by the British\nGovernment and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for\nDigital, Culture, Media and Sport <\/strong>of Britain. This just means that BBC is\nthe information arm of the British Government- doesn\u2019t it?!  Curiously,\nanother of the British Government\u2019s 23 public corporations is Channel Four Television Corporation<\/a>. Remember\nthe Channel 4 documentaries – Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields? Well, Channel 4 is\nanother one of British Government\u2019s public corporations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The money flow-\nwhere does the funding come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ostensibly\nBBC\u2019s main responsibility is to provide impartial public service\nbroadcasting in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. No, it\u2019s\nnot a typo! BBC is supposed to be impartial\u201d! Its work\nis funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is\ncharged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type\nof equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts. According to\npublicly available data, the total income from broadcasting licence fees was\n\u00a33.83 billion in 2017\u201318 of which \u00a3655.3 million or 17.1% was provided by\nthe government through concessions for those over the age of 75.\nThus, the licence fee made up the bulk (75.7%) of the BBC’s total\nincome of \u00a35.0627 billion in 2017\u20132018 and 17% of that came from the British\nGovernment by way of elderly concessions mentioned above. Please look at the\n2019 financial accounts for BBC at http:\/\/downloads.bbc.co.uk\/aboutthebbc\/reports\/annualreport\/2018-19.pdf<\/a>.\nThey are similar in pattern to the 2018 numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore,\nbasically, BBC is a British Government Corporation with the right to collect a\nfee from the general public. Why does a British Public Corporation established\nand funded to provide an \u2018impartial broadcasting service\u2019 peddle Tamil\nterrorism against a very small island in the Indian Ocean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer lies\nin the British Foreign Policy produced in Whitehall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Curtis in\nhis book Unpeople\u201d published by Vintage 2004, made startling revelations about\nwhat the British foreign policy is like and how Britain (and the US) goes about\nachieving their goals through their foreign policies. Another writer of this\ncalibre is John Pilger. Both Curtis and Pilger used declassified top secret\u201d\ndocuments as the primary sources of information for their writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please see an\narticle by Rudra de Zoysa posted on Lankaweb on September 23rd, 2011 titled\nSome aspects of British Foreign Policy as it relates to Sri Lanka\u201d for more\ndetails on this. https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2011\/09\/23\/some-aspects-of-british-foreign-policy-as-it-relates-to-sri-lanka\/<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his article\nde Zoysa commented; Britain\u2019s foreign policy is (and has been for the last\ncentury or so) crafted by a small group of government ministers, civil\nservants, diplomats and other bureaucrat with wide-ranging powers. Most of\nthese people have attended Ivy League schools or universities, come from\nconservative  and \u2018noble\u2019 families such as Winston Churchill, Baroness\nSymonds, Lord Chalfont and bear such double barrel names as Douglas-Home and\nDrummond-Willoughby. They all have stiff upper lips, carry neatly rolled up\numbrellas and are members of exclusive clubs. They also have the conviction\nthat their white culture is superior and theirs is a superior form of life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, here\u2019s the\ncrux of the matter- what is this British foreign policy that requires the\ncovert and overt promotion of terrorism in other countries? What are the goals\nof British foreign policy? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of\nBritish foreign policy has always been to preserve its commercial interests and\nits international standing as a global super power- (US is no different). This\nwas achieved through brutal colonisation of Africa and Asia and through slavery\nin the not too distant past. However, in the post war times Britain and its\nally the US have had to change their previously used strategies to achieve\ntheir goals. In Whitehall, the Ivy League brains had to come up with ways to\nreplace colonialism and slavery with strategies that will achieve Britain\u2019s\nself-interest without using the now not-so-fashionable colonisation and\nslavery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to de\nZoysa in the article mentioned above, there are 5 cornerstones of British\nforeign policy<\/strong>: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1).\ndeepening support for state terrorism in other countries, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2).\nenhancing Britain\u2019s ability to interfere militarily in global affairs (even if\nthey have to play a \u2018puppy dog\u2019 role to enable United Sates foreign policy\ngoals), <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3).\nincreasing state propaganda operations towards the British public, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4). the\nprinciple that Britain is no longer bound by international law, and, finally <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5). the\ndenial of the need to apologise for crimes done in colonial days.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\n(emphasis added)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Zoysa\nfurther commented that Declassified documents (and postings of WikiLeaks)\nreveal that the decision makers in Whitehall were very honest in the policy\ndocuments about their real feelings and goals and disregard for human rights\nand humanitarian concerns\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look at\nforeign policy numbers 1 and 3, isn\u2019t this where Sri Lanka comes in?\nUnbelievable at some level may be, Britain has done nothing but support LTTE\nterrorism over the last 30 years! Together with the rest of the West, Britain\nforced Sri Lanka to sit down and negotiate with terrorists- on and on with no\npositives results for the civilian victims! I do not recollect one single\nincident where Britain asked the LTTE diaspora that was funding the carnage in\nSri Lanka from England, to refrain from doing so. However, the ceasefires and\nnegotiations providing the much needed breathing space to LTTE to re-group,\nre-arm and refresh for a more violent attack next time were directly supported\nand facilitated by Britain. Then again, we have always wondered about this-\nhaven\u2019t we?! Why wouldn\u2019t a responsible, world leader say or do something to\nstop a group of terrorists against killing and maiming civilians- especially\nwhen they were in direct contact with the organisers and funders of the\ncarnage- the LTTE diaspora?!  Was the reason that this is exactly what\nBritain wanted?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some with more\nhumble opinions of themselves may laugh at the idea that Britain would pick\ntiny Sri Lanka to destabilise. These would also be the same people who think\nthat the US in their generosity were trying to give\u201d Sri Lanka $480m to build\nroads\u201d via the recent MCC debacle! Answering readers of that mind set is not\nwithin the scope of this letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of\ncountries where Britain has engineered regime change are well known. Curtis\npointed out Iran (1953); British Guiana (1953 and 1963); Egypt (1956);\nIndonesia (1957 & 1965); Yemen (1962 to 1970); Oman (1970); Libya (1996 and\n2011); Yugoslavia (1999); Afghanistan (2001 to date); Sri Lanka (tried in 2009\nand still trying): also Saudi Arabia, Israel, early days of Idi Amin, support\nfor the Chilean dictator Pinochet, Indonesia and early days of Sadaam Hussein\nare but a few more examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does BBC\ncome in? BBC helps with policies one and three- that is supporting terrorism\noverseas to destabilise and to feed fake news to the British public. That is\nwhy it is the mandate of BBC to support those who cause terror in selected\noverseas posts. BBC is not interested in the victims of terror- that is\npossibly \u2018collateral damage\u2019. BBC is interested in what the armed terrorists\nwant, what their aspirations are and where any disappeared to. BBC is there to\nkeep the British public in the dark to keep the home front trouble free for the\nGovernment which the Government goes about foraging for more wealth. Remember\nthe WMD (weapons of mass destruction) story that facilitated the Iraqi invasion\nbecause the West\u2019s plant, Hussein was not behaving himself? Right though out\nthe LTTE onslaught the news were delivered to the world by BBC news anchors\/\nproducers almost exclusively consisting of Coomaraswamys, Manchettys,\nGurumurthys and the like? Coincidence?! Probably not!   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is\nprobably why that complain\u201d button at the BBC website doesn\u2019t work so well for\nyou! BBC is the information\u201d arm of the British Government. It is there to\nsupport British global agendas which do not include the wellbeing of you and\nme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC is only the\ncat\u2019s paw; it is pulling kos ata from the coal for the consumption of the\nBritish Government. Target your responses to British thuggery and\nneo-colonialism accordingly. BBC is not there to get you the truth; it is there\nto manufacture the \u2018Truth\u201d that will suit and support the British foreign\npolicy agenda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ramanie de Zoysa There is an apt Sinhala saying balallun lava kos ata bawanawa\u201d; the phrase literally means someone is using a cat\u2019s paw to pull out (roated) Jak seeds (kos ata) from the fire. Jak seeds roasted in a woodfire is a tasty treat eaten by Sinhala villagers; once roasted, one needs a fireproof […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ramanie-de-zoysa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}