The Cage

Sri Lanka should be an island paradise. Almost alone among the post-colonial countries of the developing world, it stood poised for greatness on the world stage when it gained its independence from Britain in 1948, boasting stability, democracy, a judiciary and an efficient economy.

Instead, in pursuit of power and fundamentalist Buddhism, an oligarchy of Sinhalese political leaders and monks hijacked democracy. In response a ruthless enemy was born: the Tamil Tigers. The result – one of modern history’s longest civil conflicts – spawned a host of horrific innovations: suicide bombers, child soldiers, death squads, and murdered journalists.

But ethnic conflict is only part of the story.

Now, with Iran, Burma, Libya, and China as its closest allies, democracy has been reduced to a cabal of brothers who control the economy, the courts, and the media. Today they tout their bloody conquest of the Tamil Tiger guerillas as an example for other nations with ‘terrorist’ problems.

Gordon Weiss, a veteran journalist and UN official for two decades, was firmly entrenched in the conflict as spokesperson for the UN in Colombo. He was a close observer as, in just four months in 2009, tens of thousands of civilians perished along with the last of the Tamil Tigers. His account unravels the compelling history which led up to that horrific moment, peeling back the Sri Lankan government’s cloak of silence to reveal the truth of those tragic events.

The Cage offers a rare glimpse into the reality behind the daily headlines: the inner workings of media manipulation, and the plight of international aid workers struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to those caught in the crossfire of a deadly civil conflict.