Wedi wenuwata pichcha mal (jasmine instead of gunshots) was the theme of the Rajini Thiranagama Commemoration organised by the Unknown Collective at the Kelaniya Campus on Tuesday. An activist who espoused the causes of non violence, justice and human rights and paid with her life for what she believed in. It was 30 years ago on September 21 that, Dr. Rajini Thiranagama, the then Professor of Anatomy at the University of Jaffna was gunned down by killers from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The main topic of the evening was Rajini’s concept of non –violence and the two speakers were Dayapala Thiranagama (Rajini’s husband) and Buddhika Bandara. Two statements on Rajini and the purpose of the event were given by Sobavi Pankaja Liyanawaduge and Vidarshana Dominic Fernando. Also discussed were non – violent praxis and the Dialogical or problem posing method based on Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire.