Land Of Confusion Disturbed

Hotel boom spells doom say islanders

The island of Mutwal or Mottuwarama, wedged between a lagoon and the Indian Ocean with a land space of some 800 acres and one kilometre away from the Kalpitiya mainland, is today at the centre of a simmering dispute between the villagers and outsiders, including land developers and hoteliers.

It all began with the military defeat of the LTTE two years ago and since then the place is a hub of activity with everyone claiming his/her piece of land, without proper legal documentation to prove ownership.
Leading the protests for the villagers is the local Catholic priest who claims that some four acres belonging to the church premises has also been swallowed up by the new land grabbers, adding that if the present trend continues unchecked there will be little land left untouched by them.

Rev. Fr. Anthony Vincent charged that developers and hoteliers were erecting barbed wire fences across many parts of the island, and in one case a 12 foot high sand bund stretching some eight kilometres has been erected causing obstruction to the free movement of the people.

He said there were about 10 different property developers and hoteliers who were on the island and the number will only increase. “If they intend building hotels, then both the sea beach and the lagoon front will be acquired. If that happens the villagers, who are mainly fishermen will have no access to these areas and that would impact badly on their livelihood,” Fr. Vincent said.

“Every year this little island holds an annual church feast where more than 200 Catholic families, converge. The feast has been held every year, even during the height of the LTTE activities. But this time we don’t know how many will arrive for the festival on Sunday,” he lamented.

“Hoteliers will not be happy to have a humble church and a common cemetery in the premises. They will say, it is not good for business,” Fr. Vincent concluded. Another serious concern of the people is the adhoc clearing of the mangroves that border the island. This could affect marine life.

M. H. Iyoob, Secretary of the Protection of the People’s Rights Organisation (PPRO) said that in one particular area about 20 blocks of 10 perches each have been cleared of the mangroves to make way for beach huts and cabanas.

“This is disastrous and something must be done immediately to stop the rot before it is too late. It is illegal to clear mangroves as they are protected under the Forest Ordinance. I have made over 14 written complaints to every possible authority both at the regional and national level, even to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But there has been no response,” an angry Mr. Iyoob said.

“Land of Confusion” (Disturbed Cover) » RealitySlapNOW

Long song so we’ll make this part short and sweet, this song/video (originally performed by the band Genesis, above covered by the band Disturbed) I find to be perfect and quite appropriate to the world that we live in today which is the textbook definition of ‘Land of Confusion’

Some lyrics that jump out at me that I really like, aside from the very first 2 phrases of the song as listed in the intro ARE:

We need a hero to step up right now in the face of government corruption and a COMPLETELY broken system that despite what many ‘optimists’ try to assert is NOT getting any better it’s actually getting progressively worse. The men in power, or the Powers That Be think that they’re these ‘untouchable men of steel’ but these men of power are losing control by the hour.

We’re trying to move forward and look at our future, and trying to make the world a better place BUT it’s kind of a land of bitterness right now there’s not nearly enough love going around (not enough for my liking anyway, our society has become so greedy and so ‘it’s all about me’ that it’s so damn sickening)