Intervene to develop a shared social consciousness that can collectively confront the global pandemic: FMM

Racial and religious extremism which surfaces in different facets is a severe challenge and a threat to the collective resolve at a time when a strong, cohesive social determination is mandatory in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Free Media Movement (FMM) said today. “The racial and religious fanaticism that is being adversely reported in the mainstream media and social media can be observed,”

The Free Media Movement also noted that in such cases the due justifiable legal process should be followed to prosecute the offenders without any consideration to their racial, religious or political backgrounds or affiliations.

“The announcements issued by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan university medical faculty deans have addressed some of these issues.We cannot take the warnings lightly, that communities will be hard-pressed to withhold information due to the implied ideology, being reinforced through the increasingly frequent adverse statements promoting disunity and discord reported through social media and mainstream media.,” the statement said.

The FMM calls on all religious, national and political leaders, especially from media institutions and journalists, to intervene in building a collective social consciousness. “That can collectively face up to the global pandemic, having subdued these adverse racial and religious prejudices that surface from time to time,”