Misconceptions that prolong our ethnic conflict
There is no doubt that our ethnic conflict is the worst scourge that has bedeviled this nation since Independence. An incisive and objective look at the calamity would reveal that it is…
Year: 2008
Mahaveer 2008 and Mumbai Mayhem
It ain’t over till it’s over, or as the Americans put it, in a reference to the opera, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. The Mahaveera Day 2008 speech by…
Is India reaping a harvest of hatred sown by Indians? We have seen it all before-a Sri Lankan perspective
As I write this, Indian security forces are still fighting terrorists in Mumbai, the financial capital of India and centre of its glamorous film industry. Over a hundred people are dead, gunned…
We do not know what no one can deny: Stephen Champion’s Lanka War Stories
On 4th February 2008, as the government celebrated the 60th anniversary of our independence from Britain, it struck me strongly that we Sri Lankans are going round in circles. For some time…
The man who refused to be His Master’s Voice
Book review of: Palitha Perera Samaga Sajeeva Lesin (Live with Palitha Perera) Surasa Books, Colombo; 2008 ‘What does Palitha Perera know about culture? He’s just a cricket commentator!’ That’s how a senior…
Aren’t we all in this together?
The first film I was taken to – even before I began schooling– was an Elvis movie, so I welcome the news that the best performing single in the history of the…
So close and yet so far: From Pooneryn to peace in Sri Lanka
The military have now taken the strategic western town of Pooneryn, thus opening up the A-32 highway that links Mantota and the former along the western flank of the Northern Province. This…
Artistes of hypocrisy in Sri Lanka
By Anonymous The response by a critical mass of Sri Lanka’s artist community to the protests by South Indian artistes to the fighting in the North of Sri Lanka will be noted…
Corruption in Sri Lanka: Interview with J.C. Weliamuna
J.C. Weliamuna is the Executive Director of Transparency International in Sri Lanka and an Attorney-at-Law. He and his family were lucky to escape with their lives after two grenades were thrown into…
Interview with Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a Sri Lankan Youth Activist
Interview with K. Guruparan, a well known Sri Lankan Youth Activist. Guru is a student at the Faculty of Law University of Colombo and the Founder of the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament…
American People Make History, Can We Sri Lankans Ever?
Muttukrishna Sarvananthan  In April 2008 I met an American national in Colombo who works for the World Bank in Washington, DC. At that time both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were…
Barack Obama: Hope for America, but not for the world?
Photo credit: CurrentTV Barack Obama has run perhaps the best organized and most inspiring of presidential campaigns in US political history. He has risen above sleazy political tactics, challenged stereotypes, eschewed divisiveness,…
Messiah
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful…
Barack Obama: History’s High Note
History sometimes hits a high note, sweet and soaring, clean and clear, as if from Satchmo’s horn. The most intelligent, interesting and inspirational of contemporary political personalities is about to be the…
No we can’t? – Obama’s victory and Sri Lanka
“” (Haven’t you that if Obama wins, it may be advantageous to the LTTE?) Emigration and Customs official, Katunayake International Airport The discovery that I am interested in peacebuilding by an emigration…
