Authors note: This expands on a comment I left on Groundviews here, in response to my last article In defense of the JVP campaign to support Sarath Fonseka. Tamils must not play a sectarian role in the presidential election. That’ll be counterproductive. This is not the time for Tamils to do politics based on anger […]
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries that provides students the opportunity of a free secondary education. More than 200,000 students sit for the GCE Advanced Level examinations in Sri Lanka every year, of which only around 20,000 are selected to the fourteen universities across the country. It is possible to conclude then that […]
There is much controversy over the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), whom I wish to refer as internally detained persons. In essence, this controversy revolves around the nature of the LTTE, the counter-insurgency strategy of the GOSL, and its criminal effect on over 200,000 detainees. The question of the fate of some 10,000 […]
In a one dimensional interview with the Daily Mirror, General Sarath Fonseka outlined his grievances before the people and we got an idea why he is running for the highest office in the land. It was a litany of personal woes. Just about the whole interview was about what has been taken away from him […]
A number of columnists have commented on the various different aspects of the Provincial Council elections held in 2008 /2009 beginning with the Eastern PC elections in May 2008. These comments have ranged from increasing election fatigue, the costs to the tax payer, the phenomenon of the new contenders, and implications of results for future […]
In the past few weeks newspapers were rife with speculations of a possible presidential or parliamentary election that was ‘coming soon’. Confirming most of these speculations, President Mahinda Rajapakse announced the presidential elections and sent directives to the election commissioner to do the needful in this regard. Ending the long speculation of the common candidate, […]
The ongoing “Rajapaksa-Fonseka battle” is a blessing in disguise for the Tamil-speaking people and the Sinhalese despite its immediate appearances; because the upcoming debates are bound to change the confused Sinhala consciousness on an unprecedented scale. The JVP’s decision to back the General as a tactical move to get rid of the utterly corrupt Rajapaksa-regime […]
I have taken up anthropology. It is I, your potato farmer. In previous posts, I told you the story of my farm, my trial and my poultry venture. I now want to study the differences between the T-tribe and the S-tribe in our island paradise, in order to answer a fundamental question about genetics and […]
Caveat: It is strongly encouraged that one reads Dr. Saravanamuttu’s article “Rajapakse vs Fonseka: Tweedledum vs Tweedledee” before proceeding. Also, in this fragment I have failed to adequately define terms such as “moderate” and “extremist”; however, I hope my readers will be considerate of the informal, conversational nature of this fragment. In previous presidential elections, […]
“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” — Karl Marx “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with […]
The results of the national elections are now by no means certain. There is a contest and as a consequence, there is the possibility that the presidency could change hands, which in turn will have its impact on the general elections. This is attributable to the Fonseka presidential candidacy and it depriving the incumbent of […]
In Sri Lanka, the Dhamma preached by the Buddha has gone through many transformations. First we had the Hinduization, bringing in Hindu deities into our temples, sometimes converting them to ‘Buddhism’. Next came the Christianization, which led to the coining of the term ‘Protestant Buddhism’. This was influenced more by Christians who turned to Buddhism, […]
Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Klaus signed the 2007 EU Lisbon Treaty on the 3rd of November thereby making the Treaty effective as of the 1st of December 2009. The Czech Republic was the last European Union nation (EU is comprised of 27 nations) to ratify the Lisbon treaty. President Klaus, a Eurosceptic, had earlier opposed the […]
For a long time I didn’t think of myself as being a part of the Tamil Diaspora. I had this vague feeling that I was going to go back home some day. Even when it was pretty obvious that I was not going back, I still didn’t want to identify myself as a member of […]
Groundviews recently spoke to Tracy Holsinger of Mind Adventures and Mike Masilamani (Masii) about the upcoming production of ‘The Travelling Circus’, devised and adapted from Mike’s short story, ‘The Boy Who Spoke in Numbers‘. Tracy’s adaptation of the short story for stage deals with the political and social problems in Sri Lanka at present and […]