Personal page and articles by Michael Roberts
Mahinda Rajapaksa as a Modern Mahāvāsala and Font of Clemency? The Roots of Populist Authoritarianism in Sri Lanka
On 4th December 2011 the Sunday Island carried a headline: “Mahinda ready to meet General Fonseka’s family over pardon” —...
Continue reading »Clouds of Deception: Jeyaraj anoints and cloaks Niromi Tigress
Writing from a Tamil nationalist position which occasionally earned the LTTE monster’s ire, David Jeyaraj has provided the world with...
Continue reading »Niromi 2009 versus Niromi Tigress 2011
Niromi de Soyza’s so-called autobiography, Tamil Tigress, has received extensive coverage in Australia and has traversed the world now because...
Continue reading »Addressing Greg Sheridan’s Review of the Tamil Lobby and Australia
Greg Sheridan’s articles on the Tamil lobby in Australia and the workings of the Australian state are something of a...
Continue reading »Turning Former LTTE Personnel into Sri Lankan Citizens?
Editors note: Also read a response to this article by Valkryie, titled Response to Michael Roberts’ ‘Turning Former LTTE Personnel into...
Continue reading »Forbidden Fruits: Niromi de Soyza’s “Tamil Tigress”, Noumi Kouri and Helen Demidenko?
The literary world is now poised on the brink wondering if the Tamil Tigress (Allen & Unwin, 2011) is going...
Continue reading »Ancestry and Ethnic Identity in the Australian Census… and thus to Sri Lanka
The 9th of August was census night in Australia. The census form has three boxes relating to “Country of Birth,”...
Continue reading »Kumar Sangakkara steps forth like Young Ceylon
Kumar Sangakkara’s Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture for the MCC this summer was the antithesis of that presented within the...
Continue reading »Tuyilam Illam: Positivist readings and new debating grounds
[Author's note: Though I was invited around February 2011 to respond to the discussion in Groundviews on the issue of Tiger...
Continue reading »2011 World Cup Cricket Final: Right Royal MESS-UP at the Toss-Up
Image courtesy Business Live There was a truly remarkable moment at the start of the World Cup Final between India...
Continue reading »AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF PUBLIC DEBATES: Encounters with Mervyn de Silva, 1960s-1980s
Image courtesy Transcurrents The odd story about former undergraduate Mervyn de Silva would be retailed around the corridors of Peradeniya...
Continue reading »CHALLENGES TODAY: WEEVILS IN THE MIND
Daya Somasundaram was in Jaffna town in late 1995 when the Sri Lankan army advanced south and eastwards from Palaly....
Continue reading »THE RAJAPAKSE REGIME: BRICKBATS, PLAUDITS
[Editors note: This article complements The Rajapakse Regime and the Fourth Estate, also by the same author.] This is a...
Continue reading »THE RAJAPAKSE REGIME AND THE FOURTH ESTATE
Authors note: This is the first of two articles. The second is in draft form and is tentatively entitled ‘The...
Continue reading »Adjutant Australia: Controlling Boat People
The ongoing brouhaha around the boat people ‘storming’ Australian maritime waters displays two tendencies in Australian politics and its cultural...
Continue reading »Subscribe to Content Updates
iPhone app
