The Regressive Second Year
Photograph via The Star “…to yourself a thing shameful but bringing joy to the enemy.” (The Iliad) On January 8th 2015, Lankans voted not only to elect a new president but also…
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The Curse of the Obstinate Patriarch
Today marks the second anniversary of the victory of Maithripala Sirisena as the President of Sri Lanka at the 8th January 2015 Sri Lankan Presidential Election. And the second anniversary of the…
Survivalist and Irrepressible: The Two Faces of the Sri Lankan Media
Introduction The past decade produced two critical moments of transition in Sri Lanka. On 19 May 2009, a 30-year war came to a brutal end with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers…
How not to release an official report on reconciliation
Image courtesy Consultation Task Force, featuring submission by Groundviews to it. Details here. After months of waiting, the final report of the Consultation Task Force, set up by the Prime Minister in…
Three scenarios for Sri Lanka’s future: Lecture by Razeen Sally
An expected economic take-off has not happened two years into the change of government says Prof. Razeen Sally, chairman of the Institute of Policy studies in Sri Lanka. Delivering a public lecture…
Ten Years: The Rise of the Average Sri Lankan ‘Netizen’
Photo by Anushka Wijesinha/The Picture Press, via 30 Years Ago As Groundviews turns 10, there appears to be a global sense of disillusionment in the values of equality, liberty and human freedom….
Beyond serendipity
Photo courtesy British High Commission, Sri Lanka I What do our new generation of parents, friends and neighbours, colleagues at work and future leaders think about cultural supremacy? 64% of Sri Lankans…
From ‘Api wenuwen api’ to ‘Aba Saranai’: Snapshots of ten years
Photograph courtesy Sri Lanka Guardian When Sanjana came up with an offer too tempting to pass, I accepted with the knowledge that rolling out the significant junctures of the past decade and…
Wijedasa Rajapaksa: Unfit for the job of Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister
Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa is seen as a blatant liar by the Muslim community. He has become Yahapalanaya’s unofficial patron of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and its controversial leader…
Emotional People and Emotional Nations
Photo by REUTERS/ Mariana Bazo, via Time magazine There is no getting around it, we humans are emotional beings. Thereby, nations made up of humans will possess an emotional psyche which is reflected…
Refugee Jesus: Christmas & Refugees in Sri Lanka
Photo by Jessica Sallabank, from IRIN Jesus was born as a refugee child. When Mary, the pregnant mother on the move couldn’t find a place to give birth, it was poor shepherds…
Stable Truth: A Christmas reflection
Hard lessons The birth of Christ has not changed the world but it offers hard lessons for those who work for change. Herod, whom Jesus called the fox, is clever with words;…
Groundviews’ Top 10 Most Read Articles in 2016
Two years into a Maithripala Sirisena presidency, Sri Lankan polity and society are still grappling with dealing with the past, all the while buffeted by new and equally worrying issues. This is…
The Story of One: On some lives erased and others that give hope
I first met Father Harry Miller in 2013. We sat and talked in his office on the top floor of St. Michael’s College, Batticaloa. Noisy crows had gathered outside his window, threatening…
Ceylon’s First Moor Journalist
Photograph by author, from the National Library and Documentation Services Board, Colombo. The Muslim community is at the centre of news each day- rarely for the right reasons. The unfolding of the Islamic…
