Why are we wasting our lives in traffic jams for corrupt politicians?
“You should not let these men (politicians) to come out. Their presence in public places itself threatens the common men. I do not know why it has become a matter of prestige…
Human Rights
Human rights – What human rights?
By Metis  We never had human rights in the past, at least not in the sense we know it today. We probably had a better record of animal rights in our…
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…
Emergency Rule, GSP+, Human Rights and Governance in Sri Lanka
An interview on Emergency Rule, GSP+, Human Rights and Democracy in Sri Lanka conducted with Asanga Welikala, author of A State of Permanent Crisis: Constitutional Government, Fundamental Rights, and States of Emergency…
Citizens unite to uphold the Law!
I was at a protest rally on the 15th of October in support of Attorney-at-Law Mr. Weliamuna, whose house was bombed/grenaded as he slept with his wife and two infant children. There…
A brief note on the attack on J.C. Weliamuna
by R.M.B. Senanayake The attack on the human rights lawyer Weliamuna in the night where he is living with two small children show that danger is not far away from all citizens…
Hearts and Minds: the forced exit of humanitarian agencies from the Vanni in Sri Lanka
The day before yesterday, the government of Sri Lanka ordered all humanitarian organisations to cease all operations and remove all personnel (except Vanni residents) and assets from the LTTE controlled part of…
Lt. General Sarath Fonseka: military dictator, saviour or both?
Lt. General Sarath Fonseka was interviewed in the Daily News and Sunday Observer recently. This wasn’t just an interview with an Army Commander; this was a man with political aspirations, who just…
Black July – My Story
It was July ’83. I was seventeen, which you’ll be surprised about if you’ve seen my youthful appearance and I was in Sri Lanka on one of those “extended” studenty type of…
‘Baaldhiya’ or ‘Vaaldhiya’: Two Wor(l)ds Separated by a Consonant
I don’t think I had the slightest inkling of a problem between the sinhala and tamil people in Sri Lanka, until July 1983. But I should have. In the heady days of…
Memories of a Black Moon – the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka
More than two and a half decades later, one of my friends has asked to interview me about the ’83 riots. I was ten years old. My family was from the Sinhala…
Mano Ganesan on his experience of the anti-Tamil riots in July 1983
Member of Parliament and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee, Mano Ganeshan, speaks about his experiences during the anti-Tamil riots in July 1983. For more articles on July 1983, please click here.
Some Reflections arising from Ethnic Riots
by Somapala Gunadheera Off and on, I write short stories, never anecdotes. But now I have to oblige Sanjana. He wants stories about our ethnic riots, the one that raged before he…
Shanthi Sachithanandan on July 1983
Prominent Tamil civil society activist Shanthi Sachithanandan shares her experiences of the July 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka. For the Sinhala version of the interview, click here and visit the Vikalpa YouTube Channel for…
Some Gruesome Experiences: Memories of July 1983 by DEW Gunasekara, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration
From my Diary Notes written in Cell No.1, Negombo Remand Prison, (July 31st-Sept 24th 1983) Â I had my own gruesome experience of the Black July. It was 29th July at midnight…