Howl for a new generation (with apologies to Allen Ginsberg)
losing a beloved on an ordinary day in Colombo, in Mannar Town, where pools of blood swell on the steps of a bus, in the market place, on dusty shell shocked streets,…
Year: 2008
Have we faltered in Sri Lanka?
Pictures of Sri Lankans mourning the victims of the bomb blasts in the past few months have occupied local and international press agencies; the former to a greater degree. What were once…
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…
A ‘Hold-Fire’ for One Month – Response to LTTE’s ceasefire during SAARC
It would be short-sighted to dismiss out of hand, the current offer of the LTTE of a ‘cease-fire’. Apart from anything else, it will create the impression that we were hell bent…
Beyond ‘Babu SAARC’: Liberating airwaves for South Asians
Watching the current SAARC jamboree unfold over television news, my young daughter asked why none of the officials were smiling. The SAARC Secretary General, Dr. Sheel Khant Sharma, was always scowling. Others…
The day after tomorrow
The day after tomorrow you write to me of blowing snow and whiteouts. of snow goggles and skating rinks you tell me your cat may need clothing and you joke about living…
WINNING THE WAR, WINNING THE PEACE
  – Barack Obama, Berlin, July 24  We must not settle for a draw in a game we can win and are winning. As we draw closer to victory, those who…
‘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…
Dhammapada and Other Works
“Dhammapada and Other Works”- An exhibition of Paintings and Installations by Chandraguptha Thenuwara was inaugurated at the Lionel Wendt Gallery in Colombo on 23rd July 2008.It was organised to ‘Commemoration of the…
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…
Civilian displacements in the Vanni
Reports coming in from sources in Kilinochchi district shows that military operations in the district have led to mass displacements of the civilian population living in the Vanni. In the past 3…
Some Gruesome Experiences: Memories of July 1983 by DEW Gunasekara, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration
 I had my own gruesome experience of the Black July. It was 29th July at midnight that I received a telephone call from my friend and party comrade AJMO Dr. Indra…