by Austin Fernando In July 1983, my Accountant Mr. Vallipuram at the Cooperative Department lived off Castle Street where his neighbour was a notorious Sinhalese thug. Until ‘Black July’ Vallipuram once told…
In my view, there are reporters and there are journalists. Reporters do exactly that. They report. But journalists on the other hand, should not be mere instruments of describing, but should be…
Photo by Chandragupta Amarasinghe ONE What happened in mid-1983 and in the last week of July 1983 was obscene, a monumental atrocity, a disaster for Sri Lanka. In a context marked by…
July usually passes me by without too much notice, beyond the vague worry that there might be a Tiger attack on Colombo, and a few flashbacks to that weekend in 1983. But…
Tamil National Alliance MP Mr. R. Sampanthan speaks of the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Speaking of the “terrible experience for all Tamil people in Sri Lanka” he says that the riot…
AFLAME – Remembering Black July, 1983 What is a poem to a man hiding in the cellar of his neighbor’s house, breathing the way his hostess spices lentils and mutton, while son…
This morning, I woke up to the news that the LTTE had declared an unilateral ceasefire during the SAARC conference. Of course, war is not a sport – but their declaration must…
25 years after Black July, the term “National Security” is used to thwart lot of things. V from the movie ‘V for Vendetta’ said . At least he had that. We don’t.…
My Belly is White – මගේ බඩවචසුදුය දුටු à·ƒà·à¶±à·’න් ඒà¶à·Šà¶à·” නොයන මà·à¶à·˜à¶šà·à·€à¶šà·Š. ඒà¶à·Š පිටු 927 ක් පුර෠දිවයන කà¶à·à·€à¶šà·Š. පසුගිය සඳුද෠දොරට à·€à·à¶©à·’ මෙම කෘà¶à·’ය ලිය෠ඇà¶à·Šà¶à·š à·à·“â€à·Šâ€à¶» ලංක෠පරිපà·à¶½à¶± සේවයේ…
An interesting advertisement by a tour operator caught my eye in a daily paper last week. It said “Get away during the SAARC summit” as a part of an advertisement promoting overseas…
Anoma Rajakaruna shares her photos of people in black and white. Anoma has captured many expressions and many environments. Every photograph speaks differently. As a film-maker, photographer and poet ,Anoma has well…
One day a few years ago, I found my uncle in a really bad mood. Enjoying his retirement after long years as a senior civil servant, he was highly agitated about what…
The leaders of the Tamil community and the left movement, who had joined the governments of UNP and SLFP since independence had helped the leaders of these two parties to bring this…
Gajaman Nona Ryszard Kapucinski is no armchair observer. As foreign correspondent for the Polish Press Agency, he witnessed 27 coups and was sentenced to death four times in his lifetime. In his…
Aboorvan Prabanjana takes great pains to drive home a point in a piece titled “Why does Malinda justify excesses of Government?” (Sunday Lakbima News, July 6, 2008). For the record, Malinda doesn’t.  But…
