Sexism is on the rise
Photo courtesy the BBC Chaucer’s notorious should be safeguarded from an excessive display of sin-inducing, female flesh. It seems as if nothing has changed since the time of Adam and Eve as…
Year: 2016
Response to Izeth Hussain on Racism
Featured image courtesy Al Jazeera Until recently, I have seldom had occasion to disagree with Izeth Hussain. However, while there is much that I agree with in the contents of his article published…
Remembering, celebrating and missing Sunila Abeysekera
Featured image courtesy the New York Times/Patricia Williams Ever since Sunila passed away 3 years ago, I have wanted to write about her, but found it difficult to articulate my experiences and…
Policy vs Politics: Global Sri Lankan Forum’s telling myopia
The Sri Lanka Foundation Institute was largely empty as the Global Sri Lankan Forum, (a group in favour of the unitary state system of governance) convened for a seminar on ‘The Geneva…
Some thoughts on ‘Close to the Bone’
‘Close to the Bone’, billed as a theatrical collaboration between Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Isuru Kumarasinghe, was part of Colomboscope 2016 and held at the Presidential Suite, Cinnamon Lakeside. Almost exactly three years…
Remembering the Krishanthi Kumaraswamy case
Featured image courtesy UK Tamil News On the 7th of September 1996, around six in the morning, a girl in her late teens stood in front of the portrait of Goddess Saraswathie that…
Searching for Answers: The Road to the OMP
Featured image courtesy VikalpaSL August 30 is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. This year has seen the passage of legislation to enable the set-up of an Office of…
No Internet Please, We’re Sri Lankan!
That is what a retired professor of mass communications told me publicly at a university media conference four years ago. I was a bit taken aback as he had no clinical training…
SUBMISSION ON LGBTIQ PERSONS AND TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MECHANISMS
Photo courtesy TO THE ZONAL TASK FORCE AND THE CONSULTATION TASK FORCE FOR RECONCILIATION MECHANISMS Introduction We present this submission as individuals self-identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ),…
Habeas Corpus
We returned to the place Where we were buried in a hurry “Let’s look for our bodies,” we said We searched the edge of the lagoon, the marsh Where uniformed men said…
Mixed feelings one year on
One year ago, on August 18, a new Parliament was elected on an ambitious premise of good governance. The public voted for change, and for an ambitious overhaul of the status quo.…
National Unity Government after one year
Photograph courtesy Ada Derana August 19th was the first anniversary of the National Unity Government elected after the last general elections and several political issues have dominated the recent news, especially the…
Submission by Hashtag Generation to the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms
Photo courtesy Consultation Task Force Thank you very for hosting us this evening at this consultation on reconciliation mechanisms. Meaningfully consulting young people is imperative to ensure the legitimacy of any transitional…
A Year of Political Rights and Economic Wrongs
Photo courtesy International Business Times One year after winning the parliamentary election of August 2015, the government is on track politically. One year after winning the parliamentary election of August 2015, the…
The Office on Missing Persons: A New Chapter or Another Empty Promise?
Image courtesy Amnesty International 11 August 2016 was an important day for the victims of past abuses in Sri Lanka. This was when Sri Lanka’s Parliament enacted legislation to establish the first…
