One Year in Keppapilavu
The gates of the 59 Division Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters dominate the view 10 kilometres inwards from the Nandikadal lagoon and the Eastern coast. The protest tent a few metres away appears…
Year: 2018
Tech vs. Democracy
BRUSSELS – Instagram, a photo-sharing platform owned by Facebook, recently caved in to a demand by the Russian government that it remove posts by opposition leader Alexey Navalny alleging misconduct on the…
One Year in Kilinochchi
On February 20th, the protest by families of the disappeared in Kilinochchi passed the one year mark. Mothers, wives and fathers have sat by the side of the A9 road, inside the…
366 days – Roadside Protests in Kilinochchi
366 days (as of 20th Feb) is a long time to be at a 24 hour roadside protest. That’s how long Tamil families of disappeared in Kilinochchi have been there. In the…
Corridors of Power at Dhaka Art Summit 2018
Corridors of Power, the critically acclaimed collaboration between constitutional theorist Asanga Welikala, architect Channa Daswatta and the Founding Editor of , Sanjana Hattotuwa, was invited by world renowned curator Sharmini Pereira to…
New editors. Plus ça change.
Image from I am very pleased to announce that Raisa Wickrematunge has taken over as Editor-in-Chief of – earlier the same year. Raisa and Amalini share a range of skills, experience and interests…
Mental Health and Stigma in Sri Lanka
“I was taken to hospital without my consent. They restrained me when I refused to be medicated, and gave me an injection to sedate me. I had a full-time job, supporting my…
MMDA: Groping in the dark?
Photo courtesy The long-awaited report by the ‘Justice Saleem Marsoof’ (JSM) committee that was set up to ‘consider and propose reforms to the Muslim personal law and Quazi Courts System’ delivered its…
Sri Lanka’s Gradual Return to ‘Normalcy’
The local government election of 10 February 2018 marked a triumphant return of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though the polls were meant to elect representatives for local government bodies (the lowest tier…
From an Electoral Drubbing to a Manufactured Crisis
Featured image courtesy TimeSriLanka Basics first: the UNP and the SLFP lost a local government election, not a Presidential election, not a Parliamentary election, not even a Provincial Council election. A local…
A Plea for Sanity in a Time of Uncertainty
AFP PHOTO / Ishara S. KODIKARA courtesy The on-going political crisis following the local government elections of February 10 raises an issue about the constitutional and political propriety of presidential action. It…
Caged Independence
The cherished Maya Angelou wrote once in her famous poem ‘Caged Bird’: [T]he caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard…
Independent Woman
This collage examines women’s status in society, before and after colonisation. Pre-colonisation, women had a certain status (albeit never equal to a man) in society. Today, there is still a need to…
Against All Odds: Sri Lankan Women at the 70th Year of Independence
The email from Groundviews asking me to contribute to this series came on the same day that President Sirisena decided that a law prohibiting women from being involved in manufacturing, selling or…
70 Years of Independence | Dr Chandraguptha Thenuwara
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…