Losing a Paradise We Never Had?
Asanga Welikala titled the preliminary note that he published on October 27 ‘Paradise Lost’. I agree with Welikala’s analysis and his subsequent publicly stated views as well. However, I do not think that…
Year: 2018
The Constitutional Crisis: A Round Up
On October 26, news broke that the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had withdrawn from the coalition government. Shortly after, SLPP MP Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Prime Minister by President…
Nailing Canards: Why President Sirisena’s Actions Remain Illegal, Unconstitutional, And Illegitimate
There have been intense public debates over the meaning and interpretation of the Constitution, and especially the far-reaching changes introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment in 2015, since the dramatic and ongoing attempt…
A Land Like No Other
When President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 26th October 2018, and prorogued Parliament until 16th November, he injected new meaning to Sri Lanka Tourist Development Authority’s global sales pitch,…
Chief Minister Wigneswaran breaks with the TNA and forms the TMA
As the term of office of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) concludes this month, Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, elected from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), actually from the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi…
Of Constitutions, Cabinets and Coups
This brief article seeks to build on what commentators have already contributed regarding the present constitutional crisis, and to suggest responses to several claims which – perhaps – have not been addressed…
What Is At Stake Is Democracy Itself
What is at stake today is not the future of Ranil Wickremesinghe or the UNP. What is at stake is democracy itself, and its necessary pillars, inviolability of the constitution, rule of…
A Coup in Asia’s Oldest Democracy: A Statement by Sri Lankan Students
28th October 2018 We are a group of Sri Lankan students currently pursuing our education overseas. We write today to express our deep concern about Sri Lanka’s ongoing constitutional and political crisis.…
Paradise Lost? Preliminary Notes on a Constitutional Coup
There were three dramatic announcements on the evening of Friday 26th October 2018 from the Presidential Secretariat, which occurred in the following order: (a) the announcement of the withdrawal of the UPFA from…
A constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka | Updates, analysis & insights
Photo courtesy The Business Times Sri Lanka was plunged into a constitutional crisis on Friday, with the announcement that President Maithripala Sirisena had removed PM Ranil Wickremesinghe from his office, and swore…
The Disruptive Power of Ethnic Nationalism
TEL AVIV – This summer, Israel passed a controversial new “nation-state law” that asserted that “the right [to exercise] national self-determination” is “unique to the Jewish people” and established Hebrew as Israel’s…
Learning from Sisyphus?
The ‘journalist who fell foul of his country’s ruling dynasty’ – that was the title of , Mr. Khashoggi said that freedom of expression was what the Arab World needs most. His…
The Struggle for Justice
Editor’s Note: Dear friends, I want to congratulate the Law and Human Rights Centre for organising this course. It is difficult but very important to do this in Jaffna, a place that…
No Peace in Rest
The Sri Lankan State’s erasure of the complex history and experiences of the war manifest in varying ways across the country; military monuments that showcase a single victory narrative, the construction of…
Demons in Paradise: Capturing the Conversation
On October 2, Director of the documentary film “Demons in Paradise” Jude Ratnam issued a press release, noting that his documentary had been pulled from the programme of the Jaffna International Cinema…