Taking Stock for the New Year
Photo courtesy A tumultuous year has ended, and an uncertain future lies ahead. Democratic space is already closing around us, and it is critical for civil society to be clear-eyed about where…
Year: 2019
On loss and bereavement
Photo courtesy ‘This is how we felt after the tsunami, stunned, bewildered.’ So many friends in Sri Lanka said this to me in days following the Easter Sunday suicide bombings this year.…
2019: A Recap
Photo courtesy The last year of this decade, 2019 is possibly a turning point in Sri Lankan history. When looking back on the year that passed, what looms above all else is…
After the pause… a Song: A Christmas Reflection
Photo courtesy The run-up to the birth of Jesus was punctuated with pauses. Mary’s pause After the Angel visited her, Mary could not say what she would have liked to have said.…
The Return
Photo courtesy the President’s Twitter account “As if our democracy was nothing but a short-lived dream,” says Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa in her new documentary dealing with the slow unravelling of democracy…
Where are we now? Reflections on the International Human Rights Day 2019
The focus of 2019’s International Human Rights Day is on a celebration of “the courage, clarity, and principle of women, men, and young people who are rising up peacefully to create greater…
The Ethno-Economics of Majoritarianism: Notes on Conflict and Gotabaya’s Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Tribune.lk In the aftermath of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election victory, a number of competing narratives have emerged offering differing explanations of how we arrived at this result. The prevailing liberal account,…
A place for each within a space for all: A post-presidential election reflection
Before and after the election Concerns for physical security secured a foremost place in people’s expectations and influenced the way many voted. An ‘enemy’, among us but not us, had to be…
Sri Lanka and the 2019 Global Terrorism Index
Photo courtesy Towards Data Science This month Institute of Economics and Peace released the 2019 Global Terrorism Index (GTI). The report measures the direct and indirect impact of terrorism in terms of lives lost, injuries,…
Of a Disciplined Society
Photo courtesy Lesley Barnes On the day that marks a week since a new era of Sri Lankan politics dawned, the country that voted for a hinted at during the Mahinda Rajapaksa…
Implications of the populist frenzy of the Presidential Election
Photo courtesy In the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Elections which concluded another era of the Sri Lankan political journey, it is necessary to delve into the fragility of the Sri Lankan…
New Co-Editor
is pleased to welcome Minoli Wijetunge as the platform’s new co-editor. Minoli is an academic, trainer and researcher. Her studies primarily focused on education and its many intersections such as gender and…
6 points for a first-time voter after 2019’s Presidential Election
Photo courtesy Editors note: The following was sent to by a regular contributor, who wished to remain anonymous. It was written by the contributor for a young, first-time voter who had been…
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election: Healing the Wounds is the New Task
Photo courtesy Star Online Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and…
