The US Presidential Election of November, 2020 | Part 1
The US presidential election is due in November this year. For people in Sri Lanka, as in much of the globe, that would be among the most relevant political events of the…
Year: 2020
Decades on, Southern Mothers of the Disappeared Look for Truth, Justice and Relief
“I am the luckiest mother in Sri Lanka. I got my son’s body back. There are thousands of mothers who never get their children’s bodies back.” Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu was speaking after…
Remembering Victims of Enforced Disappearances: Looking Back at Thenuwara’s Exhibition
Ten years ago, activist and contemporary artist Chandraguptha Thenuwara created an exhibition called The Vigil and Other Works, dedicated to remembering the disappeared and to the families who are forced to live…
What Will Be the Fate of Religious Minorities in Sri Lanka?
Article 9 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution states: “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.” The promise to establish…
My Brother Hejaaz
Hejaaz Hizbullah is my younger brother, and this week, on August 25, he spent his 40th birthday in detention at the Criminal Investigation Department, having been wrongfully arrested and portrayed as being…
An Alternative Reading of the Jathika Chintanaya
The Jathika Chintanaya which emerged in the 1980s and matured in the 1990s continues to exert a considerable influence on mainstream politics and popular opinion here today. The movement’s contribution to historiography…
The Past and the Present in the (Re)Constitution of the State
By Asanga Welikala and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne The election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019 marked the beginning of a new era of a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist ascendancy in Sri Lanka. The…
The Rajapaksa Tidal-wave and the Anti-Rajapaksa Tsunami-wall
The Rajapaksas are in a hurry. They have a constitution to make and a country to remake. Currently, the road to both destination seems as wide and as clear as a super-highway….
Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism
Today is the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism. In Sri Lanka, the word terrorism embodies an experience that stretches over 30 years, the most recent being the…
Search for the Missing: A Testament to the Enduring Power of Grief
Until recently, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) was housed in a magnificent colonial building in a leafy Colombo suburb that used to house members of parliament; now it has been relegated…
How Much is Too Much Power?
Sri Lanka’s August 5 parliamentary elections saw the Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP) sweep into power with 145 seats by winning 6.8 million (59%) of the valid votes cast. A two-thirds majority,…
The Other Hejaaz
There’s an image of Hejaaz Hizbullah I return to over and over again. It’s an image of him holding a placard at a protest vigil against the October 2018 constitutional coup. The…
Misleading the Opposition, Misreading the SJB-UNP-JVP
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror It’s a simple question. Why, in the face of utter electoral destruction, doesn’t the UNP choose a new leader through a secret ballot? That question alone,…
Youth Rights and Liberty in Sri Lanka
According to the latest estimates by the United Nations, in 2019, 1.2 billion of the world’s population were between the ages of 15 and 24. That is one in every six people!…
International Human Rights and Protecting People at Risk
The relationship between international bodies and national leaders can be tense. For instance, a United Nations official may produce a critical report on human rights violations. The government that was criticised may…
