Grave Implications of Gun Violence
Gun violence is a prevalent issue that has challenged many countries around the world including Sri Lanka. Guns, a weapon mainly used by armed forces to maintain the peace and security of…
Year: 2024
The Hard Truth: Supporting Ranil Now Could Trigger the Next Crisis
moneycontrol The most recent Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey for July 2024 shows a tight race in the upcoming presidential election. NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake and SJB…
Hema Shironi’s Embroidery Depicts Impact of Conflict
Hema Shironi’s solo exhibition at the Saskia Fernando Gallery delves into the complex and often painful histories of colonization, civil war, displacement and migration, all of which are intricately woven into the…
Media During Elections: Watchdogs or Wheeler-Dealers?
With a record number of candidates (38) contesting Sri Lanka’s presidential election, voters are yet to witness what new stories (and old stories) these 38 players bring to the table. After all, from…
The NPP, the JVP and the Realities of Communist Party Governance
As Sri Lanka approaches a critical election many citizens, disillusioned with the incumbent government and the economic crisis, are pinning their hopes on the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance. The NPP, particularly…
The Search for the Disappeared: Struggle, Recovery, Resolve
As news of a mass grave breaks on television in a household in the North, its residents, a family of the disappeared, try to find ways of coping with this information. A…
The Need for Humanitarianism is Greater Than Ever
Former High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said there were no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems because what they required were political solutions. When states and governments fail their citizens, endangering their…
SJB and NPP/JVP Lead in General Election Voting Intent
The latest estimates of general election voting intent from Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) SLOTS MRP model show the SJB and the NPP/JVP leading with 34% and 32% of voters’ support respectively,…
The JVP and Ethnic Relations: Walking a Tightrope to 2024 (Part 2)
In Part 1, we explored the JVP’s evolving rhetoric and policies regarding ethnic relations, highlighting a shift from a more homogenous vision of Sri Lankan identity towards recognizing and accommodating diversity. However,…
Support for President Ranil Wickremesinghe Surges in Presidential Election Voting Intent
The Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates of presidential election voting intent for July 2024 show NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake and SJB leader Sajith…
The JVP and Ethnic Relations: Walking a Tightrope to 2024 (Part 1)
As the 2024 elections approach in Sri Lanka, the National People’s Power (NPP) is positioning itself as a major contender. However, the JVP, the dominant party within the NPP, carries a legacy…
A.K. Dissanayake’s and President Wickremesinghe’s Favourability Ratings Up
In Institute for Health Policy (IHP) SLOTS polling in July 2024, the net favourability rating of NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake rose 29 points from June to reach +3, and President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s…
Digital Partisans: Dissecting Facebook Sentiment Towards Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake
Last month, I studied over 4,000 tweets linked to the three main presidential candidates – Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW), Sajith Premedasa (SP), and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) – in order to study how…
The Erasure of the Palestinian
During the final stages of the 30 year war in Sri Lanka there was a perception held by the West and its allies, and reiterated like a mantra ever since, that it…
Culture of Impunity Enables Grave Human Rights Violations to Continue Unchecked
Despite ongoing pressure from the international community, reforms to advance human rights and reconciliation, especially in institutional and security sectors, have not occurred. On the contrary, there are renewed threats to fundamental…