Theocratic fascism in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy I’ve heard of home invasions but this is the first time I’ve watched a Ministry invasion. The country watched while the BBS swarmed into Rishad Bathiudeen’s Ministry in search of…
Author: Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Dangerous defeat in Geneva
Image courtesy Wikipedia “The passage of the resolution marks a historic moment…” Having lost the crucial vote in Geneva and opened the door to an international investigation, Sri Lanka is now in…
Arresting Performance: Shelling Sri Lanka’s zone in Geneva
Photo courtesy Janikissima on Flickr “He who tries to defend everything, defends nothing”– Sun Tzu (‘The Art of War’) With the arrests of an outspoken middle aged Tamil woman activist with no history of…
The Lalith Weeratunga Presentation
Image courtesy ITU video Though I cannot say the same of his companions on the voyage, my friend Lalith Weeratunga embodies a rare combination of intelligence, ability, affability and civility. He made…
Chief Minister Wigneswaran alleges genocide, calls for plebiscite
Mr Akashi was absolutely right when he urged flexibility and reform on the Sri Lankan government and sounded the alarm of serious consequences in Geneva March 2014 (that’s 75 days away, folks)…
THE TNA TSUNAMI: RE-BALANCING THE EQUATION
Image courtesy The Sri Lanka Guardian The TNA victory has shown that Sri Lanka remains a functioning democracy; that it functions when there is competition; and that with or without the 17th…
Is a Black July being threatened through the State media?
Image courtesy Sri Lanka Guardian “Now intolerance is the badge of the tribe and the scribe. A papier-mâché patriotism is the last refuge of a petrified elite that has lost its nerve,…
WELIWERIYA, GAMPAHA: BLACK THURSDAY 2013
Photo courtesy Who deployed troops, clad in flak jackets (body armour) and armed with T-56 assault rifles to confront and disperse a crowd of protestors blocking a highway? Who was the ultimate…
The Dayasiri Detonation
Photo courtesy While I wish that Dayasiri Jayasekara had broken away from the UNP to form a new party rather than join the government, he has, I must admit, made a smart…
‘Flying Fish’ and the Constriction of the Arts in Sri Lanka
I met Sanjeeva Pushpakumara last year in a little art cinema off the Champs Elysees at the showing of Ashoka Handagama’s Ini Avan. It seemed he knew me from his days as…
The Wigneswaran Factor: Sampanthan’s Master-Stroke
Photo courtesy In this country, it is a rarity to witness really smart politics on strategic issues. We have just done so and got two breakthrough moves on the same issue. The…
Northern Provincial Council: Prudence prevails for now
Image from Finally, a pragmatic perception, however episodic, of reality– and a prudent policy move results. With President Rajapaksa’s decision to announce the holding of the election to the Northern Provincial Council…
Why a TNA-run Northern Council is more positive than negative
Image courtesy in.com Had the Government not made the mess it has by fussing over the 13th amendment, it could have shown off the TNA run Northern PC in all global forums…
India and Sri Lanka: The Road Not Taken
Photo courtesy “…Sri Lankan foreign policy must be centred on a non-hostile relationship with India…Choice is the essential question; not only the choices open to us, but the choices likely to be…
Sri Lanka’s Global Vulnerability & the Devolution Conundrum
Photo courtesy The Hindustan Times/AP A society or state that demonstrates repeated violent convulsions over a fairly prolonged period such as decades does so because of a deep underlying problem. In the…