V-Day 2nd Anniversary: Peace Under Pressure
Original image by J. Adam Huggins for Every mayoralty in Paris has tablets on which are inscribed the names of those from that locality who died in the many wars which France…
Author: Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Osama Bin Laden and Sri Lanka’s WMD Moment
Image courtesy stuff.co.nz The killing of Osama Bin Laden by chopper-borne US Special forces and Navy Seals is good news and a job well done by that country. Shortly after the attack…
ACCOUNTABILITY, RECONCILIATION, DEMOCRACY
Photo credit: Eranga Jayawardena / AP, taken from At a recent seminar at the in Paris, a team from the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), on a Paris-London…
Maghreb: Mythicising Model, Misapplying Mode
Photo courtesy Vikalpa The conversation I had on Lankan trajectories and ‘declinist’ discourses in a Paris cafe on a Sunday with my friend and former colleague, Prof. Nira Wickramasingha, now holding the…
Red Lines and Historical Realism
[Editors note: On the invitation of the Editors of by Anapayan, strictly and solely in Dr. Jayatilleka’s capacity as Honorary Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.] –…
DIASPORA EXTREMISM, INDIA, CHINA & SRI LANKA
“A social group kindred and allied groups.“ “ Gramsci The Wiki leaks mega “dump“ is an international relations s analyst“s dream. It is also great fun, don“t you think? Consider this: if…
The Big Lie
Marx once said that “in all ideology”… “men and their circumstances appear upside down as in a last May, Sarvan explicitly attempts to portray the Sinhala people as similar to the Germans…
REVALUATING THE RAJAPAKSE PRESIDENCY
If President Rajapakse should come in for a bit of stick, it is not for the overall record of his just completed first term and the dawn of his second. If anyone…
A Just War or was it just war?
[Editors note: This short article responds to, in part, the submission made by someone called ‘Maverick’ on the website in response to a previous article by the author. Maverick’s comment is well-written…
Allergy to analysis and historical amnesia in Sri Lanka
The trouble with Sri Lankan political and civil society is that everyone’s an amateur psychologist. Instead of listening to or reading what someone says and treating it on its merits, the name…
THE VISION THING: A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE?
Isn’t it horribly reactionary of me to be more partial to the State than civil society? Is it not a hallmark of liberalism, progressivism, radicalism, modernity and all things civil and good…
WHERE IS THE VIABLE ALTERNATIVE POLITICAL PROJECT IN SRI LANKA?
“In other words it now becomes evident that (to quote Marx) people do not treat somebody as a king because he is a king in himself; he is a king people treat…
NATION-BUILDING: WHICH PROJECT FOR THE NORTH & EAST?
When faced with challenging human rights and humanitarian law issues who should we seek out for advice but a celebrated former Vice President of the International Court of Justice? Faced with the…
WHY RADICAL PLURALIST IS RADICALLY WRONG: ‘PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL’ PONDERS ‘PUBLIUS’
I must thank Asanga Welikala (‘Publius’) for a reasoned and literate critical engagement with my views. I respond for the twin purposes of clarification where I think my views have been misunderstood,…
FROM NECESSARY WAR TO SUSTAINABLE PEACE IN SRI LANKA
Interestingly of the four best pieces I have read on the first anniversary of the war, . Within Sri Lanka and among Sri Lankans, the debate on the war may be differentiated…