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Groundviews

Author: Harendra Alwis

Year
Month
Colombo, International, Sport

Kumar Sangakkara: The greatest hero of our time

The Cricketing world will pause for a moment, to celebrate the legendary career of Kumar Sangakkara that draws to a close, and then move on; a bit richer for the legacy he…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 08/24/201508/23/2015
Colombo, Politics and Governance

Sri Lanka’s political moment: Rediscovering our kinship and common history

Photo courtesy EPA/M.A.PUSHPA KUMARA via Sky News As the new administration has begun to unpack promises made during a hasty election campaign, it is clear that they are constrained by their own political…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 03/24/2015
Colombo, Elections, Politics and Governance, Presidential Election 2015

Sri Lanka’s Political Moment: Part 2

Photo by REUTERS/Stringer, via Al Jazeera A transformation of the political agenda Despite many detailed analysis of Sri Lanka’s present political moment by a myriad experts, two of its significant aspects have so…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 02/16/201502/16/2015
Colombo, Elections, Politics and Governance, Presidential Election 2015

Sri Lanka’s political moment

  Image via Maithripala Sirisena A change of guard The future of Sri Lanka’s democracy has reached a pivotal point. On the 9th of January, it awoke after decades of paralytic slumber.…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 02/05/2015
Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Religion and faith

How must we respond to religious extremism and incitement to violence?

Image from Ingulfed Do not despair. It helps to try to understand the situation as it evolves, rather than crystallise your view of it in judgment. If you know your enemies and…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 06/17/2014
Colombo, Identity, Sport

A failed test match and lost identity

Photo courtesy AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA At the post match conference after the third test against Pakistan, the captain of Sri Lanka said that his team lost; not because they were too negative…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 01/23/201401/25/2014
Colombo, Identity, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Remember the Riots

The perpetual conflict: Part 3

Photo via blackjuly.info The Politics of Identity It seems all too obvious that the regular cycles of violence that have emerged in our recent history since 1915 are distinctly communal in character.…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 07/26/201307/31/2013
Colombo, Human Security, Identity, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Remember the Riots

The perpetual conflict: Part 2

Photo via blackjuly.info Fault-lines Perhaps it is a tragic coincidence of our time; or maybe it was inevitable given the passage of generations, that we are marking the thirty year anniversary of…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 07/24/201307/25/2013
Colombo, Identity, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Remember the Riots

The perpetual conflict: Part 1

Photo via blackjuly.info The dark clouds of history When I look back, I do not see the black smoke rising, or the cries of hapless countrymen, women and innocent children – victims…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 07/24/201307/25/2013
Peace and Conflict

It’s about Justice, stupid!

Image via DBS Jeyaraj.com My faith is not threatened by the faith of others whose beliefs are different from my own. Neither my race nor my culture is under threat of being…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 03/14/2013
Colombo, Kandy, Sport

The Oldest and the Greatest: A reflection on the Bradby Shield and what it stands for

Image courtesy Trinity College website History and tradition are great mentors. History assures us of who we are, and if we are brave enough, it can also teach us where we have…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 06/28/2012
Colombo, Peace and Conflict

Heroes of our ages

1. The stuff of heroes Every yarn in the fabric of history is held together by a common thread. From the story of the light bulb to the grand history of nations,…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 08/03/201107/28/2011
Colombo, Features, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Reconciliation, Vavuniya

Sri Lanka’s War Burden: Two years on

Photo credit Eranga Jayawardena/AP, Encyclopædia Britannica Online During the last couple of months, the former UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka – Mr Gordon Weiss has been promoting his book titled “The Cage”…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 07/10/201107/13/2011
Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War

Living in a very small world: and dying to have a piece of it

Part 4 I was the last person in our group to come out of the railway station after divulging the intricacies of my visit to the somnolent policeman and the Civil Defence…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 09/06/200909/04/2009
Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War

Crossing over to the other side of a unitary state

Part 3 The refurbished metal “Queen of Jaffna” gracefully strode up to the platform in Medawachchiya by 10.30 am – the time I usually start to begin to consider the prospect of…

Harendra Alwis Harendra Alwis on 09/05/200909/05/2009

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