The Last Days of the Nineteenth Amendment?
These could be the last days of the Nineteenth Amendment. If not of its entirety, at least of a part of it, even a substantial part of it. The message that the…
Author: Dr. Kalana Senaratne
Security, Freedom and Co-Existence after the Easter-Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Getty via The Easter-Sunday attacks have changed a lot of things in Sri Lanka. It proved, if proof was indeed required, the sheer inefficiency of the present government. Some of…
Sri Lanka’s Gradual Return to ‘Normalcy’
The local government election of 10 February 2018 marked a triumphant return of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though the polls were meant to elect representatives for local government bodies (the lowest tier…
Groundviews during a Cold Peace
Photography by James Morgan has continued to be a necessary space for discussing the cold peace that arrived with the conclusion of the war in May 2009. It was only in late-2009…
The Complexity of Loss
Troubled by the burgeoning demands for accountability, the erstwhile Rajapaksa-government developed a homogenous narrative about how to respond to the cries of the war’s victims for truth and justice. Promoted as a…
Tamil Nationalism and the Coming Constitution
Photo courtesy Militarily demolished in May 2009, Tamil nationalism’s struggle has been a daunting one in post-war Sri Lanka. With the death of one of the most admired leaders within the Tamil…
The morning after the political honeymoon: President Sirisena’s future
Photo via Bloomberg With days turning into weeks and weeks into months, President Maithripala Sirisena appeared to have realized that power is ultimately the primary concern of politics and political leadership. What…
Critically Supporting the Anti-Regime Campaign
Photograph via VOA News It had to happen that way, and the break was only possible with a serious split within the regime. The moment had come for members of the SLFP…
India, Sri Lanka and the Legacy of the British Empire
Review of Harshan Kumarasingham’s A Political Legacy of the British Empire In our long discussions about Sri Lanka’s post-independence political history, India’s large shadow falls inevitably upon us, bringing with it a…
The Politics of ‘Aluthgama’
Anagarika Dharmapala, Letter of 15th June, 1915 (in A. Guruge, ed, (1991), p. 540-541 The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and its many monks take their ‘professional’ duty – the promotion of Sinhala…
The Search for a Political Solution Five Years after the War
Photo via Ministry of Mass Media and Information “The sovereignty of Sri Lanka is very much intact. And we want it to remain intact. We are Sri Lankans… And we don’t want…
The ‘Mad Monk’ Phenomenon: BBS as the underside of Sinhala-Buddhism
Photo courtesy The marauding Buddhist monks, who appear to be tied to a long political leash, have run out of control. They need to be stopped. But it is equally necessary to…
Welcoming the Verdict of the Tamil People
Image courtesy AFP The TNA has swept the polls in the North. More importantly, the Tamil people have voted courageously, convincingly, and clearly. It was an expected outcome, but as President Rajapaksa…
Radical UNP and its New Constitutional Proposals: A Radical Farce?
Photo courtesy When regimes are dictatorial and dangerous, alternative forces which promise a better society and future do tend to be taken seriously by the people. This, quite simply, is because the…
People, Politics and the Constitution: Reading ‘The Sri Lankan Republic at 40’ (edited by Asanga Welikala)
Photo courtesy , taken at the launch of the book in Colombo. Reading a tome on constitutional history, theory and practice – like Asanga Welikala’s edited collection titled The Sri Lankan Republic…