WhatsApp & Groundviews: The end of updates
Updates over WhatsApp groups, pegged to content published on this site and a plethora of issues related to them, was started in 2016. Started off as groups where all subscribers could exchange…
Author: Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
PODCAST: Conversation with Ambika Satkunanathan on police brutality in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy by Human Rights Watch. The murder of George Floyd in the United States has in the past week resulted in a renewed focus on Police violence, torture, brutality and impunity….
The ecology of an issue: ‘Save Wilpattu’ on Facebook and Twitter
When over the weekend, senior journalist Amantha Perera sent a link to a post on Facebook asking if it was one that was popular, the answer took me into a brief study…
Terrorism in Aotearoa
Do you love New Zealand, asked the extremely inebriated young white man and his companion as they suddenly blocked my path at the Octagon, a few weeks after I arrived in Dunedin….
On Facebook’s New Misinformation Policy for Sri Lanka
20 July 2018 Colombo, Sri Lanka Recent news reports have surfaced noting that Facebook will be proactively taking steps to remove misinformation that could lead to people being physically harmed. Though long…
Chinese Whispers: On Corruption and the Hambantota Port
On July 2, 2018, Hiru TV aired footage from two press conferences hosted by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) during its 6:55 pm broadcast. During the press conference, the members of…
Open letter to Facebook: Implement Your Own Community Standards
10 April 2018 Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dear Mark, In solidarity with and support of a letter signed by leading civil society organisations from Myanmar addressed to you recently, we, the undersigned,…
New editors. Plus ça change.
Image from I am very pleased to announce that Raisa Wickrematunge has taken over as Editor-in-Chief of – earlier the same year. Raisa and Amalini share a range of skills, experience and interests…
Vijay Nagaraj: Contributions to public discourse in many guises
Vijay Nagaraj, who passed away in a tragic car accident in August, was someone I interacted with for around six years. We didn’t meet regularly, yet when we did, we carried on…
In conversation with Tharanga Goonetilleke
Tharanga Goonetilleke is a Juilliard-trained Sri Lankan opera singer who has sung internationally, including with the New York City Opera, at Carnegie Hall and the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka while providing…
#AskMR: Twitter Q&A, January 2017
Photo by AP, via The first #AskMR Twitter Q&A, conducted when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in New York attending the UN sessions in September 2013, was an unmitigated disaster. A complete…
How not to release an official report on reconciliation
Image courtesy Consultation Task Force, featuring submission by to it. Details here. After months of waiting, the final report of the Consultation Task Force, set up by the Prime Minister in January…
Editorial: Groundviews at 10
I often say I have two children. My son, born in December 2006. And , launched in November of the same year. The first post on the site went up on the…
Some thoughts on ‘Close to the Bone’
‘Close to the Bone’, billed as a theatrical collaboration between Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and Isuru Kumarasinghe, was part of Colomboscope 2016 and held at the Presidential Suite, Cinnamon Lakeside. Almost exactly three years…
Shanthi Sachithanandan: In Memoriam
It was with deep sadness that I learnt Shanthi Sachithanandan had passed away yesterday. In emails and face to face conversations spanning many years, I remember an individual who was, at her core, deeply…