Eyes Wide Open
“On my instructions, due to the priority given to the policy of zero civilian casualties the security forces are limiting themselves to rescue operations of the entrapped civilians held hostage as a…
Author: Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
The shame of Menik Farm
The floods that affected significant swathes of the expansive Menik Farm a week ago generated interesting responses from government. One of the most revealing was the deafening silence of the usually loquacious…
In conversation with Tracy Holsinger
Tracy Holsinger is one of Sri Lanka’s most accomplished theatre personalities. That she comes from a family of musicians and dramatists is frankly incidental – Tracy’s significant theatrical talent is one honed…
Interview with Bijayini Satpathy, Director of the Odissi Gurukul at Nrityagram
Bijayini Satpathy, for one of the world’s greatest living dancers, is disarmingly mischievous in person. And, as I have experienced with a few others closest to perfection in their chosen art, humble…
Exclusive video interview with Somawansa Amarasinghe, the Leader of JVP, in English
Two weeks after I had interviewed Prof. Tissa Vitharana on, among other things, the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, I spoke with the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe for his…
Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language
I began my conversation with Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chair of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) by asking him about the state of play in Information…
Groundviews page on Facebook
Accessing content from on Facebook is now as simple as typing www.facebook.com/groundviews. Join over 300 fans already part of our Facebook network.
Bob Rae, The Sunday Times and Wikipedia
In what may be a first for a Sunday newspaper in Sri Lanka, a reference from Wikipedia is used to buttress a case for the alleged pro-LTTE bias of Canadian Liberal MP…
Art, War and Politics in Sri Lanka: An interview with Jagath Weerasinghe
Jagath Weerasinghe is one of Sri Lanka best known and most influential artists (see bio here). He was commissioned by the Sri Lankan government to design the monument ‘Shrine for the Innocent’…
Eyes Wide Shut: Media illiteracy and propaganda in Sri Lanka
Mano Ganesan was recently featured on Rupavahini, the State and pro-government TV broadcaster, in a manner that suggested he unequivocally supported the LTTE and terrorism.This was noticed and taken up bloggers such…
Would killing 50,000 civilians to finish off the LTTE bring peace?
[Editors note, 6 January 2011: This specific post and the debate that ensued is referred to and featured in by Prof. Michael Roberts. Read more here.] ### This is a verbatim excerpt…
Have NGOs failed in peacebuilding? An interview with Jehan Perera
I recently interviewed Dr. Jehan Perera, Executive Director of the National Peace Council. Jehan is also a columnist for the in Colombo. He holds a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law…
Groundviews on Twitter and Facebook
was the first media website in Sri Lanka to have its own Twitter feed and Facebook page. Both Twitter and Facebook make critical content on the site more easily accessible in social…
Belching smoke in Colombo
This sadly is not an unusual sight in Colombo. Despite well-known problems arising from industrial and vehicular emissions and the Central Environment Authority’s Vehicle Emission Testing Programme, we see a number of…
14 years ago: Memories of the Big Match
14 years ago there was cricket, but no SMS. The challenge then was to communicate a ball-by-ball account of Royal’s tawdry batting and its inevitable and ignominious defeat to an enthusiastic Thomian…