The JVP in Sri Lanka – Where to now?
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, JVP MP, speaking at a party conference in Gampaha, reported in , 17th October 2007 I associate the JVP with darkness. I remember how my mother stitched thick, black…
Author: Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
When the architects demur
“My party will act on principles and on behalf of the masses until it emerges victorious” – Ranil Wickremasinghe to media persons at Katunayake International Airport upon his return from a tour…
Elementary, my dear President
The tragedy of Sri Lanka today is such that the government’s shrill response to the assessment of Sri Lanka’s dire humanitarian and human rights situation by Sir John Holmes, Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian…
Voldemort rising
Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary General At the time of writing, news of the liberation of the East and the resulting celebrations have captured headlines and the public imagination in Sri Lanka.…
A brief glimpse of “Kumbi Kathawa” (Ant Story)
Chitrasena, quoted in Bandula Jawayawardhana’s essay ‘€œThe Meaning of Chitrasena’ To witness first and then attempt to write about a production by the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya is a humbling and daunting experience. It…
Bloggers and mainstream media: Media ethics in a digital age
The Editor of the new English newspaper Lakbima grievously irked the Sri Lankan blogosphere recently by publishing articles based on blog posts without any acknowledgment of the sources. There are already many…
Fighting for democracy
“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda, and in most modern conflict, the men of war prey on the ignorance of the populace to install fears and arouse hatreds.†Sashi Tharoor,…
“We could have put all of them in detention.” ?!?!
In a chilling and frank admission of the true mentality of this repugnant government, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa (not known for his tact) admits in an interview to Reuters that the eviction…
The banality of evil
How can those who tortured and those who were tortured co-exist in the same land? How to heal a country that has been traumatised by repression if the fear to speak out…
From democracy to farce
“Majority decisions tell us what people want at the moment, but not what it would be in their interest to want if they were better informed… The argument for democracy presupposes that…
I am an enemy of the State
The full title should have read, “I am an enemy of the State as defined by the Rajapaksa administrationâ€Â. Truncation was not meant for sensational optics alone. The accusation is increasingly made…
The New Terrorism
“But time is always guilty. Someone must pay for Our loss of happiness, our happiness itself.†(W.H. Auden, from ‘Detective Story’ in Collected Poems, 1991) It would be interesting to ask W.H.…
An infamous proposal
The proposals released by the SLFP on the 1st of May deserve mention only because they epitomise how NOT to foment a process of conflict transformation to address Sri Lanka’s violence. Rohan…
Sri Lanka’s constitutional gulag
“The SLFP, and the millions who support it, will never be a party to robbing the people of Sri Lanka of their sovereignty.†Lakshman Kadirgamar, 4 November 2003 It is only through…
Conspiracy Theories
Regrettably, the continuing tragedy of violent conflict in Sri Lanka is further compounded by the increasing emergence of all manner of conspiracy theories. Because of their risqué sensationalism with scant regard for…