Finding the Crime in Reproductive Choice
International Women’s Month was heralded by the familiar sound of male decision making in Sri Lanka’s parliament. The agenda for International Women’s Day was the legalization of abortion in the instance of…
Author: Shenali Pilapitiya
The Ethnic Outbid: Capturing the Voter Since Independence
Sri Lanka burns — and we slap on the national bandaid. There is genuine disillusionment in the political establishment, and these feelings are valid. From COVID-19, to the 20th Amendment, to an…
Urban Beautification, Military Design
“As an abstract political force, poverty is very useful; it scares and disciplines the working classes, keeps wages down…” Parenti, 1999 Visible urban poverty disrupts the gilded cityscape. It shatters the sanctity…
73 Years On – The “Neocolonial” Haze
If colonization is the exercise of hegemony, administrative control and the fundamental subjugation of one group of peoples to another, then the question for post-independent Sri Lanka should be whether or not…
Abolition Is Not A Whimsical Dream: Envisioning a Life Beyond the Carceral State
Abolition is not a delusional cry for social chaos. It goes beyond the momentary, deconstructive approach of eliminating the police. Abolition calls for the active reimagining and recreation of a society in…
Takeaways and Parallel Lines: 2020 US Presidential Election and Sri Lanka
A deeply polarised nation, a capitalist theme park, an embedded infrastructure of racism and segregation, and one of the poorest social welfare systems in one of the richest countries in the world…
Extracting Labor, Constructing Power: The Right to Abortion
resurj Sri Lanka enshrines a right to universal healthcare but critically neglects women in this universal promise. Acknowledging that abortion is politicized through its economic and colonial history is crucial for recognizing…
Faces of Resistance: The Omnipresent Force of Bob Marley in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the face of Bob Marley is a recurring visual motif- from tuk tuks, to street art, to reggae bars on the beach, and adorning various paraphernalia. But how did…
Actually, Anti-Blackness Has Everything To Do With Us
It is easy to feel disconnected from incidents of police brutality in the USA, and ongoing race-wars across the world that continue to marginalize and disenfranchise Black communities, when we fail to…