In Retrospect: The Protests That Were
When I look back at 2022, what strikes me more than anything else is how agonisingly slowly it passed. The early days of COVID-19 had been slow enough. But 2022 broke that…
Author: Uditha Devapriya
A Pivotal Shift in the Status Quo
The Mahanayakes of Sri Lanka’s three Buddhist monastic orders – Siam, Amarapura, and Ramanya – have written a letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe. They have requested concessions on the recent electricity tariff…
Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Retrospect
Colombo was noticeably subdued when news of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation letter reaching the speaker of the parliament came out; perhaps because people were unable to buy them, there were no firecrackers. In…
The Future of the Aragalaya
Lenin once remarked that there are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen. Much more than a decade passed last week at Galle Face. Beginning with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s desperate and…
The IMF, the Middle Class and #GotaGoHome
Sri Lanka will enter into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund next week. Led by Ali Sabry, the country’s Finance Minister, and Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the Central Bank, the delegation…
Critiquing the Protests Constructively
I’d like to say this is the beginning of the end but it’s not. The latest spate of protests to hit the country has now been going on for more than a…
The Crisis and Where We Go From Here
Much more lucid than in his disastrous last address to the nation, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was noticeably sombre and sober on Wednesday night. Perhaps mindful of the critiques that followed his earlier…
Bitter Sugar, Poisoned Oil
The recent scandals involving sugar and coconut oil should point the country to the dangers of private sector mafias and rent seekers. These are not your typical consumer goods: they are fast…
No, Ranjan Ramanayake Is Not a Hero
Sri Lankans are, in general, an emotional lot. They like conspiracy theories and where there aren’t any they like to cook some up. The Ranjan Ramanayake verdict is a case in point….
An Alternative Reading of the Jathika Chintanaya
The Jathika Chintanaya which emerged in the 1980s and matured in the 1990s continues to exert a considerable influence on mainstream politics and popular opinion here today. The movement’s contribution to historiography…
The Other Hejaaz
There’s an image of Hejaaz Hizbullah I return to over and over again. It’s an image of him holding a placard at a protest vigil against the October 2018 constitutional coup. The…