Elections Are the Only Way Forward
Verité Research The young Sri Lankan cricket team has done the impossible and beaten the powerful Australian cricket team several times in the shorter formats of the game, giving Sri Lankans some…
Colombo
Life after this Death?
“All that is solid melts into the air…” Marx and Engels (The Communist Manifesto) The socio-economic edifice that is Sri Lanka’s informal sector is collapsing. According to the 2020 Labour Force Survey,…
Dissent Art Comes Into its Own
There is a lot of blood; faces grotesquely distorted, hands dripping red, bared fangs and dismembered body parts. Disgraceful alliances are mocked, leaders are lampooned and ridiculed and suffering and repression are…
Ananthy Sasitharan: One Woman’s Relentless Quest for Justice
Thousands of women across Sri Lanka are searching for missing their husbands, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. The long and tragic history of enforced disappearances goes back to the first JVP insurrection…
Can the Aragalaya Be Sustained? What Does the Future Hold?
From a small, localised protest that began in the outskirts of Colombo, the aragalaya, or struggle, has flourished into a small village named GotaGoGama (GGG) complete with a library, first aid centre,…
Hiding the Sins of the Elite
Therein lies the rub. At the heart of most of the crises that have beset the nation of Sri Lanka is a corrupt, inequitable and underdeveloped economic structure of colonial origin. Attention…
Child Labour: Remedies in a Humanitarian Crisis
Our numbers are good, that is, if you glance at them and move on. We are proud to acknowledge that we have some of the lowest rates of child labour in South…
Food Sovereignty: Putting Farmers Back in Control
Colombo’s mayor, Rosy Senanayake, has cautioned that Colombo might run out of food by September. The prime minister has warned that Sri Lankans will not be able to eat three meals a…
A Failed Government is Destroying Our Children
In May 2022, over half a million 16 year old Sri Lankan children sat their O’Level examination. Passing this exam is necessary for them to continue with their schooling. This batch (referred…
Conserving and Protecting Sri Lanka’s Threatened Marine Resources
The oceans around Sri Lanka are a vital resource for food security, trade and shipping, coastal livelihoods, tourism, coastal protection and national security. Its coastal and marine resources and biological diversity, as…
Need for Parallel Political and Economic Reforms
There is a fallacy being promoted by the reconstituted Rajapaksa regime that political reforms such as the proposed 21st Amendment are not really necessary or at least have already occurred through the change…
Moving Towards True Reconciliation
In May this year, a Sri Lankan living in Australia was seen tearing up a flyer on the Tamil genocide commemorations at a #GotaGoHome protest. He said, “Do you think there was…
The Right to the City: GotaGoGama
Today, Colombo’s tent city GotaGoGama is a hive of activity but sustaining this energy will undoubtedly strain resources as participation waxes and wanes. I am reminded of another such space which celebrated…
Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s Covert at Venice Biennale
Welcome to this conversation with one of Sri Lanka’s most renowned artists, Chandraguptha Thenuwara. I don’t think those who are listening need an introduction so I will go straight into ? It…
Crisis Agenda for the Vox Populi and Fourth Estate
People gasp for breath, eyes burning as the teargas canisters explode. Smashing bursts from police water cannon fling back protesters’ bodies from the serried metal barriers. Suddenly the roaring, massed, demonstrators melt…
