GLF: A space for activists?
A playground for Colombo’s “artsy fartsy?” A personal initiative by G. Dobbs (Founder) to increase the per capita income of G. Dobbs? A promotional tactic to draw tourists to our fair land?…
Galle
On Relative Rights
A short fall in human rights suggests a failure in the harvest, perhaps a missing plank in the slide, and some will go flying, others hungry, while you add ridiculous to describe…
Writing against the RSF/JDS appeal to boycott the Galle Literary Festival
[Editors note: We were sent this personal letter from Sunila Abeysekara addressed to a leading signatory of the RSF/JDS appeal to boycott the Galle Literary Festival. She kindly agreed to publish it…
Party
To spoil a party, call the police to enforce noise laws or prohibitions against drinking by minors, we can understand as a necessary if unpleasant right of a neighbor who cannot sleep…
Responding to a facile appeal: Galle Literary Festival and the freedom of expression
Michelle de Kretser signing. Photo by Sharni Jayawardena, courtesy Galle Literary Festival The Editors of , “We believe this is not the right time for prominent international writers like you to give…
Needed: An Agenda for Reform on Groundviews
Whilst it is not clear as to whether we would be voting in both the presidential and general elections on the same day, it is clear that we will be voting in…
What now about the Rajapaksa regime, after the South?
What now about the Rajapaksa regime, after the South ? It was Velupillai Prabhakaran the late Tamil Tiger leader who once said the Sinhala people have only a short memory. Perhaps it…
The HOPE in Sri Lanka after war
“Where is the hope?” is a question that the writer encountered quite a few times when she asked people to pose with the HOPE board. The culture of impunity prevalent in post-war…
THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL: FROM THE LEFT FLANK
9 February 2008 2008 saw the second festival at Galle, “Let’s Play with Words.” Those present the previous year remarked that it was more varied and incorporated more Sri Lankan authors, both…
War Disguised in Peace Clothing
Recently I had the privilege of spending my Sunday morning with an eminent panel of academics discussing ‘Language, as a Pathway to Peace’. The Galle Literary Festival is an excellent event and…
I/NGOs: Mea Culpa… Your Culpa… or Our Culpa?
Shanaka Amarasinghe Nearly three years have passed since the devastation of Boxing Day 2004. Those three years should have sufficed for grief to transform into resolve, for shock to become measured response…
SMS news alerts during emergencies – The experience of JNW and the tsunami warning of 13th September 2007
Chamath Ariyadasa The coverage by the media of yesterday’s earthquake near Indonesia might be of interest to some readers, and as the editor of JNW, Sri Lanka’s first SMS news agency, I…
Sri Lanka on tsunami alert after Indonesia quake (Updated)
12 Sep 2007 12:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka issued a tsunami alert on Wednesday for its north, south and eastern districts following a major earthquake in…
Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced
The 28 minute documentary “Wars and Waves: Sri Lanka’s internally displaced” that was produced by COHRE, and directed and written by me, is available online. There was a small private launch a…
Dallas – Are you listening?
My article is based on vignettes of commuting in public transport. The first short story is on a trip down South to see my mother and the travails of a journey from…
