What Happened in 83 Wasn’t a Riot: It was Murder
In 1983, a series of bloody riots swept Sri Lanka, marking the start of the country’s 26 year brutal civil war. Intermittent unrest had been occurring since the late 1950s and state…
Nuwara Eliya
Thé Kahata Exhibitions: Discovering the Creative Expression of Plantation Youth
Despite their contribution to the lucrative tea industry of Sri Lanka, the voices of plantation workers often go unheard and their potential unrecognised. is a series of photographic exhibitions organised by the…
A Look Back with Fresh Hope
Photograph courtesy Introduction Many Sri Lankans trace the ethnic problem back to the movement for ‘Sinhala Only’ and the passage of the Official Language Act in 1956. In fact, the problemneeds to…
Solidarity Actions and Struggles for Justice in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy BBC On 28th December 2015, the Nuwara Eliya High Court delivered a historic judgment: two men were each sentenced to 23 years rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay Rs. 200,000 in…
Plantation Community: A status revisit
Image via Wikipedia Disenfranchisement of the Indian Origin plantation workforce in the year 1948 after independence stalled the development of the ‘plantation community’ (PC) in contrast to other communities in the country.…
#icanChangeSL & #wecanChangeSL: Shaping a new Sri Lanka
Engage with this campaign in Tamil (புதிய இலங்கையை வடிவமைப்போம்…) or Sinhala (ශ්රී ලංකාවේ අනාගතය හැඩගැස්වීම සදහා…) too! ### The Presidential poll of 8 January 2015 inspired the largest number of voters in Sri Lanka’s…
The National Soil Question: Part 1
There are some very disturbing trends in the management of the land of this nation, that cries out for action, but who will hear the cry? We are ever ready to talk…
Three Musketeers redux
Image from Close to four decades ago, Richard Lester’s film, “Three Musketeers” was one I still remember enjoying. A different genre of comedy from that of politically inspired Chaplin films, “Three Musketeers”…
On Flooding and Disaster Management
Photo courtesy www.facebook.com/battipeople Over the last two days, torrential rainstorms in the Central and Eastern province have caused severe flooding, landslides and an overwhelming humanitarian crisis with 758,000 people affected island-wide (according…
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…
The flip side of picturesque: Estate workers in Sri Lanka
From Al Jazeera’s channel on YouTube. Also read Causing a storm in a tea plantation.
Causing a storm in a tea plantation
The plight of the Sri Lankan tea plantation worker is a well known issue in the country, and even though the law now grants them with full citizenship rights, the real story…
Crossover and Mixed Public Reaction
The latest survey conducted by the Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals that Sri Lankans express mixed opinion on the recent crossover by the 18…
Human displacement
Two posts on DBS Jeyraj’s blog highlight aspects of the humanitarian crisis in the North and the East already flagged here. Civilians in Vaakarai face death and starvation Displaced Tamils face difficulties…