Mullivaikkal War Survivors Assist Rohingya Asylum Seekers
Mullivaikkal is a remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu and its ethnic composition is predominantly Tamil. It is significant as it is where Sri Lanka’s 30 year civil war came to a…
Districts
Enabling Atrocity by Design: Meta’s Dangerous New Direction
Meta’s decision to completely dismantle its fact checking programme with immediate effect will result in the accelerated abuse of the company’s technologies. This abuse will invariably lead to the loss of life,…
It’s the Party, Stupid: Sri Lanka’s Political Turnaround – Part 2
Sri Lanka has a tradition of strong and independent civil society organisations and of professional (and organisational) autonomy within many branches of the state apparatus. By the turn of the century, it…
It’s the Party, Stupid: Sri Lanka’s Political Turnaround – Part 1
It is not quite a miracle. But it is certainly a very impressive turnaround. From around 1970 until 2021, Sri Lanka seemed to be on an irreversible track toward steadily worsening governance:…
Driving Elephants – Is it Mitigation or Extinction?
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has, through pressure from the government, commenced large scale elephant drives once more. They are trying to drive approximately 150 elephants from an area of high…
The Murders of Troublesome Priests
January 6 this year is the 40 anniversary of the killing of Fr. Mary Bastian, a Catholic priest from the diocese of Mannar. It will be yet another anniversary to be celebrated without…
Beyond Electoral Victory: The President’s Political Tasks Ahead
Sri Lanka enters year 2025 with a new leader and a new political regime. The landslide victory the National Peoples Power (NPP) obtained in the general elections demonstrated the extent of mass…
At End of Extraordinary Year, Hopes and Uncertainties on Rights
In mid-November last year the National People’s Power (NPP) centre left coalition won a landslide victory in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election after its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was voted president in September….
The Year That Was a Turning Point for Sri Lanka
In 2024 Sri Lanka elected its first leftist head of state and government, giving rise to hope that the system change desired by its citizens would become a reality in the future….
Do Not Resuscitate
It is illegal to take one’s own life in Sri Lanka. And in addition to the legal blocks, the cultural stigma against suicide is extended to the idea of death with dignity…
Steering Sri Lanka Away from Kakistocracy
By January 2022 Sri Lanka was well on its way to becoming a failed state. Bankrupt, riddled with corruption from top to bottom and at the mercy of evil leaders, the country…
Lessons Learnt from Sri Lanka’s Worst Natural Disaster
The tsunami that struck Sri Lanka 20 years ago on December 26, 2004 was the most destructive natural disaster in living memory. It claimed over 39,000 lives and destroyed thousands of houses…
Christmas, Palestine, Rohingyas and Sri Lanka
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Palestine, during a time of colonization and political and economic oppression by Roman imperialism. Those who dared to call for freedom and justice were brutally crushed….
They Nailed Themselves to the Cross
Christianity gained popularity in Sri Lanka following the arrival of European invaders and became a widely practiced religion over time. The Nestorian crosses discovered during archaeological excavations in Anuradhapura, which was a…
Changing the Broken System to a People Friendly One
newswire The NPP government came to power with an ambitious aim of changing the existing system that was broken and did not serve the interests of many, especially the under privileged sections…
