Aragalaya – A Utopian Fantasy or a Long March to Real Reform?
It seems like a long time ago but the reality is that it’s been just 150 days since the urban middle class and their semi-urban cousins stepped out of their comfort zone…
#GotaGoHome
A Janus Moment
“A wandering fire at a terrible height – can it be a star shining like that? Osip Mandelstam (Poem 101) A walking path bordered by the sea and a bit of lawn…
Taking Aragalaya Ideas Seriously
The emergence of Frontline Social Party (FSP) in July as a major voice of the aragalaya (‘People’s uprising/struggle’) movement has led to many negative reactions. Searching questions are being raised and debated…
If the President Resigns: What Next?
On July 9, an unprecedented number of Sri Lankan protesters marched on the president’s official residence. They demanded one thing: his immediate resignation for his role in causing the most devastating economic…
The Moral Right to Govern
On July 5, in the midst of a worsening economic crisis, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa no longer has the moral right to remain in office. This statement is…
To The New Administrator
The fourth wall has crashed and the audience is now on stage making tea and frying omelets in the kitchen, lounging on the guest beds, diving into the swimming pool. Unheard of,…
Our Day Has Come!
We are drained. At last, after a ninety day struggle, we have a lot to celebrate but nothing left to celebrate with. No fuel, no kerosene, no petrol. No energy. And once…
Sri Lanka Goes to the IMF
Sri Lanka has taken the (rather delayed) initiative to seek International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid and assistance to cure the economic crisis. Before I delve into what the IMF conditionalities and its…
The Tea is Cold: Cinema as Social Responsibility
A young man from Colombo, Randika, travels to Jaffna on an assignment to find out how the war has affected people there. At first he is more interested in sharing photographs on…
A Call for a Change in Culture
“They will never change” is a phrase that many Tamils overseas often hear from back home. A simple phrase articulated partly in sadness, partly in gloating. It’s difficult to condemn how various…
Good Governance, Bad Governance and No Governance
Good governance means a system of governance that ensures economic efficiency guaranteeing economic stability throughout a nation. This economic efficiency can only be brought about by the observance of transparency, accountability and…
Looking for a Way Out of the Abyss
Our country has collapsed. Government spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena announced that fuel supply has come to a standstill and fuel will be available only for essential services. These is no one to blame,…
Arrests and Intimidation of Protesters Undermine Human Rights
The arrest of several protestors calling for Sri Lanka’s president and his associates to step down amid the ongoing economic crisis, has drawn attention to the grave human rights situation which persists…
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…
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…