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,…
#GotaGoHome
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The Disappeared and the Struggle of Love
“1971 was for a few months. 89 for more than two years, and the war? The war went on for 30 years…10,000 in 1971, 60,000 in 1989 and in the war, of…
COPE Inquiry Reveals the People Who Brought Sri Lanka to its Knees
Last week’s Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) inquiry into the Central Bank (CB) and the economic situation revealed some rather distressing, but not surprising, revelations. The complete politicization of the CB is…
Parliamentary Democracy: Re-living a Myth
Parliamentary democracy is a system of governance through which people share resources, provide for their own needs, enhance their own interests and deal with unexpected contingencies, as far as possible on their…
Anatomy of Violence
There has been a lot of violence and also a lot of talk about violence in this last month. It shouldn’t come as a surprise because violence has underlined our Sri Lankan…
We want the Power of Equality, Justice and Love. Not Love for Power.
In late April, women from movements and collectives in the North and East marched into GotaGoGama in Galle Face to voice their concerns and issues in solidarity with the struggle in the…
Waving the Lion Flag
The lion flag is waved for a historic first time on a mass scale in the Galle Face urban youth protest but the violent anti-protester attackers coming from Temple Trees also burnt…