Because I was asked to be silent
Portrait of a card-carrying Sri Lankan patriot. ### I am not a patriot. I am not a patriot if it means that to be a patriot I must deny that innocent people have…
Identity
Sinhala Buddhist Rationale In An Omnivorous Society
Photo courtesy Ada Derana My new neighbour, a quiet middle class, young Sinhala Buddhist professional from beyond Matara, who started constructing his own house, brought down a “”. This is no isolated…
(Inter)national Identity
Up until just two years ago, I have only known a Sri Lanka at war. And it was possibly just over a decade ago when I came about to comprehending that we…
Living with HIV in Sri Lanka: Reflections from ICAAP10 in Busan, Korea
World AIDS Day, 2010, One Voice – SARYN We were in Busan, Korea last week, where S, a young man living with HIV, and I were presenting at the International Conference on AIDS…
Joshua Roman in Sri Lanka
I met Joshua Roman, a TED Fellow, at TED 2011. TED audiences are very hard to please. Because of the nature of the TED Fellows, speakers and performers, the bar for any…
Crossing Red Lines: The New Tamil Consensus in Sri Lanka
R Sampanthan is a Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil National Alliance and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. Photo from vivatamils.2009 on Flickr. A visit to the Mayan exhibition in Paris…
How can society protect vulnerable women from post war atrocities?
I just viewed a documentary produced recently by Al Jazeera titled ‘Civil war leaves Sri Lankan women vulnerable’. The film has left me deeply disturbed, shocked and ashamed particularly because as a…
Caste and Politics
Over the years, the claims of the Tamil people for justice, equalty and dignity have been rejected with a variety of specious arguments. It is not necessary to go into these exercises…
Ancestry and Ethnic Identity in the Australian Census… and thus to Sri Lanka
The 9th of August was census night in Australia. The census form has three boxes relating to “Country of Birth,” one’s “language other than English at home” and “Ancestry”— all interesting formulations…
What Sri Lankans really think
(Deng Xiaoping) It is ironic, is it not, that those Western voices and Lankan liberals who believe that there is a democracy wave sweeping the world, that democracy is dying if not…
In the midst of the Adi Vel festival
All photos by Iromi Perera 9.30am Saturday morning. I was walking on the pavement in Bambalapitiya when I found myself in the midst of the Adi Vel festival. I had passed it…
Heroes and Heroism: Osama Bin Laden and Prabhakaran
Photo: AP Osama Bin Laden. Dark avenging hero, Arabian knight, Arabic Lawrence of Arabia. Osama versus the USA: David versus Goliath, a hijacked airliner the stone from his slingshot. Not quite. David…
Why Government Rhetoric and Propaganda Might Divide Sri Lanka
In an interview Professor Rajiva Wijesinha gave concerning government responses to international pressure, he remarks that “people believe what they want to believe”. Wijesinha’s ironically astute observation sheds light on why government…
I Am NOT Sri Lankan
and the Sri Lankan blogosphere in general are full of interesting posts, comments and rhetoric about identity, Sri Lankanness specifically. Where it began, who started it, no one knows, but it’s all…
Towards a Common Ground of Understanding: A response to “Aachcharya”
Photo credit Sri Lanka Guardian Whether it be fleshing out Sangakkara’s “modern, pluralist worldview of unity in diversity”, the intersection of identity and race relations, the identity crises facing young generations of mixed…
