Article 9 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution states: “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.” The promise to establish…
Hejaaz Hizbullah is my younger brother, and this week, on August 25, he spent his 40th birthday in detention at the Criminal Investigation Department, having been wrongfully arrested and portrayed as being…
The Easter Sunday attacks were brutal and unprecedented. It surfaced communal prejudices and certain phobias that Sri Lankan society lives with. There is a paradoxical narrative that may help us understand some…
The United Nations Charter begins “We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…..” Yet, the structure and decision making of the United Nations…
This June marks the first Pride month in Sri Lanka under a State of Emergency since 2011, when it was last in place. For Sri Lanka’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex…
Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke was awarded the Gratiaen Prize 2018 for his play ‘The One Who Loves You So’ (TOWLYS). The drama explores the relationship between Vidhura, a ‘Colombo trust fund baby’, and Nick,…
2018 saw ethno-nationalism, the role of technology in moderating hate speech and freedom of expression and the impact of foreign debt, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative remain key topics in global discourse. It also…
When I first heard the word used, it was not directed at me. And yet, it was. It was so innocuous – someone said that a name for some team we were…
TEL AVIV – This summer, Israel passed a controversial new “nation-state law” that asserted that “the right [to exercise] national self-determination” is “unique to the Jewish people” and established Hebrew as Israel’s…
On October 2, Director of the documentary film “Demons in Paradise” Jude Ratnam issued a press release, noting that his documentary had been pulled from the programme of the Jaffna International Cinema…
On August 2, the Joint Opposition held the “Jana Bala Sena” rally, beginning at Lipton Circus and ending at the Vihara Maha Devi Park amphitheatre. The protest at Lipton Circus was broadcast…
July 23 marked the 35th anniversary of one of post independent Sri Lanka’s darkest chapters, the July 1983 pogrom against Tamil civilians throughout the country. An ambush of an Army patrol in Jaffna,…
“As we travelled a small distance, I stretched my feet under the seat and I saw swords and rods. There were around 11 people in the van. None of them could speak…
Featured image by Raisa Wickrematunge At the heart of this discourse lies the notion of apekama – loosely translating as ‘ourness’, or the idea that there are things that are authentically Sinhala…
Many middle-aged displaced Tamils who have resettled in Colombo remain reluctant to return to their places of origin in Jaffna due to personal and professional reasons. This article explains how they have…
