Image from 30 Years Ago In response to the call by the Public Representations Committee (PRC) for public submissions relating to proposed constitutional reforms, the following submission was made to the PRC…
Photo courtesy ConstitutionNet We wish to present the following proposals for the Constitution Nature of the State The Sri Lankan Constitution should provide the basis for a strong constitutional commitment to plural democracy,…
Image courtesy IRIN “The regime has changed, but the system remains the same; how can we expect justice from them?,” asked a Tamil nun who survived the brutal conflict between the Sri…
Featured image courtesy Bands in Town The timeless universal language, music? Not the way I see it… in fact, a musical experience is much more likely to reflect a particular time, place,…
Read Part 1 here. There have been diverse responses to the singing of our National Anthem in both our national languages; some sensible, some stupid; some patriotic, some racist. Among the questions…
The Independence Day celebrations commenced with the national anthem sung in Sinhala and concluded with the national anthem sung in Tamil. It was a first and a good first, a gesture of…
The latest news from Sri Lanka’s often bizarre domains of cultural politics is that Buddhism is under threat along with Sinhala culture. This however, is not due to the corrupt and violent…
The island of Sri Lanka, since ancient times, has featured prominently in the navigational and spiritual cartography of the Muslim world. The word of Persian origin ‘Sarandip ’ (سرانديپ) has long captured…
Image courtesy Young Asia Television The Head of Bodu Bala Sena, Venerable Galabode Aththe Gnanasara Thero, in a statement after meeting with President Sirisena admitted that the previous government of President Mahinda…
cc: Ravi, Priya, fighters both, taken before their time. Three pictures hang in my study. (Not my study actually, contractually; the bank retains the mortgage. I do not write in, from a…
Picture courtesy SriLankaBrief I am worried and mad at my Mum. Why is she doing this? Is she insane or greedy? She says it is foolish to keep something that will be…
Image courtesy Taqwa Magazine My name is Mohamed Qadri Ismail. Mohamed Qadri Ismail is not my name. The statements may prompt a wtf. (The acronym, btw, of the World Taekwondo Federation.) Surely…
Photo courtesy Years ago, when only heterosexuality was legal in Australia men or women having sex with members of their own gender was a serious offence. Underpinning the law was a gamut…
Engage with this campaign in Tamil (புதிய இலங்கையை வடிவமைப்போம்…) or Sinhala (ශ්රී ලංකාවේ අනාගතය හැඩගැස්වීම සදහා…) too! ### The Presidential poll of 8 January 2015 inspired the largest number of voters in Sri Lanka’s…
Photo by Abdul-Halik Azeez Journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge‘s murder on 8th January 2009 was utterly horrible and yet, even more unforgettable was the Rajapaksa government’s reaction to it. Lasantha’s last editorial, published posthumously, didn’t mince…
