Mangala’s party and the Citizen’s dream
I begin my article with some quips and observations from friends and colleagues on Mangala’s new political party and his political vision as articulated by him to the media recently. Clearly, the…
Constitutional Reform
Political solution or political illusion?
Pradeep Peiris, Anupama Ranawana, May 2007 The much awaited political proposal of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in now out. Even before the ink has dried it has attracted fierce criticism…
The MPs Pay Hike Case – An Opinion from Australia
This article is based on the recent case on the Pay Hike for MPs. The Supreme Court was divided in rejecting the application made by Weliamuna. The S.C did not give reasons…
An infamous proposal
The proposals released by the SLFP on the 1st of May deserve mention only because they epitomise how NOT to foment a process of conflict transformation to address Sri Lanka’s violence. Rohan…
The SLFP Proposals: The Slap in the Face and the Shot in the Arm
The international spotlight is upon us yet again and this time against the backdrop of the third successful outing of the LTTE air force, the “mountain moved and produced a mouse†SLFP…
THE SRI LANKA FREEDOM PARTY’S BREATHTAKING PROPOSALS ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Rohan Edrisinha Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and Centre for Policy Alternatives The Sri Lanka Freedom Party has a new approach to negotiated settlement. It goes like this in a hypothetical…
THE MAY DAY TRAGI-COMEDY
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.†– George Orwell As an example of monumental irrelevance for the cause…
From a Tragedy to a Farce: Comments on the SLFP Proposals
Professor Wiswa Warnapala, the Minister of Higher Education, is one of the leading political scientists in Sri Lanka. He has produced, even after entering the busy life of politics, many books in…
Lament for a nation: Sri Lanka’s epitaph
Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario, Canada, submitted this article to Groundviews. It was first published in the Globe and Mail on 4th April 2007. To honour the memory of Kethesh Loganathan…
Sri Lanka’s constitutional gulag
“The SLFP, and the millions who support it, will never be a party to robbing the people of Sri Lanka of their sovereignty.†Lakshman Kadirgamar, 4 November 2003 It is only through…
On “traitors” and federalism: Beyond the hypocrisy, towards collaboration
Bear with me and read the following carefully: “The problems of the Tamil community are best known to the Tamils than any others. Any solution to our problems put forward by us…
A Marxist Perspective on Constitutional Reforms
Erik Olin Wright, in his interesting and insightful article entitled “Compass Points: Towards a Socialist Alternative†(in New Left Review No. 41, Sep-Oct, 2006), dissects the term “social†that has been present…
Federalism in verse: An idea
A conversation with a friend over SMS when I was at a book launch recently: Sanjana: “At Sumane’s book launch. Peace and federalism are supposedly nigh” MR (Friend): “That sounds fun. So…
Federalism: Some debates never die
Today, in the wake of recent crossovers by the UNP reformists and the presentation of reports from APRC process, the federal debate has once again taken centre. For many years Federalism has…
“We need a revolution in Sri Lanka!” – A brief chat with Sam de Silva
Photo credit: Nazreen Sansoni “on one level, Sri Lanka needs a revolution to really change what’s going on here. There is such a domination by the powers that be… there needs to…