Ayelasah
It was early April and I stood at the back of a busy venue huddling my camera near my heart. I was the photographer for the night and every person that walked…
Diaspora
Around the World in 32 Years: A Mini-Memoir
[Editors note: Emil van der Poorten is a regular columnist in the Sri Lanka media. His short article in the Edmonton Journal (. Emil’s story and his many adventures with politics recounted…
Moving Tamil Dissent Politics Beyond Anti-LTTEism
To be able to engage in dissent politics one needs enormous courage. Not only in terms of the threats and dangers that come your way as a result of your decision to…
The Tamil Diaspora and the Future of the Tamil Struggle
Today, the 18th of February, finds us three months away from the second anniversary of the “Mullivaikal Massacre”. At this juncture it is important to ask the question: What constructive action can…
Shyam Selvadurai: Literature, identity, politics and the Galle Literary Festival
Shyam Selvadurai was born in 1965. His book was as much about class and ethnicity as sexual identities, and though Shyam has repeatedly noted that it was not autobiographical, the fiction is…
DIASPORA EXTREMISM, INDIA, CHINA & SRI LANKA
“A social group kindred and allied groups.“ “ Gramsci The Wiki leaks mega “dump“ is an international relations s analyst“s dream. It is also great fun, don“t you think? Consider this: if…
Nation building post war
Written to mark the forthcoming publication of , Edited by Gnana Moonesinghe We are no closer to nation building post war than we were during it, and before it. More accurately, we…
The Media and the Future of Sri Lanka: Young Canadians’ Peace Dialogue on Sri Lanka
The co-editor of Nigel Nugawela spoke recently at a progressive forum of young Canadian – Sri Lankans in Toronto on the role of media in post-war Sri Lanka, including the use of…
Reconciliation for peace
Call for peace and hope The search for human security away from conflict and indignity is global and ceaseless. The demands of human security include a balanced view of tragedies that are the…
Eelam experiments: The transnational versus local realities
‘Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize.’[1] I was inspired by the above words of Chimamanda Adichie talking about…
Fighting Windmills? Diaspora and Militarism in Post-Conflict Lanka
“Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, “Fortune is…
Tamil Diaspora in Post-War Sri Lanka
One year ago today, the Sri Lankan army brutally and decisively ended its military campaign against the LTTE. The once hoped quiet dissolution of the national question through negotiation, devolution, and constitutional…
Curated list of best Twitter accounts by Sri Lankan bloggers
Visit http://twitter.com/groundviews/sl-bloggers to read updates from Sri Lanka’s leading bloggers. Resident in the country as well as in the diaspora, these Twitter feeds feature updates ranging from the quirky and personal to…
In conversation with Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. I begin this interview with a pointed question, asking Dr. Saravanamuttu to flag anything the government has done well…
Shopping expedition in Little India: of Shalwars, samosas and Bollywood clones
Hanji is the word I picked off the air in Southall where I worked for a firm of solicitors. Travelling the bus 120 I could be in Bombay for hardly a word…
