Where Were These Protests in the Past?
Sri Lankans living in the country or abroad feel more than a tinge of pride at how people are standing up against the corrupt government. They are protesting against all odds as basic needs …
Economy
Refusing a Neoliberal Peace in The Incomplete Thombu
Today Sri Lanka faces its worst economic crisis since independence. In the coming months, people’s hardships will only worsen as more austerity is forced on them. The present crisis is a result…
March 31 Protests and Aftermath: Updates
The Protest Events of March 31 leading into the early hours of April 1, 2022 On March 31, a silent citizens protest that began at Jubilee Junction in Nugegoda burgeoned into a massive show…
Queueing for Death: The Systemic Extermination of Sri Lankans
The present economic failure in Sri Lanka is a long running trajectory. The term failure is used deliberately to account for the decades of failed political leadership that has hauled the country…
Sri Lanka’s Crisis of Incompetence
I debated with myself whether Sri Lanka’s present state was a crisis of incompetence or a crisis of arrogance and settled on incompetence. You could have someone arrogant but competent; it’s not…
The Ides of March: Protests, Discontent and Disconnects
The month of March has seen widespread discontent expressed by many Sri Lankans from all walks of life on new and old social, economic and political concerns leading to more than 100…
Something Toxic this Way Comes
“Terror continuous dark terror against the fragile human land…” Zbigniew Herbert (To Marcus Aurelius) Had Sri Lanka a parliamentary system of governance, the Rajapaksas would have been out by now. Thanks to…
Averting the Looming Food Crisis
A food crisis is inevitable. Food prices are soaring; shortages in essential food items are creating long queues, affecting people’s ability to work and get on with productive lives; the foreign reserve…
The Crisis and Where We Go From Here
Much more lucid than in his disastrous last address to the nation, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was noticeably sombre and sober on Wednesday night. Perhaps mindful of the critiques that followed his earlier…
Russia-Ukraine Crisis: How Should South Asian Economies Respond?
It is almost three weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, the second-largest country in Europe by geographical area after Russia. Early expectations of a quick and decisive Russian military victory have not materialised…
A Tone Deaf Government Stumbles on Amid Utter Chaos
While returning from Vavuniya to Colombo, I stopped to purchase fruit from a roadside vendor near Anuradhapura and got into a conversation with her about the country’s most pressing issue – the…
Corporate Sri Lanka – Still a Feudal Workplace for Women
Women in management is a catchphrase one often hears with many awards and ideals circulating around it. Yet when it comes to women in corporate Sri Lanka, while you have the avant…
Begging Around the World: An Evolving or Receding Foreign Policy?
Sri Lanka has reached out to the Russian Federation owing to the growing national crisis in the country, a national crisis that involves foreign exchange, fuel, power and of course basic essentials…
Ecosystem Restoration? Stop the Continuing Destruction
The laudable theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day is Ecosystem Restoration. What a noble ideal but is it applicable to Sri Lanka? In the last two years, the country has seen…
Does the Apparel Industry Supply Garments Without Guilt?
Sri Lanka’s apparel workers, mostly female, provide an important contribution to the country’s economy. In 2019, apparel exports amounted to $5.2 billion, almost 40% of all exports. The industry provides direct employment…