An Uneven Playing Field
The implementation of a 25% quota for women’s representation in local councils at Sri Lanka’s 2018 Local Government Election was a welcome move, and the result of years of advocacy and activism…
The implementation of a 25% quota for women’s representation in local councils at Sri Lanka’s 2018 Local Government Election was a welcome move, and the result of years of advocacy and activism…
The local government election of 10 February 2018 marked a triumphant return of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though the polls were meant to elect representatives for local government bodies (the lowest tier…
AFP PHOTO / Ishara S. KODIKARA courtesy The on-going political crisis following the local government elections of February 10 raises an issue about the constitutional and political propriety of presidential action. It…
Yesterday, the day before one of the most historic elections of post-independence Sri Lanka, I sat with a friend who is standing for local government elections for the first time. She is…
Photograph courtesy IPS Context The next round of elections to local government in Sri Lanka is scheduled for February 10, 2018. The election is significant for many reasons. It is being held…
Image courtesy , by Quartz Late 2017, the Twitter account of has generated all manner of violent, venomous pushback and responses to content it has produced, published and promoted. Over the years,…
Photo courtesy Despite the year end holiday season, the political focus is on the upcoming local government elections scheduled for February 10th next year. With nominations closing by end December, January will…
Photo courtesy Editors note: Read in conjunction with by the same author. Sri Lanka has entered another phase of political crisis. It is a three-fold crisis. The first is at the level…
Image courtesy This month, the populist wave suffered two critical defeats. In France outsider-candidate Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen. In Iran, reformist president Hassan Rouhani trounced Ebrahim Raisi, a religious hardliner…
The United States and Sri Lanka both call themselves democratic societies. Like most of the rest of the world, we have had the U.S.A. held up to us as a model of…
Photograph from NBC News Donald Trump’s surprising electoral victory last week gives us Americans a lot to think about. One takeaway is particularly relevant for Sri Lanka. Over the last eight years,…
Donald Trump’s victory is a beacon of hope to extremists of every stripe, from the Ku Klux Klan to Marine Le Pen, from Islamic extremists and Hindu nationalists to our very own…
Two things trouble and pain me. The Mullivaikkal “remembrance” on 18 May, of the dead and missing people due to war, whose families are still agitating to know the “truth” and want…
Photography courtesy The active politician is a creator, an initiator: but he is neither creates from nothing nor does he move in the turbid void of his own desires and dreams.…
Featured image courtesy Youtube On January 8, 2015, thousands flocked to Independence Square to watch Maithripala Sirisena take his Presidential vows. With his promise to promote or ‘good governance’ the atmosphere was…