Self Help Words for the Inauguration
The name is vital. Spell it right. If you err, apologize and correct. Then go on as the matter becomes urgent, to speak poems that soar from memory and emotion, rise…
International
Rohingyas: Why are They in Sri Lanka and What Should We Do?
Rohingyas are an ethnic community from Myanmar’s Rakhine province. They have been facing severe persecution for decades, which continues until today. Myanmar’s government doesn’t accept them as citizens, so they are stateless….
Deadly Desires of Demagogic Twins
US president-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demagogic twins, seem to be on parallel paths with deadly desires to expand the borders of their respective countries. While Trump wants…
Mullivaikkal War Survivors Assist Rohingya Asylum Seekers
Mullivaikkal is a remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu and its ethnic composition is predominantly Tamil. It is significant as it is where Sri Lanka’s 30 year civil war came to a…
The Ghosts of Constitution Hill
I sense I’m standing on hallowed ground. A place searing with warnings, some heeded, many forgotten. Here the weight of history lays heavy on me, the solemn, searching, haunted visitor. I’ve never…
Jimmy Carter
Forbes Jimmy Carter has died, after one hundred years, after healing river blindness, ensuring fair elections, negotiating the release of prisoners, calling out tyranny, assuring that to love your neighbor…
Christmas, Palestine, Rohingyas and Sri Lanka
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Palestine, during a time of colonization and political and economic oppression by Roman imperialism. Those who dared to call for freedom and justice were brutally crushed….
Christmas Card to a President
You ask me to sign a card to the outgoing president and his teacher spouse. Happy to do so while biting my tongue and repeating the mantra that this is a…
From Gaza to Syria Israel Runs Amok
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now an international outlaw and a fugitive under the protection of US. All international institutions including the UN General Assembly (UNGA), UN Security Council (UNSC), International…
The United Nations’ Paradox: Peacekeeper or Power Puppet?
Racism has been a persistent challenge in human societies. Apart from the historical movements and the fight for justice and rights for marginalised groups, shrouded in open declarations of peace and unity,…
Reports Expose Israel’s Campaign of Total Extermination and Genocide in Gaza
A leading human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, and a humanitarian medical organization, MSF, have exposed Israeli’s campaign of total extermination and the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. In a…
Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
In an effort to address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Doctors Without Borders South Asia, in collaboration with the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), has launched ,…
Nothing New Said or Done
The recital called in the name of war and peace did not finish in peace. A late reader from the world of the Open Mic rose up to question the…
Amnesty International: Israel Committing Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a landmark…
NPP Government and Palestine Day
“Global Palestine” has brought together once again numerous segments of humanity in different parts of the world to demonstrate their unflinching support for the people of Palestine whose only crime against “Global…