Party
To spoil a party, call the police to enforce noise laws or prohibitions against drinking by minors, we can understand as a necessary if unpleasant right of a neighbor who cannot sleep…
Media and Communications
Responding to a facile appeal: Galle Literary Festival and the freedom of expression
Michelle de Kretser signing. Photo by Sharni Jayawardena, courtesy Galle Literary Festival The Editors of , “We believe this is not the right time for prominent international writers like you to give…
WikiLeaks, Swiss Banks and Alien invasions
A month ago, I wrote an open letter to the late Sir Arthur C Clarke, titled ‘Living in the Global Glass House’. It was inspired by the WikiLeaks cablegate controversy, which heralded…
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…
Re-mediating Sri Lanka: Cyberspace, Groundviews and Political Engagement
The thoughts below are taken from a longer article published as ‘Sri Lanka inside/out: cyberspace and the mediated geographies of political engagement’, in (2010) 18 (4), pps.443-449. 1. Readers of Groundviews will…
Now our New Year has no moon
The moon rises to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Dreaming, I take the rifle and shoot my own heart. Now our New Year has no moon. The streetlamps of La Chappelle…
Two years hence, the murder of an Editor
Image courtesy Canadian Committee for Press Freedom Two years ago in Ratmalana – the suburb of Colombo I grew up in – Lasantha Wickremetunge was murdered in broad daylight. Every weekend, as…
Top 20 posts on Sri Lanka over 2010
Featuring satire, poetry, photography and video to critical commentary and analysis, covered major political events and processes in Sri Lanka over 2010. The site’s comprehensive coverage of the first commemoration of the end…
A Book That Defies All Definitions: A review of the End of War in Sri Lanka
From 19 – 27 May 2010, ran a special edition on the end of war in Sri Lanka. Over this week alone, the site received over forty-thousand readers and exclusively featured over…
Interview with Asoka Handagama
Asoka Handagama is one of Sri Lanka’s best known and most controversial filmmakers. His films divide audiences and the critics – you either love them and celebrate his genius, or you hate…
Interview with Kanak Mani Dixit
Kanak Mani Dixit is editor of Himal Southasian regional magazine and publisher of the Nepali-language Himal Khabarpatrika newsmagazine. He was actively involved in resisting King Gyanendra’s takeover and was detained many times…
Launch of Groundviews 2.0: New features, enhanced readability, comprehensive search
Regular readers of would have noticed the site upgrade that went live last week. The new website sports a complete overhaul of underlying site technologies and presentation. Content is now presented in…
Julian Assange’s turn for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011
Photo courtesy Wired A week or so ago, a veteran editor cum journalist in a conversation on conflict and peace said, his choice for the next peace prize is Julian Assange. Agreed….
On Anthems and the State of the Union
I have been stirred and moved even to tears by both the Tamil and Sinhala versions of the Ceylon, now Sri Lanka,anthem. I think I owe this emotional tie to birth on…
Excellence in exile
Battered and bleeding, journalist Poddala Jayantha lay on his hospital bed when we visited him on June 2, 2009. He was lucky to be alive after being brutally assaulted by a group…
