We, The Spectator State
A young boy was drowned in broad daylight this week. Though not a single newspaper carried it, I’m told B. Sivakumaran was his name. He was “believed” to be mentally retarded and…
A young boy was drowned in broad daylight this week. Though not a single newspaper carried it, I’m told B. Sivakumaran was his name. He was “believed” to be mentally retarded and…
This is one of the subjects that has in recent years put me in constant confusion. To situate my confused status in its context, let me begin with a personal note. In…
I feel that there is a pressing need to rise to the defense of Buddhism. This is because Buddhism is being degraded and exploited as a reactionary political ideology by a grade…
I spoke with Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka recently on his take on post-war politics, his interpretation of the Southern Provincial Council elections, the issue of war crimes and the extension of GSP+, the…
Picture courtesy of The Australian, 29th October 2009 The above picture was published in the satirical Nicholson cartoon gallery which features in The Australian. The issue of refugees has been covered extensively in both…
It seems to be the case that over the past few years the State and the public have become much less tolerant of liberal values. In 2006, a bill set out a…
Politics of Supremacy: This article is addressed to the broad revolutionary-democratic platform that shared a minimum, common, transitional principle and policy towards the Tamil national liberation struggle, in an effort to orient…
The buzz in political circles these days is the possibility of there being a ‘common candidate’ (CC) to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid for a second term in the event that a…
Media reports suggest that President Mahinda Rajapaksa might decide to hold an early Presidential Election in 2010. It is therefore interesting to look into some of the issues relating to the matter.…
Historians say that the Kaffirs of Sri Lanka started arriving from the eastern shores of Africa in the 1500s with the Portuguese, and later in more waves with the different colonizers of…
The Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives is the smallest country in Asia – it packs 325,000 people into a land area just under 300 square kilometres. With an average ground level…
[Editors note: Read Part 1 of this article here.] Economic and Governance Challenges in Post-conflict Areas The Rajapakse government is increasingly dovetailing its policies to make Lanka a destination of Indian and…
The Final Report of the investigation initiated by the European Union under the terms of the GSP Plus concession entitled “The Implementation of certain Human Rights Conventions in Sri Lanka” has been…
A milestone in British democracy and the right to freedom of speech happens on BBC’s Question Time program tonight. Nick Griffin the head of the BNP (British National Party), which allows only…
In the heydays of the Non-Aligned Movement Sri Lanka’s politicians and diplomats wielded an influence disproportionate to the county’s size on the international stage. However, the last 30 years of armed conflict…