Sri Lanka’s People, Parliament and President
May 9, 2022 will be remembered as one of the darkest days in post war Sri Lankan history. The country, already teetering on the brink of economic collapse due to incomprehensible levels…
Politics and Governance
People’s Tribunal Hears Evidence Against My Father’s Killers
Today the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists in the Hague will commence hearing evidence in the assassination of my father Lasantha Wickrematunge. The indictment alleges the Sri Lankan government’s complicity…
The Need of the Hour: A Nelson Mandela
Sri Lanka’s economic meltdown requires urgent remedial measures and the political impasse created by a president and his administration, which both refuse to either take responsibility or credibly effect corrective policy measures,…
When Peaceful Protests Turn Sour
Until Monday afternoon, the protests at Galle Face Green were overwhelmingly peaceful. Even when demonstrators stormed into the outer precincts of the Presidential Secretariat, it was to engage in symbolic resistance epitomised…
Consumer Confidence Drops to New Depths
Consumer confidence in Sri Lanka continued drop in April to reach a new low. Economic pessimism was widespread across all segments and public was resigned to likelihood that conditions will worsen in…
People’s Uprising for System Change
April and May 2022 will be remembered as the most important months in the post-independence era. During this short period the much hoped for people’s awakening expressed itself powerfully. People who wielded…
Won’t Go Yet
Thugs, goondas, thousands of them, gathered in villages and towns in the interior and boarded buses to the capital– their purpose, to break up the tents set up outside the Prime Minister’s…
The End?
“We must love one another or die,” wrote Auden in September 1, 1939 as the world slid into calamity. Gotagogama and the nationwide anti-Rajapaksa struggle it pioneered and symbolized seemed to be…
Thugs Attack Peaceful Protesters, GotaGoGama Destroyed
After 30 days of peaceful protests, the Rajapaksa regime unleashed its thugs on the protesters outside Temple Trees. After demolishing the tents and assaulting the people gathered there, the thugs proceeded to…
To the Sisters of My Motherland
My beautiful motherland, ravaged by invaders and damaged by internal conflict over the centuries, is now drowning in the depths of economic despair. There is no respite in sight for the people…
Sri Lanka Under the Jackboot
The Rajapaksa regime has declared a state of emergency amid ongoing protests including a general strike on May 6. This gives the government drastic powers to crack down on dissidents. The move…
People’s Protest, Public Space and the Public Interest
People’s protests today occupy the public space as the people clamour to create and occupy democratic space. This receives public attention and worries the oppressor. Today’s protests demand change. The sovereignty of…
Proud to be Sri Lankan and a Youth
Groups of people, mostly young, stand in clusters chanting slogans, singing songs, making speeches. Others distribute food – buns, biscuits and fish buns – and others go about collecting litter. Children carry…
The Need to Restore Judicial Review
Many discussions are taking place concerning the issue of restoring democracy by way of undoing the executive presidential system. As a way of achieving this, the suggestion is for the abolition of…
Popular Struggles and Education
Following the token general strike last week against the backdrop of the ongoing protests to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s authoritarian regime, a few school principals have been grumbling about students being deprived of…
