The Tea is Cold: Cinema as Social Responsibility
A young man from Colombo, Randika, travels to Jaffna on an assignment to find out how the war has affected people there. At first he is more interested in sharing photographs on…
Reconciliation
A Call for a Change in Culture
“They will never change” is a phrase that many Tamils overseas often hear from back home. A simple phrase articulated partly in sadness, partly in gloating. It’s difficult to condemn how various…
Moving Towards True Reconciliation
In May this year, a Sri Lankan living in Australia was seen tearing up a flyer on the Tamil genocide commemorations at a #GotaGoHome protest. He said, “Do you think there was…
Questions of Justice and Accountability
As videos of helicopters taking off in the early hours of Tuesday May 10 appeared on social media, rumours swirled that some members of the Rajapaksa family had fled Colombo. While the…
Building Bridges with Stories
Unsalted Porridge “Where do you suppose they must be serving porridge today?” Most of their mornings dawn with this question. Waking early, standing in line, pot in hand – that steaming hot…
Who Will Punish the Perpetrators?
The images are stark and compelling. The STF men are stoic and menacing. They stand unmoving, machine guns clasped tightly to their chests, their faces obscured by motorcycle helmets. The women are…
Human Rights – Reconciliation or Defiance?
Protection and justice for the people of Sri Lanka will be discussed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its 49th session from February 28 to April 1. In the…
Twelve Cries From Home: Searing Accounts from Families of the Disappeared
“Sri Lanka has the world’s second-highest number of cases registered with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Since the 1980s, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people from all…
Atrocities of the Civil War Through the Eyes of Artists
A common theme running through this year’s Colomboscope, entitled Language is Migrant, is the enduring consequences of Sri Lanka’s civil war as seen through the eyes of several young artists based in…
Water Pumps and Chickens: Rhetoric vs Reality in the North
December 19, 2021. Jaffna town. 6 am. Three motorcycles parked one behind the other at an angle with headlights on. Two armed military personnel, clad in black, on each motorcycle. Women headed…
Taking the Military to Task with International Sanctions
While Sri Lanka grapples with an inevitable economic meltdown, the international community has not forgotten the country’s obligations to move towards a reconciled society through the process of transitional justice. One of…
Desmond Tutu – An Inspiration and Challenge for Sri Lanka
Desmond Tutu was a black, South African, Christian male but in a world where colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, sexuality and gender matter, he transcended all of that to be a…
2021: The Year in Review
2020 flowed into 2021 with a continued air of uncertainty due to the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third wave saw cases and deaths rise exponentially, taking the country’s healthcare…
Desmond Tutu: The Man Who Revived the Moral Universe
Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed away this week will be counted among the great human beings who contributed to the political transformation of his own country and a person who revolutionised the…
Shaping a Single Narrative, Courtesy the Clergy and Task Forces
The recent appointment of a task force mandated with law reform headed by a controversial Buddhist monk has raised concerns from multiple fronts. Yet, considering recent trends in Sri Lanka, this should…
