Caste in Sri Lanka and India
There was an interesting work shop on ‘Conceptualizing Caste in Sri Lanka’ at the ICES on Tuesday 15th March 2011. It was noted that caste is a tabooed and under-researched subject in…
Reconciliation
Jaffna and the Vanni today: The reality beneath the rhetoric
Photo credit: Indi Samarajiva, 2010 The drive along the A9 from Vavuniya to Killinochchi is brought to a temporary halt at the ‘exit-entry point’ at what used to be the forward defence…
The desecration of graves in Jaffna: Path to reconciliation?
The following article was published in the . Not a single Sinhala newspaper to date has published a similar account, though many reported on the opening of the new Army Headquarters in…
What few care to know: Challenges and opportunities in post-war Sri Lanka
Transcript of speech delivered by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu accepting the first Citizens Peace Award, 28 February 2011. Video of speech below. Members of the Head Table, Venerable Sirs, Your Excellency President Kumaratunga…
Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
Photo credit: Eranga Jayawardena / AP, taken from Peace in our country cannot last long without reconciliation. And there can be no reconciliation until the people in the North and East and all…
The Duplicitous Disclaimer: GOSL, the UN and Accountability
In consideration of the vague exposition on the reasons behind the meeting between Ban Ki-moon and representatives of the Sri Lankan Government in New York on the 23rd of February 2011, as…
THE NEED TO ENERGISE CIVIL SOCIETY
Note: The Editors of received via email the text of this speech delivered by Jayantha Dhanapala at the Citizen’s Movement for Good Governance on the 9th of February 2011. I begin by…
Hear My VOICE: Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan ~ “Please bring my father back to me”
Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan (7) always stays alone and confines to a brown plastic chair with flower work. The chair is bigger than she. She wears a pristine white pleated frock, which is…
Archive of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) submissions and media reports
Image courtesy Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is pleased to announce the launch of two archives covering media reports on and submissions to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The…
The Tamil In The Room At The War’s End
On May 19th 2009 the last shots in the nearly three decade long war between the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE were fired. The end came in the form of the…
A slumbering LLRC: The image of reconciliation in Sri Lanka?
The Editors of were emailed the following story on a website called Athirvu.com. The photo is self-explanatory, and shows a commissioner of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) falling asleep…
Reconciling Sri Lanka
Due to Sri Lanka’s geographically strategic location coupled with its natural and economic resources the absence of war will give us a chance to move in the direction of a vibrant South…
Governance, Rights and Reconciliation: The National Anthem and Other Disturbing News from Sri Lanka
Original photo from The headline story of the was to be maintained. At a time when the principal challenge facing the country is to move beyond a post –war situation to a…
Is the Tamil version of our national anthem a joke?
Recent media coverage in Sri Lanka has focussed on the confusion over the ban of the Tamil version of Sri Lanka’s national anthem. In media reports that need to be read in…
Interview with Michael Roberts
Prof. Michael Roberts, in addition to his academic writing and research, is well-known political commentator in Sri Lanka. He is also a regular contributor to this site. In the incredibly violent days…