Thicker Than Water
On April 21, 2019, the doctors working at the National Blood Transfusion Services woke to chilling news. A series of suicide bomb blasts had occurred across the island. As of June 11,…
Reconciliation
The Case for Foreign Judges in a Judicial Mechanism in Sri Lanka: Countering Falsehoods
In a few weeks, Sri Lanka marks a decade since the end of its brutal war, but its long legacy of abuses remains unaddressed. Decades of inaction, denial and silencing have contributed…
A Pardon, and a Penalty: A Prelude to a Populist?
As we reflect on Sri Lanka’s 71st Independence Day, many things that have political currency come to mind. Free education and healthcare, a reduced cost of living, and anti-corruption are usually among…
Are We Sri Lankans One People? Where Are Our Leaders?
Politically, it may appear that we are not one people. We have a long history of ethnicity-based politics within a small island with a measure of ethnic diversity unrivalled in countries of…
Value Education and Literature
Editor’s Note: Delivered at the Open University on November 30th 2018 Throughout the world today we bemoan the lack of values. No one quite knows what that means and a good post-modernist…
Demons in Paradise: Capturing the Conversation
On October 2, Director of the documentary film “Demons in Paradise” Jude Ratnam issued a press release, noting that his documentary had been pulled from the programme of the Jaffna International Cinema…
Of Patriots and Traitors
Much has been said across various media over the years, and recently too, on the subject of ‘patriots’ and ‘traitors’. Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary (1755) defined a patriot as “one whose…
Fragile Hope, Firm Resolve
A puff of wind shifts the piece of cardboard dangling from the tent. ‘541’ it reads. Over one year later, the tent housing the families of the disappeared in Vavuniya has become…
The Impact of Violence: Remembering Black July
“When we talk of the 1983 unrest, the word ‘riot’ is used very often,” M Mayuran of the Mass Movement for Social Justice says. “But that word is quite complicated. A riot…
On Collective Humanity: Remembering Black July
“If the majority thinks that a minority community is posing a threat to them or are developing in a manner that creates fear among them, then it is a problem for the…
On Documenting: Remembering Black July
“There is no proper record of what happened, or how the killings took place during that time. We do not have any information or documentation to pass it on to our future…
Impunity in Sri Lanka and the Commissions of Inquiry into Disappearances
The violation of the language rights following the enactment of Official Languages Act No. 33 of 1956, started the process of human rights violations of the Tamils of Sri Lanka which eventually…
“Her. Him. The Other” – Exposing Political Realities and Eroding Human Values
We stand today with our collective consciousness bruised almost beyond repair. We feel devastated by the chaos, anarchy and culture of impunity. As someone recently said, the beast rides again. What is…
Opening our Minds to Thrive with our Neighbours
We can feel diminished by the tragic events that happened in Sri Lanka when our neighbours were targeted in the anti-Muslim riots or we can consider it an opportunity for everyone to…
Through the Scorched Frames: The aftermath in Welekade
It happened on the morning of March 7, almost two days after the initial attacks in the Theldeniya and Digana areas. The elderly woman I first spoke to said that a Sinhalese…
