Karma and Politics
Photo from Api Sri Lankan – French-Russian Philosopher Joseph de Maistre in 1811. Politics the world over is going through its test of time, as most “democratic” governments are now influenced either…
Religion and faith
From dreams and visions to realities and hope: A Christmas Reflection
Photo courtesy Modern Magazine We keep Christmas this year amidst manifestoes, dreams and visions. Politicians want power; they resort to lofty manifestoes. People long for sincere governance and bread at affordable prices;…
An appeal from a Sri Lankan Catholic to Pope Francis: Please don’t come
Photograph courtesy Api Sri Lankan On 20th Nov. 2014, the President of Sri Lanka officially proclaimed his intention to hold presidential elections and seek a third term. This was when there was…
Online hate speech stokes fear of religious violence in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Thyagi Ruwanpathirana Hate speech is growing more effective and pervasive among media platforms in Sri Lanka, prompting concern from Muslim and Christian minorities amid mounting attacks. The Colombo-based Centre for…
Liking violence: A study of hate speech on Facebook in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Sri Lanka Brief The Centre for Policy Alternatives, the institutional anchor of , released today a report co-authored by Shilpa Samaratunge and I on hate speech online, looking at Facebook…
INFOGRAPHIC: Religious Violence in Post-War Sri Lanka
Religious tensions have been exacerbated in post-war Sri Lanka, contrary to claims by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that attacks against places of religious worship are isolated incidents. In Mach 2013,…
9/11 and My Muslimness
I was sitting in my garden, gazing at the stars listening to my Walkman, which was the only thing to do back then as you ticked off the minutes until the regulated…
Portraits of diversity from Myanmar vital for Sri Lanka
When the British administrator J.S. Furnivall coined the term “plural society” he was talking about colonial Burma to describe the extraordinary diversity of nationalities, ethnicities, races and religions that inhabited its cities.…
Stand Up Against Extremism
Image courtesy NBC News Africa these days has been battling with EBOLA, a severe, infectious, often fatal disease in humans and primates with no apparent cure in sight. Many have been dying…
Is Sri Lanka sinking in to an abyss of racism and apartheid?
Photo by Shilpa Samaratunge Two months since the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) inspired anti Muslim attack in Aluthgama took place causing scores of damage, destruction and death to the livelihood, properties and…
That which shall not be named
Photo by AFP/LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI via On the 19th of July 2014, my cook hands me a police form to fill. It is one of those usual forms that we were inundated with…
The BBS and a catalyst for a Buddhist Muslim conflict
Photo by Shilpa Samaratunge The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Sri Lanka’s catalyst for opening up a new Buddhist verses Muslim conflict, perhaps due to boredom now that a thirty year civil war…
Is BBS the new face of Buddhist revivalism?
This is a response to an article written by Udaya Gammanpila which appeared in the two days later (08 July 2014), but it has not been published to date. Photo by Shilpa…
Photos around questions I couldn’t answer: Four days after the riots
At journalism school I was taught to get as close as possible without getting involved. Go in, get the story, don’t become the story, don’t interfere with the story. These rules played…
Responding to Aluthgama
Photography by Thyagi Ruwanpathirana Responding to Aluthgama Imagine a country, an island in the Indian Ocean. Let’s call it Serendib (ooh, the irony). Imagine further: several groups, including those named Limat, Milsum…
