Sex and gender in the anti-Muslim riots
As the debris settles in Kandy and Ampara, Sinhala Buddhists are faced with yet another moment of reckoning: how do we change the ways in which we think about citizenship and belonging…
Religion and faith
The politics of organized violence against the Muslim Community
Image courtesy Azzam Ameen It is an interesting phenomenon in Sri Lanka that the very same people who bristle at the very suggestion of deficiencies in the Sri Lankan State and most…
Sri Lankan Academics Abroad Condemn Violence Against Muslim Community: Open Letter
We write to condemn ongoing violence against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, especially the brutal attacks perpetrated over the past week. We are outraged that the government has failed to act speedily and…
Compiled Situation Updates: Kandy and related incidents
From March 5 onwards, there has been unrest in the Kandy district, originating in Digana. What began as a personal altercation eventually spiraled into violence, with Buddhist mobs attacking Muslim-owned properties, homes…
On Kandy: How Myths about Minorities Underlie Violence
A man belonging to the majority ethnic group was attacked by a youth from the minority ethnic group. Two days later, the mortally wounded man succumbed to his injuries and dies. Within…
The Beast Rides Again
Photo courtesy Asian Mirror Even as I write these words, Kandy is burning. Muslims, their homes and their properties are being targeted in the name of Buddhism, within shouting distance of the…
70 Years of Independence | Yamini Ravindran
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
Sri Lanka/Sri Lanka
“I shall wake up from these long decades of war and begin to see what we can do in peace, what sort of creature we are when the mask of lion or…
MMDA: Personal Narratives – 8
This is the seventh in a series of videos conducted by sister publication Maatram, highlighting the difficulties faced by women under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). Article 16 of the constitution states that…
MMDA: Personal Narratives – 7
This is the seventh in a series of videos conducted by sister publication Maatram, highlighting the difficulties faced by women under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). Article 16 of the constitution states that…
Mary’s Consent for Jesus’s birth: A Christmas reflection
Image courtesy Wikipedia Christmas is the story of Mary, a young unwedded mother, giving birth to a refugee child, Jesus, in a sheep shed. The central male character in this story is…
A Christmas Reflection
Bethlehem – Birth place of the Incarnate One Bethlehem is the little village in which Jesus was born. It was here, that the unseen God emptied himself to become human in the…
Waiting for the Muslim Man to “Soften Up”
The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) is in need of amendment and has been under the scrutiny of a most ineffectual committee for the past nine years. For years, individuals and…
The MMDA and Muslim Women’s Right to Shape an Egalitarian law
This is an attempt to engage with the current arguments and counter arguments, debates and contestations over Muslim women’s rights in Sri Lanka and the need to reform Muslim Personal Law in…
ACJU: An orchestra of frogs in a well
Photo courtesy Does the axiom have it that the more you change, the more you remain the same? With a slight twist, what may be said of All Ceylon Jammiyathul Ulama (ACJU)…
