Piyath Nikeshala, a prominent social media activist, was attacked with machetes in broad daylight by former deputy mayor of Kaduwela Municipal Council, SLPP member Chandika Abeyrathne and his supporters. And then Piyath,…
Brief Generations of Sri Lankans have experienced many curfews and states of emergency and also experienced the bloody harm suffered by curfew violators. But successive insurgencies spanning all parts of the country…
A cascade of reports from human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have drawn attention to rise of authoritarian and nationalistic regimes around the world that is having an…
The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), as many legal experts have already argued, can be more dangerous than the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA). The legal reasons are now well…
“Homo Sapiens is prone to orgies of stupidity, brutality, and destruction.” Martin Wolf (The crisis of democratic capitalism) So back in the Chalk Circle but this time play ends in Act 2.…
Language, according to linguists, is what makes us human but the fake identities it creates can urge us to form imaginary barriers between us that have been the bane of humanity. Among…
“We have not abandoned our people, neither will we do so.” Mahinda Rajapaksa (Budget 2023, second reading debate) The seminal event of the 2023 Budget cycle was not Budget 2023. The Budget…
Although Sri Lanka takes pride in being an agricultural economy, the agricultural sector only contributes to 7.4% of the national Gross Domestic Production (GDP) out of which only 5.2% comes from farming. Despite…
Scrolling through newsfeeds I find at least one article that refers to the number of people who are starving every day in Sri Lanka. My friends who are teachers say that children’s…
The recent tax proposals have created quite a ruckus in all quarters of Sri Lanka. While the popular opinion was that economic reforms would be opposed by the poor and the trade…
“How many more years should we come to Geneva?” Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of disappeared journalist, at “informal” consultation on UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, in Geneva, 16th Sept. 2022 Among the many international…
The State, knocked down in the early rounds of Aragalaya, is back, sparring and dodging and delivering upper cuts again as if nothing has happened, as if the struggle is a…
The political leadership of Sri Lanka has yet again demonstrated that even in the midst of the worst socio economic and political crisis the country has faced since independence, they do not…
“A wandering fire at a terrible height – can it be a star shining like that? Osip Mandelstam (Poem 101) A walking path bordered by the sea and a bit of lawn…
Is Ranil Wickremesinghe an Accidental President? His many detractors will believe this is the case. They can point to a politician who was ignored by the electorate; to a party leader whose…
