Stickergate: A Bell that Tolls for All
Zoë Rogers is 21, English, a dog-lover. In August 2024, she, together with five others, crashed a modified prison van into Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturing facility in Bristol. The six…
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Batalanda and Beyond: Time to Break the Cycle of Impunity
For 25 long years the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme, better known as…
Sri Lanka’s Silent Cultivation of Incel Culture Through the Matriarchal Nuclear Family
Incel is a term that started to come into popular use a few years ago, fuelled by the digital era, and escalating during the enforced lockdowns during the pandemic, which disrupted our…
The Fight for Abortion Rights in Sri Lanka
In a country where abortion remains criminalised under colonial-era laws dating back to 1883, Sri Lanka has long denied women the fundamental right to make decisions about their own bodies. The recent…
A Daunting List of Human Rights Problems to Address
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his NPP government have inherited a daunting list of human rights problems to address. In his election manifesto, President Dissanayake pledged to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism…
Reforming Welfare from Dependency to Reciprocal Dignity
Sri Lanka stands at a pivotal moment in its social development. After weathering a profound economic crisis and decades of welfare policies that have created complex patterns of dependency, the nation must…
Breaking the Silence on Batalanda: A Call to Action
For more than two decades, the Batalanda Commission report has languished in the archives of our nation’s history, ignored and forgotten by those who should have cared most [1]. But recent events,…
Dealing with Sri Lanka’s Two Systems
James Edition Since colonisation of Ceylon by the British, we had two systems: the native social system with strong cultural and religious orientation and the colonial system with British cultural (including educational),…
Trump Tariffs Expose Sri Lanka’s Uncompetitive Trade Policy
The recent imposition of tariffs on trade by the US on Sri Lankan exports is a wake up call. While concerns about the bilateral US-Sri Lanka trade imbalance have been noted, a…
Tackling the Scourge of Corruption
Sri Lanka was ranked as the 121st least corrupt nation out of 180 countries according to the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. Sri Lanka scored a 32 on a…
The Thaiyatty Land Issue
Although the civil war ended 16 years ago, Sri Lanka’s land conflicts continue with state agencies appropriating land used and owned by Tamil and Muslim communities in the north and east in…
Need for a Trans-boundary Blue-Green Biosphere Reserve in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay
Blue-green land and waterscapes act as ecological corridors across land and water in creating an ecological continuity in order to protect and restore the habitats of native and naturalized species. In addition,…
Witnessing Two Genocides Happening Now
As part of the Kolamba Kamatha Festival, Stages Theatre Group presented , two powerful plays of remembering, witnessing and refusing to look away. In , playwright Ruwanthi De Chickera distills the complexity…
Dreaming of Candies and Guns: Objects of Resistance
In , Anupa Perera’s exhibition at the Paradise Road Saskia Fernando Gallery (PRSFG), still life serves as a powerful lens to examine turbulent intersections of politics, conflict and environmental degradation. Perera fuses…
A Venerated Teacher, Author and Scholar
In my tribute to her last week, I noted that Sumitra Peries belonged to a generation which also saw Mahagama Sekara, Gamini Fonseka, Madawala S. Ratnayake, Premasiri Khemadasa, Gunadasa Amarasekara and Siri…
