D-Day for the Aragalaya
Mahatma Gandhi said that civil disobedience became a sacred duty when the state became lawless and corrupt. To the diehard protesters left at the diminished GotaGoGama, Gandhi’s words are at the heart…
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Father Jeewantha Peiris: A Warrior for Truth and Justice
Rediff Ever since the aragalaya began in April this year, Father Jeewantha Peiris has been a familiar figure in the forefront of the protesters, easily identifiable by his flowing black hair and…
Aragalaya: For Everybody
This is not only about sitting on the verandah with a scotch and a pig in a blanket. This is not only about picking up the beat and dancing the…
Comprehensive Reforms Vital to Maximise Foreign Aid
There is good news on the foreign aid front. Foreign aid from official donors reached an all-time high at $179 billion in 2021 as developed countries increased their assistance to developing countries…
Proposed All Party Government: Some Critical Reflections
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal for an All Party Government (APG) seems to be in some trouble. Not unexpectedly, President Wickremesinghe’s bland, and sometimes combative, appeals have failed to inspire any particular enthusiasm…
Aragalaya: A State of Mind
Wijewardene We are taught to be modest, circumspect, wrapped under covers, demurring, scuttling away like mice. We are educated to be peons, servile class members, ambitions tempered, molded to fit the…
Aragalaya – A Utopian Fantasy or a Long March to Real Reform?
It seems like a long time ago but the reality is that it’s been just 150 days since the urban middle class and their semi-urban cousins stepped out of their comfort zone…
Stabilising Sri Lanka, Learning from July 1983
Arrests, amidst a wider crackdown on protesters in Sri Lanka, threaten progress in tackling the economic crisis. Although a show of repressive force may be intended in part to promote stability, in…
Widespread Arrests Used to Intimidate the Population
From all parts of the country, there are reports of arrests of people who participated in the protests that erupted against the hardships caused by the economic meltdown. For months people made…
Dying in the Fuel Lines
Photo courtesy of Daily FT When Gota ran away we raised arms and shouted gratitude to God, to fate, to a possible return from the nightmare but his fleeing did not…
Saving the Sri Lankan Leopard from Extinction
The leopard is a big cat in the genus Panthera () that has a distribution throughout sub-Saharan Africa, through the Middle East and into several countries in Asia. Once occupying a vast…
Government Harassment of Protesters and Journalists Intensifies
Despite widespread condemnation of the arrests, intimidation and harassment of peaceful protesters by the state, activists and journalists continued to be targeted for reprisals for their part in the aragalaya. The repressive…
From the Aragalaya to a New Nation
The current economic downfall did not happen due to a natural disaster or by accident; it was caused by a combination of bad policies, wrong economic direction, mismanagement, corruption, inability to deliver…
Aragalaya March
We walked for twenty kilometers and more from outlying suburbs, from neighborhoods in the city, on the way to the country’s maidan, to . We jumped into vans with full…
July 1983 Pogrom: the Black Week that Impacted Sri Lanka Forever
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…
