July 1983: Looking back in anger and despair 25 years on
Photo by Chandragupta Amarasinghe ONE What happened in mid-1983 and in the last week of July 1983 was obscene, a monumental atrocity, a disaster for Sri Lanka. In a context marked by…
Search Results for: black july
July: Life after 25 years
Anoma Rajakaruna shares her photos of people in black and white. Anoma has captured many expressions and many environments. Every photograph speaks differently. As a film-maker, photographer and poet ,Anoma has well…
Meta-Real: Provoking Thought on Reconciliation, Healing and Change
Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s annual memorial exhibition to commemorate Black July is showing at the Saskia Fernando gallery. serves as a link between past and present, providing a reflective examination of Sri Lanka’s…
Shared Encounters from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand
In a world where narratives of conflict and division dominate, the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) offers a refreshing perspective through its latest project, Shared Encounters. This semi-academic book, along with…
Misconceptions About the 1983 Riots
Island A recent statement attributed to Prasanna Ranatunga, the Urban Development and Housing Minister of Sri Lanka, blaming the JVP for the July 1983 riots and posted on the A5 News Facebook…
Doorway 2024
The news barely made the news. Defence secretary (retired) General Kamal Gunaratne and Army Commander General Vikum Liyanage were ordered by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to apologise to parliamentarian Chandima Weerakkody. Last…
Merchants of Faith
The Tripitaka is silent on the subject but the Buddha’s three visits to the isle of Lanka constitute an article of faith for most Sinhala-Buddhists. Kelaniya is believed to have been the…
2023: A Year of Struggle for Survival
In 2023 Sri Lanka was struggling to come out of the economic meltdown with aid from the IMF, which required many austerity measures that impacted severely much of the population. People had…
A Politics of Conscience
On August 14, 2006 the Sri Lankan air force bombed an orphanage in Vallipunam killing 61 schoolgirls. The Rajapaksa administration insisted that the location was a LTTE training camp and the victims…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 7
In the final part of this seven part article, let us focus on certain fundamental changes required to implement serious political and social reforms for the greater good of the country. If…
The Cauldrons We Make
Jewish Currents is a US-based leftwing Jewish magazine. Soon after October 7 Hamas attack, its editor, Arielle Angel, a vocal proponent of Palestinian liberation, penned a letter to the readers. “I watched…
Unthinking Nation
It was the spring of infatuation. Millions of Sinhala voters saw Gotabaya Rajapaksa the way he saw himself, a colossus among men, a king reborn. He and his acolytes had spent much…
Pyromaniacs on the March
“Patriotism,” wrote Ambrose Bierce in is “The combustible rubbish ready to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name.” Patriotism is not the last refuge of the scoundrel, as Samuel Johnson…
Art as Catalyst: Commemorating Tragedy and Advocating Change
Art is a powerful medium of expression that is incorporated by activists and advocates across multiple cultures and spaces to commemorate and establish a sense of permanent memorialization of history. In Sri…
Unearthing Bandarawela’s Hidden Past: A Call for Memorialization and Reconciliation
Bandarawela town is the definition of a picture perfect landscape, surrounded by green hills, lush trees and bright flowers. But Bandarawela is also evolving into an urban hub in its own way.…