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…
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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…
A Janus Moment
“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…
The Aragalaya Replies
Why keep knocking at the front door of that house? Let go. Go away. Go to sleep and wake up refreshed. Build your own door. Build your own house. Nobody…
Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s New Exhibition: Ecce Homo
The moment we live in is dire. It is a moment that has propelled citizens to fearlessly come forward to fight for sustainable and transformative solutions to systemic socio-political ills that have…
Golden or Black July? – the Month of Destiny
Brief It is in this month that Sri Lanka chose its people’s revolution, on July 9. The people’s revolution in its spirit carried by hope (and anger) was quickly followed by disillusionment;…
Out of the Shadows: Violence Against Women who Love Women
Human Rights Watch Earlier this month, a news report revealed that a 22 year old woman had filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the Welisara-Mahabage police. She alleged that…
The Aragalaya Under Attack: The Struggle Continues
Without warning, heavily armed military and police in riot gear descended on the Galle Face protest site, chasing away the activists, dismantling tents and attacking media personnel. Several of the protesters were…
Accidental President Ranil Wickremesinghe Can Deliver A Golden Legacy
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…
