Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s “Blinds” – Seeing and Not Seeing
Most of us spent more time looking out of the windows of our homes this last year than in any other year. So it is perhaps no surprise that one of the…
Search Results for: black july
Patriot, Bared
The Rajapaksas are at war. Not with the pandemic but with those who inform the public about the pandemic. Sudharshini Fernandopulle, the only minister who seems to possess a brain, a vertebra…
One Man’s Hero is Another Man’s Enemy
Maaveerar Naal, otherwise known as Heroes day, is celebrated on November 27 to remember those who lost their lives fighting for the LTTE. While this day has come to be a highly…
Democracy: The Sri Lankan Way
The democratic ideal sounds simple enough. All citizens have a say in their system of governance, typically through elected representatives. The concept has been a part of Sri Lankan politics since as…
Sri Lanka: Rising Autocracy and Historical Experiences
S. P. Huntington has presciently warned that democratic transitions are vulnerable and reversible if ruling elites do not show genuine commitment to democratic values. He argues: “When they are out of power,…
Stopping the Landslide
Basil Rajapaksa (Daily FT – 29.7.2020) Basil Rajapaksa is the Rajapaksa family’s thinking man. Unlike his brothers and nephews, he doesn’t shoot his mouth off. His remarks should be taken seriously, because,…
DEAD OR TRANQUILISED? THE RECALL OF DISSOLVED PARLIAMENTS
Photo courtesy The COVID-19 crisis took hold in Sri Lanka at a time when Parliament stood dissolved ahead of a general election. The gravity of the public health emergency, and what it…
Is there a Gotabaya-wave? Can it be broken?
Image from “Sri Lanka: Reconciling and Rebuilding”: Framing the lies What would a Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency look like (Economist Intelligence Unit – 11.8.2019) Saviours need crises, not the average inflation-unemployment…
A Violent Past, An Uneasy Present
The true stories of the violence on July 1983 are not captured in newspaper headlines. 36 years ago, Page One of the Daily Mirror read, “Anti-Govt forces behind rioting and looting.” A…
Lest History Repeat Itself
As multi-coloured Buddhist flags fluttered in the breeze and perennially catchy tunes on the nobleness of the Gautama Buddha wafted in the air, rows of houses and shops belonging mainly to Muslims…
The Terrorist, The Muslim and the Other
It was a casual Sunday breakfast, as I was making notes on refugees in Sri Lanka, when my partner, his eyes still peeled on his phone, exclaimed in shock that a church…
Secularism or Barbarism
The blue, red, yellow, orange and white lights are on, as are the makeshift stalls selling lanterns. Yet few pause to see, haggle, buy. Vesak, so near chronologically, had never seemed so…
Massacre of the Innocents: Whereto from here
Photo by JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/GETTY IMAGES via KCUR. “Unmindful are the walking dead The known way is an impasse.” Heraclitus (The Fragments) We have been here before. This blooded precipice is…
2018: A Recap
2018 saw ethno-nationalism, the role of technology in moderating hate speech and freedom of expression and the impact of foreign debt, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative remain key topics in global discourse. It also…
Remembering To Rebuild
Another July has passed. A month filled with dark associations, thanks to “Black July”, a month that only escalated events leading to a three-decade war and a whole host of other ill…
