Taking Aragalaya Ideas Seriously
The emergence of Frontline Social Party (FSP) in July as a major voice of the aragalaya (‘People’s uprising/struggle’) movement has led to many negative reactions. Searching questions are being raised and debated…
Democracy
Taking Stock for the New Year
Photo courtesy A tumultuous year has ended, and an uncertain future lies ahead. Democratic space is already closing around us, and it is critical for civil society to be clear-eyed about where…
2019: A Recap
Photo courtesy The last year of this decade, 2019 is possibly a turning point in Sri Lankan history. When looking back on the year that passed, what looms above all else is…
Of a Disciplined Society
Photo courtesy Lesley Barnes On the day that marks a week since a new era of Sri Lankan politics dawned, the country that voted for a hinted at during the Mahinda Rajapaksa…
Implications of the populist frenzy of the Presidential Election
Photo courtesy In the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Elections which concluded another era of the Sri Lankan political journey, it is necessary to delve into the fragility of the Sri Lankan…
Namal Rajapaksa, bots and trolls: New contours of digital propaganda and online discourse in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy , by Quartz Late 2017, the Twitter account of has generated all manner of violent, venomous pushback and responses to content it has produced, published and promoted. Over the years,…
Ghosts from the Past
Photograph courtesy Business Today ‘The sleep of reason produces monsters.’ Goya (The title of the 43rd etching of Los Caprichos) Post-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka is being haunted by the ghost of the Rajapaksa…
The Economics of Democracy
Picture courtesy Colombo Gazette “Want to buy some illusions, Slightly used, second hand? They were lovely illusions, Reaching high, built on sand….” (Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair) “After emergency laws are…
The farcical ‘National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights’ in Sri Lanka
Exactly a year ago today, a week before the Royal-Thomian, the journalist J.S. Tissainayagam went into the TID to enquire after his friends who had been taken in for questioning the previous…
Have we faltered in Sri Lanka?
Pictures of Sri Lankans mourning the victims of the bomb blasts in the past few months have occupied local and international press agencies; the former to a greater degree. What were once…
Beyond ‘Babu SAARC’: Liberating airwaves for South Asians
Watching the current SAARC jamboree unfold over television news, my young daughter asked why none of the officials were smiling. The SAARC Secretary General, Dr. Sheel Khant Sharma, was always scowling. Others…
Going for the Kill in More Ways than One
What does the failed abduction attempt against Namal Perera of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), which turned into a brutal assault on him and his friend Mahinda Ratnaweera , Political Officer…
When servants of the people become oppressors in Sri Lanka
In the Republic of Sri Lanka, sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable. We elect a President, Members of Parliament, and Provincial Councilors etc using the powers vested with the people…
Terror is spreading in the South
Abductions continue Abductions continue unabated and last week five persons all of Tamil identity were abducted from the Kotahena area. Meanwhile threats to abduct and kill intellectuals seem to have started as…
THE DISSOLUTION OF THE NORTH CENTRAL AND SABARAGAMUWA PROVINCIAL COUNCILS: THE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
ROHAN EDRISINHA & ASANGA WELIKALA The North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils have been dissolved by Proclamation of the respective Governors effective as of midnight on Monday 9th May 2008 (see No.…