Sri Lanka’s Political Moment in 2024: Part 2
The year 2024 marks a watershed moment in Sri Lanka’s political history. The National People’s Power (NPP) party, led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), has ascended to power on a platform that…
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Building on Hope, Gaining Trust: Challenges for a New Government
Elections can be times of hope, offering the possibility of a fresh start, yet also bring deep divisions to the surface. Sri Lanka is one of several countries where in 2024 voters…
A Feminist Politician, Political Furore: Feminist Analysis for a New Age
The tectonic plates shifted in Sri Lanka’s political fabric on September 21. The political rupture caused by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, once considered a rank outsider, becoming the president was that moment. It…
Sri Lanka’s Political Moment in 2024: Part 1
Jazeera In the wake of the National People’s Power (NPP) party’s remarkable victory in the 2024 presidential election, some observers have been quick to attribute the result to a protest vote against…
Democratic World to Sri Lanka: Thanks for Your Election
Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 American presidential elections, these and many similar ideas about “democracy under threat” have dominated public and private conversations among democrats globally. There is a real…
The Challenges in Ensuring Free, Fair and Peaceful Elections
Incidents of election violence escalated significantly in September, culminating in a murder and a potential second incident. Ninety six violations were recorded on September 15 alone. Arson, assault, threats and the misuse…
Collapse of the Traditional Two Party System
The presidential election scheduled to be held on September 21 is likely to mark a significant milestone in Sri Lankan political history. The popular sentiment that dominates the public psyche during the…
The Pivotal Moment and the Long Game
Frankl The US and Sri Lanka are in synchronized election cycles. Eight years ago I wrote an article called “US And Them” about certain correlations which were then observable. So much has…
Cats That Won’t be Belled
“Wrath” is the opening word of . Wrath is a key driver of the upcoming presidential election. People are angry at political leaders for bankrupting the country. Hopefully, the anger is accompanied…
Time for Sri Lanka to Chart a New Course on Human Rights
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Sri Lanka to break from the past and chart a new course. Addressing the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council…
The Search for the Disappeared: Struggle, Recovery, Resolve
As news of a mass grave breaks on television in a household in the North, its residents, a family of the disappeared, try to find ways of coping with this information. A…
The Need for Humanitarianism is Greater Than Ever
Former High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said there were no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems because what they required were political solutions. When states and governments fail their citizens, endangering their…
Digital Partisans: Dissecting Facebook Sentiment Towards Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake
Last month, I studied over 4,000 tweets linked to the three main presidential candidates – Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW), Sajith Premedasa (SP), and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) – in order to study how…
Criminalizing Sexual Harassment: Are We Doing Enough?
The law criminalizing sexual harassment could change very soon. A bill, which proposes to amend S. 345 of the Penal Code, has been gazetted. This is a welcome development. Yet amendments to…
Kings in Waiting
The most iconic moment at Nelson Mandela’s star studded memorial service was a handshake. As US President Barack Obama ran up to the podium under a light drizzle, a CNN reporter was…