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…
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The Ethno-Economics of Majoritarianism: Notes on Conflict and Gotabaya’s Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Tribune.lk In the aftermath of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election victory, a number of competing narratives have emerged offering differing explanations of how we arrived at this result. The prevailing liberal account,…
Money Talks: some facts around the depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee
The Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated against the US dollar on several occasions this year first on June 11 and then on June 20, when its value stood at Rs. 161.17. Reports…
Is Bribery A Fact of Life in Sri Lanka?
Is bribery a fact of life in Sri Lanka? The following video captures perceptions on bribery and corruption across five cities, and in English, Sinhala and Tamil. The issue of corruption has…
A Difficult Healing
‘I rode back home that day watching fires burn the places I knew and loved. I watched mobs hunt for petrol. A curfew on the streets meant some areas were deserted, by…
One Year in Keppapilavu
The gates of the 59 Division Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters dominate the view 10 kilometres inwards from the Nandikadal lagoon and the Eastern coast. The protest tent a few metres away appears…
Ekneligoda, Sugirtharajan and 24th January
For several years, the Free Media Movement (FMM) of Sri Lanka and free expression advocates have dubbed January as “Black January”. This was in the context of a large number of journalists…
Breaking Down the Interim Report: On Proposals for Devolution and the State
October 30 marked the beginning of a Parliamentary debate around the recently released draft interim report on constitutional reform by the Steering Committee in the Constitutional Assembly. In order to better inform the commentary…
Breaking Down The Interim Report
October 30 marks the beginning of a Parliamentary debate around the recently released draft interim report on constitutional reform by the Steering Committee in the Constitutional Assembly. In order to better inform the…
#MeToo – Analysing The Conversation
On October 15, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted a request that inadvertently breathed new life into a movement. ‘Me Too’ was initially coined by Tarana Burke, who eventually formed a non-profit organization to…
Violent Monks and the Buddha’s Dispensation
The world is going from bad to worse, day by day; with the spread of conflict, terrorism, political instability, poverty and impending economic crises spreading like wind. At times, the interpretation of…
The Dark Side of Norochcholai
The term “sustainable development” has been increasingly used among the global community since the 1992 Rio Summit. To achieve this, environmental conservation, supported at a policy level, is crucial. Yet energy production…
The Reality of Suicide in Sri Lanka: Need for Data-driven analysis
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that close to 800,000 people die by suicide each year, with the majority of deaths occurring in low-income and middle-income countries. Many more attempt suicide. Suicide…
Deduru Oya and Good Governance At Risk
Environmental issues have become a central concern of policy makers, with many international conventions ratified by the global community. However, if we want to protect the environment on a global scale, individual…
Why I Oppose Federalism for Sri Lanka: Reply to Dr. Devanesan Nesiah
I thank Dr. Devanesan Nesiah for his constructive engagement (Constitutional choices and Tamil Politics-1 Sept 28th 2017) with the ideas I had recently expressed at this crossroads of contemporary Sri Lankan history.…
