by Benjamin Parkin, Financial Times, London, May 26, 2022 The country has opened talks with the IMF over a $4bn bailout with observers waiting to see how China, one of the main creditors, will react It is 10am and the queue outside a petrol station in one suburb of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo is… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong
A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery. by Ted Nordhaus & Saloni Shah, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, March 5, 2022 Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the… Read more »
Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka – Session III
Berlin Session by Permanent People’s Tribunal, Berlin, May 20-22, 2022 Following the Sessions held in Dublin (14-16 January 2010) and Bremen (7-10 December 2013), the third Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka will take place under the aegis of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on 20-22 May 2022 in Berlin. As was the case with previous sessions, this third session was requested by… Read more »
Journalist in Hiding After She Exposed ‘Unlawful’ Leader
by Matthew Campbell, The Sunday Times, London, May 14, 2022, Tamil & Sinhalese translations of the English provided. (Sinhala version has not been verified) Gotabaya Unlawful Election The Times May 14 2022 ‘If they knew I was doing this, Rajapaksa’s thugs would take my children and send me their heads in a basket’ Journalist in… Read more »
13 Years Ago Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2022 Photograph: A scene of devastation in Mullivaikkal pictured days after the Sri Lankan military had overrun the area. Marking 13 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered… Read more »
Sri Lanka, the Bamboo Lounge
by Roy Ratnavel, May 15, 2022 Some people like to collect coins, first edition stamps, retro comic books or sports memorabilia. I collect spoken words. I hunt and gather these words when I overhear them on the street while watching movies, in my living room via television. These words of the mouth include cultural sayings,… Read more »
An Ignored Genocide
Of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai LLM London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 11, 2022 There cannot be any plausible reasons to deny the fact of a genocidal agenda initiated by the Sri Lankan Governments immediately after the independence in 1948 against the Tamils living in… Read more »
The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Crisis
by Michael, Kugelman, Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief, Washington, DC, May 12, 2022 For months, anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka have railed against skyrocketing inflation and an economic crisis that has nearly exhausted Sri Lankan foreign reserves. They have demanded the resignations of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda, who stepped down as prime… Read more »
Sri Lankan Protesters Dig in as a New Prime Minister is Named
by Gerry Shih, The Washington Post, May 12, 2022 Catholic nuns at a protest outside the Presidential Secretariat in Sri Lanka. (Chamila Karunarathne/European Pressphoto Agency) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — As Sri Lanka emerged Thursday from days of street clashes and a military curfew, word spread that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had picked a new prime minister… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Dual Crisis
Ethnic Conflict & the Debt Economy Reimagining a pluralist Sri Lanka in the wake of the ‘Gota Go Home’ movement. by Nalika Gajaweera, Jamhoor, North America, May 4, 2022 “Except for the home crowd cheering for our national team at an international cricket match, it was the first time I was seeing Sri Lankans united… Read more »
Tsunami Disaster in the Island of Sri Lanka
by Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, date unknown, but probably 2005 (info in 2nd & 3rd tables are as of March 10, 2005) Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR Centre Tamoul pour les Droits de l’Homme Email : tchrgs /A_T/ tchr /D_O_T/ net / tchrdip /A_T/ tchr /D_O_T/ net Website : www.tchr.net A… Read more »
A Perpetrator State Demands Non-violence
In Sri Lanka By Vindhya Buthpitiya, Urban Violence, UK, May 3, 2022 Weeks of citizen-led protests in Sri Lanka have demanded that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ‘go home’. These protests began in early March, in response to the worst economic crisis the country has seen in decades. In this blog, Vindhya Buthpitiya (Associate Lecturer, University of St Andrews) reflects… Read more »
‘We Have Bitten Off More than We Can Chew’
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Sabry tells Parliament by Press Trust of India in Indian Express, May 4, 2022 Detailing the perilous state of the economy, Ali Sabry said Sri Lanka’s usable foreign reserves which were at around USD 7 billion in 2019, had dropped to less than USD 50 million now. “We have bitten off… Read more »
TCHR: ‘Reaching Towards Justice: Reality Revealed’
by Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, February 3, 2022 A book in English and in Tamil has been released by France-based human rights activist cum Freelance research analyst S. V. Kirupaharan – KIRUPA. The book’s title is Reaching towards justice: Reality revealed – a Socio-politico-historical perspective. Due to the sudden rise of the Covid pandemic in Europe, the book launch supposed… Read more »
Sri Lanka is in an Economic Freefall
by Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch podcast, April 28, 2022 https://undispatch.com/category/podcast APPLE PODCASTS | GOOGLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | PODCAST ADDICT | STITCHER | RADIO PUBLIC Transcript lightly edited for clarity How Has Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis Affected Its Citizens? J.S. Tissainayagam [00:02:59] Sri Lanka’s problem today stems basically from a failure of accountability when wrong decisions are made. This has led to both… Read more »
Joint Statement from the North-East & South on the Economic & Political Crisis
by 32 Civil Society Groups, Sri Lanka, April 19, 2022 Joint Statement by North East and South civil society on economic and political crisis We would like to state that these regimes have committed a crime against humanity against the Sinhala oppressed classes in 1971 and 1987-1989 and unleashed a genocidal process against the Tamils… Read more »
‘It’s Time Sinhalese People Understand Their Leaders Lied about Federalism’
Speech in Parliament by MP Gajen Ponnambalam, April 23, 2022 posted by Tamil Guardian, London Speaking in parliament Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), stressed that the removal of the executive presidency is not sufficient, instead a total reform of the state on federal lines is needed. “For the first time,… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Humanitarian Crisis could be the Start of a Political Upheaval
by Charu Lata Hogg, The Guardian, UK, April 24, 2022 Severe shortages of fuel, food and medicine appear to have unified Sri Lankans against the ruling Rajapaksa family Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented political and economic emergency, a result of government mismanagement and the effect of global crises. But the tiny island nation is… Read more »
My Neighbor the Suspected War Criminal
by Reveal News podcast, California, April 23, 2022 This month, atrocities in Ukraine have triggered new allegations of war crimes. While people around the world call for accountability, we look into why those who are suspected of committing war crimes in the past often walk free. Reporter and host Ike Sriskandarajah spent the past six… Read more »
Why Sri Lanka’s Protestors Must Topple the Statue of Bandaranaike in Colombo
by Thusiyan Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, April 22, 2022 Just under two years ago, the US police killing of George Floyd reverberated around the world. In cities such as Bristol in the UK, protestors took to the streets. They marched to the city’s harbour and there, they toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a merchant… Read more »