by Rajan Philips, Colombo Telegraph, June 7, 2026 If Dr. Vigneswaran’s assertion were to prove correct, a potential dissolution of the provincial system under the JVP-NPP government would be the consummation of the JVP’s original opposition to the introduction of the provincial council system itself. The whole system may not be eradicated, but it could… Read more »
Monthly Archives: June 2026
Amnesty: Malaiyaha Tamil Workers in Private Tea Estates Suffer Serious Labor Abuses
by Amnesty International, London, May 27, 2026 Full report at: Abandoned by the State, Trapped in Private Estates: Rights Abuses Against Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamil Tea Workers | Amnesty International USA Press Release Malaiyaha Tamils working on private tea estates and smallholdings in Sri Lanka are being subjected to abuses that meet many of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO)… Read more »
Does the World Still Misunderstand M.I.A.?
By Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica, The New York Times, June 5, 2026 Visuals by Caroline Tompkins Listen to interview at https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000010940871/mia-on-maga-the-kid-cudi-tour-bipartisan-cancellation.html?smid=url-share It was supposed to be a moment of redemption for M.I.A. Two decades on from the ecstatic electronic pop and rap that made her one of the most significant, ear-opening stars in music, the Sri Lankan-British singer returned in… Read more »
What is a Radical? It’s the Question of M.I.A.’s Vexing Career
Fans who danced to “Paper Planes” might hardly recognize the conspiracy-touting artist before them today — but in a certain way, she’s the same button-pusher as ever by Sheldon Pierce, NPR/WNYC, May 9, 2026 In journals from 1838, the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a self-reprimand challenging his personal understanding of critical discourse: “Let me… Read more »
Prabhakaran, Tamil identity and TVK
Is Vijay building a neo-Dravidian project? by Ajmal Abbas in New Delhi, India Today, May 20, 2026 Repeatedly invoking the memory of Prabhakaran and the emotional legacy of the Tamil cause, Vijay appears to be crafting a new ideological synthesis of the welfare-driven legacy of Dravidianism with cultural assertiveness of Tamil nationalism. In 2008, at… Read more »
Changing of the Guard
by Mario Arulthas, North-Eastern Monthly, May 14, updated June 10, 2026 Fifty years after the Vaddukkoddai Resolution, the Sri Lankan state’s efforts to destroy Eelam Tamil nationalism have failed. Since the end of the war in 2009, everyday Tamils have taken over from the stagnant institutions that positioned themselves as successors to the armed resistance…. Read more »
Understanding Mullivaikkal
A journey through history by Crawley Forum for Peace & Remembrance, UK, May 2026 Understanding Mullivaikkal a journey thru history Each year on May 18, Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day honours the Tamil civilians who lost their lives during the final stages of the war in May 2009. For many Tamils around the world, the events that… Read more »
‘Satyagraha – The Freedom Movement of Tamils in Ceylon, 2nd ed.’
Book review Suppiah Ratneswaren and Malavarayan Vijayapalan (editors) – Satyagraha – The Freedom Movement of Tamils in Ceylon, 2nd ed., Agaram Publishers, Carshalton, UK, 2026, 546 pp. ISBN 978-1-3999-6676-4. by Sachi Sri Kantha, June4, 2026 Among the books I have read in the past 60 years or so in Tamil and English, Jawaharlal Nehru’s The… Read more »
Rajiv Gandhi’s Puppet Show Legacy
After 35 Years by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 15, 2026 ‘Rajiv Puppet Show’ Prior to Death Party hopping chameleonic politician Chandra Shekhar (1927-2007) was selected to form a minority government with only 64 MPs, who split to form Janata Dal (Socialist) Party, with outside support from Indian National Congress Party, then led by Rajiv Gandhi…. Read more »
David Jeyaraj (1954-2026) – A Critical Perspective
by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 21, 2026 David Jeyaraj was born on May 21, 1954 in Colombo. After completing his primary and secondary schooling at St. Thomas Preparatory school, Colombo and Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai respectively, Jeyaraj failed to enter any of the then four universities in Sri Lanka. He was first an apprentice journalist at… Read more »