Peasant Politics, Frontier Colonization and the Cunning State in Sri Lanka
The lure of land by Thiruni Kelegama & Benedikt Korf, Modern Asian Studies, Vol.57, Issue 6, UK, November, 2023 Abstract This paper studies the contradictions of peasant politics in Sri Lanka’s dry zone frontier in a highly militarized colonization scheme (‘System L’ of the Mahaweli Development Programme in Weli Oya in northern Sri Lanka). Through… Read more »
A commentary by Sachi Sri Kantha The Sinhalese word ‘Deshamanya’ literally means ‘Pride of the Nation’, awarded since 1986 for ‘highly meritorious service’. According to the Wikipedia listing, between 1986 and 2025, a total of 119 individuals have been decorated with this tag. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshamanya, accessed Feb 6, 2025] Among these 119, only 18 have been… Read more »
by Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, August 14, 2023 Introduction Since the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 1948,[1] Sri Lanka and the United States (US) have had a tumultuous relationship broadly spanning the following phases: From the 1950s to 1970s, the US viewed Sri Lanka through the lens of the Cold War;… Read more »
The 2024 Winds of Change Have Not Yet Reached Southern Lanka
By Gogol G. on his/her blog ‘Voices from Exile,’ October 2, 2024We’re 3/4 of the way through the year of 2024. The year 2024 was considered the biggest year for democratic elections in the world. Not all elections are free and fair societies, so the real questions were/are how the elections of India, France, UK, European Union… Read more »
by Rohini Hensman, Dialectical Anthropology 39, pp. 273-293, April 16, 2015 Introduction Almost immediately after Independence, the government of Sri Lanka enacted legislation depriving Hill-country Tamils of their citizenship and franchise; subsequent governments enacted laws and carried out policies discriminating against and persecuting all Tamil-speaking citizens, with the avowed intention of making Sri Lanka a… Read more »
‘Malai Kallan’ (Mountain Dacoit) Movie and its Five Variants
After 70 Years by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 7, 2024 70 years ago, on July 22, 1954, the trend-setting Malai Kallan (Mountain Dacoit) Tamil movie, with M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and P. Bhanumathi in the lead roles was released in Tamil Nadu to great acclaim by the public. Its political and social relevance was realized 23… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Complex Dance of Sinhala and Tamil Nationalist Politics
With mainstream Sri Lankan parties feeling compelled to pander to Sinhala Buddhist voters, Tamil-led parties have been pushed to take more hardline positions to address Tamil voters’ frustrations – historically and today by Uditha Divapriya, Himal, Colombo, July 30, 2024 At present, the Sri Lankan government is caught in a tricky situation. Elections are slated… Read more »
Opening Statement of Elizabeth K. Horst, Nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka
by Senate Foreign Relations Commitee, Washington, DC, May 9, 2024 Video – Hearing: [2024-06-13] NOMINATIONS | United States Senate Committee on… (Sri Lanka starts at 1 hour, 13 minutes, plus the introductory statement by the Chair early on.) Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Rickets, and distinguished Members of the commitee, thank you for holding this hearing…. Read more »
Amnesty: Fifteen Years After the End of War, Victims Still Await Justice at Mullivaikkal
by Amnesty International, London, May 18, 2024 Victims still await justice at Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka (amnesty.org) Speaking at a commemoration marking the 15th anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict on 18 May 2009, which culminated in the brutal Mullivaikkal offensive where countless civilian lives were lost, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty… Read more »
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2024 To mark 15 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 around the world as ‘Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day’. After providing an initial death toll of 40,000, the UN… Read more »
Sri Lanka: Accountability Needed for Enforced Disappearances
Sri Lanka must ensure accountability for decades of enforced disappearances – UN report UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights press release, Geneva, May 17, 2024 GENEVA (17 May 2024) – Sri Lanka’s Government must take meaningful action to determine and disclose the fates and whereabouts of tens of thousands of people who… Read more »
by Centre for Policy Initiatives, Colombo, accessed March 19, 2024 High atop Vedukkunaari Hill in Sri Lanka’s Vavuniya district, an ancient temple stands at the precipice of a religious and legal storm. Revered by the local Tamil community as the Vedukkunaari Aathi Lingeswarar Temple for over 3,000 years, it now finds itself embroiled in a… Read more »
by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 14, 2024 Front Note Puvaneswary Sachithanantham, my mother, died on March 2, 2024. Born in April 10, 1936, she had lived for 87 years and welcomed four great grandsons. For her memory, I provide excerpts of a 1995 essay I wrote in English. This was the title essay of my… Read more »
The Office on Missing Persons in Sri Lanka by Chulani Kodikara, International Journal of Transitional Justice, olume 17, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 157–172 Kodikara OMP in Sri Lanka 2023 ABSTRACT In 2016, the Sri Lanka Parliament passed the Office on Missing Persons Act (OMP) ‘to search for and trace missing persons.’ At the time,… Read more »
Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia by Knox Thames, Global Policy, Durham University, UK, May 18, 2023 Politics of Hate: Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia edited by Farahnaz Ispahani. HarperCollins India 2023. 336 pp., £17.99 paperback 9789356293557, $14.99 e-book 9789356290013 The history of the Indian subcontinent is as vast as the region’s size and population. Consequently, foreign… Read more »
Book Review: Prisoner #1056 – How I Survived War and Found Peace
by Roy Ratnavel, Viking/Penguin Random House, Canada, 2023, 260 pp, US$27.00 by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 28, 2023 This book of memoir by Roy Ratnavel (born 1969), a naturalized Canadian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, has achieved bestseller status in Canada this year. The memoir has 12 chapters altogether, among which the first three (in… Read more »
Purse-seiners, Trawlers, and the Epic Fight over Fishing in Tamil Nadu
A ban on purse-seine fishing in Tamil Nadu has threatened thousands of fishers’ livelihoods – and they are refusing to give up without a fight by Jeff Joseph, Himal magazine, Colombo, September 7, 2023 “There were young people with degrees taking to purse seines because of the pay,” Karthi P said. “It was easy work.”… Read more »
by Watchdog, Colombo, July 12, 2023 For years, Sri Lankans have risked everything, trying to escape their homeland. Crushed by a failing economy, cold-hearted politics, and the brutal realities of world events, many venture into the unforgiving sea. Few return. This is their story. Story by Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammed Fairooz Additional reporting and translation… Read more »
by Himali Innis, Granta, May 11, 2023 When Nisha performs the burial ceremony for AJ, her 26-year-old son, she has to imagine his body lowering into the earth. Without a body, cremation is impossible. This ceremony, instead, is a commingling of the Christian traditions practiced by Nisha’s husband Sam, and the ancient Hindu rites of… Read more »
Two thoughtful contributions by Sri Lankan academics Neil DeVotta and Gehan Gunatilleke show how majoritarianism’s relentless othering is less about the majority’s imagined ideal minority-free state, and more about the satisfaction derived from blaming, punishing and depriving the “others” — the Sinhala Buddhist majority’s first target was the Indian Tamils. by Nirupama Subramaniam, Indian Express,… Read more »