by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Groundviews, Colombo, August 17, 2013 Black July compressed from/derived from Remembering, to never again repeat: Launch of 30 Years Ago site The culmination of months of dedicated research, travel, challenging production work and curation, I am very pleased to launch 30 Years Ago. The project is an attempt to remember and probe Sri… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Government
Federalism: Myths and Realities
by Rohan Edrisinha – Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and Centre for Policy Alternatives, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, January 18, 2004 Excerpts of a speech delivered at the Executive Seminar on Human Rights for senior officers of armed forces on Saturday, January 10. The agreement reached between the Government of Sri Lanka and the… Read more »
Racial Discrimination a Bane to Progress
by Dishan Joseph, Daily News, Colombo, July 22, 2022 “It is not our differences that divide us, but our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences” – American poet Audre Lorde Our beautiful Motherland Sri Lanka is a nation embellished with centuries of recorded history. When we delve into this history we can see… Read more »
Sri Lanka in Crisis
Why the Past Lives on in its Collective Future by Ambika Satkunananthan, 9Dashline, Europe, June 16, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the throes of an economic and political crisis not hitherto witnessed. The crisis has created instability and resulted in protests that began in March 2022. Citizens’ protests that are not organised by political parties… Read more »
To Solve Its Economic Crisis, Sri Lanka Must Demilitarize
by Ben Andak, Jacobin, New York, May 12, 2022 Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has produced an explosion of violence on the island. That violence won’t end until the country ends its war on Tamils and Muslims and drastically scales back its military budget. Soldiers check documents of a driver at a road checkpoint in Colombo,… 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
‘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 »
BTF Exhibit in Geneva
by British Tamils Forum, March 2022 Exhibition & Demonstration at UN Human Rights Council in Geneva March 31 & April 1, 2022 Information displayed at exhibition –> Land Occupied by Government Department in North in Acres Land grab P 3 FINAL Land grab P 4 FINAL
Sri Lanka’s Post-War Defence Budget
Overspending and Underprotection by Daniel Alphonsus, ISAS South Asia Scan, National University of Singapore, November 18, 2021 Sri Lanka’s Post-War Defence Budget Sri Lanka’s internal and external security environments have changed considerably in the last decade. Internally, a three-decade long civil war ended, but the country experienced the first wounds of Islamic terrorism – the… Read more »
Verité: Res. 30/1 Implementation Monitor
by Verité Research, Colombo, February 2021 Implementation Status UNHRC Res.30.1 Feb 2021 Verite This brief contains an updated analysis of progress since UNHRC’s Resolution 30/1 passed in September 2015.
Amnesty: End the Use of and Repeal the Draconian PTA
by Amnesty International, London, February 18, 2022 Index Number: ASA 37/5241/2022 Amnesty Repeal PTA Feb 18 2022 43 years since it was first passed as a temporary measure, the draconian PTA continues to be used by the Government of Sri Lanka to target, and harass minorities, activists, journalists and critical voices. Despite assurances to amend… Read more »
Trilingual Blunders
Signboards, Social Media, and Transnational Sri Lankan Tamil Publics by Prof. Christina P. Davis, Signs & Society, Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 2020 ABSTRACT In Sri Lanka all public signs are required by law to be in Sinhala, Tamil, and English. This article investigates the multiple, clashing ways that Sri Lankan Tamil speakers (Tamils and… Read more »
Abolishing PTA is the Only Way Out
by Basil Fernando, Groundviews, February 2, 2022 The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill, a bill to amend the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 (PTA), has been gazetted by the order of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The proposed amendment still leaves much that has been criticized as dangerous… Read more »
‘Executive Authoritarianism’ as Sri Lanka’s New Political Normal since COVID-19
by Jayadeva Uyangoda, Social Scientists Association, Colombo. October 2020 or shortly thereafter The ways in which countries from the global North to the global South have politically managed the unprecedented public health emergency situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has both national and global dimensions, have given rise to much anxiety among democratic… Read more »
Activating the Dormant 13th Amendment of 1987
by Thambu Kanagasabai – Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, January 26, 2022 The 1987 13th Amendment, a conceived and delivered baby of India under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 for adoption by Sri Lanka, has been lying in the constitution of Sri Lanka partly implemented and mostly ignored by the… Read more »
Counterterrorism Legislation in Sri Lanka 2006
Evaluating Efficacy by N. Manoharan, East West Center, Hawaii, 2006 N. Manoharan Counterterrorism Legislation in Sri Lanka 2006 The study advances two arguments. First, it posits that the process of enactment and enforcement undermined the legitimacy and effectiveness of counterterrorism legislation. Second, it argues that the insurgency rooted in the discriminated minority community was able… Read more »
Is Foreign Policy Possible for Eelam Tamils?
by A. Jathindra யதீந்திரா, Samakalam, August 9, 2021 [translated by the author] There is talk of a need for a foreign policy for Eelam Tamils. To the extent that things are usually talked about in our environment, those things are not looked at deeply. That is, how can we make the things we present possible?… Read more »