by Nillanthan Maha on his blog, August 6, 2022 [translated with Google with edits] General Sarath Fonseka had warned that people would take to the streets on the coming ninth day. It seems that the people did not accept what he said. There was an allegation that Sarath Fonseka was trying to “hijack” the protests…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
US Congress on Sri Lanka July 2022
by Reps. Danny Davis & Bill Johnson, Co-Chairs, Caucus on Religious & Ethnic Freedom in Sri Lanka 20220719 Johnson Davis letter to Sec Blinken *** by Senator Sherrod Brown JULY 20, 2022 BROWN STATEMENT FOLLOWING SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT VOTE WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) issued the below statement after the Sri Lankan… Read more »
Black July
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 »
‘A Moment of Opportunity’
Fall of Sri Lankan president raises victims’ hopes by Hannah Ellis-Peterson in Colombo and Rubatheesan Sandran in Jaffna, The Guardian, UK, July 29, 2022 Rights groups say they have a dossier of evidence against Gotabaya Rajapaksa – and a renewed appetite to bring him to account Tamil women holding a protest in Jaffna soon after… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Dual Crisis
Ethnic Conflict & the Debt Economy by Nalika Gajaweera, Jamhoor, South Asia, May 4, 2022 Reimagining a pluralist Sri Lanka in the wake of the ‘Gota Go Home’ movement “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 together… Read more »
ITJP: Criminal Complaint against Sri Lankan ex-President in Singapore
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, July 24, 2022 ITJP Press-release-final-24-July-2022 Johannesburg: Lawyers from the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) have submitted a criminal complaint to the Attorney General of Singapore requesting the immediate arrest of former Sri Lankan President, Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, for war crimes. The 63-page complaint argues… Read more »
Diaspora Groups Call for Singapore to Investigate ex-President
by People for Equity & Relief in Lanka, July 26, 2022 20220726 Joint Press_Release_Request_to_Investigate_Gotabaya_Rajapaksa Press Release: Global Coalition of Tamil and Human Rights Groups Urge Singapore’s Attorney General to Investigate Gotabaya Rajapaksa Washington D.C.; July 26, 2022 — Seventeen Tamil and human rights organizations from around the world issued a joint letter today, urging Singapore’s… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Former President Must be Investigated for War Crimes
by Meenaksha Ganguly, Washington Post, July 22, 2022 (also available at Sri Lanka’s former president must be investigated for war crimes | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — There was satisfaction, and even glee, among many Sri Lankans when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the widely unpopular president, fled the country by military jet in the dead… 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 »
Why a Feudal Culture & Absence of Meritocracy Bankrupted a Nation
by Charles Seevali Abeysekera, UN InterPress Service, July 19, 2022 BROMLEY, UK, Jul 19 (IPS) – Sri Lanka is officially bankrupt and a failed state in all but name. How did a country of 22 million people with a level of literacy on par with most of the developed world end up in such a… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Crisis is Not Just About the Economy
But a long history of discrimination against minority groups by Niro Kandasamy, The Conversation, Australia, July 14, 2022 Sri Lanka is in the grip of an economic, political and humanitarian crisis. In a remarkable display of anger on Saturday, thousands of protesters disregarded government curfews, rampant military and police presence to storm the presidential palace… Read more »
Joint Tamil Civil Society Statement
Sri Lanka’s Political and Economic Crisis Joint-Tamil-Civil-Society-Statement-Sri-Lankas-Political-and-Economic-Crisis-14-July-2022 – Washington D.C.: July 14th 2022 – On July 13, 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka leaving the island in political chaos. Many among the island’s Sinhala majority and the international community have heralded this moment, a culmination of months of protest, as a potentially revolutionary moment. And indeed, the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Road to Ruin Was Political, Not Economic
The proximate cause for the protests is inflation, but the roots are in Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. By Neil DeVotta, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, July 12, 2022 On Saturday, Sri Lanka’s horrific saga took a consequential turn when protesters stormed and occupied the presidential offices and both the president’s and prime minister’s official residences. Global media are now filled… Read more »
A Revolutionary Moment?
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, July 10, 2022 On July 9, thousands of protestors stormed the residence of Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in what appeared to be the climax of months of protest over the economic crisis on the island. Photos and videos that quickly made headlines around the world showed demonstrators rummaging through his wardrobe, working… Read more »
Lavish Projects and Meager Lives
The Two Faces of a Ruined Sri Lanka by By Mujib Mashal and Skandha Gunasekara, The New York Times, May 29, 2022 A frenzy of building on borrowed money in the Rajapaksa family’s home district illustrates the hubris and mismanagement that led the country into economic collapse. HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — The international airport, built a decade ago… Read more »
Scum of Asia?
by Nillanthan Maha in his blog, July 2, 2022 [translated from the original Tamil with Google Translate plus edits] Gotabaya did not go home. But a situation is developing where the people who fought to ask him to go home are paralyzed inside their homes. The country is moving towards a state of near social… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Road Ahead is Hazardous
An exclusive interview with Ambassador K.P. Fabian by A. Jathindra, Centre for Strategic Studies – Trincomalee, July 4, 2022 Ambassador K.P. Fabian served in the Indian Foreign Service between 1964 and 2000, during which time he was posted to Madagascar, Austria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Canada, Finland, Qatar, and Italy. During his time in the diplomatic… 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 »
Unresolved National Question Impaired Sri Lanka’s Economic Progress
:Sambanthan by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 20, 2022 Senior Tamil leader points to the costs of war, and political solution being central to economic recovery. Addressing Sri Lanka’s Tamil national question is imperative for the island nation’s recovery from the crushing economic crisis it is facing, veteran Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said, contending… Read more »
All Talk & No Action on Repealing the PTA
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org. June 23, 2022 [Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Pieris told the UNHRC on June 13 that the PTA has been amended & there is a moratorium on arrests.1 There is no evidence of either action being taken. — Editor] The Prevention of Terrorism Act… Read more »