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 »
Posts Categorized: Politics
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 »
This is What Caused Sri Lanka’s Worst Economic Crisis
Madhura Rasaratnam writes: Policies driven by Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, which have been the bedrock of the Rajapaksas’ governance vision, are no longer financially or politically viable by Marisa Rasaratnam, Indian Express, April 17, 2022 Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa family is facing mounting public anger, calls for resignations and political defections amidst the island’s worst economic… Read more »
Seizing the Moment in Sri Lanka
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, April 7, 2022 Sri Lanka is in crisis. Protests have spread across the South, demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It marks a remarkable turnaround in popularity, with demonstrations from the same electorate that less than two years ago delivered Rajapaksa a two-thirds majority in parliament. The speed in which protests have… Read more »
Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka
by UN Secretary-General, New York, March 31, 2011 POE_Report 2011 Executive Summary On 22 June 2010, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of a Panel of Experts to advise him on the implementation of the joint commitment included in the statement issued by the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General at the conclusion of the… Read more »
Annaipoopathy and Mothers Fighting for the Disappeared
by Nillanthan Maha in his blog, March 30, 2022 [translated by Google Translate, with some edits] The mothers of the missing opposed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Jaffna last Sunday. They have been rudely treated by the police. Annai Bhupathi is considered to be the forerunner of Ammuthiya mothers in modern Tamil politics. Thirty-four… Read more »
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 »
COVID-19: The Crossroads for Sinhala–Muslim Relations in Sri Lanka
by Mohamed Imtiyaz Abdul Razak & Amjad Mohamed Saleem, Journal of Asian & African Studies, London, June 2021 https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211021873 Covid 19 Sinhala-Muslim Relations Abstract Sri Lanka’s ethnic civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers, and the government of Sri Lanka comprising the majority of the Sinhalese… Read more »
Sri Lanka in Moment of Crisis with Great Potential for Change
Senior political scientist By Himal Kotelawala, Economy Next, Colombo, March 15, 2022 ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has reached a moment of crisis with a great deal of potential for change, and the conditions for significant change are rife except for leadership, senior political scientist Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda said. In a phone interview with EconomyNext on… Read more »