Note prepared for Lasantha Wickremetunge Memorial lecture on 21st September 2013 in Toronto, Canada. For full video of full presentation and the ensuing discussion, click here. ### Over four years after the end of the war, what is it about Sri Lanka that still resists greater freedom of expression? At a recent meeting with members […]
On Sunila Abeysekera
Ironically, I first met Sunila in a white van, long before its usage became more sinister. It was 2001. We were en route to the airport. As a new researcher and coming from a family disconnected from Colombo’s concentric activist circles, I had only read and heard about Sunila before and was unsure how to […]
The idea of an archive: Speech at the opening of ‘Open Edit’
Speech I wrote for the opening of the Open Edit art project in Jaffna, on 15th March 2013. Since I was away from Sri Lanka, this was delivered by renowned Sri Lankan architect Channa Daswatta. ### I am sorry I cannot be with you in person today. Even as I write these words down, I […]
Anti-Muslim hate online in post-war Sri Lanka
I was recently contacted by a journalist from one of the leading Sunday newspapers in Sri Lanka on the growing anti-Muslim hate campaigns in Sri Lanka. The journalist asked two questions (reproduced verbatim), Anti-Muslim/Anti-Buddhist sentiments are being spread around effectively by social media, how do you analyse this? How can social media be used to […]
Launch of Republic at 40 website
Launch of Republic at 40 website Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Launch of Republic at 40 website 18 January 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is pleased to announce the launch of a website complementing the print edition of The Sri Lankan Republic at 40: Reflections on […]
The devastating impeachment of the Chief Justice in Sri Lanka
The devastating impeachment of the Chief Justice in Sri Lanka | Groundviews Update View this email in your browser The devastating impeachment of the Chief Justice in Sri Lanka By Groundviews Groundviews interviewed Asanga Welikala, a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (the institutional anchor of Groundviews) on the unprecedented constitutional crisis that […]
Impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
Impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka 11 January 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) vehemently condemns the resolution passed by Parliament today to impeach Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani […]
From Bangalore to Bengaluru
Your columnist was an undergraduate student of English at Delhi University when he first undertook a train journey across the length and breadth of India to the National Law School of India University. For whatever reason, the student theatre group he travelled with took went from Delhi to Chennai, then to Pune and finally to […]
Books
Invited by Anukshi Jayasinghe to write for Ceylon Today’s Celebrity Bookcase section, these are five books I love and keep returning to. ### Buddha in the Attic, Julie Otsuka A compelling novel based on the indentured labour from Japan, mostly young women, who came over to the West Coast of the United States. This is […]
#UPRLKA and accountability
In any given week, Sri Lanka offers much to contemplate in a public column. Choosing what to focus on can be challenging. This week, whilst cyclonic conditions battered the North and East of Sri Lanka, rendering thousands of families destitute and homeless, most Sri Lankans knew far more about the devastation in and around New […]
