Photo courtesy of lookphotos Buddhism has been a part of Sri Lanka’s culture for centuries and the ordination of young boys as novice monks is a well established tradition. It is a practice that is meant to instill discipline, self-control and religious values in the younger generation. However, recent incidents of abuse and mistreatment of young monks have brought the ...
Photograph courtesy of Anoma Wijewardene On this day, one year ago, I was alone in my studio working intensely on some paintings totally unaware of the chaos emerging and gathering momentum in my city, where government supporters attacked the largely peaceful and nonviolent protesters outside Temple Trees. They then proceeded to Galle Face where they destroyed the tents at GotaGoGama, ...
Photo courtesy of UTV News On human rights grounds, the US government has banned Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, the most senior officer in Sri Lanka’s navy from 2005 to 20o9 and now a provincial governor, from entering the country. On April 26, on behalf of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, it was announced that he had been “designated” and hence forbidden ...
Photo courtesy of Mint Two weeks ago, a complaint was made by Ms. Ishara Devendra, a journalist, about her workplace culture at ITN. Ms Devendra’s allegations, posted on her personal Facebook page, were that she had been subjected to continual harassment by a senior official at ITN, but that the organisation had taken no action to address the situation. The ...
Photo courtesy of Newscutter “Bernard, I have served 11 governments in the past 30 years. If I had believed in all their policies, I would have been passionately committed to keeping out of the Common Market, and passionately committed to going into it. I would have been utterly convinced of the rightness of nationalising steel, and of denationalising it and ...
Photo courtesy of HRW In 2022 parliamentarian and lawyer Premanath C. Dolawatte presented to parliament a Private Member’s Bill to amend Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka with the aim of ensuring the rights of the LGBTIQ community. Reflective of its Victorian values, these penal provisions prohibit “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and ...
Photo courtesy of Buwanaka S. Perera The connection between May Day and labour rights began in the United States. During the 19th century, at the height of the industrial revolution, thousands of men, women and children were dying every year from poor working conditions and long hours. The world was moving out of the millennia long feudal systems, trying to ...
Photo courtesy of AP Sri Lanka and Myanmar were both once colonized by the British and gained independence in the same year, 1948. That is not the only similarity these two countries share; both enjoy strong historical and cultural ties, follow Theravada Buddhism and have a predominantly Buddhist population. In 2015, both countries were hailed internationally for their democratization process, ...
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Brief Today is World Press Freedom Day Generations of Sri Lankans have experienced many curfews and states of emergency and also experienced the bloody harm suffered by curfew violators. But successive insurgencies spanning all parts of the country also demonstrated to successive post-colonial generations that, if armed, citizens could successfully defy curfews. At this time last ...
Photo courtesy of Freedom From Torture A much discussed and debated topic is the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATA) of 2023, which was introduced as a mending patch for the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979. While the ATA repeals the PTA, it is plainly clear that the ATA is largely similar to the previously proposed ...
Photo courtesy of Newswire Animal rights activists and conservationists are up in arms about a plan to send 100,000 toque macaque monkeys to China on the request of a private Chinese firm. The government says the monkeys are pests who attack farmers’ crops while activists warn that the animals could be used for scientific experiments or worse. The toque macaque ...
How can the most ambitious renewable power project in Sri Lanka can have this many detrimental impacts on the environment and the local communities of Mannar? Thambapawani, a derivation of the name after which Sri Lanka was supposedly called by King Vijaya upon his arrival on the island, is the country’s first large scale wind farm, started in 2019 and ...
Photo courtesy of IDJF Prashan De Visser opens his maiden book with a stark question: “Does the state of the world overwhelm you and a better world seem improbable?” He then reflects on what seems to be a widely shared, pessimistic view. “As civil wars rage in beautiful nations and authoritarian regimes impose on the sovereignty of their neighboring countries, ...
“On land a tiger, in the water a crocodile.” A Bengali proverb In Sri Lanka terror means Tamil or Muslim. When the JR Jayewardene government responded to the ethnic problem not with the promised political reforms but with repression and the PTA was born, the concept of terror (and its prevention) invoked an image. Not of the Tiger chief, for ...
Photo courtesy of The National News March 20, when the IMF Board approved an Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka, now seems a long time ago. For many people this felt like a major step toward the resolution of the country’s economic problems. It certainly seemed to indicate that there was international agreement on how to deal with the government’s ...
Photo courtesy of BBC There are many things that I remember today, April 21, 2023 in relation to Easter Sunday attacks four years ago. Images of damage to the churches and hotels is among the vivid images I recall. These were quickly rebuilt. Except for memorials in churches, the rebuilding may help erase memories of the tragedy from the churches and ...
Photo courtesy of FT In a brilliant and much needed documentary produced by Nadya Perera, one of the fast dying heritages of Sri Lankan Muslims, namely their musical traditions, has been brought to light. The Muslim community and particularly its younger generation is in debt to this Sinhala producer for what she has painstakingly accomplished in bringing back memories from ...
Photo courtesy of WSWS In the first release of results from IHP’s Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) tracking of presidential election voting intent, A.K. Dissanayake, NPP/JVP leader, leads with 48% of likely voters in March 2023, ahead of Sajith Premadasa, SJB leader on 37%. Both run far ahead of President Ranil Wickremasinghe on 11% and a generic SLPP candidate ...
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Brief Despite the IMF deal reached to rescue Sri Lanka from the brink of economic collapse and the slight recovery in investor confidence, the general election voting intentions of the public have not changed, with the NPP/JVP maintaining a clear lead over its closest rivals, the SJP, according to the latest Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker ...
Photo courtesy of The Toronto Star For forty years, human rights activists have demanded repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979, which the state has used to terrorize minorities with impunity. Ultimately the threat of losing preferential trade status with the EU (GSP+) forced Sri Lanka’s hand. Money, not human rights, prompted the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) ...
