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Aragalaya betrayed?: ‘The treason of the intellectuals’ in the age of populism

For the title of my article, I have borrowed the title of a seminal work by the French philosopher and essayist Julien Benda, The Treason of the Intellectuals (1927). Almost a hundred years ago, Benda critiqued the intelligentsia’s betrayal of their vocation as intellectuals, focusing on their abandonment of the Enlightenment ideal of universal humanity. In our case, I would argue that intellectuals have abandoned their vocation in the very name of the “renaissance” and “enlightenment” ideals—or the punarudaya—they claim to stand for, allowing political partisanship to dictate their understanding of the intellectual vocation itself.

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Why Does the State Threaten Its People with Yet Another Anti Terror Law?

The Feminist Collective for Economic Justice The Feminist Collective for Economic Justice (FCEJ) is outraged at the scheme of law proposed by the government titled “Protection of the State from Terrorism Act” (PSTA). The draft law seeks to replace the existing repressive provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1979 (PTA) with another law of…

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A Budget that Devastates the Economy – A talk given by Ahilan Kadirgamar

According to the World Bank the Sri Lankan economy is going to contract by 9.2% in 2022 and a further 4.2% in 2023. This is what we call an economic depression. Given the Budget that was just announced, I argue we are going to see an even larger contraction next year. What does this contraction mean? It means people are losing their income streams, with unemployment on the rise and livelihoods disrupted. A food crisis linked to the crippling of the economy is leading to increased malnourishment and starvation. We are going to lose a generation, as our children’s education and wellbeing are affected.

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Such fear of change

by Usvatte-aratchi For a people brought up in a culture, the foundation of which lies in the learning that all things change (sabbe sankhara anicca), the fear of change is inexplicable. Sudden and gross change is feared more than gradual change; hence the fear of death, common among most people.  Revolutionary changes in society are…

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Sri Lanka’s Economic Depression and the IMF

Farzana Haniffa, Ahilan Kadirgamar The public are facing tremendous suffering from the economic depression currently underway. We hope to initiate a discussion centred on questions such as: How long the depression is likely to last, and what social and political consequences can we anticipate? What are the possible consequences of the economic policies already underway…

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