The Sri Lankan peoples’ calls for change cannot be set aside with quick economic fixes. Ahilan Kadirgamar and Devaka Gunawardena write: Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the regime of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on the ropes. On 9 May, the supporters of his brother and the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, attacked protestors, especially…
'kathika' social, cultural and political review
Tagged Sri Lanka
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…
There Are No Good Guys in this War!
by Gnamali It is nearly two weeks since the war started in Ukraine, a country ten times the area of Sri Lanka, with twice its population. In many ways, its experience seems to have parallels with the Sri Lankan experience – with the notable exception that Ukraine has 15 nuclear power plants that appear to…
Social Science and Humanities Education in the Universities in Sri Lanka and its Discontents: Some Reflections – Kumudu Kusum Kumara
Social Science and Humanities Education in the Universities in Sri Lanka and its Discontents: Some Reflections[1],[2] (This paper originally appeared in the journal Dialogue, issue on Crisis in Education, Focus on a Sri Lankan Experience, published by the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, Colombo, New Series Vol. XXXIX 2012) Introduction Universities in Sri…
Some Comments on the Social Backgrounds of the April 1971 Insurgency – Gananath Obeyesekere
“This high level of political consciousness accounts for the fact that of the parliamentary democracies in Asia, Sri Lanka was the only country that consistently threw out governments through a popular vote so that no government has had more than two consecutive returns to power, and most governments have had only one term of office.…
The Origins and Institutionalisation Of Political Violence (Part 1)- Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere
This essay by Gananath obeyesekere that appeared in Sri Lanka in Change and Crisis(Ed.James Manor, 1984) is a close investigation into post 1977 political realities, the implications of which have much to do with present impasse that Sri Lankan society seems to be in. Gananath obeyesekere, the greatest anthropologist produced by Sri Lanka was born…