Monthly Archives: July 2013

Thirteenth Amendment more a political issue than a legal or constitutional one.

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”
~Unknown author
Pundits argue and debate. Constitutional lawyers ponder and deliberate. Newsmen report and sometimes distort beyond recognition; but the decision to implement the Thirteenth Amendment in full, both in chapter and verse and in spirit, is not a legal or a constitutional one;
nor is it an academic exercise; […]

By Vishnuguptha | Published on July 14, 2013 at 9:45 pm

SRI LANKA: Hell in Paradise

“It was in the basement of the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department… we sat and listened as a group of senior police officers took us through the case. My stomach churned as we learned of the sickening and horrific details of the completely unprovoked attack that Khuram and his partner had been subjected to”
– British […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on July 14, 2013 at 9:39 pm

The Rajapaksas: Are they the leaders we deserve? Is congenitally stupid what we are?

“Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence and commonsense?”
Lee Iaccoca (Where Have All the Leaders Gone?)
The quest for a leader
‘The Conference of Birds’ is a peerless jewel in the crown of Islamic literature. Written in the 12th Century by the Persian poet Farid ud-Din
Attar, this epic poem tells of an avian Odyssey in […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on July 8, 2013 at 12:52 am

Sri Lanka: The Tigers are dead but the Rajapaksa government still holding their tails

“The human dilemma is not whether to do right or wrong but rather to do right when it matters the most and wrong when it matters the least.”- Unknown writer
They are dead
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) are dead. The war was won and the guns have fallen silent. But the drums keep beating and
clarion […]

By Vishnuguptha | Published on July 8, 2013 at 12:13 am

Northern Provincial Council: Prudence prevails for now

Finally, a pragmatic perception, however episodic, of reality– and a prudent policy move results. With President Rajapaksa’s decision to
announce the holding of the election to the Northern Provincial Council after almost a quarter of a century (taken together with the re-arrest of the suspects in the murder of the Trinco 5), Sri Lanka seems about […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on July 7, 2013 at 2:37 am

Sri Lankan Government: An asylum run by the inmates

“Living is death; dying is life. We are not what we appear to be. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that citizens; on this side orphans, on that children;”
~Henry Ward Beecher
Tragic flaw
From the time Sri Lanka gained Independence from the colonial powers, all Sri Lankan political leaders, barring none, have been
indulging […]

By Vishnuguptha | Published on July 5, 2013 at 9:49 pm

The Rajapaksas and the Buddhist clergy, playing with fire, Again

“In sooth this was a very base madness and a most horrible frenzy.”
Anatole France (Monsieur Bergeret in Paris)
‘Nationalist Collective’ is the latest Rajapaksa-concoction, a toxic brew of fanatics and opportunists, ladled together in an effort to
convince Delhi that Sri Lanka is being inundated by a spontaneous anti-devolution wave. Addressing its inaugural rally, Rev. Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara […]

By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on July 5, 2013 at 3:35 am

Taking Sri Lanka’s Culture to the World

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance
As those move easier who have learned to dance
-Alexander Pope An Essay on Criticism
Recently there were media reports that leaders of cultural, educational, welfare, sports, youth and political associations in Paris gathered at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in France to meet and greet Sri Lanka’s Ambassador. […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on July 3, 2013 at 9:58 pm

New feminism should stand together with the new proletariats against female exploitation and violence

“Brazil has a female president and a police chief, and staffs many of its political stations with women, promoting women’s rights. And, yet “public rapes”, especially of poor women, are increasing. Similar truths exist in India. The brutal rape and death of a paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi mobilised massive anti-rape […]

By ZIllah Eisenstein | Published on July 3, 2013 at 2:05 am

Transfer of military’s role in civil affairs to elected council can promote reconciliation in the North

Reluctant
The government is continuing to give indications of its reluctance to establish a provincial council in the Northern Province with the devolved powers as provided by the 13th Amendment. The main concern articulated by government spokespersons has been the danger
that a Tamil-led provincial council in the former war zone of the North might pose […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on July 2, 2013 at 12:34 am