In the red-golden glow of the global financial crisis, many are looking inwards to see how they allowed it to happen. Skeptics of globalization such as Korten, Stiglitz, Ralston Saul and Pilger envisioned the collapse and warned of the impending apocalypse fueled by consumerism and greed. Their warnings were left unheeded.

The very foundations of US capitalism seem to have been ravaged. Heidi Crebo-Rediker, Co-Director, Global Strategic Finance Initiative, New America Foundation and Former Managing Director/Head of European Debt Capital Markets, Bear Stearns catured the sentiment; “What happened over this past week to US capitalism is truly historic.” Since 1864, American banking has been split into commercial banks and investment banks. But now that’s changing. Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, some …

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“All along the watchtower, princes kept the view”
Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

 
Though it may seem otherwise at first blush, the agitation in Tamil Nadu is not helping the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. It is hardening majority opinion on the island and serves as a reminder of the existential threat posed to the Sinhalese from across the narrow Palk Straits. It is likely to make the Sinhala majority warier about the degree of autonomy granted to the Tamil majority Northern periphery, susceptible as it may be to the pull factor of Tamil Nadu sentiment given the extreme physical proximity.    

While Colombo’s political commentariat had concluded that the agitation in Tamil Nadu was the avoidable result of Sinhala chauvinism stimulated or tolerated by …

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An interview on Emergency Rule, GSP+, Human Rights and Democracy in Sri Lanka conducted with Asanga Welikala, author of A State of Permanent Crisis: Constitutional Government, Fundamental Rights, and States of Emergency in Sri Lanka and, writing as Publius, one of the best read political and constitutional commentators on this site.

(If the video is choppy, hit pause and go make yourself a cuppa. The video will continue to download in the background. After around 5 minutes, hit play.)

What comes to mind when one hears the word poverty? Scarcity, shortage, paucity, deficiency, dearth are words that are in the Thesaurus. Yet, the word confuses me in the way it is commonly used.

I live in Sri Lanka, a developing country with GDP of about US $1,000 per capita. In western terms, this is a poor nation. I became a resident of Sri Lanka in 1988 having lived in Canada for 15 years. Economically, Sri Lankans have less material wealth than an average person in the west. In happiness, I am not sure.

I am confused about the word because in the last 20 years I have had a fulfilling life of abundance of whatever is needed to be healthy, happy …

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The title roughly translates to Tigers, Traitor and UNPiers.

I’ve come to understand, that the moment you talk about the rights of the minorities, you become a kotiya. If your argument is for a federal system, people’s right to self determination or how minorities are oppressed, you will be tagged a kotiya at the end of it.

I’ve come to understand, that the moment you criticize the current administration, you become a deshadhrohiya. If you talk about how your basic rights like free speech and movement are curtailed, how the system manages to cover everything under the umbrella of national security and get away with it, how the administration lacks vision, how the big guy is catering to the red neck Sri …

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Ten years ago at a meeting with the media industry professionals of Sri Lanka, the Colombo Declaration of Media Freedom and Social Responsibility was drawn up. A review conference is currently being held at the Sri Lanka Press Institute to look back upon the developments that have occurred within the past decade.
At the first session of the event, two interesting observations were made by two of the panelists. The first was by Lindsay Ross of the Commonwealth Press Union. Lindsay observed a certain amount of complacency that is growing within the young journalists. She attributed this to the (somewhat) safe working spaces that have been created by the older generation of journalists. The second was by the co-chair …

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I was at a protest rally on the 15th of October in support of Attorney-at-Law Mr. Weliamuna, whose house was bombed/grenaded as he slept with his wife and two infant children. There were many of us at the rally to support ‘Weli,’ as he is affectionately known, but as one of the speakers pointed out, there weren’t enough of us. Here’s why you should have been there.

‘Weli’ has been in the news lately for reasons other than his near death experience. He is the lawyer that fought the case against former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and various influence-peddlers who illegally transferred 118 acres of public land in Battaramulla to a crony businessman. The land, which was supposed to be used for …

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“There is a false and foolish and evil saying that today’s terrorist is tomorrow’s freedom fighter. Today’s terrorist is today’s and tomorrow’s murderer.”

These were the words used by the former Foreign Minister of Australia Alexander Downer while delivering the Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture 2008 in Colombo on Wednesday (October 15).

In an era when some people are attempting to glorify the terrorists and justify terrorism as a means to achieve political ends, these words of Mr.Downer should get all right thinking people really thinking.

As Sri Lankan we all know the terrible toll the unleashing of terrorist violence has taken on this country. . It has not left anyone untouched whatever their hierarchy in society maybe. From the politically powerful to the man lowest …

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The end of neo-liberal economics: Great Crash of 2008 and the demise of the Regan-Thatcherism

Kumar David

The ‘global-state’ (G7 and some G20 governments, central banks, and the IMF and IBRD multilateral agencies) intervened in the international banking system during the October 11-12, 2008 weekend, financially on an unparallel scale, and politically with resolute, coordinated, authority. One is left wondering what is left of global finance capital that is distinctively capitalist anymore. The implications of intervention on such a scale are momentous for international banking and finance. If the intrusion goes much further, British, French, German and other governments will become the primary owners of banks in a watershed reversal of Regan-Thatcher neo-liberalism after 30 years. For the ilk of Francisco Fukuyama, …

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I wish to draw wider public attention to the following extract appearing in “A short note from the Vanni” written by “Witness” and appearing in the Groundviews on September 30, 2008:

“The people now staying at Vattakachi and Tharmapuram areas are requesting to announce these areas as “safe zones” for the civilians. Food and shelter are desperately needed, as people are suffering without anything to eat and nowhere to rest.”

I can visualize the pathetic situation vividly as I personally watched a similar scene in 1996 when refugees marched back to Jaffna from Kilinochchi. Unfortunately, the above revelation has failed to attract sympathetic attention to the miserable plight of the refugees in Vanni today. Instead a barrage of comments …

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