Reporter, Juliana Ruhfus, Director, Dom Rotheroe and Researcher, Aloke Devichand, have two films scheduled for broadcast on the al-Jazeera network which will be of interest to all those with an abiding interest in Sri Lanka both within and without the country. The first, “How the East Was Won” deals with the contemporary context and consequences of claimed military victory over the Eastern Province and the second, “Monks of War”, focuses on the political ascendancy of the JHU and the resurgence of the Sinhala Buddhist nationalism which has been the central ideological legitimation for the return to a military solution to the ethnic conflict.

In that sense both documentaries are mutually illuminating of the political crossroads that Sri Lanka currently finds itself …

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Would the Real Dutugemunu Please Stand Up? Nationalism, ‘Authenticity’ and Populist Mobilisation in Sri Lanka

The current political context is one in which the Government of Sri Lanka has obviously swung in a potently Sinhala nationalist direction, at the same time pulling the framework for the articulation of dominant political practices the same way. This was first glimpsed in the run-up to the UPFA’s election victory in 2004 when the JVP and the PNM provided much of the mobilising muscle for the campaign However, this dynamic only became truly hegemonic in the course of the November 2005 Presidential Election campaign when Mahinda Rajapakse pledged a commitment to the Mahinda Chintana ideological framework with the JVP and the JHU providing the foundations …

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