Photo by Chandragupta Amarasinghe

ONE
What happened in mid-1983 and in the last week of July 1983 was obscene, a monumental atrocity, a disaster for Sri Lanka. In a context marked by the push for self-determination by the principal forces representing the Sri Lankan Tamils and an armed underground insurgency involving restive youth in the extreme north, government functionaries and elements of the ordinary populace took it upon themselves to unleash punitive attacks on Tamils living in the Sinhala-majority areas in the south. In both the towns and in several parts of the supposedly idyllic countryside Tamils were killed, assailed, maimed, terrorized and forced to flee or hide.

It was not an ethnic …

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My interpretation of the present impasse in the politics of Sri Lanka, determined as it is by the competitive jostling-cum-conflicts between the three main ethnic groups (where “Muslim” is ‘ethnic’ by virtue of its relationship of opposition to “Sinhalese” and “Tamil” in the same sentence), leans towards an emphasis on how one should address present circumstances. Though I am a historian, I believe that delving into ancient history is of limited value for any exercise in rapprochement. Indeed, I would go further and insist that the circumstances of the immediate present, today in 2008, must mould any constitutional and economic arrangements seeking a modus vivendi. We cannot erase memories of the atrocities committed by all parties in the conflict that …

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Early in February we were treated to a cogent, indeed, masterful, essay by Publius [Editors note - read ETHNOS OR DEMOS? - QUESTIONING TAMIL NATIONALISM]. Locating the debate within the general difficulty that liberal constitutional theory has with sub-state nationalisms and the problems associated with the disaggregation of “nation” and “state,” Publius addressed the situation in Sri Lanka. Fully attentive to the failures of the Sri Lankan state itself and the character of the present regime, one “fundamentally hostile to the constitutional recognition of diversity, quite apart from Tamil nationalism,” Publius focused on the failures of Tamil nationalism.

In measured manner he identified two shortcomings. Firstly, he said, theoretical poverty permeates Tamil nationalist thinking, so that it displays an inability …

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9 February 2008

2008 saw the second festival at Galle, “Let’s Play with Words.” Those present the previous year remarked that it was more varied and incorporated more Sri Lankan authors, both local and expatriate. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Equally implicit, is the bracketing out of social science productions in English or other languages (that “heavy stuff,” you know).

Two blokes remarked that the whole affair was “colonial.” Yes, there was a distinct whiff of the …

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[Editors note: Scholars and serious readers are encouraged to download the Adobe PDF version of this article that includes all annotations and references in the original.]

Sri Lanka today is a fractured polity and has been so for some time. This is a trite saying: everyone knows this. But in order to comprehend the process that brought about this tragic situation, one has to (a) understand the concept “nation,” (b) the power of nationalism, (c) the force of populism fostered by democratic institutions, (c) the deadly combination within the island of a specific demographic mix distributed in space in a peculiar manner and (d) the disastrous impact of a Westminster model of government elected under a scheme favouring candidates first-past-the-post …

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