This up-coming presidential election would be comical, if not for the fact that it is deceptively diabolical. The contention between incumbent president Mahinda Rajapakse and retired General Sarath Fonseka and the arguments being drawn up by both sides are simply degenerate. They expose the depths to which  this political order has been despoiled and degraded.

Threat Projections:
The ‘Mahinda’ camp brings out the threat of an imminent military coup, to be led by Sarath Fonseka and urged by the JVP. These guys are not beyond this type of treachery. The Mahinda camp claims that such a coup was being attempted recently, only to be averted by alerting India. They portray Sarath Fonseka as a tool of US and Western imperialist powers. They …

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It would be fair to say that the vast majority of the people aspire for a life with peace, dignity, security, democratic freedom and prosperity. They aspire for an open, honest, efficient system of governance which is accountable to them. They wish for a political culture which nurtures unity and solidarity among the various nations, nationalities and communities. They dream of a world free of all forms of domination, exploitation, oppression and WAR! Finally, we could say that the people aspire to stand proud and tall, second to none, in the community of nations. Would this presidential contest fulfill these democratic aspirations of the people?

Historically, every successive government has failed to fulfill these aspirations of the people. Each successive government …

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There is much  controversy over the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), whom I wish to refer as internally detained persons. In essence, this controversy revolves around the nature of the LTTE, the counter-insurgency strategy of the GOSL, and its criminal effect on over 200,000 detainees. The question of the fate of some 10,000 Tamil political prisoners who are yet to be charged, also hovers in the background. To get some rationality and clarity on these issues, we should raise and answer one fundamental question.

Do the Tamil people who consider the North-East as their areas of historical habitation (homeland) constitute a nation? This question cannot be resolved by piling up archaic archaeological or historical evidence. It is not a …

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J.S. Tissainayagam, who had been under detention since March 7- 2009, was convicted on all three charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act  (PTA) on August 31- 2009 by the High Court of Colombo, and given the maximum sentence of 20 years rigorous incarceration. In a symbolic and focal sense, what has been tried and imprisoned is the Tamil nation, and all those who stand for its right of self-determination. Journalist Tissainayagam stood for the right of self-determination and for the security of the Tamil nation, and it is this fundamental right that has been tried and suppressed in such a severe manner. Tissainayagam allegedly confesses that he maintained some dialogue with the LTTE and that he did write and …

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Introduction:
The killing of the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Velupillai Pirapaharan, has brought an end to a stage in the development of the Tamil National Liberation Struggle. There are many crucial lessons to be learned from this experience;- Lessons Paid in Blood! It is imperative that we learn from these lessons with a deep scientific perspective, if we are to charter the path of liberation for the people of Lanka. There is no space in this article to discuss the historical and political background which gave birth to the Tamil National Liberation Movement, including the demand for the right of national self-determination in the form of a separate state. Suffice it to say that this demand …

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I feel that there is a pressing need to rise to the defense of Buddhism. This is because Buddhism is being degraded and exploited  as a reactionary political ideology by a grade of low class politicians. Their impact is severe and decisive. Their politicized version of Buddhism is being incessantly drilled into the social consciousness of a particular chauvinist political base, with full state patronage, and more fundamentally, as the core program and agenda of the state and the regime.  The impact has been to imbibe a jubilant sense of a dominant, triumphant ego for having vanquished an oppressed nation, a narrowed, distorted and introverted sense of self, based on nurturing arrogance and intolerance against others. The mantle of the …

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Politics of Supremacy:
This article is addressed to the broad revolutionary-democratic platform that shared a minimum, common, transitional  principle and policy towards the Tamil national liberation struggle, in an effort to orient this platform towards the future challenges and tasks. We would all agree that the decisive military victory gained by the State over the LTTE has changed the political playing field in a most dramatic way. This victory marks a turning point. The military victory heralds also the triumph of the dominant ruling political ideology of the Sri Lankan State, and its ruling class. –Sinhala-Buddhist Supremacy: This ideology was molded, nourished and reinforced by every successive government. This ruling ideology is now being centralized, concentrated and applied systematically in all …

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