Sri Lanka’s woes with cannabis legalisation

Some propose legalising marijuana production to ease Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. Yet, any move to legalise marijuana cultivation in Sri Lanka will have to overcome a long history of prohibition, social stigma and criminalisation

| Mar 06, 2023

On night patrol in Sri Lanka’s human-elephant conflict zone

Hambantota in Sri Lanka has been on the frontline for human-elephant conflict for years. 2022 was the worst year yet, with a death toll of 433 elephants and 145 people

| Mar 03, 2023

Sri Lanka’s great IMF lie

Decades of looking to the IMF for salvation has yielded only crises. Sri Lanka’s economic crisis demands urgent relief measures for a desperate citizenry and a new, self-sufficient model of development

Sri Lanka’s local elections are a major threat to the ruling class

Rising anger, prolonged economic crisis, painful IMF-backed policies and the government’s anti-democratic tendencies are creating a volatile mix, with Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Rajapaksas and Sri Lanka’s political elites on alert

| Feb 13, 2023

How a human rights law became a tool of repression in Sri Lanka

The ICCPR Act, modelled on an international human rights treaty meant to prohibit national, racial and religious hatred, has been distorted in Sri Lanka to punish blasphemy and target minorities

| Feb 07, 2023

China courts influence in Sri Lanka via the Buddhist clergy

Beijing needs new allies now that the Rajapaksas are reeling, but the enmeshing of politics and religion in Sri Lanka is always cause for concern

| Jan 26, 2023

Sri Lanka’s Easter bombing verdict is reshaping politics and power

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered former president Maithripala Sirisena and top security officials to compensate victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. But Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister at the time, has escaped scrutiny.

| Jan 20, 2023

The human dimension to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis

On rising poverty, income inequality, and potential solutions.

| Oct 14, 2022

Notes on the Sri Lankan struggle

Police brutality and growing public consciousness during the ‘Janatha Aragalaya’.

| Aug 09, 2022

At the doors of the IMF

Economic dilemmas in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

| Jul 21, 2022

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