The ideas of unity, reconciliation and coexistence must consider a Sri Lankan identity beyond one ethnicity, religion and language. In March 2015, the unexpected newly elected president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, stated that the national anthem could be sung in Tamil at official and institutional events. For anyone alien to life on the teardrop… Continue reading “Sinhala, Tamil and the National Identity of Sri Lanka”
Coined in the Runnymede Trust’s seminal report in 1997, the neologism of “Islamophobia” has been endlessly used to express the irrational hostility towards Muslims and Islam. This antagonism has been a global phenomenon on the rise, especially after the 9/11 in which the Western world realised of its vulnerability to an extent never experienced before.… Continue reading “Islamophobia in Sri Lanka or the Sterilization Obsession”
Cartoonists are modern jesters but, unlike those merrymen of yore, they are no longer safe. It has been traditionally accepted in modern societies that the media play a key role in the way they function. Journalists counteract the abuses of power by governments, frame political issues and are implicitly recognized as being part of the… Continue reading “In Sri Lanka, Cartoonists Take on the Alt-Right”