20 years ago, the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act took force in #SriLanka. #PolityLK has a few yowls in store, but begin with this 2010 hiss from the Cat's Eye feminist collective.

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"Liberties of expression, association and assembly once taken-for-granted, are in rapid retreat. The liberal firewall has fallen. The traditional parties of the right, centre and even left, embrace anti-immigrant, misogynist, anti-DEI, prejudices, and language..." #Ecocide #Liberalism #IMF #PolityLK

#PolityLK calls for short pieces on the life, work, and legacy of Gananath Obeyesekere. Send your pitch (under 300 words) to polity@ssalanka.org before 25 August 2025.

Kasun Kavishka | Queer Representation in Sri Lankan Media: A Double-Edged Sword? Kasun Kavishka is an undergraduate at the University of Colombo, and an intern at the Social Scientists’ Association.

Too often exhibiting misrepresentation and bad journalism, queer representation in Sri Lankan media is a double-edged sword, writes Kasun Kavishka in #PolityLK this week.
#SriLanka #PrideMonth

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#PolityLK calls for articles on the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act in Sri Lanka, 20 years on. Send your pitches and drafts to polity@ssalanka.org by 30 June.

Out now! Latest print issue of #PolityLK with analyis and commentary on and from #SriLanka, and lots to read and discuss. Get your copy now.

#PolityLK marks the passing of Professor Sisira Jayasuriya on 18 February 2025. Professor Jayasuriya was a past contributor.

Read his writing in the #polityandpravadaarchive

linktr.ee/politylk

#PolityLK thanks all who contributed to remembering Richard de Zoysa on the 35th anniversary of his death.

See their contributions and read more at polity.lk

Prasanna Pitigala Liyanage and Malithi Liyanage | Rani: The Politics of Erasure and the Aesthetics of Forgetting Prasanna Pitigala Liyanage is a senior lecturer in the Department of Integrated Design at the University of Moratuwa and a Chartered Architect. Malithi Liyanage holds a degree in engineering and is a ...

"What appears on screen influences what is remembered and what is forgotten”, write Prasanna Pitigala Liyanage & Malithi Liyanage in a searing critique of Asoka Handagama’s Rani (2025) for #PolityLK, 35 years since the abduction and murder of Richard de Zoysa

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S. Janaka Biyanwila | Asoka Handagama’s Rani: Diminishing Struggles Against Enforced Disappearances Janaka Biyanwila (PhD., University of Western Australia) is the author of Debt Crisis and Popular Social Protest in Sri Lanka: Citizenship, Development and Democracy Within Global North-South Dynamics...

In Asoka Handagama's #Rani, a mother's search for justice for her son’s disappearance and murder is aesthetically rendered to undermine struggles for truth and accountability in #SriLanka, writes Janaka Biyanwila for #PolityLK

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Soon on #PolityLK:

~ #Pravada on Richard de Zoysa's killing

~ Manikya Kodithuwakku’s retelling of the magisterial inquiry

~ Dhanuka Bandara on assassination as ritual sacrifice

~ Manorani Saravanamuttu's demand for justice

~ Vihanga Perera on Richard de Zoysa's poems and the academy

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Next week on #PolityLK:

~ Richard de Zoysa's last story for IPS News

~ Cheran Rudramoorthy’s poem in Tamil & English

~ Kanya D’Almeida on the price for fearless writing

~ Prabha Manuratne on the politics of Richard de Zoysa's literary representation

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Richard de Zoysa was abducted and killed 35 years ago next week (18 Feb). In his memory, and the unfinished struggle for truth and justice for all victims of enforced disappearances in #SriLanka, #PolityLK will publish 9 pieces.

For updates follow us linktr.ee/politylk

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Tom Brass | The Hidden Politics of Critical Agrarian Studies: A Reply to Urs Geiser Tom Brass formerly lectured in the Social and Political Sciences Faculty at Cambridge University, and directed studies in SPS for Queens’ College. He carried out fieldwork research in Latin America an...

Is #CriticalAgrarianStudies analytically and politically progressive in the study of peasant society and economy, compared to #Marxism? Tom Brass disagrees, arguing in #PolityLK that CAS is another 'new' populist postmodernism.

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Thavarasa Anukuvi | Economic Crisis and Resistance in Batticaloa, Eastern Sri Lanka Thavarasa Anukuvi - polity.lk Thavarasa Anukuvi is an independent researcher and photo-journalist based in Batticaloa.

As #SriLanka marks 77 years of independence today, #PolityLK stands with #BattiWalk4Justice, on 1000 days of solidarity for democratic change.
Read Thavarasa Anukuvi on this women-led mobilisation in Vol. 10 No. 2 (Dec 2022): shorturl.at/Avk6R
#polityandpravadaarchive

Editorial: Compass on an Old Course? Editors - polity.lk One hundred days have passed since Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed the presidency of Sri Lanka after the 21 September election, subsequently leading the

Has the ‘system change’ #SriLanka demanded & #AKD / #NPP promised - arrived, in transit, or a lost cause? The #editorial for #PolityLK Vol 12 No 2 (Dec 2024), surveys 100 days of the #Malimawa in power.

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Profile of #BapsiSidhwa for #PolityLK, to mark one month since her passing. Arif Azad captures facets of the life and contribution of a Southasian literary icon and women's rights activist.

#PolityLK sends wishes of strength and solidarity to struggles for peace and justice in 2025.

Here are our top-read articles in 2024:

Nethmi Bathige | Victims or Saviours? Women in Climate Adapted Agriculture Projects in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone Nethmi Bathige is a PhD Student in the geography department at the Pennsylvania State University, USA

Analysing #climateadaptation interventions in #SriLanka’s dry zone in #PolityLK this week @nethmisachy.bsky.social turns a #feminist #politicalecology lens to expose the nuances these projects miss.

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Ruvani Ranasinha | Writing the life of author and filmmaker Hanif Kureishi: race, class and multiculturalism Ruvani Ranasinha is Professor of Global Literatures at the Department of English, King’s College, London. She was a jury member of the Gratiaen Prize 2023 awarded annually for the best work of creativ...

British Asian novelist and screenwriter @Hanifkureishi is 70 today! #PolityLK is delighted to publish his biographer @ruvaniranasinha.bsky.social's salutation to the artistry of an extraordinary writer, situated in his life and times.

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Sri Lanka General Election 2024: How We Read It; What We Want - Collective Harindra B. Dassanayake , Rajni Gamage , Akhilendra Gunasekara , Niyanthini Kadirgamar , Ammaarah Nilafdeen , Binu Peiris, Natasha Ranawake

#PolityLK asked a few of our readers what they make of #SriLanka's shock #GeneralElection2024 result; and their expectations and priorities for the new @NPPSLOfficial government. Here's what they told us 📷

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