AN OPENING FOR A SMART LEFT

This year and month mark the 130th death anniversary of Karl Marx. 2013 also marks the 60th anniversary of the assault on Moncada led by Fidel Castro and of his address ‘History Will Absolve Me’. It is then an appropriate year for any Left party to take a long hard look at the road it has travelled and the path ahead.

Editorial - Equality for Women: Hang the promises, Action now

At a recent international forum, ruling party MP Sudarshani Fernandopulle has admitted that the lowest female political representation in South Asia is in Sri Lanka. This was disclosed at a conference with the participation of female parliamentarians from six South Asian countries.

DIRE CONSEQUENCES for sports activity ‘sans’ medical check-up

Engaging in sports activities is a widely-accepted approach to stay fit but for some it may be a harbinger of death if they are not physically fit for the task. The recent death of a student who died while running 5000 metres at the school sports meet calls us to reconsider the methods used in schools

HEGEMONY the Offspring of Politicisation

To modern political leadership Aristotle’s ideal government may sound straight off the pulpit type. Yet, the credibility and wholesomeness of contemporary government and its positive contribution into world peace is highly questionable considering the peace, less global social whole.

Editorial - Fifth major religion the Market

While government leaders, the Treasury and the Central Bank are boasting of high economic growth rates, per capita incomes and foreign exchange reserves, a senior minister has warned state institutions which take loans from state banks that they should not default in the repayment of the big loans they take.

Cambodia’s war crimes court at snail's pace

At the end of World War 2, when the three allies, Britain, the US and the Soviet Union, were considering what...

Editorial : Some little known facts behind the fuel crisis

Our Editorial on Monday highlighted the impact of last Saturday’s increase in fuel prices on the suffering population...

Nuclear Argo : The Oscar goes to Iran

Argo which won three Oscars on Sunday was by no means a pro-Iranian film. Though Ben Affleck takes the trouble...

Samarasinghe’s task extremely challenging

Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe may enjoy being tagged as the defender of Sri Lanka’s human rights record but unlike last year, the brief that was handed last week is an extremely challenging one, entrusted at very short notice.

Can we take meaningful action to prevent our own extinction without ending human violence first?

The scientific evidence that human extinction will now occur before 2050 continues to rapidly accumulate. Of course, we can deny this scientific evidence because it frightens us, we can delude ourselves that someone or something else (perhaps governments) will fix it

‘SRI LANKA’S OCEAN RESOURCE: OUR HIDDEN GOLD MINE’

Having strategically located in the shipping lanes connecting the East and the West, Sri Lanka plays a crucial role in the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean. Its location is of great significance and of importance to the emerging powers in Asia. If managed properly the ocean which is seven times more than our land area...

Editorial - Govt. is either naive or foolish?

Either we are too naïve or extremely foolish. While the forces against Sri Lanka had been getting ready to degrade Sri Lanka for months, a team leader to counter the allegations on behalf of the country was appointed just 72 hours before the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lives in shadow

Sri Lanka’s illegal street sex industry is a breeding ground for sexual assault, drug abuse and crime. Could the decriminalisation of sex workers keep women safer or will it further exacerbate the social problems arising from the trade?

A Mass struggle – the need of the hour

Lal kantha said, in the present era the joint struggle of the opposition led by parliamentarians is ineffective. Instead one has to concentrate on mass struggle with total participation of the partners of this struggle.

Editorial - Our duty is to enrich the lives of others

There is a beautiful but thought provoking moral lesson in sacred scripture. “A man had a tree planted in his garden, and he came looking for fruit, but found none”. He said to the gardener, “for three years I have been looking for fruit on this tree and found none:  Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?”. “Sir”, the man replied, “leave it one more year, and give me time to dig around a

The Crucifixion of Sri Lanka

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ which is said to have been committed approximately 2000 years ago is commemorated annually by Christians the world over. The crucifixion of Sri Lanka, however, is an......

Prisons- Journey from France to Welikada

A government watchdog in charge of monitoring conditions in French prisons has called conditions in some of them “inhuman.” France has the highest suicide inmate rate in Europe.

EVOLUTIONARY DECLINE THE ASCENT OF HUMAN RESILIENCE

The weeks leading to Independence Day on February 4 were filled with intense debate on the legality and morality of the impeachment of the Chief Justice (CJ). The debate centred on the interpretation of the law and the political motives behind it. The government finally had its way and the CJ was impeached.

Towards religious harmony and social justice - Editorial

Religious intolerance is raising its ugly head again, and movements in this direction are gathering momentum. If this is not immediately and effectively stopped, it will spell disaster to the nation recovering from a protracted racially motivated 30 year conflict.

Sri Lanka needs an ‘All inclusive and accommodative constitution’

The constitution is the organic law of any state. It regulates and articulates the relationship among the state and its people, people and people, state and the institutions, institutions and people and it also regulates the relations of that state and other states.

Committee of Conscience: Spirituality that Reconciles

Several religious delegations making representations before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) emphasized that Sri Lanka is enriched by the traditions of four world religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

Editorial - From Boiling Pot to Blazing Pyre

An independent survey  has revealed that the prices of essential goods in the urban sector have gone up by 21.6 per cent over the past year. This is more than double the Colombo Consumer Price Index figure which is 9.8 per cent.

The War Experience

Many non-Thamil speaking readers would like to know how some writers in the North and elsewhere writing in Thamil have fictionalised some real experiences they have had in the now ceased bitter war that continued for more than three decades in our country.

A green light plan to ease traffic jams

The Daily Mirror this week highlighted the problems that motorists face on a daily basis at the ubiquitous roundabouts that occupy our city's streets at various strategic junctions, which invariably cause traffic jams.

Pope Benedict good or bad?

Dean Acheson, the distinguished US Secretary of State who coined such phrases as “Britain has lost an empire but not yet...

Editorial : Practical steps for religious unity in diversity

On Wednesday, the Daily Mirror in its editorial highlighted the urgent need for the Government to take effective...

Maldives flashpoint in Indian Ocean cold war

As the political crisis in the Maldives deepens with former President Mohamed Nasheed taking refuge in the Indian...

AN EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE THAT CORRUPTS ideological purity

Never before in mankind’s history has the interaction with symbols intensified as today. Popularly called, ‘symbolic interaction’ in the field of sociology, this has led the world into social issues the world has known only in a recent times.  

Towering Role for a Thinking Captain

Thirteen may be considered an unlucky number in the biblical sense and in popular culture but Angelo Mathews may not see it that way: he was appointed as Sri Lanka’s thirteenth test cricket captain last week and wasn’t complaining.

LET US BE MORE DIPLOMATIC

The thrust of our diplomacy in terms of our national interests should without doubt, be directed at winning over the western countries, their close friends and India.