KAMALIKA PIERIS When Ralph Pieris told me ‘I was one of those who persuaded Sarachchandra to show Maname at Lionel Wendt theatre’ I sniggered a little. I knew the Lionel Wendt audience of the 1950s. It was culturally insensitive, utterly ignorant, and wanting only to be seen at a ‘western’ cultural event. Why present Maname […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ‘Maname made its first appearance, not in Peradeniya but at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo. ‘I selected Lionel Wendt as it had a good stage and auditorium, also the facilities needed for the actors.  Its chairman, Harold Pieris gave me the hall free and it was shown for four days running,’ Sarachchandra […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay is a revised version of the earlier essay titled EDIRIWEERA SARACHCHANDRA’S ‘MANAME’ (2015) ‘Maname’ was a landmark event in   Sinhala theatre. But the events leading up to it have received little attention. The emergence of ‘Maname’ at Peradeniya was no accident. The Arts faculty of the University of Ceylon was exposed […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The award is announced in London. A five-person panel of authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA has continued to invade, bomb and kill in foreign countries, undeterred by the Vietnam defeat in 1975. US methods are now  more sophisticated USA now uses smart bombs and drone-guided missiles instead of B-52s and napalm,  but US  is as brutal and ruthless  as ever, said critics.  US says it is waging […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS During the course of   its various wars, United States   has committed crimes that seriously violate international law,    announced China. They include war crimes, crimes against humanity, arbitrary detention, and torture of prisoners. American aggressiveness over the past decade has an absolutely criminal character, agreed other analysts. The US has the worst history of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Eventually, there was public outrage, worldwide, over the slaughter caused by the US army in Vietnam. Innocent civilians are dying every day in South Vietnam, observers reported.Pentagon set up a secret task force in 1970, the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group, using staff in the army Head office. For the next few years, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In the 1950s, USA decided to be the protector of the Free World versus the Communist world. In this self appointed capacity, US invaded and fought wars in countries that have done nothing to USA or against USA. By doing so, US caused much misery to the populations in those countries. USA has […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA devised its own methods of controlling other countries. US installed puppet governments in the countries they were interested in.  US looked for a pro-US local   politician, who says he wants to transform the country. Then using NGOs, ethnic and religious minorities groups, opposition political parties and the English language media in the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS United States of America became the sole superpower in the world, when the Cold War between USA and Russia ended in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Unable to conquer the world militarily, US hit on the notion of setting up US controlled governments in the   countries in which it had […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS JVP disappeared from public view   for a few years after the second insurgency failed in 1989, but resurfaced within five years as a mainstream political party.  From 1994 JVP has been represented in Parliament. However, JVP’s performance in Parliament has not been impressive. JVP has a history of propping up crumbling regimes and […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The year 2022 has been a very busy year for the JVP. In the year 2022 JVP has taken a series of contradictory positions.  JVP has offered to run the country, has sponsored an Aragalaya intended to destablise the country and in between treated us to a spectacular display of arson by burning […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS One result of the JVP violence was that it helped strengthen the army. Prior to 1971 Sri Lanka army was a small force.  After the 1971 insurgency the government saw the need for a larger army. They increased the officer cadet cadre. They took in 30 trainees of which 17 graduated. The training […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The third eruption of JVP violence was in May, 2022 when they burned down houses of politicians. This was the first time that JVP had engaged in arson on this scale, but this was not the first time JVP had burnt houses. They did it during the 1971 insurgency too. Neville Jayaweera reported […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sarath Amunugama in his book Dreams of Change” has provided additional information on Wijeweera and the JVP. Wijeweera was involved in anti- state activity long before 1971. Wijeweera was the mysterious Doctor” who had participated in the    coup aimed at toppling the Dudley Senanayake government in 1966. Investigations revealed a link to a […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  Weeramunda made the perceptive observation that JVP has made use of the laxities and weaknesses of the university system   to get a foothold in the university.  JVP’s methods were founded on the principle of making the most out of laxities and weaknesses of the university system, he said.  The weaknesses of the university […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS JVP has cleverly used the disorientation felt by the rural, low income, district quota student when he comes into a university, to gain power in the university. These district quota undergrads   have many problems. They have difficulty in understanding certain technical modules, and are hampered by a lack of English. Their z-scores are […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Undergrads appeared on talk shows to protest against the ragging given to them. They describe the rag in detail and say how they felt .They show a deep sense of betrayal. This was not what they expected when they came eagerly to university. We did not come to university to experience this sort […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS It is important to understand exactly what the JVP is looking for among the freshers arriving in university .They are not looking for intelligence or knowledge or beauty. They are   looking for   young persons with a    propensity to strong, unwavering physical violence and cruelty. JVP is a movement that believes in prachandathvaya.  The […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Unlike other political parties, the JVP has actively intruded into the   university as a disruptive force. It has obstructed university education in several ways. It has hampered undergraduate studies, and made promising students leave university by torturing and sexually harassing them. UGC survey on ragging (2018) observed that one of the consequences of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Any insurgency has to have a base for the recruitment of cadres, training and indoctrination observed analysts. JVP decided to use the universities of Sri Lanka for this purpose. The university was ideal for this purpose. It was a loosely organized enclave.  The university is a good recruiting ground for the JVP, observed […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The university rag” was carried out by the senior students who are instructed by the Student Unions, who in turn are led by the Inter University Federation of Students (IUFS)  which is controlled by the JVP. The leaders were elusive, observed critics.  The seniors who rag are invariably connected to the Students’ Union […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS UGC conducted a study titled ‘Ragging, Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sri Lankan University System’ in 2018.  The study was done in eight universities. Nearly 15000 students were interviewed and 1551 staff responses were obtained. The study had certain limitations, such as a short time given for the questionnaires, small number of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Britain had two types of universities in the 1940s, the elite Oxbridge and the non-elite Redbrick. The elite universities, Oxford,  and Cambridge catered primarily to the aristocracy and rich upper class pupils who, after university   went  back to their estates or  to high powered  careers in  the public service. A limited number of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The university rag carried out by the JVP contained a strong element of sexual harassment, sadism and torture.The ragging was described as ‘inhuman’. There was cruel, inhumane ragging amounting to torture and verging on sadism, said commentators. The university ragging has a sadistic streak, they added. There was gratification of sadistic tendencies.  It […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In Sri Lanka, sexual harassment is a criminal offence under Section 345 of the Penal Code. Ragging is a non-bailable offense leading to a prison term. Torture chambers are clearly criminal and have no place in a university. However, the university authorities and the police have been reluctant to squash such serious criminal […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS An unprecedented number of first year undergraduates have complained that they were abused mentally, physically and sexually in the fresher rag, said Daily Mirror in 2018. We have received detailed accounts from students subjected to ragging. Freshers are humiliated, abused, threatened and physically attacked. However, none were ready to reveal their ordeal, even […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The majority of the freshers are scared and submit as commanded by the seniors without complaint. Many are afraid to stand against it.  Our precursor batch complained about the rag, and this simply prolonged the rag, said an undergrad. My friends and I formed a group and planned to escape the evening rag, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The IUSF starts its process of controlling the freshers, long before they arrive in the University.  IUSF made use of the one year gap between A Level and University to gain control over the future first year undergrad. IUSF does the work, but there is a political party behind this which provides the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS There is systemic ragging in the universities of Sri Lanka. This ragging is not something generated from within the University. It is a political enterprise  directed from outside the University but executed by students within the University.  This fact is now in the open domain. University ragging is a political enterprise, announced Prof […]