co-editor @Polity_LK | director @ssa_lanka & @werc_sl | alum @soasLAW
Joined March 2017
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- Following 925
- Followers 844
- Likes 17,007
201 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
May 5
"Neutral but humanitarian" is how @anuradisanayake explained his #NPP government's stance in the ongoing US-Israel war in West Asia. Yet, in a unipolar moment, what does "neutrality" amount to, and why should it be right?
Image Credit :ย Awantha Artigala
polity.lk/neutrality-in-the-โฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Jun 6
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐: ๐
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
๐๏ธ: ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐, ๐๐๐๐
๐: ๐:๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐:๐๐ ๐๐
๐: ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐/๐๐, ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐, ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ ๐๐.
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Wonderful introduction and appreciation of Fr. Aloy, by scholar of the Buddhist-Christian encounter in colonial Ceylon Liz Harris, who worked with him in the 1980s.
Jun 2
Aloysius Pieris SJ, scholar and practitioner of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in #SriLanka never separated scholarship from praxis, writes Elizabeth J. Harris, giving agency to victims of global capitalism and corporate greed.
polity.lk/aloysius-pieris-s-โฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Jun 2
Aloysius Pieris SJ, scholar and practitioner of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in #SriLanka never separated scholarship from praxis, writes Elizabeth J. Harris, giving agency to victims of global capitalism and corporate greed.
polity.lk/aloysius-pieris-s-โฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Sri Lanka: A new Amnesty International report finds that Malaiyaha Tamil workers on private tea estates in Southern Sri Lanka are facing labour abuses that may amount to forced labour under International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.
The findings expose not only exploitative labour practices, but systematic failures of enforcement, accountability, and worker protection. Read our report here: amnesty.org/en/documents/ASAโฆ
ALT A photo of the backs of Malaiyaha Tamil workers looking out at a tea estate on the hills. Texts are overlaid that says, "Malaiyaha Tamil tea workers are VISIBLE when they are needed for labour, INVISIBLE when they need protection. Protect Malaiyaha Tamil tea workers from forced labour now!
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 22
On earlier court dates, no separate legal counsel appeared on behalf of the child โ this led to outrage on social media. But today, about 50 lawyers were seen at the court, offering to take on the case. Asith Siriwardena and six other lawyers are now appearing on behalf of the child.
examiner.media/police-delayeโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 21
Converted some of my observations of recent legal developments into a short piece of writing. The continued armament of the Sri Lankan law with features of authoritarian power does not bode well for people in Sri Lanka. Resistance requires seeing it.
ft.lk/opinion/New-laws-contiโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 19
One year since the first exhumation of skeletal remains from the mass grave site in #Chemmani #Jaffna, #poetry by M. C. Kanula on where the "earth spits out bones". #SriLanka
polity.lk/chemmani-25-m-c-kaโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 18
๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ก
Manal Aru / Weli Oya: The Violent History of River Valley Development, Frontier Colonisation and Ethnic Territorialisation
๐๏ธ: Tuesday, ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐
๐: 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM
๐: Social Scientistsโ Association, 380/86, Sarana Rd, Colombo 07.
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 18
Noted Sri Lankan journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj dies in Canada;
He wrote extensively for over four decades on the islandโs ethnic conflict and key political developments, including as @the_hindu Sri Lanka Correspondent
thehindu.com/news/internatioโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 16
Even though the Rajapaksa political legacy is much diminished today, it lives on. The South still sees the war through Mahindaโs eyes.
examiner.media/the-south-stiโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 16
#SriLanka civil war: 17 years later, the imprints remain - long read from the Northern Province thehindu.com/news/internatioโฆ via @the_hindu
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A slice of Ceylon's post-colonial social and political history, when the phases of the moon determined holidays and therefore school and work days. #Time #SriLanka
May 13
Once upon a #time not long ago, #Ceylon substituted the lunar for the Gregorian #calendar. All became out of joint. Sharni Jayawardena tells the story behind 'Just A Phase' (59 mins | 2026) produced by @iceslk , and on release 15 May.
polity.lk/just-a-phase-the-fโฆ
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Nigel writes a lovely reminiscence on close encounters with the institution that was Suriya Wickramasinghe, founder and backbone of the Civil Rights Movement of Sri Lanka.
"Suriya lionised collective effort (never โIโ, always โweโ). She emphasised the duty we had in taking up โthe cause of any person whose basic rights are infringed.โ She insisted on precision and care." | SURIYA WICKREMASINGHE (1934-2026):
open.substack.com/pub/nvnugaโฆ #srilanka #lka
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 4
The Social Scientistsโ Association calls for ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ on the continuing relevance of the multi-disciplinary scholarship of Kumari Jayawardena. Send your pitch (under 300 words) to <ssa.femarchive@gmail.com> ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐.
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
On April 29, 2026, Sri Lanka lost one of its steadfast and longest-serving advocates for human rights, Suriya Wickramasinghe, best known as the face of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM), of which she was a founding member and secretary. sundaytimes.lk/260503/sundayโฆ by Renuka Senanayake
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
May 2
Alan Wald on "The Black Radical Imagination" in AGAINST THE CURRENT. "The 'African American Old Left' are practically all deceased...but their cumulative work comprises a mosaic of collective memory ...
againstthecurrent.org/.../thโฆ
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Remembering Suriya Wickremasinghe (1934 - 2026), a principled and courageous advocate for justice, equality, and human rights. We are grateful for her contributions to Sri Lankaโs Civil Rights Movement, to Amnesty International Sri Lankaโs board in the 1970s, and to Amnestyโs human rights work around the world. In this photo, she is seen (4th from the left) as a member of Amnestyโs International Executive Committee accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
Her steadfast commitment to standing with marginalized communities remains an enduring part of her legacy, one that continues to inspire others to fight for justice and resist with integrity and conviction.
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Apr 28
MY NEW BOOK IS OUT.
A dignified recognition of Amilcar Cabral, the agronomist, co-organised with my @UCT_news colleagues Anselmo Matusse and Lesley Green. Discover that Cabral was also the father of the African agro-ecology.
Free download here ๐
shorturl.at/62GqX
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B. Skanthakumar ๐ต๐ธ retweeted
Apr 28
Marking the 7th anniversary of the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorism, the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) analyses past official inquiries, with which it expresses dissatisfaction, calling for truth in the hope for justice. #SriLanka
polity.lk/memory-pain-and-thโฆ
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