Seeking a path to get out of the morass
A proposed way out of the trap: an interim constitution, a constituent assembly, and the observation — from Colvin R. de Silva — that removing even an insane president would take more than two years.
Some insights into the NMSJ’s proposed constitutional reforms
The National Movement for Social Justice publishes its reform proposals, and Victor Ivan finds the shadow of the 19th Amendment over them — another attempt, he argues, to tie down a president who remains above the law.
Judiciary and the crisis
How the spine of the judiciary was broken. Victor Ivan follows the line from the taming of Parliament through Neville Samarakoon to Sarath Silva, and asks what a court could still do in a crisis like this.
Victory over the puzzle
Sri Lanka as an unsolvable puzzle. Victor Ivan names the crash and dates it — roughly a year away, before the next presidential election — and asks what could be put in place before then.
Transforming Gota to a Botha
Answering a critic in Anidda who called the People’s Constitution a myth, Victor Ivan turns to South Africa: P.W. Botha’s successor negotiated a transition from a position of strength, and Sri Lanka’s president could do the same.
Defeating the spurious constitution
Against the constitution being written by a committee the President appointed. Victor Ivan sets out what a participatory constitution would require and how a mass agitation could win one.
Presidential Polls and Constitution
Twenty-three numbered points on the 2025 election and the constitution being drafted for it — including Basil Fernando’s verdict that the document is spurious, and Victor Ivan’s proposal for a public-interest case against it.
Grand offer of Lanka to Kali Amma
First the fertiliser ban, then the ban on cattle slaughter. Victor Ivan argues the dairy herd is being destroyed to keep a vow, and that a president is a custodian of the country, not its owner.
Lawful public uprising: Theory and practice
Part three. Victor Ivan explains why leaders who call the presidency corrupt keep it anyway, revisits the common-candidate strategy of 2015, and argues reforms must be won before power is handed over, not after.
Lawful public uprising!
The first of three parts. Victor Ivan builds a case for a lawful uprising out of republicanism, the sovereignty of the people, and a 1991 UN Human Rights Committee judgment from Canada.