Reforms or a revolution?
With the Rajapaksa brothers gone, the power struggle has taken a stranger shape. Victor Ivan examines the arrest of Wasantha Mudalige, the militant wing of the Aragalaya, and what lies outside the constitutional framework.
Neglect of essential reforms
The Aragalaya put system change at the centre of the argument and then the moment passed. Victor Ivan asks why the Opposition and the JVP both want no part of a reform programme.
Paradise in Tears
Written from a sick bed after Shehan Karunatilaka praised ‘Paradise in Tears’. Victor Ivan recalls Mangala Samaraweera’s intervention, the Indian investigator who bought three copies, and the ten-year struggle against Sarath Silva.
Whither ends the Sri Lankan crisis?
Even with an IMF package the hardest part is still ahead. Victor Ivan returns to the JVP’s second insurrection for what it shows about how a power struggle turns into a bloodbath.
Making expectations realistic
The Aragalaya had a sensitive heart and no mature brain. Victor Ivan sets out what it achieved, why it failed, and what compromise the country would now have to reach.
Scope of Aragalaya and future of SL
With the protest camp cleared, Victor Ivan weighs the repression against the anarchy it forestalled, examines the detentions under the PTA, and judges the morality of the Aragalaya itself.
Ranil’s destiny
Victor Ivan describes taking his reform plan to Gotabaya Rajapaksa during the uprising, then makes the case for Ranil Wickremesinghe — a man, he argues, whose character the media deliberately destroyed.
True nature of the storm
Gotabaya fled because he was weak, not because the Aragalaya was strong. Victor Ivan restates the constitutional argument he has made throughout and says what the movement should demand next.
Limitations inherent in July uprising
Victor Ivan measures the July uprising against Magna Carta, the American and French revolutions and the Indian independence movement, and locates the limitation that decided its outcome.
What could be the end of the revolution?
Written in the week of 9 July. Victor Ivan admits the uprising disproved his own forecast, sets out what distinguished it from the JVP insurrections, and asks what it can end in.