රට වෙනස් කළ හැකි ද?
Ivan had meant to write about Gandhi, and wrote this instead after a telephone conversation with Elmo Perera, the new president of the professionals’ association, who wants to gather a hundred people willing to work for a change of system. The column becomes an account of what it takes to make organisations act together — the long argument needed before selected trade unions and mass organisations could agree on a single aim — and ends by inviting readers to join.
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.
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.
Overcoming ideological anarchy
Mao on falling into pits. Victor Ivan argues that neither the protesters nor the opposition parties who borrowed their slogan have worked out whether it can actually be done.
Choosing destruction instead of salvation
COPE’s daily hearings show where the money went. Victor Ivan notes that everyone is shouting at someone to go home and nobody is asking anyone to take charge.