අභ්යන්තර තුවාල හඳුනාගැනීම
Writing after a workshop in Austria led by conflict-resolution scholar Johan Galtung, Ivan takes up Galtung’s point that history and myth feed Sri Lanka’s conflict. Drawing on B.H. Farmer’s ‘Ceylon: A Divided Nation’, he traces how the Mahavamsa’s stories of Vijaya, Mahinda and Dutugemunu shaped a Sinhala sense of special origin and of the Tamil as historic enemy, a potential tapped from Dharmapala and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to the JVP, and argues that these inner wounds must be treated along with the outer ones.
නිශ්ශබ්දතාව අවසන් විය යුතුය
Ivan argues that Sri Lanka lacks a meaningful social dialogue: outwardly educated and modern, it remains feudal in its politics, economy and attitudes. Contrasting Europe’s liberal philosophical debate and Gandhi’s democratic dialogue in India with the narrow, divisive discourses of Anagarika Dharmapala and the Left, he blames the silence of the educated class, fear of being branded traitors and party loyalties, and calls on intellectuals to break their silence.
Silence Must End
This article addresses Sri Lanka’s intellectual stagnation, arguing that high literacy rates mask a deeply backward social consciousness starved of meaningful public debate. Contrasting Sri Lanka’s superficial modernism with Europe’s Enlightenment and India’s inclusive movement under Mahatma Gandhi, the author criticizes Sri Lanka’s past reform attempts for fragmenting society along racial, religious, and class lines. The text delivers a sharp warning to the educated class, asserting that their persistent silence and fear of controversy create a dangerous vacuum—one historically filled by violent extremists like Wijeweera and Prabhakaran—and calls on intellectuals to fulfill their civic duty by sparking dynamic social discussion across all areas of national life.
රාජ්යය ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදි කිරීම
The LTTE’s move from a separate state to a federal system of internal self-rule offers an easier basis for a settlement. Ivan argues that minorities pushed aside by the majority seek to break away, and that the state must be democratised so the majority cannot override their rights, citing Nehru’s creation of Tamil Nadu. He links the insurrections of Prabhakaran and Rohana Wijeweera to caste domination as well as ethnic and class grievances, and calls for a new constitution through broad national dialogue.
Democratization of the Country
This article explores the deeper socio-political fractures in Sri Lanka, arguing that the nation’s violent conflicts have been driven as much by caste oppression as by ethnic divisions. The author points out that both Prabhakaran in the North and Wijeweera in the South led armed rebellions that fundamentally challenged the entrenched dominance of the Vellala and Govigama castes. Highlighting historical examples of political exclusion based on caste—such as C.P. de Silva being denied party leadership—the article contends that Sri Lanka’s rigid political framework fails to accommodate marginalized voices. Ultimately, the author calls for a new, flexible constitution that guarantees true democratic participation and protects all minority groups from the tyranny of the majority.
About the Budget
While this article credits the UNF Government for stabilizing a collapsing economy through strict financial control, it heavily criticizes the administration’s lack of a broader economic vision. The author argues that Sri Lanka must stop thinking like a small island and instead integrate its education and workforce into the global market. Rather than passively relying on the remittances of unskilled laborers while simultaneously exploiting them with excessive passport and agency fees, the government should actively train its youth for skilled international professions—such as nursing—and facilitate affordable foreign education to alleviate local bottlenecks and maximize global economic opportunities.
නරක සංඥාවක්
A young monk who led the Motherland Protection Movement was reportedly abducted, beaten and dumped in a village near Hungama. The editorial says only the government or those it protects could do this, and insists that however mistaken the movement’s views, it must be free to protest within a democratic framework and be answered by argument. Those responsible must face the law.
Media Reform
An interview with Ravaya editor Victor Ivan on media reform: the campaign to abolish criminal defamation, the proposed Freedom of Information Act, plans for a Media Training Institute, and his argument that Sri Lankan journalism has acted as a creator of disputes rather than an arbitrator of them.
ඇවිලෙන ගින්නට පිදුරු නො දමනු
The editorial says a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict is essential to the survival of all communities. As a deal with the Tamil rebels takes shape, eastern Muslims fear becoming a minority under Tamil dominance. It urges Tamil leaders to allay that fear, Muslim leaders to act with patience, and opposition parties not to inflame the situation for short-term gain.
බස් අවුල සහ මොළේ අවුල
After twelve people were killed by private buses in two weeks and crowds began stoning buses, Ivan describes a transport system in which passengers, owners and crews are all aggrieved and senior police officers, including former PSD director Nihal Karunaratne, own buses. He proposes extra licences and free training for drivers and conductors, uniforms, state compensation if fares are held down, night-time movement of heavy vehicles in Colombo, standard models and a single livery.