To remember Black July, Groundviews brought together leading documentary filmmakers, photographers, activists, theorists and designers, in Sri Lanka and abroad, to focus on just how deeply the anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983 shaped our imagination, lives, society and polity.
The Presidential polls of 8th January 2015 inspired the largest number of voters in Sri Lanka’s history to turn out to elect a president. As we all know, the work to shape Sri Lanka’s future doesn’t stop with electing a new president or a new government. Change will need to involve all of us as citizens in our various positions and roles in society. There is now a vibrant public and private debate of citizens across the country (and beyond its borders) about the hopes and vision for Sri Lanka’s future. This is currently taking place on social media, traditional media and also in homes and workplaces. The campaign encourages us all to focus on what we can do in our individual capacities, as well as what other citizens in government, opposition politics, public services, business or our own neighbourhoods can do, to bring about change for good.
The website contains resources on Language Equality, Constitution-making, the Laws of Sri Lanka and CPA’s Citizen Council program – it is a portal for information and networking for those passionate about citizen activism.
Constitutional Reforms in Sri Lanka
Books & other material related to constitutional reform in Sri Lanka.
What is a constitution? What place and relevance, if any, does it have in the popular imagination? Do citizens really care about an abstract document most would never have seen or read, when more pressing existential concerns continue to bedevil their lives and livelihoods, even post-war?
Internet Media Action (IMA) was set up in the belief that there is scope to openly debate and discuss challenges and opportunities regarding the production, publication, dissemination and archival of content online, under the broad rubric of the Freedom of Expression. In particular, we are interested in engaging and addressing bloggers, web media personnel including civic media producers and citizen journalists, citizens and civil society in discussions that are anchored to the Right to Information, democratic governance and human rights. Accordingly, IMA will press and advocate for greater freedoms online, the development of an open, free web and Internet, including over mobiles, and the protection of those who engage in online fora.
All the multimedia content on this website was commissioned by Groundviews, a critically acclaimed citizen journalism based in Sri Lanka. They are the country’s first high-definition video productions and the first to document their respective subject matter. The production of this content was supported by small grants from Groundviews which supported, in line with the raison d’etre of the site, content that furthers civil, progressive and inclusive discussions on the future of democracy, peace, reconciliation, social justice, fundamental rights and equality in Sri Lanka. The small grants were made possible by Ford Foundation.
The website represents a fight to keep Sri Lanka free of extremists who threaten not only what they seek to destroy, but also who and what they claim to represent. A petition was made available on the site and after a month, the names and comments of those who signed up were printed out and sent to the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Religious Affairs & Moral Upliftment, along with the Department of Buddhist Affairs, Department of Christian Religious Affairs, Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs and the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs. This campaign ran from 27 April to 31 May 2012.
These videos were broadcast on MTV (a terrestrial TV channel in Sri Lanka) from 23 to 30 July 2008, to commemorate the anti-Tamil pogrom in July 1983.
A collection of scholarly essays marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Sri Lankan Republic in 1972. Edited by Asanga Welikala.
Right To The City Sri Lanka is an initiative by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think tank based in Colombo, that aims to broaden the discussion and awareness on key issues concerning development, urbanisation, housing and displacement in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Combining CPA’s research and advocacy, ongoing documentation, photography and video, the Right To The City Sri Lanka initiative provides alternative narratives to the development discourse in Sri Lanka. While the content is primarily anchored to Colombo, the broader policy issues raised are significant at a national level.
Sir Ivor Jennings and the Constitutional Development of Ceylon: Selected Writings.
Reforming Sri Lankan Presidentialism
Reforming Sri Lankan Presidentialism – Provenance, Problems and Prospects is a collection of scholarly essays edited by Asanga Welikala.
Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka
In its most recent initiative, CPA commissioned Kannan Arunasalam to direct a documentary on Sampur and to visually capture the narratives of the communities who have returned and continuing to return to their homes. The site contains resources, media coverage and infographics on the topic of transitional justice.