Category: Politics
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Queerness, Sex Work, and Refugee Status in Nairobi: A conversation with Queer Sex Workers Initiative for Refugees (2022)
In this interview, the author speaks with Queer Sex Workers Initiative for Refugees: a Nairobi-based grassroots service-provision and advocacy group formed by queer refugees in Kenya who are engaged in sex work. The interview explores the question of how queer identity experiences interact with the policing of borders, labour issues, and refugee status. It teases…
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In a Sea of Red (JVP Rally: 01 Nov 2018)
I made some quick and immediate reflections after the large UNP rally last Tuesday the 30th of October. I attended the JVP meeting at the Nugegoda supermarket last Thursday, the 1st of November, and wanted to do the same. It was well-attended; an organic turn-out only (no people ‘brought in’ for this meeting) so I…
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When We Marched (30 October 2018)
There is a constitutional coup in Sri Lanka. There is much more about it at Groundviews, but you can start here if you like. Today, we marched in the thousands in the country’s capital and commercial centre, Colombo. This is a response to things I am reading on social media this evening. (EDITS made re.…
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LET WOMEN DECIDE: Some Feminist Perspectives on the ‘Abortion Debate’
(Published originally here on Groundviews on 01 October 2017) At this moment in Sri Lanka, ‘the abortion debate’ has sprung up once again; with the cabinet purportedly attempting to pass a bill which would legalize abortions for women under two circumstances[1] – if the woman is a victim of rape or if the foetus is…
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South Asian Feminisms: A Memorial for Lala Rukh, 23 August 2017 (Transcript)
This is the transcript for the short talk I delivered at the event South Asian Feminisms: A MEMORIAL FOR LALA RUKH, hosted by A Collective for Feminist Conversations and Women and Media Collective, in Colombo on 23 August 2017. The bulk of it includes an excerpt from an essay titled Forging a New Political Imaginary:…
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Is the internet really democratic?: How the ‘wired world’ excludes women and other marginalized persons
This was a short presentation I delivered (with a few small edits) at a panel discussion organised by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka under the theme “Cross Cutting Dynamics of Online Democracy; Mainstreaming Internet Freedom and Right to Privacy in Sri Lanka” , to address women’s rights within the context of internet…
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A True Sri Lankan Intersectionality: LGBTIQ equality, MMDA reform and more
For awhile now, I’ve been thinking about intersectionality and what it would mean for feminists and other activists in a Sri Lankan context at this moment. For young women activists and queer-rights activists in Sri Lanka, like myself, the temptation is strong to follow young, American liberational discourses. on social justice. We ‘stood with Standing Rock’.…
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The ‘Women’s Question’ in Sri Lanka: A Reflection in 2017
(Written originally for and published in ShishtaLanka – DecentLanka – February 2017, in translation in Sinhala) What is the role, and what is the status, of women in Sri Lanka today? Where do we stand? These are the primary questions I asked of myself when I began writing this essay. It seemed a good moment,…
Subha M Wijesiriwardena 