We are not at war – and it is dangerous to believe we are
“Consider the COVID-19 as a bomb-threat and keep it away all the time.” These words, reportedly by the Army Chief and Head of Sri Lanka’s Task Force on COVID-19, are only the latest in the national narrative that we are at war against the novel coronavirus. This rhetoric is not unique to Sri Lanka. President [...]
Man cannot live by curfews alone
While people of many countries have been moping in this Lockdown Era whether they were going to hell or to a new paradise on Earth promised by their messianic leaders, very many Sri Lankans were kept buoyant and optimistic by most local TV channels with patriotic and nationalist personalities assuring more paradisiacal joys in the [...]
Enemy’s enemy is a friend of convenience
The saying that an enemy’s enemy is a friend of convenience is a truism especially in the political arena. For example, if A, B, and C are enemies of each other, then A and B may become friends of convenience against C, or A and C against B, or B and C against A. This [...]
Stay home? Wash hands? But 1.8 billion remain homeless, 3 billion have no access to water
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The relentless battle against the devastating coronavirus pandemic has been underlined by several widespread advisories from health experts – STAY HOME. WASH YOUR HANDS. WEAR MASK. KEEP SOCIAL DISTANCE. But the UK-based WaterAid and UN Habitat in Nairobi point out the paradox in at least two of the warnings: a staggering [...]
The Kerala Model
NEW DELHI – As India’s 1.3 billion people struggle to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the country’s 28 states stands head and shoulders above the rest. Kerala, in southwestern India, has been so successful in “flattening the curve” that many now speak admiringly of a “Kerala Model” for handling public-health emergencies. Kerala was [...]