Never Again: Remembering '83

It bears reflection today, 29 years after the horrible events of July 1983.

Special thanks to

(COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Groundviews) - First broadcast on aired on the MTV, Shakthi and Sirasa terrestrial TV channels in Sri Lanka from 23rd to 30th July 2008, Never Again in Sri Lanka featured 22 videos in Tamil, Sinhala and English on the anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983 in Sri Lanka. The 30 second videos on the site featured well-known Sri Lankan civil society, film, teledrama, entertainment, academic and religious personalities including:

• Bellanwila Wimalaratne Thero
• Asoka Handagama
• Iranganie Serasinghe
• Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne
• Upekha Chitrasena
• Sunila Abeysekera
• Kasun Kalhara
• Prof. S. Sandarasekaram

View the videos in Tamil, English and Sinhala below.

In addition to these videos, the following content was submitted to Groundviews in July 2008, 25 years after the riots of 1983 and 50 years after those in 1958. Nearly all submissions were exclusive for Groundviews and came from award winning poets and novelists, senior Government Ministers, Members of Parliament, renown scholars, human rights defenders, civil society activists, artistes, senior civil servants, a former Secretary of Defense and others.

It bears reflection today, 29 years after the horrible events of July 1983.

• July: Life after 25 years
• Plus 25: Things we can’t do because of “National Security” in Sri Lanka
• AFLAME – Remembering Black July, 1983 (by award winning poet Indran Amirthanayagam)
• Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr. R. Sampanthan remembers the events of July 1983
• My name is Cedric. Do you remember me? (by David Blacker, winner of the Sri Lankan State Literary Award for Best English Novel in 2006 for A Cause Untrue)
• July 1983: Looking back in anger and despair 25 years on (by renown Sri Lankan scholar Dr. Michael Roberts)
• Pricking the conscience on reminiscences of ‘Black July’ (by Austin Fernando, a former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence)
• Some Gruesome Experiences: Memories of July 1983 by DEW Gunasekara, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration
• Shanthi Sachithanandan on July 1983. Shanthi is a prominent Tamil civil society activist.
• Some Reflections arising from Ethnic Riots by Sompala Gunadheera, a senior civil servant.
• Mano Ganesan on his experience of the anti-Tamil riots in July 1983. Mr. Ganesan is a Member of Parliament and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee.
• Memories of a Black Moon – the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka
• Dhammapada and Other Works. A write up on an exhibition commemorating July 1983 by renown artist Chandraguptha Thenuwara.
• ‘Baaldhiya’ or ‘Vaaldhiya’: Two Wor(l)ds Separated by a Consonant
• Black July – My Story

Also in 2008, Vikalpa’s YouTube Channel also recorded 35 short interviews with prominent persons from civil society as well as from ordinary citizens on their thoughts on the events of ’58 and ’83. The combined playlist can be viewed below. For more videos, visit the channel here.