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Ravindra Ranasinha: Dramatist, journalist, sociologist, educationist and social worker, Ravindra Ranasinha writes profusely on the current political situation in Sri Lanka. He concentrates widely on multicultural aspect of Sri Lankan society in order to reconcile the conflicting ethnic groups in the country and focuses his post-modernist thoughts on making school education a multicultural sphere enabling children to accept and appreciate diversity in the social environment. Ravindra's thinking on cultural politics has made him to write on the influence of media on shaping the minds of the people in the current political context and he continuously queries whether Sri Lanka could survive in a mono-cultural sphere. These thoughts on ideology extends to the views of Louise Althusser, a post-modern Marxist critique and Ravindra is much influenced by the Frankfurt school. Walter Benjamin's lectures on 'Author as Producer' and 'Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' have influenced Ravindra heavily and he has translated and published these texts enriching the Sinhala literature on art criticism. He has translated texts from Michel Foucault (History of Sexuality) and Simone de Beauvoir (Second Sex). Presently, Ravindra is working on a book on the prison system in Sri Lanka, which is a thorough study on prison life titled 'Jesus in Prison'. He is also a social activist attached to the Friends of Tibet supporting the cause of the Tibetans to free themselves from all repression that is meted out by the Chinese authorities. He can be reached at: ravindra.ranasinha@designandpeople.org
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WRITINGS:
Silent Majority: The Sri Lankan Catastrophe
In this paper, Ravindra Ranasinha of Design & People explores how the present regime in Sri Lanka utilises its ideological labels and the regime's machinery to gag Sri Lankan citizens and the sorrowful transformation undergone by the populace, turning them into silent spectators, by their own choice.
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Nation Building of Rajapaksa: Rhetoric of a Power-Project
In this note, Ravindra Ranasinha tries to sum up the total impact of Rajapakse regime's power-project as an 'image building' effort which is proven through so-called 'developmental' plans. The efforts to attract the eye of Westerners has become an primary function of the regime to ensure that funding becomes possible for their construction plan.
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The Forward March of Mahinda
Sri Lankan journalist and educationist Ravindra Ranasinha writes about what is really going on in Sri Lanka after the LTTE rebels were wiped out from the island with the power of the gun and how the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajpakse is battling numerous legal charges leveled against his regime by the Tamil Diaspora.
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Sri Lanka: A State Minus Information
Ravindra Ranasinha investigates how the citizen is barred of right to information and the dictatorial practices of those who are in governance stifling the free flow of information through ruthless action against the media. The deterioration of democracy in Sri Lanka brings out the fact that State has determined to exist only with its own ideology.
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Mapping Creative Resistance of Tamils in Sri Lanka
Ravindra Ranasinha maps how journalism, creative writing, drama and painting survived among Tamils during the civil war and further elaborates the vitality of the creative resistance of Tamil artist as a source of inspiration for the population to endure hardships. He explores on how the Tamil identity was created through arts.
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The Invisible Hands Of Sri Lanka
Ravindra Ranasinha discusses the growth of totalitarianism in Sri Lanka through propaganda machines which has kept the population silent and infringed the right to information and the contribution of China in the acceleration of war and the Chinese strategic intervention in making Sri Lanka another Georgia.
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Politicising Citizen Thinking in Sri Lanka
Ravindra Ranasinha examines how the thinking patterns of a country functions in the political maneuvering of citizen's thinking. This investigation could be considered as an introduction to a deep study on the prevailing 'silence' in Sri Lanka. This new thinking will open doors for anyone who wishes to explore cultural politics of the world.
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The Plural Society in Modern Sri Lanka
Veteran Sri Lankan theatre activist Ravindra Ranasinha focuses on the pluralism that is evident in the Sri Lankan society proves of an untapped resource with immense potentiality. If properly understood by the politicians, this multiculturalism could be made a focal point in bringing peace and harmony to the much damaged country due to a prolonged ethnic conflict.
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Multi-Culturalism or Mono-Culture: A Quest in Sri Lanka
Ravindra Ranasinha looks at the plurality of the Sri Lankan society and shares the view that conflict in the island would end up with crushing of the LTTE, thus expecting the rise of a dominant mono-culture of the Sinhala community. And on May 19, 2009, Sri Lankan government declared the end of the civil war with the killing of the LTTE Supremo.
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