COMMUNITY
Storytelling in Post-Aragalaya Sri Lanka
AUTHOR
AUTHOR
AUTHOR
“If you truly believe someone is suppressing you, you can end up in jail for 15 years. So is there really a space for citizen journalism? I truly don't have an answer.”
Panel
Colombo
Aragalaya
Storytelling
Citizen Journalism
Social Media
Fiction
Media Landscape
State & Media
Corporate
Corporate Media
Sri Lanka
Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day
War Memorials
Post-Aragalaya Moment
Narratives
Complicating the Unity of the Aragalaya
Optimism on the Local Level
Youth Media
Youth Tech
Remembrance
Mourning
State Repression
Social Media Crackdown
Sentencing Laws
Ranil Wickremasinghe
Gotagogama
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DISPATCH
Panel
Colombo
27th
Aug
2024
The SAAG launch event for Vol. 2, Issue 2 in Colombo, on 7th May 2024, began with a panel introduced by Chief Editor Sabika Abbas.
The panel, moderated by Andrew Fidel Fernando, discussed whether storytelling is possible in post-aragalaya Sri Lanka. How do artists and writers of all persuasions deal with the disappeared? How do we face a state that refuses to even let remembrance occur, particularly regarding the events of 18th May 2009, or Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day?
How did the events of 2022, the aragalaya in all its optimism, and the sharp break that followed affect the nature of reporting, fiction, social media, and the work of youth tech organizations?
The panel included:
Kanya D'Almeida, an award-winning writer and podcaster
Benislos Thushan, a digital storytelling enthusiast and lawyer
Darshatha Gamage, a youth empowerment and development specialist
Raisa Wickrematunge, Deputy Editor at Himal Southasian
We can't even remember our loved ones. Even regarding May 18th, we simply don't have any war memorials for people to go and mourn, and no national initiatives. Before, people at least went to social media. now it specifically says if you use social media, if you talk against the military, guess what? You'll be put into prison for five years—or more. If you truly believe someone is suppressing you, you can end up in jail for 15 years. So is there really a space for citizen journalism? I truly don't have an answer.
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