“Republic of Amnesia” Film screening on Tuesday, April 7 at 6:00pm, at Williard Straight Theatre, Cornell Cinema

 

                     Republic of Amnesia | Official Trailer

Young activists lead Sri Lanka’s 2022 uprising, toppling an authoritarian president but can fragile hope survive in a country built on forgetting?

Directed by Kannan Arunasalam, Republic of Amnesia follows the rise and fall of Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya (“The Struggle”) the youth-led protest movement that forced authoritarian president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in 2022. At its heart are young activists like Melani, Buwanaka and Jeana, who organize marches, face arrest, and confront a political system built to endure. As they challenge a powerful dynasty, their struggle raises a deeper question: can fragile hope survive in a country built on forgetting?

As the spirit of the Aragalaya ripples across Asia, inspiring youth movements from Bangladesh to Indonesia, the film looks beyond the moment itself. It asks what remains and what is lost when a movement fades, and suggests that the struggle for democracy lies not only in institutions or leaders, but in the stories a society chooses to preserve.

Filmmaker Kannan Arunasalam will join for a conversation after the film with Daniel Bass, Senior Program Manager of the South Asia Program.

Free admission! Sponsored by the South Asia Program at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

About the filmmaker
Kannan Arunasalam is a British-Sri Lankan filmmaker working across documentary film and moving-image installation. His work explores memory, political resistance, and the legacies of conflict and colonialism. His installation The Tent (2019) was presented in a solo exhibition at Yorkshire Contemporary. His documentary Sri Lanka’s Rebel Wife (2021) was shortlisted for Best Documentary at the DIG Investigative Film Awards. He recently completed two feature documentaries: Republic of Amnesia (2025, UK/Sri Lanka), examining Sri Lanka’s 2022 Aragalaya protest movement, and Possible Landscapes (2025, US/Trinidad & Tobago), which premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival and explores intergenerational environmental experience.

In Sinhala, Tamil and English with English subtitles. More at republicofamnesia.film.

Part of our “Campus Collaborations” and “Doc Spots” series.

“What the Europeans did to Sri Lanka” by Lost in Context

From their first arrival in 1505 to Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, European empires shaped the island, and the rest of Asia.
 
This video looks at Sri Lanka’s colonial experience, how it was transformed and what stayed the same.
 
Sources:
-A History of Sri Lanka, K. M. de Silva -Elephant Complex; Travels in Sri Lanka, John Gimlette
-The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, Gordon Weiss
-The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Sanjeev Sanyal
-This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War, Samanth Subramanian
  • Various news sources, especially The Economist
00:00 Intro
01:00 Portuguese arrival
02:23 Portuguese Ceylon
04:12 Dutch Ceylon
07:00 Colombo to Hikkaduwa
11:00 British arrival
12:14 ‘Indian’ Tamils
13:15 British Ceylon
16:33 Independence
17:27 Hikkaduwa to Galle
18:37 Galle Protest
21:39 The President resigns
23:21 Next video
 
 

 

 

Décryptage sur  RFI – Radio France Internationale consacré à “Le Sri Lanka au bord du gouffre” avec Delon Madavan

Nous partageons le lien pour réécouter le podcast de l’émission Décryptage sur  RFI – Radio France Internationale consacré à “Le Sri Lanka au bord du gouffre”.
Delon madavan, enseignant chercheur spécialiste du Sri Lanka était au micro d’Anne Corpet pour partager son analyse sur la crise que traverse alors le pays.

Podcast “Le Sri Lanka au bord du gouffre” avec Eric Meyer et Delon Madavan pour l’émission de radio “Cultures Mondes” de France Culture

Nous partageons un lien pour écouter le podcast de l’émission “Cultures Mondes” de Radio France consacrée à “Le Sri Lanka au bord du gouffre”. Eric Meyer et Delon Madavan ont été invité par Florian Delorme à partager leurs analyse sur la situation du pays alors en pleine crise économique, politique, sociale et humanitaire.

“Sri Lanka : comment la population a mis fin à la « Gotacratie »” par Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud et Delon Madavan pour The Conversation

Nous partageons un lien pour accéder à l’article “Sri Lanka : comment la population a mis fin à la « Gotacratie »” rédigé par Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud et Delon Madavan pour The Conversation

“Sri Lanka: an island in turmoil” by Delon Madavan and Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud in Echogéo

The English version of the article written by Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud and Delon Madavan, on the Sri Lankan crisis, published in the online academic journal Echogéo is available here

Abstract:

Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. Shortages and inflation of basic necessities (food, fuel, medicines) have provoked an unprecedented popular uprising of Sri Lankans since March 2022, across ethnic and religious divides, which led to the flight of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on July 9, 2022, and his resignation a few days later, putting an end to almost two decades of rule by the Rajapaksa brothers. This article looks back at the causes of this political, economic, social and now humanitarian crisis to glimpse the unprecedented nature of this protest and to question the mobilization of civil societies in an island long marked by the polarization of political life, and finally the geopolitical effects of this multifaceted crisis.

Anthony Goreau-Ponceaud et Delon Madavan« Sri Lanka: an island in turmoil »EchoGéo [En ligne], Sur le Vif, mis en ligne le 16 novembre 2022, consulté le 26 février 2026URL : http://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/23917 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/echogeo.23917

“Gotabaya Rajapaksa, un politicien brutal au seuil du pouvoir sri-lankais” par Vanessa Dougnac

“Il est l’homme lié à l’un des épisodes les plus violents de l’histoire du Sri Lanka et du début du XXIe siècle. Celui qui fut le stratège militaire de l’anéantissement de la guérilla des Tigres tamouls, en 2009, arbore aujourd’hui un sourire jovial sur les posters de la campagne présidentielle. Moustache fournie et crinière cendrée, Gotabaya Rajapaksa a percé parmi un nombre record de 35 candidats et s’est imposé comme l’un des favoris du scrutin qui se déroulera ce samedi 16 novembre.”

via: Le Temps

“Le clan Rajapaksa consolide son emprise sur le Sri Lanka” par L’Obs avec AFD

via: L’Obs

“Sri Lanka’s New President Gotabaya: The View From New Delhi” by Devirupa Mitra

From New Delhi, the picture on the Rajapaksas is mixed. There is lingering bitterness over friction in bilateral ties during the last few years of his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure. But those memories have now been superseded with the difficulty faced with Maithripala Sirisena in pushing flagship Indian projects forward

via: The Wire

“Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election: Healing the Wounds is the New Task” by Pr Jayadeva Uyangoda

Meanwhile, the pressures of big electoral victories are such that the new president and his family members, who will constitute the core of the new regime, might find it difficult to resist the temptation of giving into the wishes of their Sinhalese nationalist constituency. This is particularly so in view of the ethnic polarisation of the electoral verdict.

via: Groundviews

“Activists call on GR to protect democracy, minorities” by Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya

With a slightly different outlook towards the days and weeks to follow, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Executive Director Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu was of the opinion that instability will not come about if the appointment of a Prime Minister and Cabinet and the dissolution of Parliament can be resolved amicably.

He added that ideally, anyone elected as the Executive President has the power to reconcile the North and the South. “As you know, the Election results have split the country in two, with the minorities going one way and the rest of the country going another,” Dr. Saravanamuttu said, adding that, “If we cannot agree with each other, we will never be able to pursue the path of prosperity that we all say we deserve. We need to have that reconciliation and unity. It cannot become a majoritarian democracy.” Dr. Saravanamuttu added that he hopes President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa will recognise the need for reconciliation and unity and take necessary steps to ensure he is the President of all Sri Lankans. Echoing his views, Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Chairman Saliya Pieris said: “The President is the President of the entire country, and whether one supported him or opposed him at the Election, he must be constructively supported in the implementation of his vision for the country, as long as he does so in terms of the spirit of the Constitution.”

via. ft.lk

“Présidentielle au Sri Lanka : le pays rappelle au pouvoir le clan Rajapaksa, connu pour sa brutalité” Harold Thibault

“Sept mois après les attentats de Pâques, le Sri Lanka a fait le choix du sécuritaire et rappelé au pouvoir le clan Rajapaksa, en élisant à la présidence lors du scrutin de samedi 16 novembre l’un des frères, Gotabaya, ancien secrétaire à la défense qui écrasa dans un bain de sang la guérilla tamoule lorsque son aîné, Mahinda, était chef de l’Etat (2005-2015). Selon la commission électorale, il a recueilli 52,25 % des suffrages, devançant largement son rival Sajith Premadasa (41,99 %). M. Premadasa avait reconnu sa défaite un peu plus tôt dimanche.”

via: Le Monde

“Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa Declares Victory Over Ruling Party Candidate” The Wire

“Rabidly anti-Tamil and Islamophobic Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a man accused of war crimes comes to power in Sri Lanka
’70-year-old former wartime defence secretary, the younger brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has swept the poll with over 60% margins in most Sinhala majority districts while his 52-year-old rival Premadasa has performed well in the minority Tamil-dominated north and east provinces.
Premadasa has garnered over 80% of the vote in Tamil areas, reducing Rajapaksa to less than 5% in some areas in the north….According to observers, with pro-China Rajapaksa in the fray, India is keeping a close watch on the election results as its outcome will have a bearing on the country’s presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making its inroads.’

via: The Wire

“Présidentielle à haut risque à Sri-Lanka” radio Vatican

“Dans un pays meurtri par des attentats en avril dernier le jour de Pâques, et qui ont coûté la vie à 269 personnes, deux hommes s’affrontent aujourd’hui pour le poste de président: un candidat proche du pouvoir et un candidat du puissant clan Rajapaksa.”

via: Radio Vatican