Sri Lanka: The 2019 Easter Day Bombings with Ambika Satkunanathan and Qadri Ismail

<p>On this episode, we host Qadri Ismail and Ambika Satkunanathan. On the anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings that occurred nearly two years ago in Sri Lanka, we discuss the impact of the Rajapaksa presidency, resistance and protest movements by Tamil and Muslim communities, and the recent UN resolution adopted with regards to human rights violations in the country. Our guests offer important contexts and insights into the framing of events in Sri Lanka and how we might better understand its complicated past and present.</p> <p>This week’s show is hosted and produced by SWANA collective members David Lloyd and Soraya Zarook, and edited by Ahmad Ibrahim. Please follow us on<a href="https://www.facebook.com/swanaregionradio/" target="_blank"> <u>Facebook</u></a> and<a href="https://www.instagram.com/swanaregionradio/" target="_blank"> <u>Instagram</u></a> for updates on our forthcoming shows.</p> <p><a href="https://globalinitiative.net/profile/ambika-satkunanathan/" target="_blank">Ambika Satkunananthan</a> is a Fellow of the Open Society Foundations. From 2015-2020 she was a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Prior to that for 8 years she functioned as the National Legal Consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is Chairperson of the <a href="https://neelan.org/" target="_blank">Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust</a>, an indigenous philanthropic organisation, and Vice-Chairperson of <a href="https://www.uafanp.org/" target="_blank">Urgent Action Fund- Asia &amp; Pacific</a>, a regional feminist grantmaking organisation.</p> <p><a href="https://www.chrflagship.uwc.ac.za/qadri-ismail/" target="_blank">Qadri Ismail</a> was a journalist in Sri Lanka in the 1980s and now teaches postcolonial studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/abiding-by-sri-lanka" target="_blank"><em>Abiding by Sri Lanka</em></a> and <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783486335/Culture-and-Eurocentrism" target="_blank"