Features

Authoritarianism versus ‘Free World’ confrontation

Published

2 years ago

2024/08/1

The battle lines in emerging international politics were further underscored when Russia and China stressed their support for the fiercely and popularly opposed President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. As is known, Venezuelans in their tens of thousands are out on the streets protesting the perpetuation of Maduro’s rule in a presidential poll result which is strongly and widely disputed.

The Venezuelan strongman, as should be expected, is using the ‘iron fist’ to put down the current revolt against him but his days could very well be unprecedentedly troubled from now on. This is on account of the fact that besides the protest winning widespread popular support in his country, a considerable number of Latin American governments and other states are seeing the election as not meeting the standards of a ‘free and fair’ poll.

For instance, the ambassadors of Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama and the Dominican Republic have been asked to leave Venezuela by the latter’s authorities for their ‘interventionist actions and statements’, while withdrawing their own diplomats from the mentioned countries.

It is to be seen whether the unwavering support of authoritarian states, such as Russia and China, will enable Maduro to ride out the storm conclusively. However, given the big power status of Russia and China, the support thus lent by them to Maduro should be seen as critical and decisive in ensuring his survival for the time being as well as featuring majorly in shaping the inter-state politics of Latin America and adjacent regions.

Considering the predominant influence of China and Russia in the shaping of international politics, the analyst would not be wrong in seeing the current world order as a veritable stage where political authoritarianism is in increasing contention with what is seen as the ‘Free World’ for global dominance. Venezuela is the most recent theatre where this confrontation is being carried out.

How ‘Free’ the world’s present major democracies are is a highly controversial question and no debate on the subject is likely to yield a satisfactory consensus easily but there could be little doubt as to what the essential characteristics of authoritarian governance are. For instance, those states where rulers go uncontested and rule in perpetuity, wielding repressive power in the process, are quintessential authoritarian states.

Going by this definition, Russia and China are easily authoritarian states. Besides, they are characterized by the absence of multiparty contestation for power. But by virtue of their predominance in global politics, they shape some of the basic contours of the current international political order.

Ironically though, both China and Russia, emerged on the world stage as workers’ states. For some time both states evinced signs of keeping the interests of working people sharply in focus, but this is no longer the case. Capitalism could be said to be flourishing in both countries and Russia in particular is today quite openly a nucleus of unfettered free enterprise and all the social and political appendages that go along with it.

These comments, though, should not be seen as reflecting negatively on the ‘ordinary people’ of Russia and China. They are heirs to great civilizations and need to be respected profoundly by the rest of the world on that score. For instance, their genius is unbeatable in the areas of literature and the arts and what they have bequeathed to mankind is of undying importance. Besides, it need hardly be said that both countries are front-runners in the fields of science and technology.

But Russia and China lack substantive democratic space and this is regrettable. Ideally, they should have blossomed into multiparty democracies where their citizenries would have been afforded opportunities to determine their political futures freely and at their discretion.

Instead, what these publics have been saddled with are state classes whose interests are not always in accord with the just aspirations of the people. They are burdened with rulers in whose ears the notion of giving up power is anathema. The on-and-off popular revolts and protests that break out in both countries are the proof of this disconnect between the interests of the ruling class and those of the people.

However, the analyst could be accused of being simplistic in his thinking if he sees the ‘Free World’ or the major democracies of the West as being perfect foils for Russia, China and other states of a highly authoritarian orientation. This is not the case.

The January 6, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol Building in Washington by savage supporters of defeated presidential candidate Donald Trump, for example, was a shocking reminder that all is not well with ‘American Democracy’. It drove home the point that the ‘extreme Right’ is alive and well in the US and that goes for the rest of the major democracies of the West.

What the more progressive oriented sections the world over should be concerned about most in this connection, moreover, is the possibility of the ‘extreme Right’ returning to power in the US in the form of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. On both the domestic and international fronts, another Donald Trump regime is likely to take the US in a strikingly Rightist direction.

While democratic institutions at home face the possibility of being undermined, a Trump administration would prove an invigorating fillip to Right wing forces abroad. Some Rightist, anti-democratic lobbies even in Small Sri Lanka warmly welcomed the coming to power of Trump on the last occasion he triumphed at the presidential poll. The most jubilant in Sri Lanka were those who championed majoritarian chauvinism and were seeking to repress into silence minority communities and their movements for autonomy.

All this means that US Vice President and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has her work cut out. On the domestic front, she would need to take the cue from one-time Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders and address the concerns of the US working class, while ensuring in general that social welfarism is not reneged on. Besides, women, minorities and other vulnerable groups need to see that a Harris administration offers them a better future.

For Harris, the international arena would prove equally challenging. She would need to ‘manage’ Russian President Putin who is on record that he is compelled to take Europe back to the Cold War years on account of issues growing out of the Ukraine conflict in particular. She would also need to establish that the US would in no way pursue the double-faced policy of intervening militarily in the South’s war zones, while projecting the US as the number one democracy of the world. In other words, Harris would need to prove that the world is not wrong when it describes the US as being a true representative of the ‘Free World.’

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Features

Proactive peacemaking becomes a paramount need

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wasting wars: Some war-displaced people in Lebanon. BBC

It may be some time before the full impact of food inflation is felt in the West. Until such time the world would continue to keep itself in suspense over whether the Trump administration is in earnest when it seeks to convey the impression that it is backing a negotiated solution in West Asia.

As is usually the case, consumer stress would be one of the final determinants of political change. To the degree to which the average US consumer somehow ‘muddles through’ and puts the food on the table, to the same extent would the Republican sections of the US public in particular be tolerant of the Trump administration’s inconsistent handling of the West Asian war and the main issues stemming from it. That is, there would be no grave popular disaffection and a demand for political change in the short term.

However, the indications are that the Trump administration’s support base is suffering some erosion in the wake of the current economic crisis. While reports indicate that Democratic sections are firming-up their opposition to the political centre, Republican support for Trump is also showing signs of waning, we are given to understand.

The above developments are probably why Trump is on record as having given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘dressing down’ recently on his seeming intransigence on the question of giving negotiations a chance in West Asia. The show of displeasure could be really aimed by Trump at containing the impatience of the American public.

However, the current ground situation in the Middle East, particularly the uncontained bloodshed, is likely to impress on the thinking sections of the world that more than temporary political change is needed in West Asia and the US.

A well thought out political solution that addresses all the contentious issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict is what enlightened opinion would demand, and very rightly. Right now, the ‘peace efforts’ initiated by the Trump administration give the impression of being piecemeal solutions at best.

There have been, of course, numerous initiatives in the past aimed at bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. These failed mainly because they did not address in full the root causes of the conflict.

At bottom the Middle East conflict is mainly about race and religious hate bred by socio-economic and material inequalities. For instance, if the Palestinian people were not displaced and deprived of land occupied by them at the time of the founding of the Israeli state, ethnic enmities would not have grown to the current unmanageable proportions.

When addressing the above questions, though, it must be remembered that the Israelis too were a displaced people who were entitled to land and a state of their own in the Middle East. Basically, out of these seemingly irreconcilable and conflicting demands have grown the Middle East imbroglio.

Middle East peace is considerably about reconciling these demands and arriving at a solution that would ensure the creation of two states that would opt for peaceful co-existence thereafter.

As long as the US does not see the need for a non-partisan solution that addresses the needs of both ethnicities and religions and goes all-out, as it were, to have it implemented, the Middle East would continue to bleed.

However, staunching the blood flow through the creation of two states would be only half the job done, though a very important part of it. More pernicious, pervasive and difficult to remedy are the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatreds that have been unleashed over the decades.

However, if substantial, long-lasting peace is to be fostered in the region the latter ‘demons’ would need to be exorcised from the hearts and minds of the communities concerned. No doubt an uphill task but one that must be undertaken by those who wish the region well.

The UN would need to put its ‘best foot forward’ in such undertakings but it is time that it dawned on the international community and other caring quarters that Middle East peace, and all other such uphill challenges, require proactive peacemaking on the part of all civilized sections for their effective management. That is, public involvement in peacemaking too is a must.

Since hatreds are harboured in the human consciousness the enmities embedded in the latter need to be managed and defused judiciously alongside other undertakings in a peace process. In the case of West Asia, such enmities could be even spread globe-wide besides being multi-dimensional. For instance, it ought to be thought-provoking that Iran is insistent on a peace initiative that would also include Lebanon.

Besides security considerations it is also ethnic and religious affiliations that account for Iran making this demand. For instance, the Shias are a numerically important religious community in Lebanon and they provide a significant number of Hizbollah fighters, who are in a vital sense carrying out a ‘proxy war’ for Iran. It also needs to be factored in that Iran is a Shia-majority country.

Thus trans-border religious affiliations could add to the complexities and enormity of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the task of managing centuries-long enmities needs to be launched and prodded on with by peacemakers since a downing of arms alone would not guarantee substantive peace.

It is not realized sufficiently that the process of ending hatreds begins with mutual apologies by antagonists to a conflict for the harm inflicted on each other. This would be anathema in some ears but there is no getting away from the requirement. It is the vital first step to permanent peace anywhere.

In fact there could be no reconciliation worth speaking of without such mutual apologies. It is a point worth re-iterating in these times when even the government of Sri Lanka is voicing the need for national reconciliation. Well, without the words, ‘I am sorry’, there could be no permanent end to enmities – they would do well to remember.

The above requirements may not go down very well with governments, but they resonate in the hearts and minds of most people, since they are inheritors of religious traditions of some kind.

This is a principal reason why peacemaking works well when publics too are involved in them. The effectiveness of such campaigns increases several fold when they have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru at their helm. A strong proactive involvement by the public in peace could lead to the emergence of such leaders at some point in these campaigns.

Features

Dialog Brings Sri Lanka’s Largest Digital Vesak Experience to Matara

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left to right: Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and Lasantha Theverapperuma experience the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered VR tours.

Official Digital Partner of the 2026 ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, collaborated with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to bring one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most technologically advanced Vesak experiences to the ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone. The three-day celebration, in Matara attracted more than hundred thousand visitors, who engaged with a series of innovative digital activities powered by Dialog 5G Ultra, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, digital pandols and a Data Dansala. The opening ceremony was attended by Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development and Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, along with distinguished guests and Dialog’s senior management.

One of the key attractions at the venue was the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered Virtual Reality (VR) experience, which attracted more than 35,000 participants. The activation enabled devotees to virtually visit and pay homage to sacred Buddhist sites, including the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in India and the Atamasthana in Anuradhapura, directly from the Vesak zone in Matara.

Visitors receive complimentary mobile data through Dialog’s QR-powered Data Dansala.

Dialog also conducted an AI Digital Vesak Greeting Card Competition from 21 May to 01 June 2026, attracting numerous entries from across the country. The shortlisted designs were showcased across 20 large LED screens throughout the venue and across Matara City, and were also made available for download via mobile devices. Further, through the use of AI, traditional Jathaka Katha were reimagined in a digital format, demonstrating how technology can be used to preserve and enhance cultural and religious heritage. Together, these initiatives blended traditional Vesak celebrations with emerging technologies, offering visitors a unique and immersive way to engage with Vesak traditions.

Extending the spirit of Vesak through connectivity, Dialog conducted a special Data Dansala powered by its QR Reload platform, enabling visitors to receive complimentary mobile data by scanning QR codes placed across the venue. In addition to the Matara National Vesak Zone, similar Data Dansala activations were also conducted at the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones in Colombo.Visitors also had the opportunity to create personalised Vesak-themed digital photos through an AI Photo Booth, generating AI-enhanced portraits using their own photographs and adding a contemporary digital element to the Vesak celebrations.

Visitors watch AI-generated Jathaka Katha

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, said, “The 2026 Dakshina Prabha Vesak Festival marked the first time AI-powered digital innovations were incorporated into a National Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka. Presenting Buddhist stories and teachings through technology created a new and engaging way for visitors to connect with these traditions. We thank Dialog for supporting this initiative and for working closely with us to bring our vision to life. Their contribution played an important role in making this first-of-its-kind event a reality.”

Lasantha Theverapperuma, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the opportunity to support the 2026 Dakshina Prabha National Vesak Festival and for embracing technology as part of this year’s celebrations. As the Official Digital Partner, we were privileged to contribute through our Dialog 5G Ultra and AI capabilities, creating new ways for visitors to engage with Vesak traditions while preserving their cultural significance for future generations.”

Beyond supporting the National Vesak Zone in Matara, Dialog also enhanced the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones through a range of digital activations during the Vesak season. The company additionally continued its sustainability initiatives, including the Thirasara Aloka Poojawa, which illuminated rural places of worship through solar-powered lighting solutions.

Features

Beauty, elegance and talent…for women

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Universal Woman is an international pageant focused on “beauty, elegance, and talent” for women, positioning itself as a platform to shape global ambassadors. The 2026 edition will be held in Cambodia, and Sri Lanka will be there, as well.

According to reports coming my way, contestants, at the international event, will work with industry trailblazers, under international standards.

Sri Lankan supermodel, runway and pageant trainer Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana, is the National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026.

With over two decades in the industry, Chula was crowned Miss Sri Lanka 2006, and has since shaped the next generation of titleholders through her Colombo-based Chulpadmendra Catwalk Studio, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading modelling academies.

The team behind Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026

A former host of Derana Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 and a judge for Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2025, Chula now serves as National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026, leading the franchise’s search for Sri Lanka’s delegate to the international final in Cambodia.

Applications for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 are being taken, via WhatsApp: 077 659 4994, says Chula.

The judging panel for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 includes Senaka De Silva, Pageant Aesthetic Advisor & Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Angela Seneviratne, Caroline Jurie, Rozelle Plunkett, and Suraj Mapa.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 officially began its journey with a first round of auditions, held in Colombo, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in Sri Lanka’s pageant industry.

Launching the first round of auditions

The platform aims to empower women while selecting an intelligent, confident, and inspiring representative to compete at the Universal Woman International Pageant 2026 in Cambodia, this September.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka now moves forward with the vision of creating one of the country’s most prestigious and empowering pageants while preparing to crown a queen who will proudly represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.