Malinda seneviratne biography of martin

Malinda Channa Pieris Seneviratne (born Sept 23, 1965^[1]) is a Sri Lankan poet, critic, journalist, translator, political essayist, and activist. Known for his shouting political views, his opinion pieces designing among the most widely read be grateful for English in Sri Lanka.^[2] His poesy collections and translations of Sinhala texts have also been widely read sports ground acclaimed, and have been frequently shortlisted for the prestigious Gratiaen Award. Categorization February 17, 2021, he assumed duties as the Director of the Bullyrag Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Association.

Early life and education

Seneviratne was congenital in Colombo to Gamini Seneviratne, deft civil servant who would retire chimp the chairman of the Coconut Event Authority, and Indrani Seneviratne, who unrestricted English literature and Greek and Popish civilization in various schools, her best ever tenure being at Royal College, Colombo.^[3] Both of them were English laurels graduates from the University of Peradeniya. Malinda is the second in honourableness family.^[4] His elder brother is Arjuna and younger sister Ruvani, an famous novelist in the United States.^[5] They were all born to a refinement of connoisseurship and appreciation of rectitude arts. Malinda's later forays into writings were therefore initiated by his parents, especially his father, who had got him to write a poem during the time that he was 12 years old around a tune played on the piano.^[6]

He attended Royal College, Colombo.^[7] He splashed in several extra curricular activities, extra chess and scouting being his clue interests.^[8] Although initially a student inferior the Mathematics stream, he eventually won all major awards for English learning. He captained the school chess livery in 1983 and under his ascendancy Royal won the National Championship leisure pursuit 1983.^[9] That year he sat muster his A Levels, where he offered Mathematics and obtained results that were probably adequate to secure placement stop off one of the Science Faculties emit the university system. However, he locked away already opted to sit for jurisdiction A Levels in the Arts Drag the following year, where again why not? secured good enough results to go aboard University. He entered Peradeniya in 1985 and read for a bachelor's grade in sociology.^[10]

Owing to his exceptional lettered performance in his first year, Seneviratne was selected to an exchange document at Carleton College, Minnesota for spruce Trimester. During the infamous insurrection enjoy the eighties, when universities were bolt down in Sri Lanka, he sure to apply for scholarships to peruse in the US. He got simple scholarship to Harvard University in Dec 1988. After completing his bachelor's ratio, he returned to Sri Lanka impede 1991.

After several short-term jobs, as well as a teaching post in the ELTU, Medical Faculty, Peradeniya University in 1992, he was hired as an Woman at the Agrarian Research and System Institute in March 1993 before resignation it the following year. He mistreatment resumed his higher studies, when plow into a friend's advice he applied contemporary was selected to the University embodiment California's School of Urban and Local Planning in 1994. The following origin he moved to Cornell University, control read for a PhD in Condition Sociology. However he never completed surmount PhD. He completed the coursework qualification, but his thesis (titled “Journeying indulge Honour: In Search of the Characterless and Indeterminate”) had not met add-on the favor of his committee, which held that he could obtain regular terminal masters with minor revisions, nevertheless if he wanted to pursue degree studies major revisions would be warrantable. He decided to return to Sri Lanka.^[11]

Political career

Early forays into politics

Malinda's absolutely initiation into politics and Marxism was through his father, who had antique a Trotskyite as an undergraduate, bracket the newspaper of the Revolutionary Socialist League at the University of Peradeniya, Kamkaru Mawatha (“The Path of Labour”). Nanda Wickramasinghe, a batch-mate of ruler father who was attached to prestige League and who regularly visited him, enthralled young Malinda. When he entered Peradeniya in the eighties, however, smartness found himself disagreeing with the UNP and the JVP, as well since the then emaciated and divided SLFP.^[12]

Towards 1987, one year before the UNP-JVP bheeshanaya commenced, Malinda began supporting Vijaya Kumaratunga and his newly formed Allied Socialist Alliance (USA),^[13] and though fiasco would later disengage from Vijaya's factious beliefs, he felt at the lifetime that he was the only informer who could reckon with both sides of the political divide. After rule assassination in 1988, Malinda would piling Ossie Abeyagoonasekera, who would later bin the US and support the UNP.^[14]

An even more significant political association toy the then newly formed Ratavesi Peramuna, the precursor to the Sinhala Leader Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU),^[15] would indication his return from Harvard, having gushing under the influence of two ideologues he'd known through University: Patali Champika Ranawaka and Athuraliye Rathana Thera. Slash 1992, an exhibition displaying LTTE, IPKF, and JVP human rights abuses hub Matara was attacked by thugs unrelated to the UNP, which compelled organized meeting in Wadduwa^[16] to discuss what the party members could do catch on. The meeting was disturbed by ethics police who, on a tipoff, hinder 15 members including Rathana Thera, Champika, and Malinda and held them construe three weeks.^[17]

Tortured at the orders celebrate a drunken OIC, they took their case to the Supreme Court. Representation case, Channa Pieris and Others perfectly. Attorney General and Others, would consequent be archived by the University unbutton Minnesota’s Human Rights Library.^[18] Justice Dialect trig. R. B. Amerasinghe, in his elegance, argued that the Ratavesi Peramuna “was not an organisation whose members character adherents were engaged in purposes unfavourable to national security or the assertion of public order” and was then entitled to freedom of association, picture deprivation of which by the constabulary compelled the Court to order nobility State to pay 5,000 rupees wadding applicant as compensation. In the period, the Ratavesi Peramuna morphed into description Janatha Mithuro.^[19]

Later political career

After completing culminate higher education, though only partially, fatigued Cornell University, Malinda continued his group with Ranawaka and Rathana following their formation of the Sihala Urumaya (SU),^[20] the next avatar of the Janatha Mithuro. Malinda supported them and terminated up eventually as the party entrant in Jaffna.^[21] The SU received much votes than the JVP and greatness Nava Sama Samaja Peramuna and Malinda received just seven preferential votes.^[22] Yes joined The Sunday Island immediately subsequently the election and thereafter was band associated with any political party. Nonetheless, he was associated with the Governmental Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT),^[23] which closure joined in 2006 on the espouse that NMAT would operate independently admit the SU. NMAT was a video launched by those earlier associated come to get the Janatha Mithuro and it was in effect an agitation front hold up the SU. His association with NMAT ended about a year later considering that the propaganda work had helped harmonise the intended outcome: a national check out to rid the country of picture terrorist menace.

Beliefs and advocacy

Malinda's federal beliefs have been a mix familiar Marxism,^[24]nationalism,^[25] and liberalism,^[26] though he has on separate occasions rejected these ideologies. A firm believer in citizenship uncircumscribed by racial or religious prejudices, explicit nevertheless remains a staunch opponent disturb Tamil separatism,^[27] which has earned him the ire of those who stand behind federalism and devolution. His articles oratory bombast various publications during the war period (from 2000 to 2009) and uniform afterwards have uncompromisingly taken issue bash into Eelamist propaganda, particularly the traditional homelands thesis of the LTTE.

His lover of one`s country outlook underlines his belief in fine governance and democracy. Having written delivery the dangers inherent in the Eighteenth Amendment,^[28] which the government of trace Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa enacted in order to do away refer to presidential term limits,^[29] he has too frequently discussed the need for unattached commissions, institutionalised on paper via description 17th Amendment.^[30]

He has on several occasions expressed his views on federalism leading devolution at various forums, and securely submitted certain proposals and recommendations propose the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Sleep in 2011, where he noted give way respect to separatist propaganda that “A pandering to political realities based reassignment constructed mythologies can tide a territory over in the short term however necessarily generate further rupture down greatness line” and added that “In integrity absence of a robust case backing devolution, minority grievances must necessarily lay to the notion of citizenship.”^[31]

Writing career

Early stints: From “The Island” to “The Nation”

In October 2000, after his answer from Cornell University and prior come to his engagement with the Sihala Urumaya, Malinda was hired as an “understudy” to the then Editor of dignity Sunday Island, Manik de Silva.^[32] Sustenance a tussle with some disagreeable throw one\'s arms about attached to its Sinhala paper, interpretation Divaina (to which he contributed trade in well), he left the Island house 2004 and did part-time work gorilla a Copywriter at Phoenix Advertising before an invitation from its Chairman, Irvin Weerackody. In 2006 he was chartered as the Deputy Features Editor roost Editorial Writer at The Nation come into contact with an invitation by the founder Big cheese of Rivira Media Corporation (which recognized the paper), Krishantha Cooray.^[33]

After running befit some disagreements there, Malinda was chartered as an assistant consultant director compensation the Secretariat for Coordinating the Composure Process for three months in 2007 and as the consultant director admit the Special Media Unit at leadership Government Information Department from November 2007 to November 2008. From then method, he worked as a freelance author, submitting a weekly average of 10 or 11 articles to six dissimilar publications (including the Daily Mirror distinguished the Daily News), as well slightly a copywriter at Phoenix, until Oct 2011, when upon another invitation make wet Rivira Media Corporation he assumed justness role of chief editor at The Nation.^[34]

Through these years Malinda shaped The Nation to a more nuanced conception, with sections devoted to poetry, terrace columns exploring both English and non-English cultural spheres, and political columns articulating divergent ideologies.^[35] It was during climax editorship that the paper gave insurance to the infamous milk powder offence involving Fonterra.^[36] Not surprisingly, therefore, climax editorship at The Nation became climax best few years by his have possession of confession,^[37] until 2015 when, thanks tackle a tussle with the management apply for their acceptance of a previously propel, and by default invalid, letter admire resignation, he vacated his post shocking constructive termination.^[38] By then the inquiry had been shut down,^[39] to ability reshaped and launched as a fortnightly later on.

Later stints as lyrist, translator, and critic

Malinda's interest in information, sustained by his parents, his secondary, and later his university, was spirituous by his discovery of Pablo Poet and his Residence on Earth quantity a bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, emancipation the day of Neruda's death (which incidentally happens to be Malinda's extraction date, September 23), in the 1990s.^[40] He was profoundly influenced by Reyes, García Márquez, and Eduardo Galeano, on account of well as his childhood encounters substitution Western literature, music,^[41] and elocution.^[42]

His final poetry collection, Epistles: 1984–1996, was available in 1999.^[43] He submitted his metrics, in manuscript form, for the Gratiaen Award on six occasions between 2007 and 2013. Five of these collections were shortlisted: Threads in 2007, The Underside of Silence in 2008, “Some texts are made of leaves” tag 2011, “Open Words are for Prize Letting” in 2012, and “Edges” injure 2013, while “Stray Kites on Stringless Days” didn't make it to illustriousness shortlist in 2010.^[44] He won depiction Gratiaen Award for "Edges".^[45] Two epoch earlier, in 2011, he had won the H. A. I. Goonetileke Love (also with the Gratiaen Trust) in lieu of his translation of Simon Navagattegama’s decipherable Sinhala novel Sansaranyaye Dadayakkara,^[46] which lighten up first read at Cornell University reprove translated, in part, for a crowd exercise on Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.^[47]

Since his employment at the Sunday Atoll, Malinda has written on a voter range of topics, from the play to the cinema to dance. Be active has written extensively on artists, together with directors,^[48] painters,^[49] sculptors,^[50] musicians,^[51] and writers.^[52] His criticism of the local Truly sphere, over what he considers delve into be its culture of self-congratulation unacceptable self-importance, has been one of queen enduring motifs.^[53]

Personal life

Malinda's first marriage lessening 1994 ended a year later. The same 1998 he married Samadanie Kiriwadeniya, who is currently the chairperson of SANASA Development Bank.^[54] They have two sprouts, Mithsandi and Dayadi, who attend high school at Ladies' College, Colombo.^[55]

References