Vindhya Buthpitiya

Anthropologist of War and Pictures. Conflict. Politics. Resistance. Visual Culture. International Development. Sri Lanka.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

my book (!) ‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ encompassing a decade of research on Tamil photographic practices set against a backdrop of ethno/nationalist conflict & the island’s turbulent post/war out Spring 26 https://t.co/lEhCVqDvGm

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Investigators led by Archeologist Raj Somadeva at Sri Lanka's second largest mass grave today unearthed eight more skeletons including those of two infants taking the total to 283. So far, 279 bodies and several artefacts have been excavated from the site at Chemmani, Jaffna.

[Kumanan @kumanan93]

Chemmani Mass Grave Excavation – Phase 3, Day 16

During the sixteenth day of the third phase of excavations at the Chemmani mass grave site, the remains of eight additional human skeletons were identified.

With today’s discoveries, the total number of human skeletons identified across all three phases of excavations has risen to 283, of which 279 have been fully exhumed so far.

Additionally, a human accumulation associated with Skeleton Nos. 266 and 261 was identified and cleaned. A newly numbered skeleton, No. 274, was also identified within this human accumulation and cleaned during today’s excavation work.

Among today’s exhumations were the remains of two infants.

#ChemmaniMassGrave #Jaffna

[JDS @JDSLanka]

A young Tamil musician, Ganesh Kumar Sankeethan (24) from Udayanagar-West, Kilinochchi was ordered to be remanded by Chavakachcheri Magistrate today, after he was arrested under PTA by Kilinochchi police on Tuesday (2) accusing him of performing a song in memory of war dead.

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Father of one of two young victims of enforced disappearance 15 years ago, pleased over Jaffna magistrate ordering Sri Lanka defence secretary at the time Gotabaya Rajapaksa – who avoided giving evidence to a Jaffna court – to appear before the court online or by any other means.

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

On the 68th day of excavations at Sri Lanka’s second largest mass grave in war torn north, eight more skeletons have been unearthed. One skeleton was observed lying atop another. So far, 266 out of identified 270 human bodies have been recovered from the pits in Chemmani, Jaffna.

[Frances Harrison @francesharris0n]

I can't believe this (self exonerating!) #srilanka Navy inquiry into Alaipiddy massacre in 2006 conducted by an officer who in 2009 is Commander of Eastern Area - ie, where Gunsite torture site was. Impunity linkage is so visible. Another member was Provost Marshal in 09!

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@AjayKamalakaran thank you!

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

‘A Volatile Picture’ month at last!
The book is shipping out in the US via @UWAPress (summer sale on now! ) / UK distributor @LivUniPress. Out in the world on the 16th of June https://t.co/lEhCVqDvGm | https://t.co/Oj81FgrcRH

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@PhilipPanass thank you!

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Tamils in the northern locality of Palali angered by occupying Sri Lanka military extending its business activities beyond the camp boundaries into the neighborhood affecting livelihoods, despite government pledges to return land to the original owners.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

Syria’s Damascus rose has survived empire, crusade, and civil war. Now it faces a heating planet, and the question of who gets to claim it. https://t.co/TIFFBULERl via @AtmosMag

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

“Do you think you’re superior for not using AI in your work?” Thank you for that beautiful question. Yes, I do.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

annual re-sharing of Sundar Ganesan’s important words for @HimalSouthasian | 45 years ago today, groups led/enabled by UNP politicians & the Sri Lankan police burned down the Jaffna Public Library destroying 97,000 volumes | A requiem https://t.co/COZpzTIyIi

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Pallegama Hemarathana, Sri Lankan monk who allegedly abused a girl child sexually has been temporarily sacked from the chief monk post of Nuwara Kalaviya and the custodian post of the holiest eight sites of Anuradhapura, ''until court proceedings conclude" says top Buddhist body.

[Frances Harrison @francesharris0n]

#srilanka’s #disappearance office @ompsrilanka has data that doesn’t add up!

1978 cases vanished+ 10000s from late 80s simply ignored!

OMP has become of the architecture of erasure.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas

[LankaFiles @lankafiles]

Hundreds of Tamils in the northern Kilinochchi district took to the streets protesting Sri Lanka government plans to quarry limestone, mine mineral sands & instal windmills affecting the livelihoods and ecosystem in localities including Veravil, Valaipadu, Ponnaveli and Kiranchi.

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@francesharris0n argh ofc 😢

[Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindib_]

@francesharris0n @bbclysedoucet @YaldaHakimFund @SkyYaldaHakim @MarieColvinNet https://t.co/LrLQAc0jJL scheme will reopen in the fall.

[Erika Guevara Rosas @ErikaGuevaraR]

Generative AI doesn’t run on magic. It runs on massive data pipelines built on privacy violations by design.

Our new @Amnesty report exposes how big tech’s AI systems are powered by surveillance, data extraction, and abuse of people’s rights, at scale.

We researched the models powering some of the most popular publicly available standalone generative AI tools, including GPT 3 by Open AI, Google’s Gemini, Meta’s Llama, DeepSeek and tools by Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.

This is not innovation at any cost. It comes at a high price: our human rights.

Read the report: https://t.co/MGRonqai7o