ABSTRACT
The preoccupation with Tamil elite concerns drew attention away from the massive social and economic problems facing the young in all of the Sri Lankan communities. To rise above the bipolar Sinhala versus Tamil analysis, it is necessary to look at the economic grievances that the youth from both the Sinhala Buddhist majority and the Sri Lankan Tamil minority had in common. Rather than joining in a common cause, however, their grievances gave rise to divergent movements given differential responses by elites of the two communities.
