Author Archives: thuppahi

About thuppahi

Sri Lankan and Australian nationality; student of Sri Lankan society and politics; sociology of cricket;

LTTE Activists at Work in Britain, 2021 …. stirring both Labour and Tories

Maya Anthony, in Ceylon Today, 14 October 2021,where the title reads  “The LTTE Born Again; Second-Generation Terrorists”

The remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are regrouping in the UK. Like Osama bin Laden groomed Hamza bin Laden to succeed him, the LTTE leaders and members are grooming their own children. Prabhakaran too set an example by training and grooming his children; Charles Anthony, Dwarka and Balachandran. To radicalise their next generation, the separatists are promoting a false narrative. Using funds and votes, the terrorists are planning to penetrate both the Labour and Conservative Parties in the UK. 

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DB Dhanapala’s AMONG THOSE PRESENT

Ravindra Wijewardhane, in Sunday Observer, 25 July 2021, where the title readsv “One of Dhanapala’s best books”

This is a collection of newspaper articles on important people who shaped events in Sri Lanka and even made history. Published in 1962, includes 22 articles or biographical reviews on 22 people – Anagarika Dharmapala, Ananda Coomaraswami, D.S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, John Kotelawala, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Sirima Bandaranaike, Oliver Goonetileke, Philip Gunawardhane, P. de S. Kularatne, G.P. Malalasekera, L.H. Mettananda, Senarat Paranavitana, G.P. Wickramarachchi, Yakkaduve Thero, Nicholas Attygalle, Herbert Hulugalle, Soliyas Mendis, Nittavela Gunaya, Victor Dhanapala, Arunachalam Mahadeva, Ediriweera Sarathchandra.

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Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

The Religious Threads and Corporate Institutions behind Our World Wars?

Brian Victoria, presenting an article that has appeared in Countercurrents on 19 October 2021 with this title “Something Worse than Slavery?”

With the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, together with the emergence of Critical Race Theory, the spotlight has once again been shone on the heinous institution that was slavery and its aftermath, racial discrimination. Could anything be worse than a system in which a human being becomes the property of another, to do with as the slave owner sees fit?

For good reason, the ownership of one human being by another is now universally prohibited, at least legally, for the inhumane abomination it has always been. Yet, in rejecting slavery it is easy to overlook one aspect that may be identified, for lack of a better word, as its sole positive feature. Namely, it was not in the slave owner’s interest to kill their slaves outright, for only living slaves made it possible for the owner to profit from their labor.

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The Modern Nation States’ Victims

Adam Henry Hughes, whose original title runs thus “Hiding the Body Bags: The Nation-State, Killing and Death”

During a lecture [in 2010], the famous news correspondent Robert Fisk told a story of the reaction of a Reuter’s news agency (London) to receiving graphic pictures of civilian death and destruction caused in Iraq by British forces. Reuter’s called the pictures “obscene” and therefore not fit to be shown back home.(1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We learn about the abstract war, the war of nationalist or ideological sacrifice and endurance, the achievement of some military objective or another; the war that is remembered in one national cemetery or memorial museum. But we must not see the broken and mutilated bodies—the final state of the human being once steel, bomb, bullet or blade meets flesh.(2)

 

 

 

 

Many died in the Battle at LONE PINE

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Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, trauma, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, World War II, World War One

Stefan D’Silva: Intrepid Cameraman, Adventurer and Sri Lankan

Michael Roberts … in introducing his latest treasure trove of photographs in and around the Batticaloa Lagoon let me point readers towards previous items in Thuppahi …

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Filed under Aboriginality, accountability, art & allure bewitching, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

Siran Deraniyagala: An Appreciation

Harindu Muthukumarana, in The Island, 16 October 2021, where the title reads  A legend who rewrote Sri Lankan history: Eulogy for Dr. Deraniyagala” +++

On Tuesday, 05 October, 2021, as the sun rose above the horizon it may have felt like a usual day in Sri Lanka. But the morning broke a tragic news as it gloomed the nation and it left a deep void in the field of archeology. It was for none other than to the demise of Dr. Siran Upendra Deraniyagala.Anyone who has an interest in the history of Sri Lanka doesn’t need an introduction to Deraniyagala and his service. I find him, that rather than investing his energy on archaeology he invested his soul. This set an example for every human to work hard with integrity on what you had embarked on.

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Tony Abbott in Taiwan as Gunman for Morrison and ASPI

Bruce Haigh, in Globsal Times, 13 October 2021, where the title readsAbbott extends Morrison’s diplomatic disaster”

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott blundered his way on stage in Taipei city to deliver a most imprudent speech to the Yushan Regional Security Forum on October 7. Abbott was accorded all the courtesies of a visiting dignitary, including being received by Tsai Ing-wen. Prior to Abbott arriving, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the visit was private yet he was accompanied by a senior Australian representative, Jenny Bloomfield. Her presence conferred official status on Abbott’s presence in Taiwan.

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Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, disparagement, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

Batticaloa Lagoon’s Multifarious Sights & Evocations

Stefan D’Silva 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed under historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people

Chandrika Kumaratunge as President: An Unique Amalgam of Graciousness and Toughness

Chandra Wickremasinghe, in The Island, 17 October 2021, where the title runs thus CBK had an impulsive streak but was gracious in admitting mistakes”

With President Chandrika Kumaratunge assuming office, there was once again a flurry of activity in the Presidential Secretariat and in the Ministries, as she was anxious to expeditiously push through various development programmes she had in mind. Although she did not believe in an overly centralized system of Presidential rule, she kept a close tab particularly on the major development projects and programmes of Ministries by having regular review meetings with them.

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Bandula Warnapura passes away: An Appraisal

Rex Clementine  

There are some who always back underdogs. While the winners’ men go places, those who support the underdogs remain at odds with the system. With the larger circle of course, the fans for example, which is what matters, they remain hugely popular. One such breathed his last yesterday after a brief illness. Bandula Warnapura the nation’s first Test captain was 69.

Warnapura, Gamini Dissanayake & JR Jayewardene at Sri Lanka’s first Test Match at the Oval on 21 February 1982 — a historic occasion

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