Chandre Dharmawardana, whose preferred title is “Political Rhetoric, or Sounding the Death Knell of Sri Lanka’s Agriculture?”
A quote attributed to the Greek play write Euripides says that “ Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”. Reading the news from Sri Lanka, one can only wonder if a prescient Euripides had Lanka’s successive rulers since 1970 in mind.
Filed under accountability, biotechnology, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, environmental degradation, governance, irrigation, island economy, land policies, life stories, medical puzzles, patriotism, politIcal discourse, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
Sirima Kiribamune, in Ethnic Studies Report, vol IV/1, January 1986, pp. 1-23 … article retrieved via meticulous work by Iranga Silva of the ICES, Kandy — in a committed labour of love
“The past is intelligible to us only in light of the present; and we can fully understand the present only in the light of the past.” E.H. Carr.[*]
Professor Kiribamune
The current ethnic problems of Sri Lanka form the backdrop to this paper. The present tension lies between the majority Sinhalese who speak an Indo-Aryan tongue and the Tamils who use a Dravidian language. The two groups claim distinct racial antecedents, the Sinhalese styling themselves Aryans from north India and the Tamils tracing their origins to the Dravidians of the south. (The use of the terms ‘Aryan’ and ‘Dravidian’ to denote racial groups is considered totally unscientific. This terminology can only be used in a linguistic context. Sinhalese is included in the Indo-European or Aryan group of languages and Tamil belongs to the Dravidian group. The division of people speaking these two groups of languages into distinct racial types is not valid even for India and less so for Sri Lanka.) This division is further marked by religious differences, the Sinhalese being largely Buddhist and the Tamils, Hindus. Interested parties on both sides of the conflict have tried to use the past to legitimise different standpoints. It is the responsibility of the historian to set the record straight and that is the aim of this paper, but one is all too aware of the fact that complete detachment in the writing of history is hardly ever achieved. It is an ideal towards which one strives and needs to strive.
Filed under ancient civilisations, architects & architecture, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, island economy, life stories, politIcal discourse, population, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, world events & processes
Jean-Pierre Page, in New Cold War, 27 April 2021, where the ttile runs thus: “The Longer War and Sleepy Joe in Wonderland,”
The Biden Administration appears to be implementing most of the recommendations in the Atlantic Council’s Longer Telegram: Toward a new American China strategy, an important strategic document about US policy towards China published in January 2021.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, foreign policy, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Anoma Pieris** with an introductory note in response to my invitation that is pertinent & runs thus “Hello Uncle Michael, Nice to hear from you. Afraid you reach me at a time when I am overwhelmed with work, in fact that has been the case throughout the pandemic. I dont know if I have the mental space to address your text but offer instead reflection on my understanding of the theme. Best, Anoma.”
My childhood sensibilities of being Sinhala were formed in two ways which were moral and monstrous: (1) First by being educated in a language stream with specific texts like the Guttila Kavya, Saddharma Ratnavaliya, Ummaga Jatakaya, which being religious texts, educated even a nominally Christian child in a missionary college into Sinhala Buddhist forms of cultural patrimony and morality. But because it was a Christian school the lines between Sinhala and Tamil classes were lightly drawn and we came together for sports activities, and after 1983 for many more subjects, partly due to the depletion of numbers but also a deliberate strategy initiated by our principal Sirancee Gunawardana, who was committed to empathetic coexistence. (2) The second way in which being Sinhala was made evident to me was through the 1983 pogrom when for a short time I volunteered in the camp set up in our school, seeing people like myself from my social background who had been displaced, dispossessed and fearful and witnessing and being made aware of Sinhala identification as behind monstrous acts. It also made me aware that I was part of a Christian minority and that a division was being drawn within the Sinhala community because of our greater empathy for Tamil friends.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, human rights, language policies, life stories, meditations, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Filed under heritage, performance, sri lankan society
Pics by Wayne Pearson in The Sunday Mail, 2 May 2021
.…. we live in th southern ranges of the Adelaide Hills and the Belair National Park next door shares these delights
Filed under landscape wondrous
Michael Roberts
That ebullient West Indian singer Lord Superior used to stir cricketing fans with his music — especially his rendering of “Cricket Luv’Ly Cricket.”
And Now we have the topsy-turvy world cricketing mayhem in Sri Lanka’s cricketing adminsistration bested and trumped by a 4th choice left-arm spinner named Praveen Jayawickrema taking six Bangladeshi wickets in his first-ever Test match. ….. And note that Bangaldesh is no pushover on Asian wickets these days and this was a Bangladesh side who scored over 500 runs in the persvious Test match at Pallekelle.
Fr Tissa Balasuriya
VISIT THIS SITE: https://dpul.princeton.edu/sae_sri_lanka_dissidents?fbclid=IwAR0r_CuHdd9OwgkvjStbaGXlscmQ7hwkI1uJRt1uETMLIebFoVq1bPr40vY
This collection documents the activity of a generation of Sri Lankan radical activists who, in their different ways, attempted to escape the claims of rival ethno-nationalisms and build alternative political and development projects, drawing on Marxism, Christian socialism, and feminism, among other inspirations.
Fr Yohan Devananda
Fr Michael Rodrigo & Fr Paul Caspersz
Filed under atrocities, communal relations, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, performance, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom & censorship, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes
Meera Srinivasan, in The Hindu, 29 April 2021, where the title reads thus: “Sri Lanka follows an independent foreign policy, will never bend to outside pressures, Chinese media quoted Mr. Rajapaksa”
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Michael Roberts, reproducing here an old draft that is entitled “Becoming Sinhala” ***
Preamble
The scene is somewhere early in 1984 and the location is the building housing the Social Scientists’ Association on the road to Nawala off Narahenpitiya in Colombo. The late Charlie Abeysekera and the late Newton Gunasinghe are reflecting gloomily on the pogrom of July 1983 that had victimised Tamils living in the capital and elsewhere in the south. Charlie is one of the founder members of MERGE and both are among the few personnel in Colombo who had taken an active stand in public forums against the atrocities that had occurred.* Now, in the gathering dusk, Charlie looks at Newton and asks: “what makes you think that you are a Sinhalese?” Newton immediately grasps the serious import and analytical purpose behind this question. He considers the issue gravely before venturing upon an answer.
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thuppahi
