Recent Thuppahi entries have highlighted the Workshop on “Sacrificial Devotion” held in Adelaide University in late 2005, one framed within the concept fashioned by Michael Roberts to study and comprehend suicidal commitments to political cause. Note the ITEM
Thilipan on Fast unto death in 1987
Filed under accountability, anton balasingham, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, ethnicity, fundamentalism, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, jihad, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, psychological urges, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Jane Russell ... with highlights imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi
These are the scratched graffiti of Sinhalese soldiers and policemen abandoned by their government [1991]. They are uncertain of their future. Some believe they will be airlifted to safety. Others have realised that they are about to be overrun by Tamil Tigers camped outside the perimeter walls of the Fort in Jaffna which they have been tasked to defend, and that no-one will come to save them. Whatever their hopes and fears, they are all doomed to die. These graffiti are etched into the rock walls of the entrance to the Dutch built Fort (photo top right). They were carved not so long ago. 1991, 29 years, just a generation since. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes
Colin Marshall in Open Culture, 15 May 2020, where the title is “Breathtakingly-Detailed Tibetan Book Printed 40 Years Before the Gutenberg Bible”
The Gutenberg Bible went to press in the year 1454. We now see it as the first piece of mass media, printed as it was with the then-cutting-edge technology of metal movable type. But in the history of aesthetic achievements in book-printing, the Gutenberg Bible wasn’t without its precedents. To find truly impressive examples requires looking in lands far from Europe: take, for instance, this “Sino-Tibetan concertina-folded book, printed in Beijing in 1410, containing Sanskrit dhāranīs and illustrations of protective mantra-diagrams and deities, woodblock-printed in bright red ink on heavy white paper,” whose “breathtakingly detailed printing” predates Gutenberg by 40 years.
Filed under ancient civilisations, Buddhism, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, evolution of languages(s), heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, pilgrimages, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
Karen Attiah in Washington Post, 30 May 2020, where the title runs “How Western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country”
If we talked about what is happening in Minneapolis the same way we talk about events in a foreign country, here’s how the Western media would cover it. The quotes and those “quoted” in the piece below are fictional.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes
Anil Perera at https://lankanvoice.blogspot.com/ & whose preferred title is “Michael Naseby’s Paradise Lost Paradise Regained – Memoirs of a True Friend of Sri Lanka”
Having been barraged with unfair criticism, lectured on with unsolicited advice, and abused by some British politicians for defeating their beloved Tamil Tigers, Sri Lankans can take solace in the existence of at least some British politicians who are sensible enough to digest facts and come to logical conclusions. While most Western politicians swallow the Tamil narrative hook, line, and sinker, there are few like Lord Naseby, who keeps an ear to the ground and finds out what happened during the terrorist war in Sri Lanka. Lord Naseby’s experience in living in Sri Lanka in the 1960s and his continuous association with the country would have certainly helped him to find out the truth of what happened during the last stages of the Sri Lankan conflict.
Filed under accountability, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, doctoring evidence, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
A kabaragoya at Hampden Terrace Wellawatte … pix by Gina Fernando 
ONE = Nihal De Alwis: “An Appreciation – Mr. Elmo De Alwis – Pioneer in Marketing Founder Member. Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing” … from Island, 30 May 2020
Felix Elmo Arnold de Alwis born on the 29th of November, 1935, son of Felix David Lionel De Alwis and Enid de Alwis was the fifth in line by age in our family (of the surviving members at the time) of nine. Elmo was very close to me in my school days as I was born after him and probably that gave us that extra closeness and affection. Elmo’s life in this world had taught me many lessons as a brother and friend. It reflects many of his abilities, temperament, devotion, compassion, love and last of all knowledge which was diverse.
DB Dhanapala on LH Mettananda in his book Among those Present, 1962
OF COURSE, L.H. Mettananda is a fanatic. Anybody who dares to talk of Buddhist’s rights in a Buddhist country is bound to be called a fanatic bent on disturbing the peace and rousing up religious feelings.
Mettananda seated alongside Banda
Filed under accountability, atrocities, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, language policies, Left politics, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, riots and pogroms, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Island, 28 November 2011, where the title is “D.B. Dhanapala’s “Among Those Present’’ re-published in a labour of love”
In a labour of love, nearly 50 years after it was first published, D.B. Dhanapala’s son, D.B. Nihalsingha, has brought out a second edition of his father’s much-loved book “Among Those Present” which has acquired a collector’s imprimatur.
The book was a collection of pen portraits of notables of the times that Dhanapala wrote for the Blue Page of the Ceylon Daily News between 1937 and 1939 under the pen name of Janus.
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