Author Archives: thuppahi

About thuppahi

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

An August Gathering Addresses Indo-Lanka Issues

Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 22 June 2016, where the title is “Unresolved Indo-Lanka Issues”

One-time head of the Law Faculty, University of Colombo, Dr Nirmala Chandrahasan last Thursday (June 16) called for tangible action on the part of the Sri Lankan government to bring in Sri Lankan refugees, living in India, particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu. Dr Chandrahasan estimated the number of Lankan refugees in India at the peak of the conflict at 200,000. The appeal was made over seven years after the successful conclusion of the war with the annihilation of the LTTE leadership.  The distinguished law academic insisted that special arrangements should be made to facilitate the return of refugees. Dr Chandrahasan was addressing a forum on India-Sri Lanka relations in the 21st century, organised by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BSIS).

IMAGING INDIA

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, life stories, LTTE, people smugglers, politIcal discourse, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, world affairs

Pursuing Lakshman Kadirgamar’s Path: Balancing Indo-Lanka Relations

Sudharshan Seneviratne, courtesy of The Island, 22 & 23 June 2016where the tittle is “Imaging India and strategising Indo-Lanka Symbiosis”**

Having returned from India after a premature recall as High Commissioner, I am pleased to make my first public talk at the BCIS. Yet, it is also associated with a sad memory. We had a final meeting at this very hall at a ceremony to launch the journal on International Affairs edited by Tissa Jayatilleke for BCIS published by Sage India. After most guests departed, Lakshman Kadirgamar along with Tissa, myself and Her Excellency Nirupama Rao had a pleasant chat. At that time he revealed plans for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre at the BCIS with JNU links. That night Kadirgamar was assassinated. I avoided any official functions here and this is my first visit to theCIS since then.

LAK K

Professor Sudharshan Seneviratne

Professor Sudharshan Seneviratne

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under centre-periphery relations, economic processes, foreign policy, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, island economy, life stories, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, teaching profession, tolerance, world events & processes

Neo-Nazi Thinking behind Thomas Mair’s Assassination of Jo Cox

MAIR The man charged with Jo Cox’s murder, Thomas Mair, gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom to Britain” during his court appearance on Saturday. Photo: Supplied 

Griff Witte & Karla Adam in the Brisbane Times

The man charged with shooting and stabbing to death a popular British member of parliament gave his name Saturday as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” during his first court appearance since the killing stunned the nation on Thursday. Mair, 52, made the comment when a judge asked for his name in a London magistrates’ court. Mair was officially charged Saturday with the murder of Jo Cox, a 41-year-old member of the centre-left Labour Party who had been an outspoken advocate for refugees, immigrants and Britain’s continued membership in the European Union. Mair’s statement adds considerable weight to the theory that the killing was a politically motivated, far-right attack. Although neighbours and family members have described Mair as apolitical, watchdog groups have unearthed evidence of decades-long affiliations with neo-Nazi and white supremacist organisations. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Vaginal Stimulation at Ugandan Airport

a=uganda 1 Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, discrimination, doctoring evidence, female empowerment, gender norms, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, power sharing, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, zealotry

A Critical American Rabbi, Michael Lerner, rips Trump Apart – at Muhammad Ali Funeral

MichaelLerner alchetron.com

Berkeley-based rabbi Michael Lerner spoke as a representative of the Jewish faith at Muhammad Ali’s memorial service in Louisville today, and delivered a fiery sermon calling for a litany of social change, including the ending of drone warfare, the ending of Israeli West Bank occupation, and literally dozens of other things—commanding multiple standing ovations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUXilmt192k&feature=youtu.be

 

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

A Kiss! A Kiss! Ceylon’s First Motor Accident

A KISS A KISS with thanks to Asoka Kuruppu

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, heritage, transport and communications

Discard Antiquated Provincial Scheme for a Spatio-Political Order geared to Integration & Democracy

Neville Laduwahetty,  courtesy of The Island, 17 June 2016, where the title is “Unit of Devolution”

The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform headed by its Chairman Lal Wijenayake has recommended retaining the Province as the unit of devolution. The Commission proposes 6 “alternate formulations” based on the Province as the peripheral unit. These formulations vary from retaining the existing 9 Provinces without merger with provision to withdraw devolved power without consent, to merger with minority participation in the Executive and the Legislature and other formulations in between, including the re-demarcation of existing boundaries.

aa-Map SL Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, governance, legal issues, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, welfare & philanthophy

Undermining the Burqa: The Fish Net Garment

FISHNET 11 Among like minds Front-On

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under landscape wondrous, photography, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

A Puzzle: When Weiss, Amnesty International and Aussie Greens LIE

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, where the title is  “Moral Crusader Journeys into Duplicity”

Today’s world in the West is marked by currents of secular fundamentalism mounting campaigns against paedophiles, smoking, corruption and “crimes against humanity”.  The humanitarian campaign directed at war crimes has on occasions promoted a strange phenomenon: where people of ethical stance indulge in outright lies as well as the massaging of facts. When Amnesty International, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Sydney) and such moral crusaders as Gordon Weiss descend to such duplicity, the world must surely take note.

MILNE on SL Christine Milne on Sri Lankawww.youtube.com = Pic 1

The Australian media-man Gordon Weiss is the epitome of a moral crusader. Of Polish Jewish ancestry, it is likely that his leanings are coloured by the horrors inflicted on the Jews in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. His presentation of self within his own web site, his intense demeanour when fronting the public on TV cameras or stage and his campaign against the government of Sri Lanka (GSL) stand as testimony to the stance “crusader for truth.” Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under accountability, australian media, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, doctoring evidence, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, mass conscription, military strategy, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

Lanka’s Shipwrecks deciphered by Dharshana Jayawardena

Ship Wrecks III

MAP 17-02-2-2016

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under heritage, landscape wondrous, sri lankan society, tourism, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, wild life