Author Archives: thuppahi

About thuppahi

Sri Lankan and Australian nationality; student of Sri Lankan society and politics; sociology of cricket;
November 15, 2014 · 9:45 am

Apartheid? Prabā-Loyalism? Questioning the TNA Stand Today

Chandre Dharmawardana, courtesy of The Island, 13 Nov. 2013 where the title reads: “Secession and the TNA stand”

Writing to the Island newspaper, 5-11-2014, Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan has contested one of the issues that emerges from the article published by Prof. Gerald Peiris (Island, 24 October). In effect, Nirmala Chandrahasan suggests that, given the assertions found in the TNA Manifesto, and the public statements of the Hon. Mr. Sampanthan, the issue of the fear of a secessionist policy is no longer a concern. In fact, Nirmala C writes: “I am not sure whether the writer is aware that the TNA leadership in general and the leader of the TNA in particular Mr. R. Sampanthan have in Parliament and outside, and in their Manifesto categorically stated that they are for a United Sri Lanka, and are not espousing a separate state.”

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November 15, 2014 · 9:02 am

Safa: The Black Prince of Galle Fort

Juliette Coombe,in the Daily News, http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=features/galle-fort-s-black-prince

With nearly a hundred gem shops in the fort I went to meet with one of the historic families Ibrahim Jewellers at 47 Church Street, where I learnt many fascinating facts such as the 400-carat blue sapphire, known as the ‘Blue Belle’, which adorns the British crown is from Sri Lanka. Through a set of smaller glass doors you find yourself in Safa’s lair on Church Street and as the lights flicker on, the glittering gems reveal themselves, creating bespangled wallpaper that you can’t tear your eyes away from.

SAFA 2  SAFA 6  Continue reading →

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November 15, 2014 · 8:42 am

Jayantha Dhanapala secures IPS Award for Nuclear Disarmament

Courtesy of The Nation,  15 November 2014

Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. under-secretary-general for disarmament affairs (1998-2003) and a relentless advocate for a world free of nuclear weapons, will be the recipient of the 2014 International Achievement Award for Nuclear Disarmament sponsored by Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency. “Short of actually dismantling nuclear devices himself,” says Dr. Randy Rydell, until recently a senior political affairs officer at the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs, “he has contributed enormously in constructing a solid foundation upon which the world community will one day fulfill this great ambition.”

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November 14, 2014 · 12:56 am

Histories

Michael Roberts,…..Being a reprint of an article with the same title printed in International Social Science Journal, 1997, vol. 49/153: pp. 373-385. This essay was written at short notice following an invitation from Michael Herzfeld.
captain cook miniature 

Captain Cook  in watercolour miniature from circa early 1780s

Pl 7 Azavedo Don Jeronimo de Azavedo in Ceilao
Captain Cook’s law:

Captain Cook figures in the stories related by several Aboriginal peoples in Australia. In rare cases he has been incorporated into their sacred tales of mythic origin. Among the Aboriginal people of the Victoria River Downs (VRD) region in the Northern Temtory he is a central figure in more straightforward narratives, where he is ‘understood to be the first white fellow to invade Australia’ and where his landing points and actions at specified locations along the coast of Australia are detailed (Rose, 1992, pp. 188-89). In these stories there is frequent reference to ‘Captain Cook‘s law’ – a representation which Debbie Bird Rose understands to indicate ‘the set of rules and the structured relationships’ to which the VRD Aboriginals have been subject for some time.

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November 13, 2014 · 5:21 am

The Fragmented Republic: Reflections on the 1972 Constitution of Sri Lanka

DEEPIKA UDAGAMANelum Deepika Udagama, A Review Article, courtesy of Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities (2013) Vol.39, pp.81-87. 

Welikala, Asanga, ed. The Sri Lankan Republic at 40: Reflections on Constitutional History, Theory and Practice. 2 vols. Colombo: Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2012. 1-1038. The book is available for download from:http://republicat40.org

Asanga Welikala “ We seek your mandate to permit the members of Parliament you elect to function simultaneously as a Constituent Assembly to draft, adopt and operate a new Constitution. This Constitution will declare Ceylon to be a free, sovereign and independent Republic pledged to realise the objectives of a socialist democracy; and it will also secure fundamental rights and freedoms to all citizens.” Manifesto of the United Front of the SLFP, LSSP and the CP (1970)

  1. INTRODUCTION. Like most ex-colonies Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) too idealized becoming a republic. It was with much fanfare and national fever that the first republican Constitution of Sri Lanka was adopted on 22 May, 1972.  It was hoped (as the above political call indicates) that the establishment of a republic would herald the ‘era of the people’ when Sri Lankans would come onto their own. Paying obeisance to an alien Head of State and an equally alien apex court (the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) was a thing of the past. It was only logical to expect that this extraordinary moment in the political life of the State would be the catalyst to begin nation building in earnest.

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November 13, 2014 · 2:39 am

Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne interviewed about his researches

Roshan De Silva Wijeyeratne as AUTHOR OF THE MONTH for ROUTLEDGE

Nation plus ROSHAN DE S-W

1. How did you become interested in teaching Law? (Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne is a Lecturer in Law at the Griffith Law School in Australia)

I planned on practicing law initially via a history degree (my real passion) but in the end I studied for an undergraduate law degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). SOAS provided an environment which quickly set me on another path – that of teaching and research. I took a keen interest in comparative law and soon abandoned the idea of legal practice. I was introduced to anthropology during my Masters at the LSE and this has informed my approach to both thinking about law and teaching law, be it property law or the more esoteric subjects that I teach such as legal history and law and culture. Continue reading →

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November 12, 2014 · 12:33 pm

Explaining the World to the World

Alan Huffman reflects on the Life and Legacy of war photo journalist Tim Hetherington …… First published in Oxford Today, Volume 27 No 1. Reproduced with kind permission of the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford.

In Mohammed al-Zawwam’s memory of that day, there were so many badly injured people around him, crying out for help, bleeding onto the gurneys, that he almost didn’t want to film. Yet he did film. He didn’t stop until his battery died.

A dozen or so wounded people had arrived in the triage tent at al-Hekma hospital in Misrata, Libya, on 20 April 2011, following a mortar attack on the city’s embattled Tripoli Street. Some days had brought more injured to the tent during Misrata’s three- month siege, but 20 April was extraordinary in other ways, as is painfully clear in al-Zawwam’s almost unwatchable video. Continue reading →

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November 10, 2014 · 1:44 pm

Photographs of Colonial Ceylon: A Treasure Trove straddling the Globe

Benita Stambler, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, USA, benita.stambler@ringling.org

As long-time readers of this blog may remember, I came to Sri Lanka in 2013 as part of my research on the photography of Ceylon. Finally, the results of my work are available on the website of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (AISLS). In the document that I produced as a result of my work, A Guide to Locating Photographs of Colonial Ceylon, I have tried to locate all the individuals and institutions around the world that have collections and are willing to share them with the public, based on individual considerations. For access to the guide, see: http://www.aisls.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Ceylon-photograph-guide-2014-edition.pdf

Roberts bridge of boats The Bridge of Boats across the Kelani Ganga   Continue reading →

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November 10, 2014 · 1:11 pm

Wigneswaran urges India to secure Internal Self-Determination for the Tamils of Sri Lanka

B. Kollappan, in The Hindu, 10 November 2014, where the title reads: “Reverse militarisation, Wigneswaran urges India”

Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran on Sunday made a fervent appeal to India to prevail upon his country to reverse the ongoing militarisation of the Tamil-majority region and stop what he called harassment and abuse of minorities there. Mr. Wigneswaran, on his first visit since being elected, alleged that militarisation was taking place “not due to any real security threat, but to maintain a stranglehold over the populace; subjugate them and make them compliant; and to stifle any form of democratic or political dissent.”

Wigneswaran-islandCV Wigneswaran

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November 10, 2014 · 12:54 pm

C.V.Wigneswaran’s KG Kannabiran Memorial Lecture at Chennai, 9 November 2009: Extracts

Courtesy of Iqbal … See note ** at end

CV Wigneswaran --AP Justice CV Wigneswaran, Chief Minister Northern Province — Pic from AP

* In Sri Lanka, when the Presidential elections were announced in late 2009, shortly after the Attorney General’s officers waxed eloquent on the perils of releasing the hundreds of thousands of hapless Tamils, nearly 250,000 were suddenly released. Those who were perilous to the entire nation as potential bloodthirsty terrorists were now safe voters! In one of its most cowardly acts, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is yet to make order on whether leave to proceed should be granted or not in this case even though five years have passed. To give this dastardly act some context, leave to proceed is usually granted or refused by Bench Orders of single sentences and reasons seldom given. To reserve order and not pronounce it for 5 years is an act of unforgiveable cowardice. Continue reading →

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