Category Archives: British imperialism

December 4, 2022 · 12:46 pm

The Hypocrisy of Democracy

Fair Dinkum, in an EMAIL COMMENT which Thuppahi has presented to the world with his okay … with highlighting added

 Here the UK’s 800 millionaire PM Rishi Sunak declares that the UK police have his full support to clamp down on illegal protests,  and that he plans to introduce new laws to give police greater powers to clamp down on protestors.  Meanwhile, at the same time , he calls on China to respect the right of Chinese people to protest as a fundamental human right, as evidence emerges of direct British interference into China to provoke protestors into fermenting chaos.

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December 2, 2022 · 2:35 pm

House of Lords Debating Sri Lanka & Its Truth Commission Today

HOUSE OF LORDS: Sri Lanka Truth & Reconciliation Commission 

A topical question on Sri Lanka was raised by Conservative peer Lord Daniel Moylan in the House of Lords on Thursday, December 1st which was followed by additional supplementary questions that were answered by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia & the UN).

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November 29, 2022 · 8:00 pm

Re-visiting the Case of Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle of 1937: A Landmark Judgment that upheld the Liberty of the Individual and that affirmed the Fairness of ‘ British Justice’  

Prabhath de Silva, ... an article that appeared initially in the Daily Mirror, 25/26 November 2022– with highlighting in this version imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle (also known as Price) was born in Chelsea, England in 1912. His parents were Ina Marjorie Lyster and James Seymour Bracegirdle. His mother was a suffragette and an active member of the Labour Party. Bracegirdle migrated to Australia with his mother, and studied art, and later trained as a farmer. In 1935, he joined the Australian Young Communist League (YCL) and became an active young Communist.

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November 24, 2022 · 6:31 pm

The Boers in Ceylon

A NOTE from Wikipedia:  “The Second Boer War (Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, lit. ’Second Freedom War’, 11 October 1899–31 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South African Republic and the Orange Free State) over the Empire’s influence in Southern Africa from 1899 to 1902″ … with the collage below.

 

 

 

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November 21, 2022 · 11:45 am

Leslie de Saram and Aubrey Martensz: Straddling Ceylon & the British Empire

Hugh Karunanayake, in The Ceylankan, Journal of the Ceylon Society of Australia, No 100, vol 25/4, November 2022, where the title reads “Two Acclaimed Lawyers who migrated from Ceylon During the Days of the ‘White Australia’ Immigration Policies” … with the highlighting here being an imposition by The Editor, Thuppahi

The names Leslie de Saram and Aubrey Martensz are not likely to evoke sentiment of any kind from contemporary Sri Lankans. They were two outstanding lawyers who not only dominated legal practice and legal education, but also were very influential members of the profession and of Colombo’s social scene. Both de Saram and Martensz were at various times partners of the well-known legal firm FJ and G De Saram, founded by Leslie de Saram’s grandfather, FJ de Saram Senior, in 1841.

FJ De Saram (Snr) was the grandson of Maha Mudaliyar Christtofel de Saram the son of Johan Henriques de Saram who was only 14 years old when taken to England by Governor Maitland, handpicked from among the leading “native” families as suitable for higher studies. That headstart created a dynasty of lawyers.

Leslie De Saram 

JA Martensz

 

 

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November 11, 2022 · 6:12 pm

Sikh Troops as British Punishing Rods during the 1915 Riots

Joe Simpson, in Email Note responding to the Thuppahi Item https://thuppahis.com/2021/05/23/percy-colin-thome-and-the-composition-of-the-book-people-inbetween/

Most interesting, Michael. I’ve had the privilege of periodic correspondence with the estimable Ismeth Raheem in the past, and thanks to the kindness of Vancouver, BC-resident Ranil Bibile who agreed to be courier, once sent Ismeth a Giclée reproduction of a previously-unknown 1840s painting by Andrew Nicholl from his outbound voyage to Colombo, the original of which has been purchased by a British Columbia collector with whom I’d been in touch.
In regards to your attached bibliography, specifically the scholarly article on the 1915 communal riots that particularly affected the Galle-Tangalle area, while I was on VSO teaching at Richmond College (1973-74) some RCG colleagues and I were in Matara on our way to visit a rural jungle primary school in the Moneragala area, when we fell into conversation with an elderly local, who had been a fisherman all his working life [photo taken then].

 

 

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November 10, 2022 · 3:22 pm

The Suriya Mal Campaign of the 1930s and Doreen Wickremasinghe nee Young

An Item at Roar.lk, where the title reads “We must remember Suriya Mal, even in this era of Manel Mal”

Doreen Wickremasinghe was a British leftist who became a prominent Communist politician in Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament (MP). She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka.

Doreen & the Rodi lass she ‘rescued’

Doreen Wickremasinghe was the daughter of two British ‘ethical Socialists’. While a student in London in the 1920s, she became involved in the India League and carried out other anti-imperialist work. Here she met Dr S.A. Wickremasinghe, then a radical Sri Lankan moving in Communist and radical circles while a post-graduate student in London.

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October 31, 2022 · 1:28 am

The Kaffir in Sri Lanka: A Partial Bibliography from Thuppahi

Michael Roberts 

The first two photographs provide just a glimpse of their ‘markings’; while the map composed I think by Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya indicates the long history of African migratory flows (sometimes as slaves) to Asian lands.

 

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October 18, 2022 · 12:33 am

The Western Bloc’s Double Standards: “Human Rights” as Missiles

Kalinga Seneviratne, in Daily News, 15 October 2022, where the title runs thus: “Exposing Western Double Standards through Weaponizing Human Rights”

The recently concluded 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva exposed once again the double standards of the global human rights agenda.

West’s failure to get a resolution adopted at the UNHRC on October 6 on further investigation into the violation of human rights of the Muslim Uighurs in the North-Western region of Xinjiang Province in China reflects the international community’s scepticism of weaponizing human rights.

 

 

 

 

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September 21, 2022 · 2:44 pm

An Irish Voice of Balanced Dissent reaffirms the Republican Ideal

Fintan O’Toole, in Irish Times, 20 September 2022, with this title “Monarchy is a bad habit. Up the Republic” …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi … and caricatures added

In the General Post Office, during the rising of Easter 1916, Joseph Mary Plunkett explained what would happen when the British were defeated. The new Irish government would invite the youngest son of the Kaiser, prince Joachim of Prussia, to come and be crowned as king of Ireland.

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