Category Archives: citizen journalism

September 30, 2020 · 10:51 pm

From Galle Across Oceans: The Talented Joseph Family

An Introductory Note from Michael Roberts, 30 September 2020

This ramified tale begins with the wedding photograph sent to me my old playmate Adrienne Ranasinghe nee Conderlag displaying the elegant couple and entourage in front of the All Saints Church in the fort of Galle. This spark has set Joe Simpson, a Galle lover who taught at Richmond College for a while and is back in Canada now, off-and-running. He saw that the best man at the wedding was Louis Joseph and sent me an old article he had composed on the Joseph family. This essay is now adorning the Thuppahi web site as well.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, citizen journalism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

August 28, 2020 · 5:56 am

Rajapaksa Populism: Reflections from Udith Devapriya

Udith Devapriya in  Daily Mirror, 15 August 2020, where the title reads “Four lessons from my father”

My father was the first in his family and my mother’s, to foretell Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rise to power in the 1990s. At the time the man was in charge of Labour and Vocational Training, a threadbare though challenging ministry if ever there was one. Challenging, not because one could not do much in it, but because by then the SLFP’s approach to labour had begun to depart from its traditional vantage point.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, democratic measures, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Left politics, life stories, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, sri lankan society, unusual people

August 18, 2020 · 5:20 pm

The Mahadevan Sisters and The Conviviality of Galle Fort

Tiffany Tang, year date unclear, …. posted at https://i-discoverasia.com/meet-two-interesting-locals-in-galle-fort/ … with this title “Meet Two Intersting Locals in Galle“

“Galle is a town of colour, texture and sensation totally unlike anywhere else in Sri Lanka. It is exotic, bursting with the scent of spices and salty winds, and vaguely familiar like a whimsical medieval European down unexpectedly deposited in the tropics” – from a visitor’s travel journal in the 1980s. He stumbled upon this charming, ramshackle town shortly after it had been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. Now, almost 30 years down the road, many of the old crumbling mansions have been renovated into boutique hotels, but the cobblestone streets with pastel-coloured houses are still as picturesque as a street can possibly get.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

August 13, 2020 · 1:09 pm

The Ubiquitous Banyan Tree and Galle Fort

Two ‘Monuments’ …. The VOC Crest and a Banyan Giant

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, travelogue

August 4, 2020 · 3:14 am

An Aussie Foundation that is an US Handmaiden

Echo Hui, ABC Investigations, and Hagar Cohen

The Federal Government’s foundation that was meant to “turbocharge” relations with China is beset by dysfunction, a lack of purpose and possible conflicts of interest, say senior insiders.

Key points:

  • A new National Foundation for Australia-China Relations was announced by the Federal Government in 2019
  • Former consul-general to Hong Kong says two recent appointees may have conflicts of interest
  • One of the directors runs a newspaper that has links to Falun Gong, an anti-communist party religious movement

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, citizen journalism, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

July 6, 2020 · 4:33 pm

Andrew Fernando’s ‘Innings’ runs away with the Gratiaen Prize for 2020

Dimitri Wijesinghe, in The Morning.lk, 5 July 2020, where the title reads “Andrew Fidel Fernando 2019 Gratiaen Prize Winner”

Andrew Fidel Fernando was awarded the 2019 Gratiaen Prize for literary excellence for his work, the travelogue titled ‘Upon a Sleepless Isle’. 

The Gratiaen Trust went digital for the 2019 edition of the awards and things kicked off with the live stream at 6.30 PM on July 4, streamed on the official Facebook pages of the Gratiaen Trust, John Keells Foundation, and their media partner.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, citizen journalism, commoditification, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, tourism, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

July 4, 2020 · 5:11 am

Sybil Wettasinghe, Children’s Story Writer Par Excellence

An ADA DERANA Encomium, 1 July 2020, with this title “Sybil Wettasinghe passes away“

Veteran author and illustrator of children’s books Sybil Wettasinghe, fondly known as ‘Sybil Nanda’ in Sri Lanka, has passed away at the age of 93.According to family sources, she had been receiving medical treatment at a private hospital in Colombo for the past 4 days and had passed away at around 11.00 p.m. last night (30).

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

June 26, 2020 · 11:36 am

Legal Blanket obscures Company Failures: Corporate Power’s Clout

Elmo Jayawardena, in The Island, 24 June 2020, where the title reads “Did Kobe Bryant die in vain?”

The National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) of the USA has come out with a 1700-page investigation report on the helicopter crash in Los Angeles in which Kobe Bryant and his daughter died. The pilot was also killed along with 6 other passengers in this tragic accident. The report has given no final conclusion as to the cause of the crash. In aviation that is the norm in most such events.  Thousands of pages written by the powers that be who are mired in bureaucracy that end their conclusions without a conclusion.  Finally, they may come out with the Ace of Trumps as the cause – Pilot Error.

 

“How some things become legal at times is more a fairy tale than a legality.” …. Quote of the Week

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, disparagement, economic processes, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, transport and communications, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes

June 17, 2020 · 3:32 pm

Rajeewa Jayaweera: An Epitaph from A Friend-in-Arms

Gus Mathews of England and Lanka

Thank you all for your condolences. Rajeewa was a good friend. When I last saw him in January, he was rather subdued and not his usual ebullient self. It didn’t strike me that he was depressed, but one never knows what lurks behind the mantle of normality.

STANLEY &RAJEEWA 222 Rajeewa & Sanjeewa Jayaweera on tour in Vietnam in 2019

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, citizen journalism, education, heritage, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

May 19, 2020 · 2:18 pm

Passionate Praise of the Armed Forces Triumph in 2009 in New Zealand

Chula Rajapaksa’s Impassioned Dedication to the Ranaviru: New Zealand Internet Live Streaming 6.30pm NZ Time ….. Ranaviru Commomeration 19/5/20 ……   https://www.facebook.com/srilankans.nz

Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the 11th  consecutive year, our  deep debt of gratitude to the Ranaviru for having liberated Sri Lanka from three decades of Tiger terror and even more for the life and limb that some lost in the process.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, communal relations, cultural transmission, fundamentalism, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, Paranagama Report, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry