The Colombo Tea Traders’ Association will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ceylon tea on July 20th with the launch of an illustrated history entitled Ceylon Tea: The Trade That Made a Nation. This art-quality large-format illustrated book has been authored by Richard Simon with Dominic Sansoni as Illustrations Editor, while the design has been fashioned by Sebastian Posingis. Continue reading
Filed under British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, gender norms, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Michael Roberts
In July 1983 Chokshanada and Kumari Sangakkara – in step with some Sinhalese, Malay and Burgher and other Sri Lankan families and in implicit opposition to the actions of Sinhalese people of violence –sheltered a number of Tamils who were in severe danger from the assaults on person and property that was a frightening element of the pogrom that occurred then. Many Sinhalese families in the central and southern districts protected their neighbours and/or friends in this manner. In conjectural manner, one can say that humane considerations and cultural traditions of alms-giving and amity informed such actions — a dimension of riots/pogroms in southern Asia that has been sidelined in historical studies of various “riots” in southern Asia. Perhaps inspired thus and perhaps encouraged also by the ecumenical spirit nurtured by his parents as well as Trinity College, Kumar and Yehali Sangakkara have continued this line of enterprise. In a significant step Yehali was beside Kumar when he visited St. Patrick’s College in Jaffna in April 2011 during the World Cup.
Filed under accountability, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, meditations, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes
Mahil Wijesinghe in Sunday Observer, 11 June 2017, which is entitled “Dutch Reformed Church of Galle: Dutch Period’s Finest Monument”
The Dutch Reformed Church stands inside the Galle Fort. Continue reading
Filed under British colonialism, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
ONE: “Age shall not weary them” is an evocative phrase for Australians.[1] Myrna Setunga is from my generation of Peradeniya undergraduates and now lives in retirement in Battaramulla. A veritable dynamo she threw herself into relief aid in the aftermath of the 26th December 2004 tsunami. She identified a special arena of need and developed a scheme supplying a basket of essential supplies for pregnant women.[2] She pursued the same avenue in the IDP camps with aid from friends abroad.[3] She is now embarking on this line of relief aid in selected localities. I endorse the venture wholeheartedly and place this “Set of Notes” in the public realm so that others, not just feminists but one and all, may be encouraged to support this line of aid. Myrna’s desire for anonymity is transcended by the good that is in progress.
Myrna preparing her basket of essential items for mothers and/or pregnant women, 2009
Ethnic Conflict in Buddhist Societies in South and Southeast Asia. The Politics behind Religious Rivalries, edited by K.M. de Silva, 2015 (pp. 270 +xvi)
The book aims to examine the role of Buddhism as a factor of conflict in the three main Theravada Buddhist societies of South and Southeast Asia—Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. The dispute in this island had engaged the attention of Sri Lanka’s political class for the two previous decades, while political analysts from Sri Lanka and others from various parts of the world examined the impact of Buddhism on the Sri Lanka polity and the prolonged ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The situation in Thailand and Myanmar provided a convenient comparative basis in the reviews and in the literature in these three Buddhist societies. Continue reading
Filed under centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, Indian traditions, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Loaded News Item from 22 April 2017, with the title “Loaded Gun hidden in suspect’s Vagina”
A 19-year-old Tennessee woman had a loaded handgun hidden in her vagina when she was brought into jail yesterday afternoon following a collar for driving with a suspended license, police report. As Dallas Archer was being booked into the Kingsport jail, a female corrections officer alerted to an “unknown object” in the teenager’s crotch during a search. The jailer and a female cop then accompanied Archer to a bathroom for further examination, a review that led to the recovery of a “North American Arms 22 LR revolver (loaded) which Ms. Dallas had concealed in her vagina,” according to a Kingsport Police Department report.
Dallas Archer 
her hand-gun
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, disparagement, doctoring evidence, energy resources, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, meditations, power politics, psychological urges, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, zealotry
Ken Moncrieff, Stafford Hts, Queensland: …. Its time for believers to ask why do I believe what I believe? Then after consideration why do I believe that? If thye are honest, answers based on their indoctrination must come to the fore. And that is the key to solving the world’s dilemma with terrorism in its present form–a full analysis of religious indoctrination. Religious fanatic should remember that the holy books they follow were written at a time when superstition, supposition and myths formed the basis of all beliefs and were written by men with little understanding of natural phenomena or of science.
Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, world events & processes, zealotry
A manhunt is on in Sri Lanka for a hard-line Buddhist leader after a series of attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses that authorities accuse him of encouraging. President Maithripala Siresena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes after assuming power in 2015, however, attacks have escalated over the past two weeks. Another Muslim shop in the town of Kahawatte was reportedly burned to the ground this week by unidentified attackers.
Galaboda atththe Gnansaara Thero
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General-Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasara has encouraged his Buddhist supporters to lead another campaign against Muslims following the deadly Aluthgama riots in June 2014, which attempted to create disunity between Buddhists and Muslims. Less than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million are Muslim. The majority are Sinhalese Buddhist, while most Tamils are Hindu.
Filed under atrocities, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, Indian religions, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Raffaello Pantucci, courtesy of The Telegraph, 23 May 2017, where the title is “Cars and knives are easier to use, but bombs will always be central to terrorist thinking” **
Terrorism has a predictable brutality to it. And yet, the idea of a bombing is something that still surprises us when it happens. The attack in Manchester in some ways appears a flashback to a different time when the terrorists we worried about detonated bombs, rather than using vehicles as rams or stabbing people. The reality is that terrorism’s only constant is its desire to shock and kill. For any group or ideology, the fundamental point is to make yourself heard as dramatically as possible. Groups and individuals will use whatever tools they have to gain that attention.
The successful use of a bomb is unusual among recent terror attacks CREDIT: JOEL GOODMAN/LNP
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, atrocities, cultural transmission, historical interpretation, immigration, Islamic fundamentalism, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, world events & processes
Louis Armstrong in desert glare, 1961
thuppahi
