A DailyFT item, 14 October 2024, entitled “Another Lost Opportunity”
The new administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake lost yet another opportunity in the international stage to rectify past wrongs and charter a new course. This time at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), keeping with the policies of the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe administrations, the Government rejected international efforts to deliver justice for the tens of thousands of victims of State atrocities.
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Bedgar Perera, in The Island, 8 October 2024
In recent days, [a] vehicle display at Galle Face attracted much interest. Most of them were fuel guzzling, power packed automobiles, expensive to run and unaffordable to most unless somebody like the government or a big company picks up the tab. They were lavishly used by political appointees of many sorts at no cost to themselves.
Michael Roberts …. repeating an old TPS item [with highlighting added] because of the implications of the recent TPS item by Bedgar Perera re Prof Rex Clements.
The years 1966 to 1975 were heady days in Ceylon. Especially so for some of us in Peradeniya Univeristy where the CEYLON STUDIES SEMINAR was launched in November 1968 by a few members of the Arts Faculty assisted by the facilities provided by Professor Gananath Obeyesekera at the Sociology Department – located then on Lower Hantane Road away from the centre of teaching. Not least among these facilities was the service provided by the Sociology Department peon Sathiah[1] who cyclostyled the written seminar papers beforehand for circulation so that those who were keen could read any presentation beforehand if they so wished – a procedure that also maximized discussion time. This background service was seconded by the typing services of Mrs Hettiarachchi in the History Department and Mr Kumaraswamy in the Sociology Department.
Sathiah — an essential servicing hand …
& Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe, who perceived the depth of the festering ethnic split early on
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Darshani Ratnawalli
In the USA, public prosecutors are elected.
To get elected public prosecutors must achieve convictions, the more convictions the better, the more sensational the convictions, the better.
If a public prosecutor only files cases, only talks about cases and fails to make any of it stick, i.e achieve convictions, he starts being seen as a failed prosecutor by the people.
He won’t be elected again.
Merril Gunaratne, …. Senior DIG Police (Retired).. in The Island newspaper …. where a different title is deployed. Note that the highlights here are impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi .**
The propaganda which possibly helped the NPP leader to overcome SJB and UNP leaders was their capacity to aggressively agitate against many features of an ‘’iniquitous system’’ which people attributed to have been responsible for the bankruptcy of the country. They also exploited the belief of people that members of political groups or traditional parties which exchanged political power in turn, enjoyed perquisites and privileges associated with the “system”, while citizens suffered under the weight of the economic collapse. The “Aragalaya’’ of May 1922 heralded the emergence on a pervasive scale of hatred against the ‘’system”. The NPP took notice, and their campaign against it did not abate till the conclusion of the election.
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Michael Roberts
Kumar Sangakkara’s recent step as a front-personage for tourism in Sri Lanka (see https://thuppahis.com/2024/09/29/kumar-sangakkara-for-tourist-trips-to-sri-lanka/) calls to mind his bold steps on behalf of ethnic compromise and reconciliation in Sri Lanka in the 200os. In these efforts he was joined at diferent moments by Murali and Mahela [tsunami relief tours) and his wife Yehali (visit to St Patricks College in Jaffna, 2009).
These instances underline the weight of the messages in an article from my pen which was presented in GROUNDVIEWS by Sanjana Hattotuwa and Co towards the end of THE YEAR 2012.
Standing now in the year 2024 this essays — as well as the comments it attracted — may serve as useful points of departure for meaningful commentary.
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A: From An Ex-Army Officer in USA, 26 Sept 2024
Quite an achievement for AKD! In the 2019 presidential election, the JVP vote plus ‘also ran’ others was less than 6%. SEE ……………………………………………… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election
I think it is a good result for the nation. The people were sick and tired of the corrupt and inept political elites and the crony capitalists. The portly ‘monkeys’ that occupied the palaces and travelled around in gilded coaches will be kicked out!
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Thuppahi is pleased to present a photo of the key personnel located in Sri Lanka who were involved in launching the new cutting/edge academic venture known as THE CEYLON JOURNAL this year.
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Matthew Said, whose title in The Sunday Times reads “If you think we’re past peak woke, we may not even be halfway up that hill” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Unconscious bias training and cancellation are mainstream for the young. Just wait until they’re in charge.
Here’s what ‘woke’ means and how to respond to it
In the Second World War, the Allied bomber command had a problem. Aircraft were flying missions over Germany and being shot down in ever greater numbers. The top brass decided that they needed additional protection in the most vulnerable areas (it would be impossible to cover the entire aircraft, as it would be too heavy to take off). But where to place the armour? The good news is that they had plenty of data from craft that had returned to base, and they showed a clear pattern: there were lots of bullet holes in the wings and fuselage, but not so many on the cockpit and tail. The answer seemed obvious: put armour on the wings and fuselage.
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Vaishna Roy, whose article is entitled “The Hema Committee Report shows there is hope that the omertà enforced by powerful men in the film industry will be broken,” .… and has been placed in an Indian site with this Editor’s Note: “A powerful, defining moment” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Writing in this issue of Frontline, the feminist scholar J. Devika says: “Malayalam cinema has been historically structured by feudal funding and practices, and women artistes were inevitably taken to be sexually available to the big male names.” This is true not just of Malayalam cinema, but of every film industry across the country, where the prevalent patriarchal belief is that simply by entering the world of cinema, whether to pursue a career in acting, cinematography, or make-up, the woman ineludibly signs her body away. After any complaint, a set of tabloids and television channels inevitably pipes up with the claim that “adjustment” is a part of cinema after all.
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thuppahi
