Category Archives: demography

October 16, 2024 · 12:40 am

Tekwani’s Review of the Sri Lankan Political Situation in Mid-2020

Shyam Tekwani, an Item presented as a “Sri Lanka Brief” in June 2020, AT https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/06/19/sri-lankas-return-to-ethnic-majoritarianism/ entitled “Sri Lanka’s return to ethnic majoritarianism” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The voyage from Serendib to Sri Lanka through Ceylon continues to be an uninterrupted tale of opportunities lost, scorned and spurned. The brutal end to the quarter-century war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the government to heal the Sinhala–Tamil ethnic divide. But now a new front is opening, one against Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority. Events since the Easter attacks of 2019 are reinforcing the belief that tolerance and inclusive governance are a chimeric dream.

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October 14, 2024 · 2:25 pm

A Medical & Environmental Puzzle associated with Irrigation Projects in Sri Lanka

Edward Upali

I address the issues raised by Dr. Dharmawardene in his essay ……………… https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/09/the-mahaweli-development-project-in-hindsight/#more-85348.

Dr. Dharmawardene says thousands of lives could have been saved if the planners of the Mahaweli Project had provided pipe-borne water supply to the colonists. In hindsight, similar arguments could also be made with respect to the Second World War 2, such as, if some of the European countries were more decisive and united against Germany, millions of lives would have been saved.

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October 10, 2024 · 8:12 pm

About Bart Klem in Political Science

  About Bart Klem = My research is focused on questions of political order amidst and after civil war. I am interested in state institutions, de facto sovereignty of rebel movements and public authority. Sri Lanka has been my main country specialization, but I also work on Northern Cyprus and I have done some work on Indonesia (mainly Kalimantan). More details may also be found on my personal website.

Before joining Gothenburg University in 2020, I was lecturer at the University of Melbourne and the University of Zurich.

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October 9, 2024 · 1:22 am

The Mahaweli Development Project In Hindsight

Chandre Dharmawardena … an original article …with highlighting imposed by The Editor. TPS

It is interesting to look at the agenda of the workshop held at GANNORUWA in August 1974 [see references below] and ask what questions (and topics) should have been raised at that time, in hindsight, in the context of a number of issues where the Mahaweli project went very badly wrong.

Although there are many issues to consider where the Mahaweli project made mistakes, I will here write on just one issue that led to the deaths of thousands of farmers, beginning from late 1990s,  initially mostly in the Mahaweli C project area (I think).

The map is adapted from Balasooriya et al 2020.

 

 

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October 3, 2024 · 12:56 am

Nationalist Studies and the Ceylon Studies Seminar at Peradeniya, 1968-1970s

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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September 26, 2024 · 3:44 pm

The Personnel Behind THE CEYLON JOURNAL

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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September 26, 2024 · 3:30 pm

Ceylonese Migrants to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s

Earlson Forbes, whose title in THE CEYLANKAN, vol 27/2, May 2024 is “Fortress White Australia: What early Ceylonese migrants [1949 t0 1969] were up against” … now placed in TPS in a revised form to accomodate illustrations that proved recalcitrant

The Six Australian Colonies came together on the 1st  of January 1901 to form the independent Nation of the Commonwealth of Australia.  From 1788 (First Fleet arrival at Sydney Cove) to the time of Federation, Australia was populated by convict and free settlers almost exclusively from Britain.  The 1901 census put the population at 3.7 million.   Aboriginals were not counted in this census. A small percentage of the population was made up of Pacific Islanders and Chinese.  The Chinese entered Australia in the second half of the 19th century at the time of the Gold Rush in Australia (mid-19th century) and in the years following. Between 1851 and 1870 about 50,000 Chinese were estimated to have entered Australia. Pacific Islanders had been brought to Australia in the second half of the 19th century as labourers.

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September 24, 2024 · 9:07 pm

The Branding of Islamic Migrants to Ceylon Over the Centuries

WHEN Shamara Wettimuny’s article  in the History Workshop Journal entitled “The Colonial History of Islamophobic Slurs in Sri Lanka”  …. was placed in FACEBOOK it received the following set of comments: some prejudiced against and some in favour. The ethnic difference in the authors is quite marked and thereby marks the depth of ethnicity in the island context …. TODAY.  

Moving at a tangent, I stress that the research work that generated the book by Roberts, Colin-Thome & Raheem which is entitled People Inbtween (1989 Sarvodaya) becomes profoundly relevant to this set of engagements. Note that my deployment of the THUPPAHI concept for my web-site’s brand name emerged from this body of research. So, do visit this entry as well: https://thuppahis.com/why-thuppahi/

The original article can be access in THUPPAHI at ………………… https://thuppahis.com/2020/09/07/experiencing-denigration-in-sri-lanka-the-muslims-yesterday-and-today/

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September 19, 2024 · 1:14 pm

Democratic Processes Worldwide and Sri Lanka Today

 Ever since he addressed the failed coup of 1962 in a book-length stud,y Donald L. Horowitz has kept an eye on Sri Lankan affairs and has now unveiled a new book tackling central issues in the democratic process on a worldwide scale –with one chapter devoted to the problems TODAY in Sri Lanka ….. Editor, Thuppahi 

Donald L. Horowitz, James B. Duke Professor of Law and Political Science Emeritus, Duke University

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September 16, 2024 · 8:36 pm

A Muslim Militia in the East of Sri Lanka Sponsored by the State

Rajan Hoole, being Chapter 3 of his book “Sri Lanka”s Easter Tragedy: When the Deep State Gets Out of Its Depth”

  1. A State-sponsored Muslim Militia in the East

Mohamed Zahran Cassim, whose fate made headlines in Wahabi terror, was born in Kattankudy in 1986. In understanding his rise and death in a suicide blast of Easter, 21st April 2019, it is useful to keep in mind Velupillai Prabhakaran and how his terror machine subdued an entire people. Zahran’s zeal and ire were initially directed towards subduing the Sufi population of Kattankudy. We shall see that the patronage and protection afforded to him by a section of the Sri Lankan security establishment, changed course because of unexpected mishaps after he led an attack on Sufis on 10th March 2017. Despite efforts by his handlers, an independent magistrate issued an arrest warrant for him, making him a wanted person. Forced to leave Kattankudy, he was manoeuvred, as circumstances suggest, into becoming an instrument of suicide terror.

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