Category Archives: discrimination

British Colonial Socio-Political Distinctions via Stace’s Revelation of Life in Galle, 1910 et seq

Michael Roberts

Walter Terence STACE was a British man born in Ireland in 1886 who entered the British colonial service after a university education and was assigned to Sri Lanka in 1910. He married a Burgher lady, MM Beven in 1928 – is second marriage this – and then resigned in 1932 and moved on to USA where he pursued a successful university teaching career in Philosophy. Following his retirement, he composed an autobiography in 1964 with the intriguing title FOOTPRINTS ON WATER.   

This work has been edited by Bernd Pflug with an excellent and readable “Critique” at the end of the autobiography and presented in Sri Lanka in a slim volume of 218 pages by the Perera Hussein Publishing House.

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Race Relations in Britain Today: Readings via Responses to Audrey Maxwell’s 1998 Study

Michael Roberts 

After I presented my late departed sister Audrey Maxwell’s study, one presented in a book oAudrey Mugn Cross-Cultural Marriage edited by Rosemary Breger & Rosanna Hill [1998, Oxford, Berg] in TPS, I moved on to ……..

Audrey Mug  A ]  https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/31/addressing-audrey-maxwells-research-on-cross-cultural-marriages-in-englan/

AUDREY Mug shots B] and circulated an invitation to scholars and friends in Britain seeking critical thoughts on her study and/or reflections on relations between coloured immigants people and dinky-die BriA tons today; see ………………………………. https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/31/ag-audrey-maxwells-research-on-cross-cultural-marriages-in-englan/

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Vale Kumar David — Scholar, Critic and Activist

Rajan Philips, in Colombo Telegraph, 19 October 2024, where the title reads thus = ”Kumar David: An Accomplished Academic & A Broadminded Marxist”  … with highlights imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi

Professor Kumar David (1941-2024)

One by one the lights go out. In a span of seven months, Sri Lanka’s Engineering fraternity and the country’s progressive political fraternity have lost three of their kinds, one after another. Chris Rodrigo was the first to go in March, then it was Bahu in July, and now it is Kumar David, the oldest of the three. Professor Kumar David passed away in Los Angeles, on Monday, October 14. He was 83 years old.

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Justice: Another Opportunity Lost

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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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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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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Noel Nadesan’s Critical Reflections on the Sri Lankan Tamils’Armed Struggle

Rajeswary Balasubramaniam, reviewing Odyssey of War by Noel Nadesan **

The ‘Odyssey of War’, a novel by Dr. Noel Nadesan published by Sarasavi Publishers, reflects the struggle for the liberation of Tamils in Sri Lanka (1977-2009) and the failure of interwoven world politics. The novel illustrates how upper-class Tamils overcame caste, religion, and regions and united for the liberation of Tamils, but went beyond the spirit of liberation, migrated, and eventually made the liberation struggle of Tamils a profitable business.

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Machiavelli on The Vicious ‘Skeletons’ Inherent Within Politics

A CIRCULAR from Kumar Kirinde ... … with highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Dear RAFOA member,

Now that another presidential election is due in a few weeks’ time in our beloved country … Sri Lanka. I thought that the attached document will be of interest to you.  The finer points with my take on the matter is given below mainly for the benefit of those who cannot spend much time reading documents running into a few pages.

A statue Niccol

The brief is on Machiavelli’s thinking on political power and ruling a nation.

Machiavelli was a diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived over 500 years ago in Florentine, a part of present day Italy. He served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs.

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Senaka Weeraratna presses His Claims as Inventor of the DRS in Cricket

Michael Roberts

Senaka Weeraratna of Royal College and Sri Lanka has been persistent in his campaign for recognition being accorded to his role in conceiving the revolutonary DECISION REVIEW SYSTEM in cricket matches. On one occasion he even visited me at my sister’s house in Hampden Lane,Wellawatte, Colombo, in order to persuade me about the validity of his cause. I never had any objection to his position; but I have no clout within the ICC and limited capacities in investigating such an issue. All I can say is that SENAKA reminds me of one Anagarika Dharmapala — one of Senaka’s relatives — in the zealousness and persistence devoted to a cause. 

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NATO’s Global Ambitions on the Path to Imperial Conquest

Observer in a Black Sea Port

This You Tube item serves up an excellent discussion and critical analysis of some of the key clauses of the recent NATO communique. It is entertaining too. There is a vast gap between the intellectual rigour applied in this discussion, compared to NATO’s communique which is a distortion of reality and historical truth, and is sheer propaganda.

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