Michael Roberts
On re-reading an entry in Thuppahi on the Burqa with two striking illustrations that contrasted
X …..a photograph of a Western woman in a see-through net dress walking stark naked in a busy street ….. WITH …
Y …. Illustrations of the various types of veiled Islamic women, ……
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, fundamentalism, gender norms, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian religions, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, tolerance, travelogue
Michael Roberts
If memory serves me right Terry Alderman injured himself when he tackled a lone Aussie pitch-invader on one occasion. Johnny Baisow isa sturdy Yorkshireman and he had no problems carting off …..yes “carting off” …. a slim intruder at the holy-of-holies ground known as “The Lords.”
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, taking the piss, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Rob Harris & Tyrone Francis, in SkyNews 27 June 2023, where the title reads “English cricket condemned as racist, sexist and classist in damning new report“
A Report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket says racism is “entrenched” in English cricket; women are marginalised and there is no focus on addressing class barriers; more than 4,000 provided evidence.
Yomal Senerath-Yapa, in Sunday Times 18 June 2023, with this title “A humane look at the villagers of Palaikuli”
Sumathy Sivamohan’s maiden documentary film ‘Amid the Villus’ tells the story of a pastoral people for whom the land was simply home. This film, Sumathy Sivamohan’s latest documentary – also her first (having so far done only feature films) — takes you to Palaikuli, the dry scrubland village in Musali South where for ages a pastoral people have tended to cattle and goats.
It is a poetic, humane, behind-the-headlines look at the ‘Musali land-grab’ where she documents the story of the community that was vilified in the news for infringing on the vintage ‘land of the leopard’ at Wilpattu.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, island economy, land policies, legal issues, life stories, meditations, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, social justice, tolerance, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Michael Roberts
In re-visiting an assortment of historical episodes in Sri Lanka’s past in unsytematic fashion I have been led to Tarzie Vittachi’s Emergençy ’58 (published in 1958) by Sugath Kulatunga’s detailed and invaluable recounting of his experiences as a government official in Polonnaruwa in the 1950s (an item still being processed).
While Vittachi was an experienced journalist, we cannot take every ‘fact’ that he presents as indubitable. However, this pointer towards his slim volume should, hopefully, bring new generations of Sri Lankans and outside observers into reflections on the consequences of the political currents unleashed in the general election in 1956 — notably the upsurge of the underprivileged classes and the demand for Sinhala Only.
This focus, however, should not promote currents of denunciation which throw the baby out with the bathwater. The inequalities of the pre-existing dispensation must be clinically drawn out as well.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, power politics, propaganda, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Robert Siddharthan Perinpanayagam, in Groundviews, 22 August 2011, where the title reads “Caste And Politics” …. An article that drew 19 comments including some responses from “Sid”… reproduced here with highlighting imposed by The Editor in circumstances where my friend “Sid” from Peradeniya days is no longer around to dispute matters … as he surely would have.
Over the years, the claims of the Tamil people for justice, equalty and dignity have been rejected with a variety of specious arguments. It is not necessary to go into these exercises here again. However, the latest attempt in this direction is to raise the issue of caste in Jaffna society. Former civil servants, who spent three or four years being de facto kings of the North, have sought to comment on this issue in many recent hero-stories that they have published in the newspapers. In these hero-stories they report not only how they defeated one departmental head or another or humiliated a hapless village headman, but how they vanquished the evil designs of the Tamils as well. Indeed everything seems to become grist to the mill of Tamil-bashing. Even a casual remark made in a cricket match is used by a famous historian to claim that the Tamils of Jaffna are cravenly caste-conscious. Off-the-cuff social commentators as well as the tribalist pundits in the newspapers have also got into this act. The implication of these commentaries is that the Sinhalese do not have the problem of castism and only Tamils do. One recent commentator is so ignorant of the political history of the island as to invoke Ponnambalam Ramanathan’s castism! It was indeed the fear of Karava ascendancy by the Goigamas that elevated Ramanathan to high stature by making him the representative of the “Educated Ceylonese” in the Legislative Council.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power sharing, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
The presentation of an essay in the Sinhala language on “Caste in Sinhala Society”[1] in April 2017 within Thuppahi came to the attention of Thomas Fernando in UK recently. Tommy promptly took up the challenge and is now proceeding to address the article and topic. This is his NOTE to me: “however laborious it is to plough through the Sinhala text, I hope to have a good look at this article on caste in SL as I have not read a good description on this important topic which has a very significant impact on life even today in SL.”
Batgam kulayey nivasak
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, discrimination, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
A Canary Club Reader, … with highlighting emphasis imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi
HILLEL ITALIE in Associated Press, 25 April 2023, ….“Harry Belafonte, activist and entertainer, dies at 96” … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a ground-breaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96. Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said publicist Ken Sunshine.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, racism, self-reflexivity, social justice, theatre world, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
thuppahi
