Jane Russell presenting “a reply to unjustified criticism ” …. * …. [see endnote]
Foreword: I first met Sunila Abeysekera at a joint exhibition of sculpture and poetry which my Sri Lankan partner, sculptor Malathie de Silva, and I held at the Lionel Wendt Gallery in 1976. Sunila was twenty-four; I was two years older. She brought her father along and he purchased one of my poems which I‘d produced as wall-posters.:
Filed under chauvinism, cultural transmission, disparagement, education, female empowerment, gender norms, heritage, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, women in ethnic conflcits
I present several comments from Sri Lankans in New Zealand and Sri Lanka
A NOTE from SM in Colombo, 7 Sept 2021
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, press freedom & censorship, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Sunil Sharan in New Delhi, 22 August 2021 where his chosen title is “The Lonesomeness of Defeat” **
Afghanistan has been a debacle for the Americans, but no less so for the Indians. The great generals of the modern era, the Guderians, the Rommels, the MacArthurs, and Without doubt the greatest of them all, Napoleon, always saw things clearly. They recognized Victory to be victory and defeat to be defeat and did not confuse between the two. A superb German army opened two fronts in World War II, which led to its downfall. The Americans did the same in Iraq and Afghanistan, meeting humiliation in both places.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, meditations, military strategy, politIcal discourse, security, slanted reportage, taking the piss, Taliban, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
In my reading, the spirit of cricket was spiked and shattered at its iconic home-ground of Lords yesterday. Not only yesterday –the fifth day. IThe “spiking” occurred throughout the match with (A) tailenders’ bombarded with headhigh short-pitched bowling by both sides; (B) verbal badinage and assualts — camouflaged as “badinage” and presented with smiles — from both parties; and (C) the spiking of the ball by Jimmy Anderson [according to one report] among the events on the ground.
Kumar Oh Kumar …. what future for “The Spirit of Cricket” talk you delivered during the famous COWDREY LECTURE some years back!
… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/kumar-sangakkara-s-mcc-spirit-of-cricket-lecture-522183
Errol the Fernando to Gavin, 6 August 2021
Jimmy Anderson’s reactions on taking a wicket are quite fascinating, Gavin, because they are so different. When he dismissed Captain Kohli for a first ball duck he was far more than over the top and off the planet. He was a combination of hysterical, delirious, deranged, bonkers and nuts. He was then completely different when he dismissed Rahul. He was not at all happy about it. Instead he was furious, apoplectic, foaming at the mouth and ready to cause death and destruction. Whom was he so angry with? His bloody slip fielders, of course ! He had to dismiss Rahul THREE times before someone finally took a catch. I can quite understand that he wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth! The kindest thing that can be said about them is that they are pathetic, hopeless, atrocious and completely useless. Jimmy will say a lot more than that!
The slip cordon of Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Rory Burns and Joe Root can’t quite believe that yet another chance has gone down Getty Images
David Kilcullen, in The Australian, 31 July 2021,. [and The Inquirer, 31 July ]where the title reads “Making sense of the Afghan fiasco, and how to fix it” … 2021 and with this byline : “there are four moves that could stabilise the situation long enough to get talks back on track.”
If a gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth, US President Joe Biden committed one a few weeks ago, answering a question about Afghanistan, when he said “the mission hasn’t failed, yet”. That “yet” contains multitudes: a tangle of military and humanitarian factors refracted through political spin and a hyper-partisan US media.
Afghan militia gather with their weapons to support Afghanistan security forces against the Taliban, in Afghan warlord and former Mujahideen Ismail Khan’s house in Herat on July 9. Picture: AFP
Filed under american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 21 July 2021, where the title is “How Premadasa paved the way for first Parama Weera Vibushanaya, posthumously”
One-time Army Commander Gen. Daya Ratnayake (2013-2015) recently joined a special event on Zoom in honour of those who made the supreme sacrifice at Kokavil, 31 years ago. Prof. Raj Somadeva and writer Charith Kiriella delivered special lectures on the occasion. Those who defended the isolated Kokavil base – Officer Commanding, Kokavil transmission complex, Saliya Aladeniya, an old Trinitian who was posthumously promoted Captain of 3 Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (3 SLSR), and his men, perished in the battle. The LTTE didn’t hand over their bodies.
Aladeniya
Rex Clementine in Island, 29 June 2021, where the title is “Banned”
Sri Lanka Cricket’s Disciplinary Committee has recommended lengthy suspensions for three players who breached a bio-secure bubble in England last month that resulted in them being sent home halfway through the tour. Accordingly, Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis with previous offences have been banned for two years while Niroshan Dickwella has been handed a suspension of 18 months. Each player also has been fined 25,000 USD for their offence.
A NOTE …the photo of the three players alienated the computer which rejected that shot !@#!$ … so this is shot of one… Dhanushka Gunatilleka
Michael Roberts reproducing an article that originally appeared on the 19th March 2010 in https://sacrificialdevotionnetwork.wordpress.com/
One’s academic trajectories and journeys are invariably subject to vagaries and contingencies. The events and researches leading to my interest in “communal violence” and “zealotry” in the 1990s, and thereafter to what I have called ‘sacrificial devotion” (embracing the topics of “terrorism,” suicide bombers and Tamil Tigers),[i] were shaped by such contingencies. Since my web site will present some short essays on both these topics in the course of this month, let me detail some moments during my research work that resulted in the journeys that produced such outcomes.
In 1986-87 I spent about 14 months in Sri Lanka on research work during my sabbatical year. I was completing my research and writing on the history of Colombo in British times and the associated rise of a Westernized middle class-cum-bourgeoisie – work that resulted in the book People Inbetween (Sarvodaya, 1989).[ii] The island was still under the clouds cast by the attacks on Tamils in the southern parts of the island in July 1983. Following the British colonial lexicon this momentous and tragic set of events was generally described as the “1983 riots.” But such politically-aware scholars as Newton Gunasinghe and Shelton Kodikara were among those who depicted the event as a “pogrom.” This was a sensitizing revision that I accepted.
Riots May 1958 – A Tamil passenger was taken out of the vehicle and beaten up
Filed under accountability, atrocities, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Sanjeewa Jayaweera, in The Island, 25 July 2021, where the title is “SRI LANKA’S ECONOMIC QUAGMIRE AND HOW MARGRET THATCHER SMASHED THE KEYNESIAN CONSENSUS”
For quite some time, experts in economics and finance not associated with any political party have been raising the red flag about the severe economic challenges that our country was facing. Unfortunately, the politicians have consistently ignored these challenges. Many in the private sector believed that commonsense would prevail and necessary course correction will occur, and the ship will sail smoothly.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, economic processes, education, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
thuppahi
