Observer in a Black Sea Resort
Category Archives: disparagement
More Revelations re the Crocus Concert Hall Attack
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, conspiracies, counter-insurgency, disparagement, ethnicity, human rights, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, security, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Touche! An Old Ladies Riposte …..
A Message circulated by Vernon Davidson, Keith Bennett and friends in Australia
Here is a wonderful little story.
A young MALE cashier told an older woman that she should bring her grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my day.”
The young clerk said, “Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
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“Walk Like An Elephant” …. Being Laleen Jayamanne’s Engagement with the “Aragalaya”
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Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, disparagement, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
A Lifetime Addressing Nationalist Political Currents & Zealotry
Michael Roberts
As I attend a friend’s funeral every now and then in Adelaide or receive mail conveying sad tidings re good friends and other acquaintances, I am reminded that I will disappear into the dust in due course relatively soon. So be it.
However there has been a lifetime of endeavour in various fields. One range of activity has been in the academic realm investigating socio-political events and processes in the world …. with particular attention directed towards my home-country Sri Lanka’s affairs.
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Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, hatan kavi, historical interpretation, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Totalitarianism Defined …. With Hitler as the Epitome of the Phenomenon
Richard Koenigsberg and the LSS, aka Library of Social Science, located in New York
Totalitarianism: the psychopathology is the identification, refusal or inability to conceive of a self in separation from society; of a self that does not exist in a symbiotic tie to the nation. “Symbiosis” is not an “infantile phase of development,” rather It’s the ground of our being the fantasy we are connected to something “out there” (and cell phones represent the apotheosis of merger of self with society).

GERMANY – MAY: Adolf Hitler, winner of the Prussian and Bavarian elections, giving a speech, in May 1928, in Germany…Photo by Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images.
Listen to Hitler: “Our Nation is not just an idea in which you have no part; you yourself support the nation; to it you belong; you cannot separate yourself from it; your life is bound up with the life of your whole people; the nation is not merely the root of your strength, it is the root of your very life.”
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Filed under accountability, atrocities, chauvinism, disparagement, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, Hitler, life stories, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, psychological urges, racism, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Be Tamil Bibliography…….For Sri Lanka 2003/04
Michael Roberts
About the time that I retired from my teaching duties at the Anthropology Department at Adelaide University in 2003/04, the topic of “suicide terrorism” was attracting a lot of attention in academic circles through books and articles. As I dwelt on this topic within the alternative title of “Sacrificial Devotion,” I also had, perforce, to dwell on the grievances espoused by the Sri Lanka Tamils.
Through happenchance, today, I came across an old Word File entitled “Be Tamil Bibliography.” Its entries suggest that it was drafted circa 2003/04 – so the temporal sweep is restricted. It lists academic books and articles on the ethnic contretemps in Sri Lanka as well as the Tamil world of Sri Lanka and India. Thus, the authors marked include such personnel as Zvelebil, Schalk, Kenneth David and Hellmann-Rajanayagam as well as the local Tamils Chelliah Manogaran, Valentine Daniel, Sivathamby, Somasundaram and Sivaram …. to name a few.

Tamil demonstrators invade the pitch during a Cricket World Cup, Group B, match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Oval, London, 11th June 1975. Australian opening batsman Alan Turner (foreground) turns his back on the protest while his teammate Rick McCosker looks on. Australia won the match by 52 runs..…Photo by Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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Filed under atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, counter-insurgency, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immolation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, landscape wondrous, language policies, law of armed conflict, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, prabhakaran, propaganda, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
An Insane World: Fico shot …. Blinken in Discoland
An Observer in a Black Sea Town … with highlights being impositions by Thuppahi
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Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, European history, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes
Devastating Israeli Assaults on Rafah
Observer in a Black Sea Town … writing on 7/8th May 2024 after Israel’s devastating assault began the day before.
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Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, Jews in Asia, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, nationalism, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, religious nationalism, truth as casualty of war, unusual people
The UIGHURS: Their Political Backers Revealed ….
Theodore K
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Filed under accountability, american imperialism, arab regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, Uncategorized, world events & processes
US Republican Senators Threaten the ICC … [and we are not talking cricket!]
Hot Press: Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz are among a dozen Republicans that signed a letter that threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) if they arrest Israeli leaders for war crimes.
Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Your Support is Crucial to the Show: https://tyt.com/team Get the Progressive battle plan: https://go.tyt.com/book-description Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live Read more HERE: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4… “A dozen GOP senators threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions if the body moves forward with an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other Israeli leaders. The ICC has reportedly considered a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest for weeks as accusations rise of war crimes in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. “
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Filed under accountability, anti-racism, arab regimes, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, human rights, legal issues, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, world events & processes











