Category Archives: disparagement

January 7, 2019 · 11:13 pm

“Putting The World To Write” …. in Galle

An INVITATION to a Writing Event with a Title that is Right

Talk, Tea & Book Launch Wednesday January 16th …. 3- 5 pm Jetwing Lighthouse

The first Galle Literary Festival was launched in 2007 amid the chaos of the Civil War. Despite the bitterness of that war, the festival projected the country onto the arts stage as a serious global literary force and attracted many big literary heroes from around the world, which it continues to do, up to this day, where the tenth anniversary is going to be the most exciting festival yet. There is no better location for it to be held in and around the Galle Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site and modern bastion of protection, both physically as in the tsunami of 2004 and ideologically, for all kinds of people from all kinds of religious backgrounds, all working together for the good of the fort, its people and its visitors.

Donald Trump and …

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, disparagement, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, performance, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, tourism, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

December 30, 2018 · 1:46 am

Internet Assassins: Deciphering Their World

 Michael Roberts

On different occasions friends have indicated that I should not bother to address personalized and vituperative attacks. In this instance I am disregarding this well-meant advice. For one the instances I am addressing are those arising from an essay in Colombo Telegraph which was inspired by Bill Deutrom’s observation that my analysis in another article “[would] not convince people who have already made up their mind based on emotion, ethnicity or with a hatred for Rajapaksa.”

Several of the comments provide ample evidence for Bill’s summing up. But we can decipher them more closely to read the lines of thought driving some of these individuals (mostly guys). That is my inquiry here – deciphering hardcore prejudice in what is necessarily a conjectural manner. I stress that I am addressing the Colombo Telegraph comments that reached the world up to 16th December (Dayan Jayatilleka’s note being the last embraced — one not pertinent to this essay).[1]

 

Vanderpoorten  Sankaralingam

Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under accountability, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes

December 19, 2018 · 8:14 am

A Political-Constitutional Deadlock that highlights the Powers vested in the Presidency

 C. A. Chandraprema, in Island, 19 December 2018, entitled  “A UNP govt. under a hostile President” with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

The whole purpose of making it virtually impossible to dissolve Parliament until the lapse of a period of four and a half years was a knee-jerk reaction to the dissolution of Parliament in 2004 by Chandrika Kumaratunga, who sent the UNP into the political wilderness for over a decade. While the recent Supreme Court decision shows that the UNP has succeeded in achieving its objective, the wisdom of what it did through the 19th Amendment needs to be called into question. What is surprising is that there would be so-called ‘constitutional experts’ who would seek to insert such an ill-thought out provision into the Constitution without giving any thought to the practical aspects of running a government.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, disparagement, electoral structures, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, legal issues, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, trauma, vengeance, world events & processes

December 17, 2018 · 4:09 pm

Re-positioning Uyangoda et al in the 21st Century Political Dispensation

Vinod Moonesinghe … with highlighting being impositions of The Editor, Thuppahi, whose “NOTE” at the end is also pertinent

The judgement of the Supreme Court, whatever the motives of the judges, is broadly perceived by the mass of people as being detrimental to democracy, (a) by putting back in the seats of power a regime which had proved itself not only incompetent, but venal, and totally dependent on the diplomatic corps of the Western powers; and (b) by preventing the people from voting.

The people whom Uyangoda mentions as being “committed to civil liberties”, people who opposed what they called a “constitutional coup,” were voluble in presenting themselves as “acting in the interests of democracy”, not of Ranil Wickramasinghe, in fact only appear to be committed to the civil liberties of the elite. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, China and Chinese influences, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

December 17, 2018 · 1:19 am

Jayadeva UJyangoda’s Lament from the Heart in November 2018

Editor, Thuppahi: This passionate public statement in early November is a cry from the heart which conveys important historical details. Readers familiar with all the circumstances will be able to pinpoint what is missing and what has been unsaid about the major events that my friend “Uyan” traverses.  I am not conversant with man y of the intricate details and strands in the politics of Sri Lanka; so this is an invitation for critical comment and additional information — data which can also  take in the information and false news identified in the article arising from Bill Deutrom’s Incisive NOTE. viz, = https://thuppahis.com/2018/12/16/hatreds-chasms-bill-deutroms-insights-on-the-political-impasse-in-sri-lanka/#more-33101


]ayadeva Uyangoda: “The Political is Personal: An Essay in Despair from Sri Lanka,” 5 November 2018, https://thewire.in/south-asia/the-political-is-personal-an-essay-in-despair-from-sri-lanka

In his explanation of why he removed Ranil Wickremasinghe from the office of prime minister, President Maithripala Sirisena cited policy and personal differences between the two. An analysis of his speech shows that personal reasons are stronger than policy reasons and the personal is very much political. The text of President Sirisena’s address to the nation reminds Sri Lanka’s citizens of the explanation he offered in the latter part of 2014 as to why he left his former political boss, Mahinda Rajapaksa. There too, the personal was political. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, communal relations, democratic measures, devolution, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, news fabrication, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

December 16, 2018 · 1:58 am

Hatreds. Chasms. Bill Deutrom’s Insights on the Political Impasse in Sri Lanka

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 15 December 2018, where the title is different

    pro-UNP rally

Email Note from Bill Deutrom in Lanka to Michael Roberts, 8 Dec 2018

Thank you, Michael for your amazing collection of articles on the Eelam War and its aftermath as well as the present political impasse. Alas, they will not convince people who have already made up their mind based on emotion, ethnicity or with a hatred for Rajapaksa. Continue reading →

7 Comments

Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, conspiracies, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, devolution, disparagement, ethnicity, Fascism, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, island economy, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Presidential elections, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry

December 13, 2018 · 3:01 am

Sam Samarasinghe’s Postscript to the Raging Debate in Colombo Telegraph on His Previous Essay

 Sam Samarasinghe aka Stanley WR de Samarasinghe, with this NOTE in Colombo Telegraph: Some of you may have read my article titled “A Way Out of the Crisis to Save Sri Lanka’s Democracy” that appeared in the Colombo Telegraph on December 7th. It elicited a fairly significant response. The format of Colombo Telegraph allows for dialogue and discussion of a topic. Making use of that I prepared a response partly to answer some issues and questions that some of the correspondents raised. Colombo Telegraph has published my response. …. A Response presented here with highlighting emphases imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

I am thankful to all those who contributed to the dialogue following my article published in the Colombo Telegraph on December 07. I will not attempt to respond to individual comments. But taken in its totality the discussion raises some important issues relating to governance in Sri Lanka in the context of the present crisis.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, unusual people, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes

Image

Costly WASTE in the Heart of Canberra

Leave a comment

December 12, 2018 · 12:40 am
December 1, 2018 · 2:21 am

Lessons for Joe Root, Dauris and the British: Minefields, Terrorist Hits and the Miliband Intervention in 2009

Shamindra Ferdinando, Island, 27 November 2018:

Having visited one-time LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) dominated Periyamadu on Nov 19, morning, Englishman Olly Stone tweeted: “GREAT DAY UP IN NORTH SRI LANKA VISITING THE MINEFIELDS WITH MAG (Mine Advisory Group), AN AMAZING JOB THEY ARE DOING WITH THE LOCAL PEOPLE TO HELP MAKE THE PLACE SAFE AGAIN AND GROW THE COMMUNITY!”

Periyamadu, Nov 19, 2018: Some members of the England cricket team accompany Mine Advisory Group (MAG) personnel to an area cleared of explosive devices. From Left : Joe Root, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow, Olly Stone and British High Commissioner Dauris (partly covered) at the back (pic courtesy BHC, Colombo)

 

Twenty five-year-old Stone is a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman of the visiting English team. Stone was one of the four members of the English team to experience the life in former battlefield east of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road. Captain of the team Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Keaton Jennings, too, visited an area declared cleared of mines.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, disparagement, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, meditations, military strategy, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war reportage, world events & processes

November 29, 2018 · 12:20 am

A Merry-Go-Round in Sri Lanka …. No Blood

Michael Patrick O’Leary, in Private Eye, where the title is “A Letter from Colombo: Blood Bath in Sri Lanka- not Many Dead”

There is much talk of the second coming of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. It seems that he may have come prematurely, without the potency he had presumed. He says he is prime minister of Sri Lanka. Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNP (United National Party), says he is prime minister. There have been ugly scenes in parliament as ugly politicians punch each other and throw things about, including a bible (or possibly Erskine May).

 

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, disparagement, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes