In SRI LANKA 12 May 2024
Category Archives: Eelam
Blatant Double Standards towards Israel & Sri Lanka pursued by UN Watchdogs
Shenali D. Waduge, in Lankaweb, 9 May 2024, ….where the title reads “UN/UNHRC/US & Allies hypocrisy – comparison of Sri Lanka & the Gaza Conflict” ….
[My title and this article does not seek] to present a notion that Israel is right or wrong, or that Sri Lanka is right or wrong, but [seeks] to question UN’s treatment of Member states & the applicability of the UN Charter & the principles of equality & non-discrimination to Member states. UNGA has condemned Israel over 120 times. UNHRC has condemned Israel over 40 times. US has vetoed over 40 Resolutions against Israel but is spearheading resolutions against Sri Lanka in connivance with the UN. How fair is this to Sri Lanka?
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, disparagement, Eelam, foreign policy, historical interpretation, IDP camps, insurrections, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Imagine there’s no countries, nothing to kill or die for
Rohini Hensman …. An article composed at the end of the year 2003 for a conference in January 2004; and eventually published in 2012 (see below: fn 1) …. with the title being borrowed from ‘Imagine,’ by John Lennon …. and the highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
I would like to look at the issue of community and nationalism and its continued relevance at the present, and in particular to analyse its association with authoritarianism, militarisation, nuclearisation, terrorism, and questions of war and peace in South Asia. Within this region, there is a very close parallel between the current situation in Sri Lanka [2003-04] and developments which have taken place much earlier in India, Pakistan, and later Bangladesh. In both cases, we see the development of strong authoritarian tendencies, linked up to either religion or ethnicity.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, Eelam, ethnicity, Fascism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, Middle Eastern Politics, nationalism, Palestine, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, racism, racist thinking, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
Boom! Boom! The Central Bank Collapses in Front of Our Eyes!
Somasundaram Skandakumar, in essay entitled “A former chairman of George Steuarts remembers”
As the clock moved towards 10.50 a.m. on January 31, 2021, my mind went back 25 years to that fateful day. It was a Wednesday, and having finished our weekly meeting of the Parent Board of Directors in the Board Room on the eighth floor of Steuart House around 10.30 am, we sat around to exchange views on matters of a non-official nature as was customary, before returning to our rooms.
Enjoying the view of the sea beyond the Central Bank that faced us from the opposite side of Janadipathi Mawatha, was a favourite pastime of ours on such occasions.
Janadipathi Mawatha on that last day of January was as busy as always as people flocked into the banks, business offices and hotels that stood imposingly along it . Yes, the human traffic on this busy street was as heavy as the vehicular.
At 10.45 a.m., we heard what sounded like gun shots and sensed trouble.Moving to the large french windows that were the hallmark of “Steuart House,” we observed a lorrylike the ones that used to bring down tea from the plantations to Colombo, attempting to scale the pavement bordering the Central Bank.
The intention to enter the lobby of the Bank seemed obvious. An alert and courageous security guard shut off the access only to pay for his noble deed with his life as the occupants in the vehicle shot him dead.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, nationalism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
The LTTE Bomb Attack on the Central Bank Building in the Heart of Colombo, 31 January 1996
Michael Roberts
Colombo in the 1990s was a rather different world from the city today because its heartland centred around the Fort with its venerable shops (Cargills, Millers) leading mercantile offices, three premier hotels and the huge Central Bank building looming on the horizon. The expansion and transformation of the Port of Colombo and many other developments have transformed the city since then and the ‘weight of the Fort’ has diminished considerably since then.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, historical interpretation, insurrections, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, Uncategorized, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Palaly Airport as Site for SLAF Exhibition
Ananth Palakidnar in Daily News, 10 March 2024 … with highlighting emphasis being the work of the Editor Thuppahi
The Sri Lanka Air Force has chosen the city of Jaffna to include in its 73rd-anniversary celebration by organising an exhibition of the SLAF at the historic Muttraveli area around the Dutch Fort of Jaffna.
Filed under centre-periphery relations, communal relations, counter-insurgency, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, terrorism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
‘Hoisting the Flag for Lansi Eelam! in 1985
Michael Roberts
After several years work in asociation with Ismeth Raheem and Percy Colin-Thome the book People Inbetween: The Burghers an the Middle Class in the Transformations within Sri Lanka, 1780s-1960s was brought out under the imprint of Savodaya Publishing Services in 1989.** Its first chapter on “Pejorative Phrases ..” was a central and critical segment of the whole work and included an illustrative çartoon that had been presented in The Island newspaper on the 27th January 1985.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, Eelam, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, press freedom & censorship, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, unusual people
Former Military Officers in Political Party Campaigns in Sri Lanka
Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 28 February 2024 where the title runs thus: “National Elections: Ex-military Factor”... with highighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
With the presidential election scheduled for later this year, political parties represented in Parliament have stepped up efforts to forge alliances.
Ex-military personnel at a rally organized by the JVP last year (pic courtesy JVP)
In terms of the Constitution, presidential elections will have to be conducted between Sept 18 and Oct 18, 2024. The last presidential election was held in Nov 2019.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, counter-insurgency, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Tamil Women at War as ‘Birds of Freedom’ in the LTTE Cause
Vindhya Buthpitiya: “How to Capture Birds of Freedom: Picturing Tamil Women at War,” Trans Asia Photography (2023) 13 (1) … derived from ………………………………………… https://doi.org/10.1215/21582025-10365016 … with the aid of my Aloysian mate KK De Silva; whilr the highlighting is my imposition.
Abstract: This article examines the uses of images of women fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during and after the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) to explore the contrasting mobilizations of visual representations of Tamil women cadres, focusing on the cultivation and framing of contradictory nationalist imaginaries by competing ethnic and state actors. In northern Sri Lanka, portraits of gun-bearing women fighters were wielded to signal revolutionary possibilities for the future of the Tamil nation-state as well as to inform the political socialization of its hopeful citizens. Meanwhile, images of Tamil women cadres were cast as gendered and ethnicized threats by the Sri Lankan state in what constituted a calculated form of visual ethno-political othering and weaponization. This article reflects on the ways in which such appropriations exacerbated the political precarity of and the denial of victimhood to Tamil women.
Malathy was the First Tamil Tigress to face death for the Tamiil for the Tamil Cause
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, asylum-seekers, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, language policies, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, news fabrication, NGOs, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Another Time, Another World: Social Science in Postwar Sri Lanka
Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Background: In Sri Lanka, social science research witnessed an expansion in the 1950s. Various scholars, including Stanley Tambiah and Gananath Obeyesekere, found their calling in anthropology, and went on to introduce and popularise the subject in local universities. This period also witnessed an increasing interest in Sri Lankan and specifically Sinhala society from Western scholars, including Edmund Leach, James Brow, and Richard Gombrich. While many local scholars active in that period have commented on how social science research evolved at Sri Lankan universities, no proper study of this has been done yet.
Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, NGOs, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography & its history, plantations, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, tourism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
