Category Archives: ethnicity

March 22, 2025 · 12:43 am

Christina A. Bejan: Multi-Talented Authoress, Performative Artist, ….

A NOTE From the RHODES TRUST Secretariat, 24 March 2025

Cristina A. Bejan is a Romanian-American theatre artist, poet, and historian. A prolific playwright, Bejan has written nineteen plays, with productions in the United States, United Kingdom, Romania, and Vanuatu. Her hit play “Districtland” was bought for TV development, and Next Stage Press has released three of her scripts. She writes creatively in five languages and has published countless poems, plays, and poetry translations in literary journals and anthologies.

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March 21, 2025 · 8:25 pm

Palestine Tomorrow: A Bold Forecast from A Lankan Seer

A Sri Lankan Seer ……. “Compatible neighbors”

Arabs and Jews lived in relative peace in Palestine before 1948.

The Zionist movement was established by European Jews and Israel (which became a state in 1948) was a settler colonization project that served as a garrison state in the oil rich middle east for protecting the interests of the Western imperial power Britain and later USA.

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March 21, 2025 · 4:45 pm

The THOMIA is Flying ….

A Note from Richard Simon, 21 March 2025

It’s taken longer than I expected – just like everything about this project has – but I’m happy to say the first batch of overseas orders was posted via Expedited Mail Service yesterday. We have to do them in batches for reasons of practical logistics: (a) there’s just Lionel the Cat Herder and me to carry these 3.3kg bubble-wrapped and manila-swathed bricks about, and (b) only so much room on the post office parcels desk to accommodate them; not to mention (c) other customers in the place staring daggers at us and our time-consuming transactions. But we got them off anyway, after sacrificing one to the nice lady behind the counter who wanted it opened so that she could see what was inside. Obviously that one did not go off yesterday, so my apologies to Mr T.A. of Castle Hill, NSW, whose nude and blue-bushing copy we brought back home for rewrapping. It will go off in the next batch, sir, I promise.

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March 20, 2025 · 6:17 pm

Lesser Known ‘Armwrestles’: The Baluchistan Liberation Army Within Pakistan

An Item in FRONTLINE …. Produced in India & One of the World’s Leading Journals

In yet another blow to Pakistan’s internal security, militants seized control of a train in the Bolan area of Balochistan on March 11. The Jaffar Express, with around 500 passengers in nine coaches, was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar. An army spokesperson said that the attack was quelled the next day after all 33 militants were killed. He added that 21 passengers and four soldiers were slain by the militants. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.

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March 15, 2025 · 11:05 am

The Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Contradictory Readings & A Confusing Set of ‘Pictures

Michael Roberts, …. with highlighting being my imposition

I am no expert on this scenario, but our household receives  The Australian  newspaper and have therefore been subject to its pro-Western and anti-Russian leanings (besides its manifest support for Israel). Then, I came across a Viewpoint within Facebook presented under an Anglo-Saxon name that laid bare [or seemed to lay bare] the history of Eastern Europe and recent NATO machinations in revelatory fashion. Alas, I did not register the name of the author and the item disappeared [as FB items seem to do in my experience].

Thus, I sent this comment to several friends in Sri Lanka and the West whom I considered knowledgeable in this field. A few have responded. Their responses indicate that this ARENA is a complex and confusing field of issues…. several minefields of an overlapping nature to speak metaphorically. We must tread carefully.

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March 13, 2025 · 4:58 pm

Jaffna Women: Their Hidden Powers

Kenneth David ** whose article in  a book edited by Susan Wadley in  1980 (see end)  is entitled “Hidden Powers: Cultural and Socio-economic Accounts of Jaffna Women”

The general concern of this volume is the social position of Tamil women and cultural representations about them. This paper deals with both of these issues. The first part is a symbolic account of the life stages and associated ceremonies of Tamil women from the Jaffna region of Sri Lanka. In the course of showing the varying degrees of subordination or of influence that women have during their lives, I focus on two spe­cific strands of symbolism in these life cycle rites: binding and shaving. These are interpreted as a dual­ image of the woman as slave and renouncer, bound on the exterior but internally powerful. The second part is a socio-materialistic account. It contrasts the public images of female subordination with the practical reality in which women control property and covertly effect pro­ductive and other crucial decisions. The third part situates the first two in the context of a general theo­retical question. What are the pitfalls in studying a disadvantaged sector of society? My critique is di­rected towards the theoretical practice of linking pairs of descriptive terms and asserting that such linkage constitutes explanation. This practice is especially problematic when one is trying to understand a disadvantaged sector. Finally, the symbolic account is linked to the socio-materialistic account.

 

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March 12, 2025 · 3:16 pm

John D’Oyly’s Manifold Skills and the British Conquest of the Kandyan Kingdom

Rajitha Weerakoon in Daily Mirror, 11 March 2025, with this title “How D’Oyly used espionage to conquer Kandy?”

With the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom, the Kandyan Convention, ceremonially signed on March 10, 1815, completed the annexation of the island to the British Empire. This brought an end to the rule of Lankan Royalty.

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March 10, 2025 · 7:09 pm

“Europe in Danger” — Trump Eviscerated by French Senator

Verbatim Record of Claude Malhuret’s Speech in French Senate, March 2025 **

“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened. Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.

A box of Impeachmints,  …  related to his dealings with Ukraine.
On Thursday, 19 December 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Donald Trump caricature is seen on a trailer in Krakow, Poland on July 25, 2024. The figure, which was previously a theater prop, has been bought by local politician Lukasz Wantuch. Now he is planning to present it at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies…. Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

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March 10, 2025 · 1:17 pm

The Kremlin’s Chef ….. Anti-Russian Western Parody

A Pix from Alan Benson received via Keith Bennett, 10 March 2025  …. maybe indicative of hardline Anti-Russian political fervour? …. what what!

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March 8, 2025 · 10:29 pm

Mehdi Hasan’s U-Tube Interview with Ranil Wickremasinghe

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, in Groundviews, …. https://groundviews.org/2025/03/07/sentiment-analysis-of-ranil-wickremesinghes-al-jazeera-interview-with-mehdi-hasan/

Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan interviewed the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on a programme of Head to Head, produced by Al Jazeera. The programme was released to YouTube and first broadcast on March 6.

At the time I studied 5,144 comments in response to it, the video had been watched over 218,620 times and liked over 8,000 times. Comments, views and likes are increasing at pace, which means that by the time this is read, the sentiments, trends and patterns analysed are not going to fully or accurately capture additional sentiment. What follows must be read as a study of the sentiments in the comments published at the time of writing this post.

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