Item in the DAILY NEWS, 12 September 2023… where the title reads “SL asylum seeker granted PR after 1,000km walk to Sydney”
As he neared the end of his 1,000-kilometre walk to Sydney to raise awareness for thousands of families living in limbo as they seek permanent residency, asylum seeker Neil Para and his family have been granted theirs.
Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd]: “A global counter-terrorism military campaign initiated by the U.S. in 2001” ……….. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_terror, https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exhibit/on-the-front-lines-cia-in-afghanistan/, ChatGPT, and Google Images … [with only some photographs
Introduction: …… The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism”” (GWOT), is a global counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is also the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign were militant Islamist and Salafi jihadist armed organisations such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their international affiliates, which were waging military insurgencies to overthrow governments of various Muslim-majority countries. Other major targets included the Ba’athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed during an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, counter-insurgency, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, insurrections, jihadists, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, photography, politIcal discourse, press freedom & censorship, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, unusual people
Merril Gunaratne, a Retd Senior DIG, in The Island, 3 September 2023, where the title runs thus: “Police subservience made political interference possible” …. while highlighting has been imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
This writing was inspired by the topical essay of Kingsley Wickramasuriya, retired Senior DIG, which dealt with the impact of politics on the police, and the pithy observation made by Rajan Phillips in his column in the Sunday Island of August 20 where he has, whilst discussing dangers that may affect provincial policing under the 13th Amendment, stated “Nothing can be done provincially unless everything is reformed nationally”.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, discrimination, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss
A REUTER’s News Item, 31 August 2023, entitled “California’s anti-caste discrimination bill passes state Assembly”
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*…. with her choice of title being “Sri Lanka Back as Donor Darling Ignores the BRICS” and a sub-title that runs thus “France’s Macron and the US Fish in the Indian Ocean …. presented here with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Sri Lanka continues to swing wildly between being a ‘Donor Darling’ flooded with foreign ‘aid’ and ‘advisors’ on the one hand to a ‘bankrupt’ pariah or outcast on the other. Last year, the strategic Indian Ocean Island went from South Asia’s wealthiest nation with the best social and human development indicators to a beggar—humiliated and shunned by the ‘international community.’ This was after staging its first-ever Sovereign Default due to a Eurobond debt trap and purported lack of US dollars. The default triggered rapid rupee depreciation and instantly beggared citizens amid a distracting transnationally networked, remote-controlled ‘Aragalaya’ protest operation led by social media influencers. Ironically, there was a blockade on fuel shipments to the country amid the United States Marine’s ‘Sea Vision’ training program for the Sri Lanka Navy.
Newly formed Sri Lankan Marine Corps gets 241 years of experience in under a week. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jacob L. – Photo: 2023 .
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, debt restructuring, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, IMF as monster, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
An interesting chat with Mark LaBrooy in Melbourne on the phoe today induced me to re-visit my old SIGNATURE PIECE on “The Sinhala Mindset” in my Thuppahi site ….. Some of the commentary is as enlightening today as refreshing. That inserted by Jane Russell on 1 March 2012 and Chandre Dharmawardena’s response should continue to stimulate our thinking TODAY.
The problems of YESTERDAY still persist today.
Note that Jane is an Oxford graduate who secured her Ph.D in History at Peradeniya under KM de Silva’s supervision in Peradeniya in the 1970s. She has lived for lengthy spells in Sri Lanka since then because of her deep commitment to individuals and places within the land.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, economic processes, education, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts
On the 27th of January 1985 The lsland newspaper presented a cartoon sketch of a lion being confronted by a cockroach possessing the same physical scale as the lion under the caption “Hoisting the Flag for Lansi Eelam.” The lion denoted the Sinhala people, that is, the Sinhala nation in all its deep history and majesty. The cockroach signified the Burgher people of Sri Lanka, namely the “lansi.” The cartoon was supported by a letter attributed to a “Sharm De Alwis.”
Voila! So, it has come, but sooner than I expected: the call for a unified Lansieelam.
When I anticipated such a move I did tell a friend that were I the President I’d give the Burghers the Bambalapitiya Flats with the sea frontage thrown in for good measure. They would then be free to harness their intrinsic but long-forgotten skills in reclaiming the sea and build derricks to Mozambique or even Rotterdam.
But what bugged me was when my friend took me at my word and produced the next day the visual of the Lansieelam map. Not that I would have any objections to the apt depiction of the cockroach but that the pest had assumed the same proportions of the Sinhala Lion.
My friend re-assures me that what she has in mind is not a separate state but an isolated plot fully integrated with the Sinhala state and the cockroach, large as it now is, gives ample muscle aid to the Lion to combat other opposing factors.
Sharm de Alwis, 82/1, Kandy Road,, Kiribathgoda
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, devolution, discrimination, disparagement, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
The Investigation launched by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has in accordance with its terms of reference probed the period of time from the 2002 February ceasefire until the end of the war in May 2009 to ascertain whether war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations occurred in Sri Lanka during the final phase of the war as alleged. The focus on these particular years has naturally led to the overlooking of many other terrible incidents which happened in the years preceding 2002. Notable among these horrors is the mass expulsion of Muslims from the North by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE).
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, discrimination, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, power politics, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy
Gillian Cowlishaw, at John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal 15 August 2023 where her title is “Misreading Dark Emu”** …with highlighting emphasis imposed by Thuppahi
Criticisms of the book Dark Emu and its author, Bruce Pascoe, continue to appear, and to become more puzzling. It is as if the overwhelming popularity of Pascoe and his message have disturbed comfortable convictions about Australian history shared across a wide segment of Australian society.
Filed under Aboriginality, accountability, ancient civilisations, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, evolution of languages(s), heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, photography & its history, politIcal discourse, racism, religiosity, self-reflexivity, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Professor Chandre Dharmawardena
According to The Island newspaper, 25 of July 2023 [1], the Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh in Colombo has barged into the controversy on the Kurundi archeological site. The Canadian HC had met T. Raviharan, a politician who spearheads the protests at the Kurundi site. HC Walsh’s explanation is that “Meeting people in different parts of the country, to better understand their priorities and perspectives, is a normal part of a High Commissioner’s role.” These words ring hollow if he does NOT meet anyone from the “other side”, or the Archaeological Commissioner and other technical people.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, Canadian politics, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, propaganda, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, trauma, travelogue, world affairs
thuppahi
