Category Archives: life stories

January 27, 2019 · 2:29 pm

Prejudiced and Infantile Readings of Sri Lanka at Chatham House in 2019

Introductory Note from Michael Roberts

 The public event organised by Chatham House to discuss recent events in Sri Lanka on 17th January was chaired by a University Lecturer at University College London whose specialty is “human rights,” rather than any one of the Sri Lankan specialists teaching at British Universities (for e.g. Rajesh Venugopal, Asanga Welikala, Sujit Suvisundaram, Zoltan Beidermann and Alan Strathern).  The combination of ignorance, distortion and prejudice that guided the organisation and direction of the debate was exposed in the opening lines of this Chairperson, one Kate Cronin-Furman. “[We are meeting today some ten years after the “final push” of the Sri Lankan Army in a war that ended in May 2009 – “a final phase where the UN estimates said that more than 40,000 civilians were killed by that military [action].”

aaa -kate cronin

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, atrocities, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, doctoring evidence, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes

January 27, 2019 · 9:12 am

The Divided Island debated by Chatham House in London, 17th January 2018

Chatham House Public Notice: “A Divided Island: Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Crisis” … 17 January 2019  1:00pm to 2:00pm ……………….Chatham House | 10 St James’s Square | London | SW1Y 4LE ….. NB: “Chatham House” is The Royal Institute of International Affairs

Overview: …… A decade since the end of Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war, the country has recently been plunged back into turmoil. A constitutional crisis created by the sacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe by President Maithripala Sirisena, and a plan to replace him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, paralysed the country’s legislative and executive branches as both Wickramasinghe and Rajapaksa claimed the office of prime minister. Against this background, the panel considers how Sri Lanka’s opaque domestic politics is reflected by the government’s slow progress toward its pledges to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to address accountability and political reconciliation emerging from the country’s 26-year civil war. Looking forward, will Wickramasinghe pursue reconciliation, and accountability for past abuses? And what will Rajapaksa’s disputed return to frontline politics mean for a nation still reconciling the violence of its recent history?

LONDON, UK – Apr 19, 2017: Metropolitan police officers on duty at 10 St James’s Square The Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House

 

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, LTTE, news fabrication, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

January 27, 2019 · 2:20 am

A Rajapaksa Cloud looming over Lanka’s Democracy

Sam Samarasinghe aka SWR de A Samarasinghe of Tulane University, in Sunday Observer, 27 January 2019, where the title is “Gotabaya’s alternative vision challenges Sri Lanka’s democracy” …. with highlighting emphases in different colurs imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently announced at a meeting of Viyath Maga, of which he is president that he was ready to contest the next Presidential Election that must be held this year.In his speech to the assembled professionals and business people he asserted that Sri Lanka must have national unity (jaathikathwaya) and rejected sectarian division (jaathiwaadaya). The Viyath Maga website makes all the right statements on good governance such as “steer the country in the correct path with accountability; inculcate democratic values…”, and so on. Rajapaksa also stressed the importance of solving ‘social problems’ focusing on poverty reduction. All of the above are desirable political goals for the country. They are also not new. The UNF in 2015, and earlier leaders, made similar promises that were largely ignored once in office.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, commoditification, conspiracies, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

January 26, 2019 · 7:07 am

Requiem at Trinity College Chapel with Errol Fernando

I  was introduced to a mild mannered visitor to the Chapel by a school officer when I came in for choir practices today. I was told his surname and that he is an old boy. The visitor started by saying “If I were offered a ticket to go to a place that I loved, it would not be any other place in the world but the Trinity College Chapel. ”

He soon go on talking about the choir and went on to describe the carol service in his days. Then he asked “Do the boys know ‘Where River Lake and Mountain Meet’, and would they sing it if I played it for them?” In reply I asked another question: “May I know your first name sir”?

Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

January 23, 2019 · 2:29 pm

Shavendra Silva becomes Chief of Staff, Sri Lankan Army

News Item in Island, 12 January 2019, ….

Major General Shavendra Silva on Thursday assumed office as the 53rd Chief of Staff of the Army during a simple ceremony at Army Headquarters, amidst religious observances. In the backdrop of chanting by the Maha Sangha to invoke blessings on the new office, he placed his signature on an official document to signify the assumption of duties.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Buddhism, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people

January 22, 2019 · 6:06 am

The Presidential Stakes in the Near Future in Sri Lanka

Sanjana Hattotuwa, Sunday Island, 20 January 2019 where the title is “Puppets, Pawns and Presidents”

Sirisena, Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his brother Chamal and Karu Jayasuriya. The last week saw media frame prospective candidates for an office that the incumbent said, nay, swore on 9th January 2015, he would never seek re-election to and would be the last to occupy. Evidence of Sri Lanka’s sickeningly bankrupt political culture is again to be found in how, leaving aside unequivocal promises four years ago, even the catastrophic events of late 2018 and its entrenchment have not resulted in any meaningful measures to abolish the Executive Presidency. While the government continues bizarrely, blindly and blithely with business as usual, the names paraded as Presidential aspirants offer some interesting insights.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance

January 20, 2019 · 11:09 pm

Water and Wild Life in Sri Lanka brought to life

Mike Birkhead and Associates .... and their Documentary Series = https://www.mikebirkhead.com/Wild-Sri-Lanka.html

Nowhere else on earth is the power of water to create, shape and sustain life so dazzlingly evident as on the tiny oceanic island of Sri Lanka. Rising from the waves, it is a land where not one, but two monsoons mark time. A world where rains pour down, clouds swell, rivers flow, mists dance across the skies, frosts dust the highlands and thousands of man-made lakes form a curious wonderland filled with a wildlife that is strange, beautiful and utterly unique. In this series we will delve into the land of these breathtaking creatures – from the largest mammal on earth, the blue whale, to the smallest, the etruscan shrew – and discover how, from the moment Sri Lanka fractured from the southern supercontinent of Gondwanaland and was carried by the oceans to its present home – it has been an island which has been ruled by one unstoppable force: water.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under landscape wondrous, life stories, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, wild life, world events & processes

January 20, 2019 · 2:51 am

How Washington nurtured Maithripala Sirisena in 2013-15 to serve Its Ends

Daya Gamage of USA [i]… with highlighting emphasis being the work of The  Editor, Thuppahi

As you have noted in your email[ii] that Chandrika and Ven. Sobhitha[iii] were instrumental in identifying and cultivating Maithripala Sirisena to take the field against Rajapaksa at the 2015 Presidential Election, let me emphasize that Washington also had a firm covert hand in the selection.

Way back in 2013 Washington identified Sirisena as a possible candidate against Mahinda Rajapaksa. The first step was when, as Rajapaksa’s Health Minister, Sirisena received the Harvard Health Leadership Award 2013 from Harvard University Dean Dr. Julio Frenk and Harvard Professor (International Affairs) William Clark for minimizing the consumption of alcohol and smoking and adopting a National Drug Policy in Sri Lanka.

Health Minister Maitripala Sirisena receiving Harvard Leadership Award 2013 From Harvard University Dean Dr. Julio Frenk and Harvard Professor International Affairs William Clark

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, doctoring evidence, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

January 19, 2019 · 2:24 pm

Brexit Explained the British Way — with Humour

John Bull

David Cameron made a promise he didn’t think he’d have to keep to have a referendum he didn’t think he would lose.

Boris Johnson decided to back the side he didn’t believe in because he didn’t think it would win. Then Gove, who said he wouldn’t run, did, and Boris who said he would run, said he wouldn’t, and Theresa May who didn’t vote for Brexit got the job of making it happen.

She called the election she said she wouldn’t and lost the majority David Cameron hadn’t expected to win in the first place. She triggered Article 50 when we didn’t need to and said we would talk about trade at the same time as the divorce deal and the EU said they wouldn’t so we didn’t. People thought she wouldn’t get the divorce settled but she did, but only by agreeing to separate arrangements for Northern Ireland when she had promised the DUP she wouldn’t. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, power politics, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes

January 17, 2019 · 2:29 am

Cracking Impact! The Suntharalingam Saga’s Theatrical Tour de Force

Cassie Tongue in Time-Out, 16 January 2019, where the title is “Counting and Cracking review” ….. with Brett Boardman’s PICs …. and highlighting added

It’s only January, but we have an early contender for the best play of the year in Counting and Cracking. And we certainly won’t see another play like it any time soon. Set in a recursion of town halls – a Sri Lankan-style one built inside Sydney’s landmark Town Hall – Counting and Cracking takes place in both Colombo and Sydney, in the 1970s and 2004, and always keeps one foot in each world; as we are about to see, the past and present are not so easily separated.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, asylum-seekers, atrocities, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, meditations, military strategy, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, reconciliation, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes