Category Archives: life stories

January 30, 2015 · 1:40 am

Social Justice for Today: Q and A with Nirmal Devasiri

C. A. Chandraprema’s Interview with Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, courtesy of The Island, 30 January 2015

Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera’s -col tel Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera’- Pic from Colombo Telegraph

Spokesman for Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera’s National Movement for Social Justice Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri speaks to C. A. Chandraprema about the apparent lack of interest in the new government in fulfilling the pledges relating to constitutional change they made during the election campaign.
NIRMAL-island Nirmal

Q. The new government was elected on certain core promises. The main cause around which all of you united was the abolition of the executive presidency. Now more than three weeks into the new regime, we are hearing less and less about the abolition of the executive presidency, especially from the newly elected president. There are various street shows being enacted by activists of the new government to fill TV news bulletins while constitutional changes have been pushed into the background. What we are hearing is about limiting the term of the president to five years. That’s not quite what you had in mind is it?

A. There are concerns about that among people who supported this government. This has been discussed among the various bodies of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) as well. What the NMSJ envisaged was a complete abolition – a return to the pre-1977 system. The proposals brought by the JHU are different. There was a discussion the other day with Dr Jayampathy Wickremeratne and though there may be some differences in the timeframe it appears that the process is on track, but it appears that it will not be a complete abolition. We have to watch the situation. The government exists on a certain equilibrium among political forces. There is the UNP then there is the Chandrika-Maithri camp and the JHU within the government’s decision making circle. If we look at the vested interests involved, Ranil would like to see presidential powers being reduced. He needs to enhance the powers of the prime minister. The UNP has a lot of bargaining power and, therefore, I believe the executive powers of the presidency will be reduced to a great extent. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, education policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people

January 29, 2015 · 10:30 am

Sir Ivor Jennings: His Writings now edited by Harshan Kumarasingham

Constitution Maker flyer 2015 – 2

HARSHANHarshan Kumarasingham ed., Constitution Maker: Select Writings of Sir Ivor Jennings, vol 46 in the Camden series of the Royal Historical Society 2014. All rights reserved. University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT | 020 7387 7532

JENNINGS 22 - SUNDAY OBSERVER Pic from Sunday Observer

Sir Ivor Jennings (1903-65), Downing Professor of Law at Cambridge, was one of the 20th century’s most famous and significant constitutional scholars and the author of numerous well-known texts. Beyond his prestigious roles in Britain, Jennings was also very influential internationally as an advisor on constitutional questions between the 1940s and 60s. This volume brings together for the first time previously unpublished letters, memoranda, diaries and confidential evaluations of constitutional issues, political elites and critical events in territories including Ceylon, Ethiopia, Gibraltar  India, Malta, Malaya, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Rhodesia, Singapore, South Africa and Sudan. Also included are Jennings’ candid and forthright assessments on Britain’s constitutional influence abroad and his direct experience of constitution making. The introduction provides a guide to this English Professor’s remarkable international role and his scholarly value.  This collection sheds light not only on Jennings’ work and influence, but also on British ideas about democracy and on institutions across the globe during the climactic era of decolonisation. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under British colonialism, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, heritage, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, unusual people, world affairs

January 27, 2015 · 11:31 pm

“Mahinda Mahattayaa” — A Homily and Overview from a Rural Subaltern directed against the Muckraking in Vogue NOW

M. L. Wickramasinghe, courtesy of the Sunday Island and http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/37708 where the title is “It is Because of Mahinda “Mahattaya” that we can now walk Freely on the Roads Like this”

I am persuaded to write this short opinion piece due to a short dialogue a shop assistant had with me last week at a suburban town. I kept a small parcel including two newspapers in a transparent cellophane bag on the shop counter and went in looking for a few items. On returning, I saw a person reading the newspaper through the cellophane bag. He smiled apologetically. I smiled back in a relaxed and empathetic way indicating non-verbally (hopefully), that he could finish reading if he wished to do so.

Saying ‘a menna sir’ (‘here it is sir’), he handed the parcel back to me. As he handed back the parcel he said “Basil mahattaya penala gihilla kiyala kiyanne? Apahu enna kiyala niyoga karanavalu neda”? (‘it is said that Mr. Basil has run away? He’s been ordered to come back isn’t it?’) I was taken unawares, but said, “Basil mahattaya apahu eyi; parajayata wagakeema bara gannawa kiyala Basil mahattaya kiyala thibuna ne” ( ‘Mr. Basil would come back. Mr. Basil had said that he is taking responsibility for the defeat’).

dbs 22 Pic from dbsjeyaraj.com

Then he got into a short dialogue with me and said that the way ‘some of them’ treat the Rajapaksa Pavula and Mahinda mahattaya is not quite good; how they talk about them is not in good taste. I said that I tend to agree, and that type of talk would gradually stop. “Sir, Mahinda mahattaya hinda ne den apita mehema nidahase pare behala yanna puluwan” ( ‘Sir, it is because of Mahinda mahattaya that we can now walk on the roads freely like this’). I walked away reflectively. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, democratic measures, historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs

January 25, 2015 · 3:10 am

A Rave Review of the Chitrasena Performance from the High Priests of Canberra

Bill Stephens, 16 January 2015  for the Canberra Critics Circle, at http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/dancing-for-gods-chitrasena-dance.html

It’s been a long time between visits. The Chitrasena Dance Company from Sri Lanka, last performed in Canberra in 1972, headed then by the charismatic founder of the company, Chitrasena and his wife, Vajira. After a week performing at the Sydney Festival the company returned to Canberra for just one performance, this time with Chitrasena’s grand-daughters, choreographer Heshma Wignaraja, and principal dancer, Thaji Dias, at the helm.

Chitrasena Dance - 01 Chitrasena Dance Company Drummers

The Chitrasena Dance Company specialise in Kandyan dance, a 2,500 year old  ritual-dance tradition which only evolved into a performance art in the 20th Century with the emergence of virtuoso dancer Chitrasena who is credited with bringing the traditional dances from the village rituals to the modern stage. Over the years his children and grand-children have continued his tradition, evolving, adapting and refining the ancient art form to suit the modern stage. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cultural transmission, life stories, performance, sri lankan society

January 23, 2015 · 3:17 am

The Deep Fractures in Sri Lanka’s Polity remain — warns Dayan J

Dayan Jayatilleka in the Island, 18 January 2015 where the title is “Beyond 50/50″

The jury is in on the Presidential election. Here’s how it went down, according to an interesting source which can hardly be described as anti-Tamil, or Sinhala racist. Listen to Mr. Erik Solheim: “…The election victory was possible due to massive support from all Sri Lankan minorities. Mr. Rajapaksa won 90 out of 160 electoral districts and came out on top in nearly all Sinhala-dominated provinces. Mr. Rajapaksa roughly won the Sinhalese vote by 55 per cent. This was compensated for by Mr. Sirisena winning around 80 per cent of the Tamil vote and an even bigger share of Muslim votes. For this was payback time…” (‘Can The Unknown Angel Deliver?’ Erik Solheim, the Hindu, Jan 15th, 2015)

So Mahinda Rajapaksa indubitably won the majority of the majority of the island’s citizens: 55% of 70%. He lost. The winner failed to win a majority of the majority. He won. To a great many, this structural asymmetry makes the mandate look and feel like a doughnut.

Mr. MA Sumanthiran a liberal and a moderate Tamil nationalist, spells it out still more clearly in the Sunday Leader: “This election has shown that Maithripala Sirisena’s victory was assured by those people who are numerically in the minority and therefore the weight of their votes equal to the weight of the vote from the majority community.” Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, democratic measures, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, security, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, world affairs

January 21, 2015 · 4:59 am

Migrant Selvi Parameswaran feels profoundly Australian

Selvi Parameswaran in Letter to Editor, AUSTRALIAN, 21 January 2015, which carried the title “Generous welcome makes me feel Australian”

EVERY time there is a crisis at a refugee detention centre I am reminded of the experience I had coming to Australia as a refugee in 1986. After my father and grandfather were killed in Sri Lanka, my mother brought us to Australia and stayed in the Graylands migrant centre in Perth for six months. I was seven and my sister was two, and we had such a wonderful time there, visiting the nurse so we could get biscuits and eating strange new food like fish and chips and crumbed chicken. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, historical interpretation, immigration, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, press freedom, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes

January 21, 2015 · 4:47 am

Muslims can make the pen mightier than the sword

ACL Ameer Ali, courtesy of the Australian, 21 January 2015. See http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/muslims-can-make-the-pen-mightier-than-the-sword/story-e6frg6zo-1227191285228 where there are numerous blog comments

THE attack on Charlie Hebdo and similar attacks on journalists, artists and authors carry the signature of a puritan, authoritarian Islam that has no room for tolerance of diversity, differences and doubt. This is the Islam of the gun. To the followers of this brand of Islam, history has virtually been frozen since the murder of the fourth caliph, Ali, in AD661. These Islamists want political power at any cost to bring back their so-called golden age of Islam, which covers about 50 years from the time of prophet Mohammed to the death of Ali.

This brand of Islam is not only authoritarian but legalistic, exclusivist and misogynist. Although puritan Islam has a long past, its current wave began in the wake of the oily affluence of the Middle East in the 1980s. Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahhabi puritanism and the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, with its new financial clout automatically became the unchallenged leader of the puritan wave in the Sunni world. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under cultural transmission, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry

January 21, 2015 · 4:24 am

From Expeditionary Terror to Leaderless Remote Control Terror

David kilcullenDavid Kilcullen, in the Weekend Australian, 17-18 January 2015, where the title is ” Remote Control Terror” … See ttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/new-terror-paradigm-after-charlie-hebdo-raids/story-fnpdbcmu-1227187609376 for web version where there are lively blog exchanges

LAST week Islamist terrorists killed 17 people in a horrifying raid on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and in a siege at a Paris kosher market. The attacks were a direct assault on free speech in one of the world’s oldest democracies, exacerbated fears of Muslim anti-Semitic violence in Europe and prompted a global response. The attacks particularly resonated in Australia, of course, after December’s deadly Martin Place siege.

CHARLIE HEBDO I KILL --AFP Charlie Hebdo attackers kill policeman–AFP

Fears of follow-on attacks have roiled Europe and America. Police evacuated Belgian newspaper Le Soir after a bomb threat, the French Army increased patrols at public sites and in Germany competing pro- and anti-immigration marchers rallied under heavy security. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Al Qaeda, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, life stories, martyrdom, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, Taliban, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry

January 10, 2015 · 3:20 pm

Populist Authoritarianism. Why Mahinda Rajapaksa will abdicate the Reins: A Forecast in 2012

Michael Roberts

 Reflections in January 2015

In the course of my teaching and researches I developed some interest in the phenomenon known as “populism” which informed political currents in interwar USA, Romania and parts of Eastern Europe in the 20th century. I gained considerable inspiration from the book Populism. Its Meanings and National Characteristics, edited by G. Ionescu & E. Gellner (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson). Populism had affinities with fascism, but had its roots in farming populations. Thus it was a form of “peasantism” — thereby slotting into  the university courses on peasant rebellions which I had initiated within the Department of Anthropology at Adelaide University.

This background informed my reading of political developments in Sri Lanka from the 1940s –especially the influence of the panchamahābalavēgaya 1] at the electoral revolution in 1956 and the continuing force of the ideological currents associated with the“1956 revolution” in subsequent decades (see Roberts 1994f). This necessarily meant attentiveness not only to the (Sinhala) nativism at the heart of the 1956 ideology, but also to the implications of the catch-cry duppath podhu janathāva (poverty-stricken common man). The latter, in my reading, was the equivalent of the currents of “peasantism” and “nativism” at the centre of several populist movements in other parts of the world. Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, democratic measures, disparagement, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

January 10, 2015 · 11:51 am

Thaji Dias and the Chitrasena Troupe seduce Sydney’s Aficianados

Deborah Jones, in The Australian, 9 January 2015, where the title is “Thaji Dias stars in Chitrasena Dance Company’s Dancing for the Gods at Sydney Festival”

IF there is a more immediately captivating dancer than Thaji Dias, I have yet to see her, or him. Dias is the leading dancer of Sri Lanka’s Chitrasena Dance Company, granddaughter of its founder and was clearly born to carry on his work. She isn’t the only reason to see the company but would be reason enough. At the Sydney Festival on Thursday evening, Dias dazzled on every level: her technical command was exhilarating and her artistry ravishing, and if that were not enough Dias has megawatts of charisma.

CHITRASENA TROUPE Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cultural transmission, heritage, Hinduism, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, sri lankan society