Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, historical interpretation, human rights, Islamic fundamentalism, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, transport and communications, trauma, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Jehan Perera, in The Island, 3 August 2021, with this title “Restoring reconciliation process cannot be piecemeal”
The government is making a resolute effort to turn Sri Lanka around and put it in the direction of rapid economic development. The systematic manner in which it has been conducting the Covid vaccinations has earned recognition by WHO as well as the international community. The value of the military in getting things done on a large scale with minimum of delay has been manifested in the partnership that they have struck with the health authorities. The memory is fading of how some of the government leaders dabbled in alchemy and the spirit world to find an antidote to the COVID virus, despite being vested with the responsibility to strengthen the health of the country’s people. There is also increased space being given to civil society to engage in protests, such as the protracted teachers’ strike and the agitation against the expanding mandate of the Kotelawala Defence University.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, communal relations, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, rehabilitation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Palitha Kohona ,in The Sunday Observer, 28 June 2020, with this title “Managing the media on the road to Nandikadal – Part 1″ ….http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2020/06/28/news-features/managing-media-road-nandikadal-part-1
The conflict with the terrorist LTTE dragged on for over two decades causing widespread death and destruction with no obvious end in sight. The Government, after the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, recognised, perhaps for the first time, that carefully managing the media, both domestic and international, was an important factor if this endless struggle were to be ended successfully. President Rajapaksa, a consummate politician, accepted the profound value of a non-antagonistic media and carefully orchestrated initiatives to secure this objective. As the world knows, the bloody conflict was eventually ended on the banks of the Nanthikadal Lagoon on May 18, 2009, through the colossal efforts and sacrifices of the security forces.
Tony Birtley of Al Jazeera at the warfront in late 2008 and Ranil Wijayapala in ??
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, island economy, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, violence of language, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes
Qadri Ismail, in Groundviews in 2015 with this title “The Import Of Sri Lankan Muslim Names”
My name is Mohamed Qadri Ismail. Mohamed Qadri Ismail is not my name.
The statements may prompt a wtf. (The acronym, btw, of the World Taekwondo Federation.) Surely one cannot affirm a position and its contradiction. Yet I do. The second sentence doesn’t necessarily negate the first.
Filed under Aboriginality, accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, teaching profession, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry
This item was located by Thuppahi in the web-site Colombo Telegraph on 26 December 2012 (see https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-royal-we-sinhala-identity-in-the-dynastic-state/). However, it appeared initially in 2005 in the prestigious journal Modern Asian Studies, 39: 1013–1026.
AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE by Michael Roberts, 7 August 2021
This item is a review essay not a standard review. Alan Strathern is an accomplished historian who happens to be the son of a leading social anthropologist, viz., Marilyn Strathern of ANU and Cambridge University. You will find that his prose is as refined and clear-cut as demanding. After some hesitation, I decided to adhere to my normal policy of highlighting some parts of the text with blue colour – for the benefit of readers facing the difficulties posed by complex issues in historical sociology. On occasions I have also imposed a break in extra-long paragraphs. The illustrations too are my impositions intended to promote reader interest.
Filed under Aboriginality, ancient civilisations, architects & architecture, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, British imperialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, hatan kavi, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, Kandyan kingdom, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, Portuguese imperialism, religiosity, Saivism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
Nihal Rajapaksa has sent me three video clips[1] pertaining to that classic film “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” starring actors William Holden (American), Alex Guinness (British) and Jack Hawkins (British) – a film that was directed by David Lean and was shot in Ceylon in 1957 — with local links aided by the collaboration of Chandran Rutnam among other locals. Whatever your age, these clips are a “Must See” category (three specific web-references afe served up below in RED).
Chandran Rutnam and William Holden while shooting The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Filed under cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, performance, photography, press freedom, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
David Kilcullen, in The Australian, 31 July 2021,. [and The Inquirer, 31 July ]where the title reads “Making sense of the Afghan fiasco, and how to fix it” … 2021 and with this byline : “there are four moves that could stabilise the situation long enough to get talks back on track.”
If a gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth, US President Joe Biden committed one a few weeks ago, answering a question about Afghanistan, when he said “the mission hasn’t failed, yet”. That “yet” contains multitudes: a tangle of military and humanitarian factors refracted through political spin and a hyper-partisan US media.
Afghan militia gather with their weapons to support Afghanistan security forces against the Taliban, in Afghan warlord and former Mujahideen Ismail Khan’s house in Herat on July 9. Picture: AFP
Filed under american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Alan Strathern’s first major work was Kingship and Conversion in Sixteenth-Century Sri Lanka: Portuguese Imperialism in a Buddhist Land. …. published in 2008 and since then he has extended his reach. Though in far too belated manner, Thuppahi here introduces his work to a Sri Lankan audience …. Begiining with a citation leading to CR De Silva’s review of his book on Sri Lanka….. and ending with his own introduction of self to the world in the Oxford University web site.
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Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 24 July 2021, where the title reads “Colonial Bourgeoisie and Sinhala Cultural Revival”
The colonial bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka did not form a monolithic class. They were divided horizontally as well as vertically: horizontally on the basis of income and inheritance, and vertically on the basis of primordial attachments, such as caste ideology. Various factors, mainly economic, conspired as much to unify the bourgeoisie as they did to divide them, distinguishing them by their homogeneity as much as by their heterogeneity.
Panadura Vaadaya
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KLF Wijedasa**
During this Olympic year it is pertinent to remember one of our country’s greatest athletes Major Duncan White on his 23rd death anniversary (July 3). On his way to success, he had to glide over 10 barriers and not break them!
14th August 1948: Duncan White of Ceylon fixes his starting blocks to the track at the 1948 London Olympics. Original Publication: Picture Post – 4582 – Fastest Men On Earth – pub. 1948 (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
thuppahi
