Category Archives: parliamentary elections

Toffsy Turvy in the UK: A Labour Party Government?

Edward Upali in Canada

After 14 years of chaotic rule, the governing Conservative Party of the UK, lost the General Election to the Labour Party on July 4, this year.  However the Labour Party, battered by successive election losses and the threat of losing ground to the Liberal Democrats, had transformed itself to be almost an image of the Conservative party, never mind their working class supporters. Since the July 4, election, Labour were out to reassure the British voting public that they have nothing to fear from a Labour take over, and that life would go on as usual, except for the old age pensioners.

 

 

 

 

The Labour Party was led by Sir Keith Stramer LLB, KCB, KC. the leader of the Opposition since 2020, became the Prime Minister of the UK on July 4.  Rishi Sunak, B.A. M.B.A , the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Conservatives became the leader of the Opposition.

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The Pervasive Spoils System of Yesteryear Rejected in Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections

Merril Gunaratne, …. Senior DIG Police (Retired).. in The Island newspaper …. where a different title is deployed. Note that the highlights here are impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi .** 

The propaganda which possibly helped the NPP leader to overcome SJB and UNP leaders was their capacity to aggressively agitate against many features of an ‘’iniquitous system’’ which people attributed to have been responsible for the bankruptcy of the country. They also exploited the belief of people that members of political groups or traditional parties which exchanged political power in turn, enjoyed perquisites and privileges associated with the “system”, while citizens suffered under the weight of the economic collapse. The “Aragalaya’’ of May 1922 heralded the emergence on a pervasive scale of hatred against the ‘’system”. The NPP took notice, and their campaign against it did not abate till the conclusion of the election.

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Presidential Election Outcome in Sri Lanka: Reactions From Individual Lankan Friends

A: From An Ex-Army Officer in USA, 26 Sept 2024

Quite an achievement for AKD! In the 2019 presidential election, the JVP vote plus ‘also ran’ others was less than 6%. SEE ……………………………………………… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Sri_Lankan_presidential_election

I think it is a good result for the nation. The people were sick and tired of the corrupt and inept political elites and the crony capitalists. The portly ‘monkeys’ that occupied the palaces and travelled around in gilded coaches will be kicked out!

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Democratic Processes Worldwide and Sri Lanka Today

 Ever since he addressed the failed coup of 1962 in a book-length stud,y Donald L. Horowitz has kept an eye on Sri Lankan affairs and has now unveiled a new book tackling central issues in the democratic process on a worldwide scale –with one chapter devoted to the problems TODAY in Sri Lanka ….. Editor, Thuppahi 

Donald L. Horowitz, James B. Duke Professor of Law and Political Science Emeritus, Duke University

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The Roberts Oral History Project, 1964-1969: Its Conception, Inception & Outcomes

Michael Roberts

In re-establishing communication with two old Mertonians of the early 1960s generation at my College in Oxford, viz, Tony Roberton and Keith Shuttleworth, I have been induced to reflect upon my unusual circumstances as a postgraduate at Merton and Oxford. Apart from being one of the few Sri Lankans in that University,[i] I happened to be (A) engaged in postgraduate work which demanded research at the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane in London, and (B) a colonial visitor with the asset of two sisters domiciled in London.[ii]

 Tony is kneeling on the left upfront; while Keith is on my rght– Merton rugger team c. 1964/65

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The Stark Political Choices Facing Sri Lanka’s Voters

Sugath Kulatunga, … whose preferred title was The Choice”

The President RW and the leader of the opposition in their political manifestos are making extravagant promises to the people in the process of seeking a path to come into power. So do the other Presidential candidates who have not so far tasted power. We cannot judge them on performance, while RW and Sajith could be judged on their past performance. Sajith was the Deputy of the ruling party and a senior Cabinet Minister of past UNP governments. RW held key Cabinet posts of Prime Minister, Minister of Education and also Industries. They are responsible for the present crisis in the economy as they did not address the balance of payments arena, particularly the balance of trade problem which has been the chronic issues.

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A Play That Explores Sinhala-Tamil Relations in 20th Century Ceylon

Jayantha Somasundaram in The Island 9 August 2024, …….. presenting a review COUNTING & CRACKING written for the stage by Sivanathan Shakthidharan and Directed by Eamon Flack …. and has this title “COUNTING & CRACKING: THE SUNTHARALINGAM SAGA”

Already staged in cities in the United Kingdom and Australia, Shakthidharan’s poignant drama directed by Eamon Flack, is a fictionalised version of a Sri Lanka family’s story; but not just any family. It is the Suntharalingam saga. It movingly recounts a biography that spans four generations; and in doing so it captures and critiques not just Sri Lanka’s social and cultural history, but its political tragedy as well.

 

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THE CEYLON JOURNAL is launched: Seeking to Elucidate the Past & the Present

The Ceylon Journal is finally out

On August 2, 2024, the inaugural volume of The Ceylon Journal was launched at the Sri Lanka Medical Association Auditorium. This new publication by Heritage Publications is spearheaded by young historian Avishka Mario Senewiratne, features 15 articles exploring various facets of Sri Lankan history, including politics, architecture, folklore, and more. Inspired by Charles Ambrose Lorenz’s Young Ceylon, the journal aims to deepen understanding of Sri Lanka’s heritage and inspire progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Let’s Remove the Colonial Tropes in the Writings on Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, whose preferred title is  “Decolonizing July 1983’s Fiction and History for a Post-Ethnic Sri Lanka: Tropes of Violence and Cold War at the end of the American Century”

 “Fair is foul and foul is fair”William Shakespeare, Macbeth

 !@#$!!!! …. The Editor’s efforts to insert appealing cartoons and/or pictures of Macbeth were defeated by the digital world’s capitalist principles & demands for payment

Why are there no Booker Prize-winning novels about mundane multicultural families that inter-married for generations, shared religion/s, language/s and co-existed for centuries, while living in relative harmony in Ceylon/ Sri Lanka? Is the trope of dark natives engaged in endless chaotic violence an international literature prize-winning bestseller that masks white mischief, including sanitized, techno-scientific AI guided drone warfare? Susan William’s brilliant and brave book “White Malice” is subtitled, “The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa’.

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Vale: An Appreciation of Malathi De Alwis … Researcher & Writer

Geethika Dharmasinghe, in Colombo Telegraph, 23 January 2021, where the title reads as “Our Malathi”… presented here with emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

She was the first woman in Sri Lankan politics after Kumari Jayawardena to build an awareness on the role of woman and of her ‘traditional’ position, uniting academic work and politics. She is an anthropologist, and a feminist activist. Her activism and scholarly interests were in understanding militarization, motherhood, and the role of memories in the context of nationalist histories.

 Dr. Malathi de Alwis

Dr. Kumari Jayawardena

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