In SRI LANKA 12 May 2024
In SRI LANKA 12 May 2024
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, Eelam, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, meditations, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, trauma, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Shenali D. Waduge, in Lankaweb, 9 May 2024, ….where the title reads “UN/UNHRC/US & Allies hypocrisy – comparison of Sri Lanka & the Gaza Conflict” ….
[My title and this article does not seek] to present a notion that Israel is right or wrong, or that Sri Lanka is right or wrong, but [seeks] to question UN’s treatment of Member states & the applicability of the UN Charter & the principles of equality & non-discrimination to Member states. UNGA has condemned Israel over 120 times. UNHRC has condemned Israel over 40 times. US has vetoed over 40 Resolutions against Israel but is spearheading resolutions against Sri Lanka in connivance with the UN. How fair is this to Sri Lanka?
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, disparagement, Eelam, foreign policy, historical interpretation, IDP camps, insurrections, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
SSC PAMPHLET PROJECT
Some of you may remember this project in Sri Lanka in the 1990s directed towards making selected academic articles on the history & politics of Sri Lanka available to the English-reading public at affordable rates. My unreliable memory indicates that the personnel behind this enterprise were myself, Ananda Chittampalam, Willa Wickramasinghe and our engine, so to speak, was the press operated by Haris Hulugalla.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, democratic measures, economic processes, education policy, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, JVP, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography, plantations, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, press freedom & censorship, racist thinking, religious nationalism, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, terrorism, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
This item was sent to TPS with this title: “Wellington celebrates Bishop Ana” ….. Note: “Ana” sould be voiced as “Aaana”
The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul thronged with well-wishers on Saturday 13 April as 600+ people turned out to celebrate the Rt Rev Anashuya Fletcher’s ordination and installation as Assistant Bishop of Wellington.
Dr. Mahim Mendis, in Daily FT, 26 April 2024 …. where the title runs thus: “Revivial of Premadasism the Way Forward for Sri Lanka,”
…in DailyFT, 26 April Truly cultured men and women have the capacity to be thankful for the progressive measures taken by Ranasinghe Premadasa. He was a true embodiment of Social Democracy, governing the entire social, political, cultural, and moral order. He was not a mere propagator of a Social Market Economy, when he took over leadership from a right wing, J.R. Jayewardene led UNP that tried to dislodge Deputy Leader Premadasa from his well-earned Presidential candidature in 1989. The same right-wing forces in the UNP, tried to impeach him together with Feudalist sympathisers, who lost all their social status due to Premadasaism
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, economic processes, education, governance, historical interpretation, language policies, life stories, parliamentary elections, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Michael Roberts
Articles that appear in academic journals are subject to a refereeing process before they, so to speak, scale the heights and enter the academic world. But there are numerous forums at the cutting edge which serve up essays on hot topics. These are not necessarily run-of-the-mill mundane pieces. They can be spin-offs presented by writers in the academic field. As I look to the future when my mortal steps in this world will no longer generate any sound, I present here a listing of some of these ‘pop-articles’ produced in the period 1996-2009. Many of them relate to the Eelam wars and the Tamil Tiger commitment to “sacrificial devotion” (a term I deploy in lieu of “suicide missions”).
Filed under accountability, atrocities, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people
The Ceremonial “Markings” in Turkey and Elsewhere: Momentous & Indelible Recollections
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, Empire loyalism, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
Richard Koenigsberg plus ….
Addressing the practices of remembrance in Australia, Richard Koenigsberg has noted the irony that a battlefield defeat at Gallipoli in World War One, 1915, served a people as an emblem of nationhood: the “Australian nation, came into being on the foundations provided by the slaughter of its young men.”
There is more irony. The commemoration of Australian courage, sacrifice and manliness at Gallipoli (and subsequently on the Somme) was threaded by tropes of youthful innocence that drew on classical Hellenic motifs; while the monuments and epitaphs that were crafted in Australia to mark this event were manifestly Greek in form. The gendered masculine metaphor, in turn, was often embodied in the seminal image of a full-bodied blonde young man. “Archie Hamilton” in Peter Weir’s classic film Gallipoli was/is one such trope (and he died of course).
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, Britain's politics, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, mass conscription, meditations, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, trauma, unusual people, World War One
Michael Roberts
I came across this unusual photograph in loose-leaf form amidst my files and lata pata in my study. David Sansoni in Sydney has rendered it more presentable, while Mevan Pieris has provided me with critical information on this unusual club and pointed me to pertinent data in that classic work by SS Perera reproduced as The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket (Colombo 1999).
Filed under British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cricket for amity, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, unusual people
Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, in https://scroll.in/where the title reads thus: “Cricket, class and baila: The many layers of Sri Lanka’s celebrated Royal Thomian sports encounter”
With an unbroken 145-year streak, the face-off between two of the island-nation’s oldest schools has become a cultural rite of passage for the nation’s elite.
Prefects leading a cheer at the 144th Royal Thomian, 2023. |
Uthpala & Uditha … in match fervour
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, propaganda, Royal College, S. Thomas College, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, tolerance