Category Archives: performance

March 17, 2017 · 5:55 am

Daya’s Study of Suicide Bombers of Sri Lanka

Click to access Somasundaram-Suicide%20bombers%20of%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf

Daya Somasundaram … http://repo.jfn.ac.lk/med/bitstream/701/1011/1/Somasundaram-Suicide%20bombers%20of%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf

 image of Asian Journal of Social Science:  daya-11

ABSTRACT  The phenomena of suicide bombers in Sri Lanka share some similarities with but also have some marked differences with what is seen in other parts of world today. Increasing discrimination, state humiliation and violence against the minority Tamils brought out a militancy and the phenomena of suicide bombers. The underlying socio-political and economical factors in the North and East of Sri Lanka that caused the militancy at the onset are examined. Some of these factors that were the cause of or consequent to the conflict include: extrajudicial killing of one or both parents or relations by the state; separations, destruction of home and belongings during the war; displacement; lack of adequate or nutritious food; ill health; economic difficulties; lack of access to education; not seeing any avenues for future employment and advancement; social and political oppression; and facing harassment, detention and death. At the same time, the Tamil militants have used various psychological methods to entice youth, children and women to join and become suicide bombers. Public displays of war paraphernalia, posters of fallen heroes, speeches and video, particularly in schools and community gatherings, heroic songs and stories, public funeral rites and annual remembrance ceremonies draw out feelings of patriotism and create a martyr cult. The religio-cultural context of the Tamils has provided meaning and symbols for the creation and maintenance of this cult, while the LTTE has provided the organisational capacity to train and indoctrinate a special elite as suicide bombers. Whether the crushing of the LTTE militarily by the state brings to an end the phenomena of suicide bombers or whether it will re-emerge in other forms if underlying grievances are not resolved remains to be seen.

KEY WORDS: Altruistic suicide; Ethnic conflict; Insurgency; Sacrifice; Sri Lanka; Suicide bombers Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cultural transmission, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, meditations, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

March 3, 2017 · 12:51 am

Professional Mourners in Ceylon and Southern India

Michael Roberts

 My interest in the topic of disappearances in Sri Lanka over the past decade and the allegations presented by one “Floyyd” in his comments on my central frontispiece named ”Sinhala Mind-Set” on the 25th November 2013 led me to supplement my posts and inquiries on that topic with a serious question I sent to several friends and personnel on  the 9th December 2016 and the week that followed.  Only a few responded to my inquiry in the course of that month. It is of some significance that most of those whose information is presented below are of the older generation and, like me, in the age-bracket seventies. For that reason they are calling upon their younger days in supplying ethnographic information that is of considerable value. For this reason I refer to “Ceylon” in my title because the data seems to refer to practices before the name change in 1972. However, this does not mean that the practitioners of mourning and the capacities for lamentation on cue have been totally buried.

oppari-22  Women in oppari lamentation in southern India — cf Balachandran’s note below oppariFrom https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellbredkannanclicks/14228110375

Continue reading →

14 Comments

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, caste issues, communal relations, cultural transmission, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance, zealotry

March 1, 2017 · 10:43 am

Unique Prime Ministerial Encounter at Manuka Oval in Canberra

An Unique Happening occurred at Manuka Oval and thereafter in Canberra on the 15th February 2017. It involved  1) a Courtesy extended by the Australian Prime Minister to a national team visiting for a very short tour;  2) The Toss being enacted by by the two Prime Ministers with the captains in attendance; and  3) a Group photograph of the teams with both Prime Ministers…. and 4) The presence at the match of the Governor General H.E Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove in addition to the two Prime Ministers and some members of both Parliaments.

2402

2302

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, governance, landscape wondrous, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, world events & processes

February 27, 2017 · 6:57 am

Karuna’s Split with Pirapāharan in 2004 in his Own Words

In Q and A with Jeremy Liyanage 

Jeremy Liyanage is a Sri Lankan of mixed Sinhala-Burgher ancestry whose family moved to Australia when he was 9 years old. He  has been deeply involved in a social service project called BRIDGING LANKA in Mannar Island since the years 2009/10. As a spin-off from this work, he and several colleagues were in Sri Lanka in July 2010 in a venture supported by International Alert when they received an invitation to join Karuna Amman, in his capacity as Minister for Resettlement, on a work visit to the fields of IDP settlement in the Kilinochchi-Mullaitivu areas.  The local International Alert officials were aghast and warned them against venturing on this trip on the grounds that IA could not guarantee their safety. They decided against going, but went to the initial meeting that had been set up as a matter of courtesy. At that gathering Karuna’s Media Officer Justin assuaged their fears and persuaded them to participate in the trip. This turned out to be a  helter-sketer journey involving their vehicle as one element in a convoy bearing  Karuna and his personnel and several vehicles with  STF (police commando) personnel. 

karuna-and-vp  Karuna, Adele & Anton Bālasingham, Pirapāharan, Thamil Chelvam, Rudrakumāran, & Jay Maheswaran in the LTTE’s halcyon days —Pic from Lanka Guardian karuna-aklila Commanders All -Karuna with two senior female commanders 

karuna-and-gota

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under accountability, anton balasingham, authoritarian regimes, democratic measures, economic processes, governance, human rights, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, performance, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

February 23, 2017 · 1:05 pm

Nishan De Mel on Rupee Depreciation Implications

Hiran H.Senewiratne, in Island, 23 February 2017, where the title is “It is the speed of rupee depreciation or appreciation against the dollar that matters’

aansihanThe US dollar depreciation/appreciation against the rupee is nether a barometer to determine the strength of the economy nor the strength of the currency/rupee. The most important matter is to look at how and at what speed the rupee depreciated or appreciated against the dollar, a top economist said. “Currently, the US dollar has touched Rs 153.44 but this is not a parameter to determine the strength of the economy or the currency. When one looks at a developed economy like South Korea, as an example, they pay more “Won” for dollars, compared to the Sri Lankan rupee, which is an indication that appreciation of the dollar is not a parameter to determine the strength of the economy, Executive Director, Verite Research Dr Nishan de Mel told The Island Financial Review.  aa-bank-notes

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, commoditification, economic processes, governance, island economy, performance, sri lankan society, world events & processes

February 18, 2017 · 9:36 am

James Taylor and the Ceylon Tea Industry

Ceylon Tea Board on the occasion when the James Taylor Monument wa sunveiled n 29th January 2017

The commercial cultivation of tea in Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then known, is acknowledged to have commenced in 1867 at Loolecondera Estate, Hewaheta, in the Kandy District, by an enterprising young agriculturalist, James Taylor, a redoubtable Scotsman, of which extraction were most of the  pioneers of the Industry.

james-taylor Taylor in the 1870s

james-taylor-11

Taylor, the son of Michael Taylor and Margaret Moir, was born on March 29, 1835, in a cottage called “Moss Park” on the Monbodde Estate, near Laurencekirk in Kincardineshire. On being recruited as a Coffee Planter on Narenghena Estate, he arrived in Ceylon on February 20, 1852. Following a brief posting there, he was transferred to Loolecondera Estate, where he spent the rest of his life and eventually expired on May 2, 1892, at the age of 57 years, of dysentery, while still in service. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under commoditification, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

February 11, 2017 · 11:23 pm

Bridging Lanka I: Sustaining Mannar’s Kulams

BRIDGING LANKA is a multi-faceted programme initiated by the Sri Lankan Austrailan Jeremy Liyanage and friends from circa 2009(?) to assist the social welfare of all the peoples in Mannar island and its adjoining hinterland. I was an observer at a town planning jam-session way back around 2011(?) and have been in touch with Liyanage ver since. Thuppahi is delighted to feature the several social service paths that BRIDGING LANKA is pursuing in the locality.

Protecting and Rehabilitating Mannar’s Kulams (ponds)

aa-a-kulam-in-mannar

Our aim: This project aims to rehabilitate Periyakamam Kulam as a ‘demonstration kulam’ so that authorities and residents alike will be inspired to value, protect and rehabilitate other kulams in Mannar. The sharp decrease in the number of kulams caused by severe encroachment has led to worsening annual flooding in the urban area, resulting in much human displacement and misery.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under heritage, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, plural society, reconciliation, rehabilitation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, unusual people, voluntary workers, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs

January 31, 2017 · 1:11 pm

Elmo Jayawardena in Anguish for His Beloved Land

Elmo Jayawardena, in The Island, 30 January 2017, where the title is “Cry the Beloved Country”

elmo-11I have borrowed the title of this article from the heart-wrenching book by Alan Paton. He wrote about South Africa under the Apartheid regime in 1948. I write about what we face today in Sri Lanka amidst the trumpets that blow heralding progress.

The South African problem was immense and tore the very soul of a country divided by the colour of a man’s skin. It was hideous, to say the least, nothing but modern-day slavery where basic human rights were denied to the majority of a country by a minority that ruled it. That is sadness at its zenith.

parl-buildings  The Parliament of Sri Lanka aka “Diyawanna OOya” in Catain Elmo’s sarcastic and cuastic evalautin of this island’s parliamentary figures over many decades

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

January 30, 2017 · 1:18 pm

A River! A River! A River for the Jaffna Peninsula

Thiru Arumugam,  from the Sunday Island, 30 January 2017 where the title reads “Desalination — Or a Reive for Jaffna?” 

In 2010 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a total loan facility of 130 million US dollars for the “Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project”. The local costs of 26 million dollars were to be met by the Government of Sri Lanka. The project involved providing safe drinking water for 300,000 people in Jaffna Town and surrounding areas and sanitation facilities for 80,000 people in Jaffna Town. The source of raw water was to be Iranamadu Tank in Kilinochchi. Water was to be pumped from here to a treatment plant near Pallai in the Jaffna Peninsula, and treated water distributed to consumers from there.

thiru-a-11

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under economic processes, energy resources, governance, island economy, landscape wondrous, performance, politIcal discourse, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy

January 29, 2017 · 2:08 am

“Speak Measured, without Bombast” Keitel tells Mahinda

keitelMatthias Keitel of Tubingen in ASIAN TRIBUNE, 28 January 2017, http://asiantribune.com/node/90032 … emphasis added by Editor, Thuppahi

“Mahinda Rajapaksa, as he jockeys to lead Sri Lanka again, must speak authoritatively on national issues. He must be the voice representing the unhappy masses and the disenchanted business community.

His statement on the proposed ETCA was excellent. But sadly there has been no follow up. The business community expects him to provide firm leadership on such matters. He must demonstrate confidence on issues of national importance. Confidence breeds confidence. Not braggadocio”.

mr-33 mr

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, world affairs