A Concerned Australian in Email Note to Thuppahi …who has added the highlighting
This afternoon …. Saturday 4th November ….. these right wing Nazis attempted to enter the ABC in Southbank Melbourne with a view to shutting it down. The Vic Police prevented them achieving their goals. They are part of a growing extreme movement which the Federal government support tacitly, which wants the ABC shut down. Murdoch is calling for this and also shutting down the BBC. These Nazis only want the Murdoch media, Fox and Sky to be heard. The Federal Government approves because the ABC is the only thing in Australia holding the government to account, and they dislike any criticism. I have to say Morrison is going off the rails and slowly turning Australia into a fascist state. The distance between Nazi ideology and right wing Liberal politics in Australia is very thin. Continue reading →
Very sorry to hear of Sam’s demise. haven’t seen him much in the past several years, but Sam and Vidya were very key to my education about Sri Lanka and, in addition to inputs from C.R. and Kingsley, to the early success of the ISLE Program. We managed to bring Sam and Vidya to Swarthmore College for a year circa 1990 or so, and from then and there they creatively parlayed their experience to move permanently to the US, though Sam stayed with ICES periodically for many years and encouraged our cooperative presence with that venerable institution.
It has been over a decade since the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted conflict, but what we have today is ‘negative peace’ – which is the absence of overt violence. Limited understanding of Sri Lanka’s history, politics, democracy, ambition, intent, and the refusal to acknowledge acts of intolerance and discrimination that destroyed lives and led to bloodshed makes it increasingly difficult to avoid the recurrence of violence and we risk repeating the same mistakes. Today, we are confronted with choices that could lead to positive peace or a resumption of cycles of violence. Even now, the difficulties of dealing with COVID-19 and the resulting economic fallout could lead to social unrest that may morph into inter-communal violence if manipulated. Continue reading →
Julia in Sydney… in MEMORANDUM to Michael Roberts,
ONE: …..
Hi Michael, I have some very strong views about the anti-vaxxer ‘freedom’ movements that are going on.” I think they are mostly comprised of people who are 1. afraid of the vaccine because they have no idea of what they don’t know (see: Dunning-Kruger effect) and/or 2. buy into too many conspiracy theories in their misguided search for making sense of the world around them and/or 3 hold very strong right-wing neo-libertarian ideology.
Maya Anthony, in Ceylon Today, 14 October 2021,where the title reads “The LTTE Born Again; Second-Generation Terrorists”
The remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are regrouping in the UK. Like Osama bin Laden groomed Hamza bin Laden to succeed him, the LTTE leaders and members are grooming their own children. Prabhakaran too set an example by training and grooming his children; Charles Anthony, Dwarka and Balachandran. To radicalise their next generation, the separatists are promoting a false narrative. Using funds and votes, the terrorists are planning to penetrate both the Labour and Conservative Parties in the UK.
Leng Shumei, in Global Times, 11 October 2021, where the title runs thus “China lodges solemn representations to Australia over Abbott’s ‘immoral, ridiculous’ comments on Taiwan”
China lodged solemn representations to Australia over recent “immoral, irresponsible and ridiculous” speeches made by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott on Taiwan-related affairs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday, stressing that the one-China principle is a universally recognized norm governing international relations and the consensus of the international community. “Some Australian politicians’ actions and comments have seriously violated the principle and sent wrong signals,” Zhao said at Monday’s routine press conference.
during the 2015 Asian Cup match between the Australian Socceroos and Kuwait at AAMI Park on January 9, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia.
Though Thirukumar Nadesan is a well-known businessman, it was the Rajapaksa connection of his spouse Nirupama that captured headlines in national and international media
Mick Moore, reproducing an article he has sent — one placed in POLITY on the 20th September 2021…. http://ssalanka.org/insurrectionary-jvp-sri-lankan-state-mick-moore/. His prefered title is “The Insurrectionary JVP and the Sri Lankan State” …. The highlighting in the essay below are the impositions of the Editor, Thuppahi
Much has been written about the insurrectionary Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP—Peoples Liberation Front). The main focus has been on the character of the organisation itself, why it emerged, and how it was defeated in 1971, and again in 1989. This paper deals with a different set of issues: the ways in which the Sri Lankan state and the insurrectionary JVP interacted and shaped one another.This reflects a broader interest in the question of why the quality of national governance in Sri Lanka has deteriorated so much in the 50 years since the first JVP insurrection of 1971. I suggest that JVP-state interactions can help explain that deterioration. But only so far. There is much more to that story – which is far too big and complex to explore further here.
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.
