Category Archives: political demonstrations

November 22, 2024 · 5:55 pm

USA’s Terrible Overreach in This Our World From Biden’s Time

Ameen Izzadeen, in The Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka, 22 November 2024 …… where the title reads “Biden’s legacy: Gaza genocide and now possible nuclear war in Europe” **

US Alternate Ambassador Robert Wood raises his hand to veto a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday. AFP

Never has the world been so precariously on pins and needles as it is now, with Europe exposed to the threat of nuclear war, the West Asian region facing genocide, and the rest of the world uncertain about what to expect from the leadership change in the United States—a nation teetering on the brink of moral bankruptcy.

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November 14, 2024 · 11:43 pm

Sri Lanka’s Forthcoming General Election: A Review

Verite Research 

The General Election (GE) is scheduled to be held on November 14, 2024.[1][2

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November 12, 2024 · 12:46 am

Rajiv Gandhi’s Reasoning behind the IPKF Operation

Madhur Sharma, in Outlook.com, 28 November 2022, where the title runs thus “Why Rajiv Gandhi Sent IPKF To Sri Lanka And How LTTE Played Both Sides” .… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord with Sri Lankan President Junius Richard Jayawardene in 1987. Under the pact, the Indian military was deployed as the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka. Soon after the deployment, the circumstances changed and IPKF was engaged in combat by the Tamil armed group LTTE.

Rajiv Gandhi with Anton Balasingham, Pirapaharan & AN Other in India ….. and Pirapahrana & MGR chat in South India

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October 29, 2024 · 8:00 pm

A Major Political Transformation in Sri Lanka on the Horizon?

Merril Gunaratne,** in The Island, 27 October 2024, where the title runs “A revolution without violence” … with emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

The total absence of violence before, during, and after the Presidential election has deeply impressed all sections of the population. Such exemplary discipline and conduct of the NPP took many observers by surprise, putting to shame established parties which, when they alternated in power, invariably let loose their goons to inflict pain and misery on opposition ranks. Serving in the police from 1965 to 2000, and in retirement for two and a half decades thereafter, I was witness to violence which followed every election with monotonous regularity.

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October 20, 2024 · 11:36 am

Vale Kumar David — Scholar, Critic and Activist

Rajan Philips, in Colombo Telegraph, 19 October 2024, where the title reads thus = ”Kumar David: An Accomplished Academic & A Broadminded Marxist”  … with highlights imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi

Professor Kumar David (1941-2024)

One by one the lights go out. In a span of seven months, Sri Lanka’s Engineering fraternity and the country’s progressive political fraternity have lost three of their kinds, one after another. Chris Rodrigo was the first to go in March, then it was Bahu in July, and now it is Kumar David, the oldest of the three. Professor Kumar David passed away in Los Angeles, on Monday, October 14. He was 83 years old.

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September 30, 2024 · 1:19 pm

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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September 26, 2024 · 7:53 pm

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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September 20, 2024 · 1:52 am

BBC Weighs Sri Lanka’s Presidential Options

Samira Hussain, for the BBC, 15 September 2024, where the title runs thus: “Still reeling from crisis, Sri Lanka holds pivotal election”

A rally for Ranil Wickremesinghe in the coastal town of Beruwala – he’s the man to beat but lacks his own big political base

“I thought I’d spend my whole life here, fighting a corrupt government – but the younger generation did something.” Samadhi Paramitha Brahmananayake is looking at the field where she spent months camped out with thousands of other demonstrators in Sri Lanka’s capital in 2022.

She can’t quite believe that luscious green grass has replaced the hundreds of protester tents that filled the field opposite the presidential secretariat. “I feel we’re now more energetic, more powerful,” says Ms Brahmananayake, a 33-year-old banker based in Colombo.

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September 19, 2024 · 1:14 pm

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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September 18, 2024 · 2:40 am

Left-wing Groupthink is strangling UK’s Universities

Matt Goodwin, in The Sunday Times, 1 September 2024 where the title reads “Left-wing groupthink is strangling universities, so count me out”

Having watched free speech being marginalised by a narrow monoculture over two decades, Matt Goodwin is stepping down from teaching students

This summer, after more than 20 years of teaching and researching in Britain’s universities, I decided to quit my full professorship. While I remain an honorary professor I will no longer teach students or carry out my usual academic duties. This is the first September in two decades that I will not be welcoming first-year students on to campus.

Why?

Universities are weighed down by financial problems, an ideological monoculture and a shift in focus to “student satisfaction”

   ILLUSTRATION BY RUSSEL HERNEMAN

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