Tayla Coucaud in The Australian, 11 October 2023
A New York-based artist has put out a call to thousands of Queenslanders to strip down and possibly enter the Brisbane city river for a series of nude images. American photographer Spencer Tunick will be collaborating with Brisbane Powerhouse to stage a series of nude photographs along Brisbane River later in November.
Sydneysiders naked at Bondi each in 2022
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PK Balachandran in Email Note to Roberts, late July 2023, … with highlighting being my imposition
The RSS has begun exploiting the Tamil issue to spread its Hindutwa ideology. The idea is to win over the Lankan Tamils to its side by discrediting the secular Tamil identity in SL. None of the speakers listed has any knowledge of the Lankan Tamil issue. Tamil Nadu BJP leader K.Annamalai has already visited Sri Lanka and is trying to put up an RSS-BJP unit here. Very dangerous development. The Sri Lankan government should make certain that Sarath Weerasekara and the monks don’t do anything anti-Hindu. It is sad that this ís happening when India-Lankan relations are improving thanks to the correct policies of Modi and Ranil. Continue reading
Filed under centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, ethnicity, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, psychological urges, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, world affairs
Michael Roberts
Within the contemporary (2020) context of a few killings in European cities by Islamic jihadists on a journey to martyrdom at the feet of Allah, I happened to see Stephen Sackur’s grilling of a French politician in one of his “Hard Talk” presentations on Channel Four. I was critical of his narrow focus and my reflections led me on a comparative journey where I indicated that the cry of “Allahu Akbar” indicated a sense of self-fulfilment in this their final journey on earth for the perpetrators of such attacks.[1]
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Kostas Sapardanis, at http://sapardanis.org/2016/05/20/kamikaze-who-they-were-why-they-died/ on 20 May 2016, where the title runs thus “Kamikaze – Who they were, why they died” ... item sent to me by retd Brig Hiran Halangode
“Every time one country gets something, another soon has it. One country gets radar, but soon all have it. One gets a new type of engine or plane, then another gets it. But the Japs have got the kamikaze boys, and nobody else is going to get that, because nobody else is built that way.” …. John Thach
Near the end of 1944, almost 10 months before the end of the 2nd World War, the Japanese had already realized that their military effort would lead them to defeat. Their weapons and armaments were short, the stock of soldiers was dramatically decreasing and morality was low. Their precious bombs, other than being too few, were missing their targets and their pilots could not contest the Americans. So, in a desperate last effort to revive the army, the Kamikaze Special Attack Unit was formed. The aim was to obstruct enemy planes from taking off from aircraft carriers. The conversion of pilots themselves into bombs would surely mean the decrease of the failed bomb attacks.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, ethnicity, Fascism, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, martyrdom, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, psychological urges, religiosity, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
Des Collins
A pause in play as Sir Don Bradman receives a telegram while batting for the Australians Worcestershire in April, 1938
Such interruptions were pretty common back then.
Hampshire’s Lionel Tennyson, during his captaincy days, used telegrams to give his batsmen instructions during games!
Much better than using sandpaper for ball tampering instructions by the Aussies.
Filed under cricket for amity, heritage, life stories, performance, psychological urges, tolerance, unusual people
Item sent by Dulip Karunaratne of St. Aloysius in Galle then & Queensland now
The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some History.” Who said *’Give me Liberty, or give me Death?”* ………………….. She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Akio, a bright foreign exchange student from Japan, who had his hand up: *”Patrick Henry, 1775,”* he said.
“Very good! — Who said, *’Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth’ ?“* ………….Again, no response except from Little Akio: *”Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”*
ONE …. Joanne Barker: A Memory about RIAZ HASSAN
From 1992-2006 I worked at Flinders University in various positions, finally leaving in 2006 as the faculty general manager of one of the four faculties. In around 1993-4 when I was still in my early 30s and quite new at the university, I came to know Riaz Hassan as one of the professors. He probably didn’t know my name, but he was always kind and smiled and said hello if we passed on campus.
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Item in Global Times, 28 March 2022, where the title reads “Hegemonic and colonist mentality behind Australia’s threats to invade Solomon Islands”
It’s ridiculous that Australia, on one hand, has closely followed the US in condemning what it perceives Russia’s “brutal and unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine, but on the other, its elites bluntly threatened to invade its neighbor in the South Pacific and foster a regime change.
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Jon Hotten, in The Guardian, 20 June 2013, where the title is “Reminiscing with Jeff Thomson, who tells a story the way you want to hear it”
It was a few hours after David Warner had taken a swing at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar, and Jeff Thomson was standing in a marquee full of people with a microphone in his hand. We were there to play six-a-side cricket, but the rain was coming down and the buffet was excellent, so Thommo had a full house.
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A Circular Letter from Richard Koenigsberg of the Library of Congress ‘Collective’ in New York, 31 January 2022
A very brief contribution directly below from Michael Roberts, a great anthropologist/scholar coming out of Asia. He’s the webmaster of Thuppahi’s Blog, which contains fascinating essays and articles as well as original, vivid photographs. Among the pieces you can read on his website:
TRUMP AND HITLER IN THE SAME BED?
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thuppahi
