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
Rohini Hensman …. An article composed at the end of the year 2003 for a conference in January 2004; and eventually published in 2012 (see below: fn 1) …. with the title being borrowed from ‘Imagine,’ by John Lennon …. and the highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
I would like to look at the issue of community and nationalism and its continued relevance at the present, and in particular to analyse its association with authoritarianism, militarisation, nuclearisation, terrorism, and questions of war and peace in South Asia. Within this region, there is a very close parallel between the current situation in Sri Lanka [2003-04] and developments which have taken place much earlier in India, Pakistan, and later Bangladesh. In both cases, we see the development of strong authoritarian tendencies, linked up to either religion or ethnicity.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, Eelam, ethnicity, Fascism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, Middle Eastern Politics, nationalism, Palestine, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, racism, racist thinking, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
Adrian Bishop
Let me deconstruct Bolt’s disinformation about Penny Wong, Hamas and Israel in his item in the Herald Sun 11/4/2024. …. A little analysis of Bolt’s disinformation about Penny Wong, Hamas and Israel. It was published in the Herald Sun 11/4/2024. [THE ITEM had this headline: “Wong’s Palestine plan a win for Hamas” …]
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, arab regimes, atrocities, australian media, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, European history, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, Jews in Asia, jihadists, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, martyrdom, military expenditure, military strategy, nationalism, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, racist thinking, religiosity, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Item in Tamil Nation ……………………………………… https://tamilnation.org/books/eelam/buddhismbetrayed
Given Budd
hism’s presumed non-violent philosophy, how can committed Buddhist monks and laypersons in Sri Lanka today actively take part in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils?
Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah’s Buddhism Betrayed? seeks to answer this question by looking closely at the past century of Sri Lankan history and tracing the development of Buddhism’s participation in such ethnic conflict and collective violence. Tambiah analyses the ways in which this participation has, over time come to alter the very meaning of Buddhism itself as a lived reality.
Filed under anti-racism, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, electoral structures, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, legal issues, life stories, nationalism, parliamentary elections, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
This item was sent to the TPS Editor by Keith Bennett in February 2024. It can be located on web at …. Nazi Scientists Who Wanted To Find The Origins Of The Aryan Race Came To Sri Lanka – Roar Media
Highlighting has been imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi and a photo of Sirima Kirbamune added.
circa 1938: German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) and his chief of police Heinrich Himmler (1900 – 1945) inspecting the SS Guard. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In 1938, Heinrich Himmler, one of the leading members of Germany’s Nazi Party and a key architect of the Holocaust, appointed a five-member team to go to Tibet, to search for the origins of the ‘Aryan race’.
1,046 Heinrich Himmler Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and Images – Getty Images
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, Fascism, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, racism, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Brian Victoria* … in Informed Comment … https://www.juancole.com/2024/02/judaism-tribalism-universalism.html…. where the title read thus: “The Battle for the Soul of Judaism: Tribalism, Amalek and the Axial Age Universalism of Isaiah”
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, anti-racism, asylum-seekers, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, European history, Fascism, historical interpretation, Jews in Asia, jihadists, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, meditations, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, nationalism, Palestine, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, World War Three?, zealotry
Vindhya Buthpitiya: “How to Capture Birds of Freedom: Picturing Tamil Women at War,” Trans Asia Photography (2023) 13 (1) … derived from ………………………………………… https://doi.org/10.1215/21582025-10365016 … with the aid of my Aloysian mate KK De Silva; whilr the highlighting is my imposition.
Abstract: This article examines the uses of images of women fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during and after the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) to explore the contrasting mobilizations of visual representations of Tamil women cadres, focusing on the cultivation and framing of contradictory nationalist imaginaries by competing ethnic and state actors. In northern Sri Lanka, portraits of gun-bearing women fighters were wielded to signal revolutionary possibilities for the future of the Tamil nation-state as well as to inform the political socialization of its hopeful citizens. Meanwhile, images of Tamil women cadres were cast as gendered and ethnicized threats by the Sri Lankan state in what constituted a calculated form of visual ethno-political othering and weaponization. This article reflects on the ways in which such appropriations exacerbated the political precarity of and the denial of victimhood to Tamil women.
Malathy was the First Tamil Tigress to face death for the Tamiil for the Tamil Cause
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, asylum-seekers, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, language policies, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, news fabrication, NGOs, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
This LISTING of Israeli War Crimes in Palestine by Yanis Varafoukis — clearly Greek in identity — was sent to me by Manel Fonseka in Colombo.
War crimes – Grave breaches of the Wilful killings of the 1949 Geneva Conventions
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, Fascism, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, Palestine, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, psychological urges, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
Nishkula Suntharalingam, presenting a book review in Asian Affairs 2023 ….. https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raaf20 …. of the book by Moyukh Chatterjee. Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities. Duke University Press, Durham, 2023. pp. 166. Notes. Bibliog. Index. Ackmts. Hb. $94.95. ISBN 9781478017028. Sb. ………….$24.95. ISBN 9781478019664
Moyukh Chatterjee was an eyewitness to the aftermath of the 2002 riots in the west Indian state of Gujarat; three days of communal violence during which Hindu mobs attacked Muslims, their businesses and homes, leaving over a thousand people dead. This book focuses on how and why, in multi-ethnic, democratic states like India, targeted violence and anti-minority politics persist. In doing so, the author suggests an alternate approach to understanding violence against minorities while raising disquieting questions about the formation of modern states and the ways that ideas of “minorities” and “majorities” are produced and reproduced.
401733 08: Indian state police patrol the streets of Ahmadabad, India after rioting between Muslims and Hindus March 1, 2002 in Ahmadabad, India, two days after a Muslim mob attacked a train, killing 58 people in the Indian state of Gujarat. Indian troops arrived in the riot-torn western state of Gujarat but were unable to quell the Hindu-Muslim violence that has claimed the lives of 251 people. (Photo by Ami Vitale/Getty Images)
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, demography, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, Indian religions, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religious nationalism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, zealotry
Michael Roberts and Arthur Saniotis, … reproducing the editorial introduction to a collection of essays devoted to the topic identified in the title pesented within Social Analysis, Volume 50, Issue 1, Spring 2006, 7–24 © Berghahn Journals ... with highlighting emphasis imposed in this version by Michael Roberts
Facing death with equanimity and with a honed, trained body is an expression of sheer power.[1] When a group of like-minded individuals confronts an opposi- tional force with equal mental and bodily capacities, whether on a sports field or in a warring conflict, the result is power compounded. Each article in this special section ‘confronts’ such powers. Together they explore several regionally specific projects in Asia in which dying for a cause is seen as a virtue.
There are several parts of Asia where social practices and cultural traditions have consciously nourished bodily empowerment. In these select yet dynamic traditions, mind and body are conceived as a unity. Attentiveness to cosmic powers is an integral aspect of disciplined ascetic practices that seek to har- ness bodily energy in maximal ways. These practices confront death. They are directed toward transcending the fear of death—and death itself. When they are inserted into a moment of violent conflict involving interpersonal combat, they encourage a steely, terrifying fearlessness as well as deadly striking power.
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, Fascism, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immolation, Indian traditions, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racism, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
thuppahi
