Prabo Mihindakulasuriya … introducing Unmasking the Empire
SYNOPSIS of the book: Every Sri Lankan schoolchild has heard that E.W. Perera hid documents in his shoe and sailed to England to seek relief for his fellow citizens from the martial law reprisals following the 1915 Pogrom. However, very little has been known about what Perera and D.B. Jayatilaka (who joined him later) accomplished in Britain during their four-year campaign (1915-1919) for a commission of inquiry.
Thilini Meegaswatta, … whose title is “Temporality of History: A Reading of the Contemporaneity of the Past in Post-war Sri Lanka” … an article presented in Proceedings of the Open University Research Sessions in 2020
This short article is a reflection on how temporality— that is ‘time’ insofar as it manifests itself in human existence (Hoy, 2009, cited in Bryant, 2009)— interacts with socio-political realities and behaviours of conflict-ridden societies in complex ways. I draw on recent political history in Sri Lanka — a South Asian island nation that had faced protracted warfare—in an attempt to demonstrate how each political moment, each configuration of political identity constitutes a melange of temporal signatures that distorts the notion of a linear time line. In other word,s the examples elaborated are expected to illustrate how the present is legible only in the view of the past and also anticipated/ imagined futures, and as such, bear inscriptions of other times. On the other hand, I also contend that the past is a shifting narrative—a construct mangled by the discursive conditions of the time of recall— which is nevertheless at the heart of the question of national identity and nation-state building (Thapar, 2014). The arguments and observations in this paper that are made in relation to Sri Lanka can nevertheless be applied to other conflict-ridden societies whose constant attempts to re/imagine a collective national identity and a consciousness is haunted by violent legacies and future anxieties.
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Item sent to TPS by Hemal Gurusinghe va Victor Melder …. while highlighting has been imposed by The Editor.**
Professor Antony Anghie recently received the 2023 Manley O. Hudson Medal from the American Society of International Law (ASIL). This award is given to a distinguished person for outstanding contributions to scholarship and achievement in international law. This award is ASIL’s highest honor.
Professor Anghie’s scholarship, teaching and insights have had a profound and transformative effect on the field of international law and international legal scholarship.“I have taught at many law schools in the United States and around the world, some of them very famous,” Anghie said. “What I have learned from this experience is that it is only at the University of Utah that I could have done my cholarship. I am immensely grateful to the law school and the special traditions of support and collegiality we have created here, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of this community.”
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Michael Roberts
A FEW DAYS BACK, on 28th November 2023, I circulated this item among Lankan aficianado…. [ Let me add, here, that I was prompted to do this by the burgeoning world debate on the Palestinian-Israeli War that has been raging since August]. ………………………………………………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2014/11/18/cartographic-photographic and -illustrations-in-support-of-the-memorandum-analysing-the-war-in-sri-lanka-and-propaganda
ROHANTHA GUNARATNA in Canada responded in critical fashion. …. So I circulated his Memo to some personnel with this NOTE: “I encourage responses [to his Memo] from interested personnel – here, quite deliberately, reaching out beyond Lankans to Indians and Brits familiar with the Lankan scene in that period past.”
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Rohini Hensman: “The Political and Legal Underpinnings of the Palestine-Israel Conflict,” in New Politics, 2023 …. ……………………… https://www.academia.edu/110094670/The_Political_and_Legal_Underpinnings_of_the_Palestine_Israel_Conflict?email_work_card=view-paper
On 7 October 2023, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a massive attack on Israeli territory, killing 1405 people including over 300 soldiers according to the Israeli state, although a month later the death toll miraculously came down to 1200. The Israeli state has responded by bombing the Gaza Strip, in which Hamas has its headquarters and over 2.3 million civilians have their homes, starving inhabitants of food, water, medicines and fuel. But why did this happen? And what can be done about it? On these questions, there is no agreement whatsoever.
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A FORECAST by Errol FERNANDO, …. A Piano Player from the Heavens, 19 November 2023
After a long tournament, we reach the final that we all predicted many weeks ago, Lorenz – India vs Australia – with the obvious prediction that India will win. Millions will back India,of course.
Let me take a different path by predicting a win for the Aussies, especially if they bat first. Head, Marsh and Maxwell are dangerous players who can take the game away from India.
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Scott Ritter of Global Research, 14 November 2023, whose chosen title is “The October 7 Hamas Assault on Israel: The Most Successful Military Raid of this Century” …. with highlighting emphasis in purple being that of the Author; while other highlights in blue or red are those imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi … who thanks Jayantha Somasundaram of Canberra for leading him to this important essay
There is a truism that I often cite when discussing the various analytical approaches to assessing the wide variety of geopolitical problems facing the world today—you can’t solve a problem unless you first properly define it. The gist of the argument is quite simple—any solution which has nothing to do with the problem involved is, literally, no solution at all.
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Item in Washington Post, 14 November 2023
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein is king of Jordan. For more than a month now, the war in Gaza has been dividing the world, with the deepening split aggravated by intense emotions. Two narratives, Palestinian and Israeli, have pitted demonstrators, media outlets, religions, peoples and regions against each other. In the process, the moral clarity that we should and must share about basic human values has turned into moral confusion.
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Daya Somasundram, Alvin Kuowei Tay & Rajitha Wickremasinghe, in Cambridge Core Blog, 2 November 2023 ... with the highlights being imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The mental and emotional aftermath, particularly from modern warfare that targets civilians, is profound. Civilians suffer alongside combatants, facing deaths, injuries, chronic disability, torture, disappearances, multiple displacements with uprooting of whole communities, loss of homes, destruction of essential services, infrastructure and environment. These traumatic experiences lead to a wide range of mental health issues, from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse to family and collective trauma impeding personal and community recovery.
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VISIT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnaacT4eBrA
An old video featuring Israeli journalist Gideon Levy discussing the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict has gone viral on social media. The journalist Gideon Levy’s insights on the situation have proven to be prophetic, given the current state of affairs in the region. Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas and the resulting devastation has raised concerns worldwide. Gideon Levy is an award winning journalist.
ADDENDUM from Thuppahi: ………….. “WHERE the mainstream Western Press, for the most part, emphasizes this message ad nauseum.”
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thuppahi
