Jane Russell, reviewing Stuart Cosgrove “Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul,” Polygon Press Oct. 2017
This book is the middle section of a critically acclaimed sixties ‘soul’ trilogy by Australian-Scot Stuart Cosgrove, award winning broadcaster for Channel 4 and long-time writer for UK music media, Echoes and New Musical Express. It follows on from Detroit 67: The Year that Changed Soul and anticipates the forthcoming Harlem 69: The Future of Soul (October 2018).
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, conspiracies, cultural transmission, democratic measures, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
Jehan Perera, in Island, 30 June 2020, with this title “The Need For Better Representation In Divided Societies”
There has been a trend of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa making senior appointments in which those who are outside the established administrative systems are being brought in to provide leadership and ensure effective and non-corrupt practices. As a large number of these appointments have been from the security forces this has given rise to a perception that the country is heading towards eventual military rule. There is a concern that the forthcoming general elections will be followed by constitutional changes that will entrench the military in governance as in some other countries such as Myanmar. This is unlikely to be the case in Sri Lanka as democratic traditions upholding civilian control of government are deeply ingrained in the fabric of political society.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, Buddhism, chauvinism, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, language policies, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Borella Junction 24.25 July 1983 —Pix by Chandragupta Amarasinghe –here juxtaposed with the Pix deployed by GV which, in my reading, may not be from the July pogrom but from other moments of violence
COLOMBO, PEACE AND CONFLICT, POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
The Scene The morning of July the 25th 1983 is etched in my brain. I saw a group of people running or walking very fast away from the environs of Colombo. On…
Filed under accountability, communal relations, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Madapatha Uditha, in The Island, 17/18 June 2020, with this title “Searching for Irangani” …. while highlighting is an imposition from The Editor, Thuppahi
Irangani Serasinghe turned 93 on Tuesday, June 9
If the reputations of actors can be compared to shares in a company, there’s no doubt that Irangani Serasinghe’s has always been oversubscribed: public interest in her career in not just the cinema and television, but also the theatre, has never been matched by an adequate level of quality in coverage by the media. There’s never been a shortage of articles, of course, and Kumar de Silva’s sketchy yet comprehensive portrait of her does establish the links between several aspects of her life and family and the career she eventually chose.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, social justice, Sri Lankan scoiety, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes
An Incidental Point from Dr Cornel West’s Indictment of the US Administrations’ Internal Policing Programs
KEY Detail within Transcript: USA has 800 military bases worldwide; and has has carried out 211 interventions since 1945.
SEE video and transcript of yesterday’s interview with Dr Cornel West on the 7.30 Report on ABC in Australia = https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/dr-cornel-west-looks-at-the-unrest-in-the-united/12318386
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military expenditure, military strategy, modernity & modernization, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, unusual people, war reportage, working class conditions, world events & processes
Karen Attiah in Washington Post, 30 May 2020, where the title runs “How Western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country”
If we talked about what is happening in Minneapolis the same way we talk about events in a foreign country, here’s how the Western media would cover it. The quotes and those “quoted” in the piece below are fictional.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes
Jehan Perera, in Island, 4 May 2020, with this title “President can decide without burdening the courts”
A study by the Economist magazine has shown that Sri Lanka is one of the countries least able to deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus induced world economic crisis. Out of 66 countries assessed, Sri Lanka came 61st in terms of its ability to handle the crisis without being economically debilitated and fared much worse than its South Asian neighbours. Bangladesh at 9th place, India at 18th and Pakistan at 43rd place all fared better than Sri Lanka. The human cost of the crisis is visible in media images of thousands of angry young workers from around the country stranded in the vicinity of the Katunayake free trade zone, many of them abandoned by their factory employers, unable to get back to their home villages due to the coronavirus travel restrictions.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, coronavirus, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Leelananda De Silva, in Island, 28 April 2020, and 11 August 2018, where the title is “Godfrey Gunatilleke – A Life of Quiet Achievement”
Godfrey Gunatilleke is one of the leading intellectuals in the latter half of the 20th century in Sri Lanka. Never a man to be confined by disciplinary compartments, he straddled across many academic and administrative fields in his long career. An English scholar to start with, he was one of the finest products of the University of Ceylon which lasted in its pristine form (as envisioned by its founding fathers) for 20 years from 1943 to the early 1960s.
A= Godfrey Gunatillake (c) and Gen. Anton Muttukumaru, Ceylon’s High Commissioner in Canberra, at a 1965 ECAFE meeting in Wellington …. B = Godfrey clarifying a point
Filed under accountability, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
thuppahi
