The role of the home, the domestic sphere and the intimate, ethno-cultural identities that are cultivated within it, are critical to understanding the polemical constructions of country and city; tradition and modernity; and regionalism and cosmopolitanism. The home is fundamental to ideas of the homeland that give nationalism its imaginative form and its political trajectory.
Filed under cultural transmission, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, plural society, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
One of Deloraine Brohier’s most vivid and fearful memories was living in snake infested circuit bungalows- the transit homes for the wandering Brohier family headed by Ceylon’s first Ceylonese Surveyor. “My father, Dr R.L Brohier joined the exclusively British run Survey Department in 1910 and retired in 1949. The youngest in a family of three, I spent my early childhood travelling with my parents to wherever my father was sent. My first memory is Ratnapura when I was about five. Like all the circuit bungalows we lived in, it was beautifully landscaped and overlooking the Kalu Ganga. Unfortunately, it was snake infested”, she recalls, still shuddering at the memory. One encounter in particular stands out, if only because it was so terrifying. ” I was just four, and liked rolling on the carpet. One day, I sat on what looked like a big bump under the carpet. Thinking it was a cushion, I began riding on top of it like an imaginary car. Then, my father noticed the bump moving. After instructing that I be carried away without frightening me, he hit it hard with a club. And a huge snake slithered away!” Continue reading
Elmo de Silva, in The Island, June 23, 2016, where the title reads “Sinhala Only Act and its Fallout”
I refer to the article on the above subject appearing in The Sunday Island Newspaper of 5/6/16 by Mr. Rajan Philip (RP). I thought it proper to comment on this subject as he has alluded to the fact that very few would know the consequences of the Sinhala only act (SOA). I am past 80 years of age and I think it is my duty to state my point of view. I was just completing my degree course at the Peradeniya University (1953-1957), when this Act had become law. This Act in my view is and will be the most disastrous piece of legislation ever promulgated in this country, because it ruined the amity between the different peoples in the country. That was accompanied with the unleashing of the forces of indiscipline and lawlessness. It also rekindled the embers of federalism, which was to placate the Tamil community and a betrayal of the Sinhalese. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (SWRDB) agreed to federalism without a mandate from the electorate.
Federal Freedom Party satyagraha at Galle Face Green
Filed under communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, Left politics, life stories, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, world affairs
Rohana R. Wasala, in The Island, 22 & 24 June 2016, with title “A glance at PRCR report in the context of drive for federalism”
The armed struggle for creating a separate state in Sri Lanka was decisively defeated in 2009. But, the separatist ideology is still very much alive and shows signs of flourishing again. According to the US State Department the LTTE fronts active in that country continued their collection of funds for their activities through 2015, though the outfit still remains on its list of banned foreign terrorist organizations, so designated since August 10, 1997. Yet the Americans support the demand by expatriate Tamils, the TNA, and Tamil Nadu politicians that the government ‘demilitarise’ the north. Despite this, the Sri Lankan government lifted its ban on a few of these fronts in September last year. Chief minister Jayalalitha of TN has pledged to make one of her priorities the creation of Eelam in Sri Lanka that the terror leader Prabhakaran envisioned. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, Eelam, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, truth as casualty of war, violence of language, world events & processes
Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 22 June 2016, where the title is “Unresolved Indo-Lanka Issues”
One-time head of the Law Faculty, University of Colombo, Dr Nirmala Chandrahasan last Thursday (June 16) called for tangible action on the part of the Sri Lankan government to bring in Sri Lankan refugees, living in India, particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu. Dr Chandrahasan estimated the number of Lankan refugees in India at the peak of the conflict at 200,000. The appeal was made over seven years after the successful conclusion of the war with the annihilation of the LTTE leadership. The distinguished law academic insisted that special arrangements should be made to facilitate the return of refugees. Dr Chandrahasan was addressing a forum on India-Sri Lanka relations in the 21st century, organised by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BSIS).
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, life stories, LTTE, people smugglers, politIcal discourse, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, world affairs
Sudharshan Seneviratne, courtesy of The Island, 22 & 23 June 2016, where the tittle is “Imaging India and strategising Indo-Lanka Symbiosis”**
Having returned from India after a premature recall as High Commissioner, I am pleased to make my first public talk at the BCIS. Yet, it is also associated with a sad memory. We had a final meeting at this very hall at a ceremony to launch the journal on International Affairs edited by Tissa Jayatilleke for BCIS published by Sage India. After most guests departed, Lakshman Kadirgamar along with Tissa, myself and Her Excellency Nirupama Rao had a pleasant chat. At that time he revealed plans for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre at the BCIS with JNU links. That night Kadirgamar was assassinated. I avoided any official functions here and this is my first visit to theCIS since then.
Professor Sudharshan Seneviratne
Neville Laduwahetty, courtesy of The Island, 17 June 2016, where the title is “Unit of Devolution”
The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform headed by its Chairman Lal Wijenayake has recommended retaining the Province as the unit of devolution. The Commission proposes 6 “alternate formulations” based on the Province as the peripheral unit. These formulations vary from retaining the existing 9 Provinces without merger with provision to withdraw devolved power without consent, to merger with minority participation in the Executive and the Legislature and other formulations in between, including the re-demarcation of existing boundaries.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, governance, legal issues, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, welfare & philanthophy
Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, where the title is “Moral Crusader Journeys into Duplicity”
Today’s world in the West is marked by currents of secular fundamentalism mounting campaigns against paedophiles, smoking, corruption and “crimes against humanity”. The humanitarian campaign directed at war crimes has on occasions promoted a strange phenomenon: where people of ethical stance indulge in outright lies as well as the massaging of facts. When Amnesty International, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Sydney) and such moral crusaders as Gordon Weiss descend to such duplicity, the world must surely take note.
Christine Milne on Sri Lanka –www.youtube.com = Pic 1
The Australian media-man Gordon Weiss is the epitome of a moral crusader. Of Polish Jewish ancestry, it is likely that his leanings are coloured by the horrors inflicted on the Jews in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. His presentation of self within his own web site, his intense demeanour when fronting the public on TV cameras or stage and his campaign against the government of Sri Lanka (GSL) stand as testimony to the stance “crusader for truth.” Continue reading
Filed under accountability, australian media, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, doctoring evidence, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, mass conscription, military strategy, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Gwen Herat, courtesy of Daily News, 8 June 2016
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest’……..
A prince he was;
A prince who captured the imagination of the literary world and who rose to be one of its icons.
Gone but the indelible aura remains sweeping gently over all those who met and shared his life and sprit; big and small, famous and not so famous.
thuppahi
