Category Archives: sri lankan society

June 17, 2014 · 2:47 pm

Prabhākaran’s Megalomanic Bonapartism juxtaposed with Sinhala Buddhist petty Bonapartism

Jane Russell, in a Blog Comment, dated 21 March 2013, on an article by Izeth Hussain on “Racism and Irrationality as Bedfellows: The Halal Issue and Sinhala Buddhist Extremists”

BBS--nation

Izeth Hussain’s article elegantly explains and confronts what on the surface looks like “good ole’ Sinhalese racism’ on the upsurge, after a few years of triumphalist satiation over its victory over the LTTE. Yup, as expected, money, amour propre and stupidity are at the root of it….a minor trade squabble has been inflated (at the speed of light it seems) by Buddhist monks greedy for power, status and money and a government inebriated with hubris and rotten with corruption into a “series of racist incidents”… and just in time for the UNHRC meeting!!! Indeed, as Izeth suggests, one suspects dark artistes of unnamed secret services must be at work here……Can any national government worth its name be this myopic? Sadly, it would appear so….poor Sri Lanka, mired for so long in a megalomanic miasma created by the petty-Bonapartist LTTE is now foundering in another fog of credulity orchestrated by Sinhalese petty-Bonapartists! Bah to all Bonapartists…go find yourselves an empire elsewhere and leave this poor island and its (by far the greater majority of) sweet vegetarian Sinhala-Buddhist people, obsessed with lighting lamps and throwing water on trees well alone! Continue reading →

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June 17, 2014 · 1:46 pm

Groundviews’ Declamation against Violence in Aluthgama does the round seeking signatures of worldwide support

Sri Lankan Government: Take Urgent Action to Stop Attacks on Muslims  …. go to https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxbk4wYolphwOTRPUU40bUtDZnc/edit … and Sign if in agreement

We the undersigned citizens of Sri Lanka strongly condemn the Bodu Bala Sena’s (BBS) highly inflammatory hate speech against and brazen physical attacks on the Muslim community in Aluthgama, Beruwala, Welipenna and Dharga-Town in June 2014. We believe that the violence is directly linked to recent statements by the BBS targeting Muslims. We call upon the authorities to immediately conduct independent investigations into the incidents, and hold to account perpetrators and those complicit in such acts.

Aluthgama-attacks 11

We believe inflammatory statements by the General Secretary of the BBS, Galagodathera Gnanasara, clearly demonstrates his pivotal role and responsibility for the violence. We therefore call upon the authorities to take immediate steps to arrest and charge him for the deaths and destruction in the area. Continue reading →

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June 15, 2014 · 2:34 pm

Solheim weighs in: Critical Review of Sri Lanka’s Path to Peace in Q and A with Sulochana Mohan

Sulochana Ramiah Mohan

Former Norwegian politician, Erik Solheim, who became a household name in Sri Lanka as a peace envoy who tried and failed to make peace between the Tamil Tigers and the government, in an exclusive interview with Ceylon Today, said the war was won at a tremendous cost and that he would stand as witness before any recognized international tribunal, if asked to do so, on war crimes allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan Government.    Solheim, who is now the Chair of the Development Assistance Committee in the USA, is planning to launch a book, early next year, on his mission as a peace envoy during the bloody civil war, highlighting the ‘actions’ of the politicians and the Tamil Tigers involved in the process.

Tamilchelvan + Solheim Thamilchelvam of LTTE with Eric Solheim

Q: According to the media you are gearing up to launch a book on the role of Norway as a peace mediator in Sri Lanka. What is the title of the book? A: The title of the book is not yet decided. The book is a joint effort with Vidar Helgesen, a Norwegian diplomat and politician. It’s authored by Mark Salter. Continue reading →

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June 15, 2014 · 8:43 am

Lord Michael Naseby challenges the dominant British narrative on Sri Lanka

nasebyLord Naseby’s Speech in the House of Lords on 11 June 2014 as reported in The Island 15 June 2014

My Lords, first, I compliment her Majesty’s Treasury on what it has achieved for our economy- secondly, I compliment those associated with welfare reform, in particular, my noble friend Lord Freud, on what his department has achieved.

I wish I could say that I complimented her Majesty’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but I regret that I am not in a position to do so. I did not support our actions in Libya or our maneuverings in Egypt. I was totally against our policy in Libya, and wrote to the Prime Minister accordingly. All those actions have just destabilized that part of the world—and, worse, caused thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. The Syria war was from the start nothing to do with democracy; it was the fourth Sunni-Shia internal war. If we really want peace there, Her Majesty’s Government have to find a means of talking to and working with Mr Putin and Russia. Continue reading →

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June 15, 2014 · 5:21 am

Running the Gauntlet in Academia: The Case of “Selfless Sacrifice” — A Rejected Article

Michael Roberts

20 24 LTTE tuyilam illam at Vadamaratchchi, November 2004 —Pic by Michael Roberts …. http://thuppahis.com/2010/01/03/symbolic-postscript-a-terrible-violence/

Preamble I: The wide-open facilities of the cyber world have not only promoted citizen journalism, but also encouraged personnel outside academia to pen articles on complex topics. Needless to say, these vary greatly in quality. That is true within academia as well: journals vary in their depth and quality … and even within reputed journals some weak and/or horrible articles pass the vetting process.

Since visitors to web sites may not be aware of the review process within academic journals, let me clarify matters from my own experiences as an author as well as my editorial roles at various moments for Modern Ceylon Studies (1970s at Peradeniya University) and Social Analysis (1979-1990s at Adelaide University). Continue reading →

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June 13, 2014 · 3:26 pm

From Godse and Gandhi to the Selfless Sacrifice of Tamil Tigers

Michael Roberts **

“I must reduce myself to zero” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Mahatma Gandhi 11 Gandhi nathuram-godse-11Godse  13c--Prabha with pistol-2Pirapaharan

I am indebted to Dennis Hudson for the insights via Gandhi which inspire this article: “Gandhi was a martyr to satya, which is ‘truth’ or ‘true being,’ or ‘being true,’ …. Truth’s power radiates through the person who participates in it by eliminating the personal ego-centered passion that distorts it. Truth is God whom Gandhi called Ram. To serve Ram as a conduit for his gracious power in the middle of India’s violent political life, Gandhi had tried for years to reduce himself to “zero” [as he himself expressed matters]” (Hudson 2002: 132).

GandhiThis transcendental orientation guided many of the Mahatma’s interventions in the tumultuous era of Indian nationalist politics. During the course of one such intervention, as he walked to an evening prayer meeting at a friend’s house in New Delhi on 30 January 1948, his life in this world was viciously terminated by an assassin named Nathuram Godse.[1] Paradoxically, both Godse and Gandhi were inspired by the Bhagavad Gīta (Jaffrelot 2003). The Gīta was a foundational inspiration for a long line of nationalist or fundamentalist thinking beginning with Tilak and extending into the Hindu fundamentalist stream of thinking associated with Savarkar who “invok[ed] the motif of Hindu religious sacrifice.” Already a member of the Hindu Maha Sabha, when Savarkar founded an offshoot called the Hindu Rashtra Dal in 1942, Godse became the editor-in-chief of its newspaper (Jaffrelot 2003:300-11, quotation from p. 304).[2] Continue reading →

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Filed under cultural transmission, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

June 13, 2014 · 10:36 am

An Idyllic “Homestay” in Sri Lanka … with Suzy and Bhatiya Ratwatte

Mark Hodson, in The Daily ,News, 13 June 2014, where the original title reads “Sri Lanka: Lush jungle, paddy fields and gastronomical delights”

 

“Sorry about the weather, we were hoping for rain,” said Suzy Ratwatte as she looked out from the verandah across her dusty parched lawn. I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Suzy was pouring tea into china cups, served with custard creams. “Even we are feeling the heat, it’s impossible,” she said. Suzy and her husband Bhathiya run a homestay in a small village on the outskirts of Kandy. Their large colonial bungalow, which has been in the family for four generations, is tastefully decorated with antique wooden furniture and knick-knacks collected over the years.

AA lush jungle 22Idyllic rural setting: It was towards the end of the tourist season and I was the only guest. “When the children grew up and left home, we thought why not have people to stay,” said Suzy. “We have four guest rooms, we both like to meet people and I love to cook.” That was two years ago and reviews from past guests have been so positive that the couple have added three further rooms in the grounds. Continue reading →

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June 10, 2014 · 2:37 pm

Remembering a Renaissance Man, Ediriweera Sarachchandra

Ranjini Obeyesekere

Born at the cusp of the 20th century, at a moment when the cross influences of colonialism, nationalism, and Buddhist revivalism had a powerful impact on the psyche of Sri Lankan intellectuals, — generative as well as conflictual — the life and work of Ediriweera Sarachchandra, represents a transformation of these forces into works of path breaking scholarship and brilliant creativity. His erudition was legendary, and his influence on generations of students as well as the public has made him a household word in the country.

SARACHCHANDRA 11-ISLAND Pic from Island

I will present a few vignettes to try to capture the intellectual range of his erudition, his sensitivity to the cultural and social demands of his time and his innate creativity that enabled him to fuse the many influences and exposures of his life into magnificent literary and dramatic works.

Born to a Christian mother and a Buddhist father, and named Eustace Reginald de Silva, he transformed himself, his name, and his world, to become Ediriweera Sarachchandra —  perhaps the foremost intellectual, scholar, teacher, and creative artist of 20th century Sri Lanka.  Continue reading →

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June 9, 2014 · 11:02 am

Fashioning History in Sri Lanka

 Michael Roberts

Abstract: Two arrival stories in the long span of the island’s history will provide the foundations for reflections on history-making in the modern era. Episode One will pursue my own intellectual trail in the 1980s in fashioning an interpretation of the story of the arrival of the Portuguese and my subsequent confrontations in print with KM de Silva on this issue in the 1990s. Episode Two essays an interpretation of the advent of Vijaya retailed in the Pali & Sinhala chronicles as a genesis story of the same order as the tale of Adam and Eve: contending that it is not a tale with any factual basis, but one that conveys a mythic truth for its authors and ‘faithful’ listeners. It is, thus, a morality-tale about the magical implantation of civilised culture and state-forms within the island. This interpretation, however, has shortcomings and will benefit from the correctives imposed by Godfrey Gunatilleke’s exposition of the multi-faceted symbolism associated with this myth.**

** This essay was composed at some point in the early 2000s and I am not sure if it was printed or presented in the public realm. However, it seems useful to make it more widely available in the cyber-world because it displays reasoned academic debate based on empirical data as well as imaginative extrapolation in ways that should stimulate readers.

Let me stress that these engagements occurred before Kitsiri Malalgoda recently presented an incisive set of criticisms of my interpretation of the kudugal sapākamin lē bona minissu tale of the Portuguese sailors’ first appearance on the shores of the island. Malalgoda’s work of research ranged far and wide over several lands and also involved (involves) creative dissembling and assembling. So readers are encouraged to visit K.Malalgoda, “1505 and all that: varied views on a first encounter,” in Home and Away. Essays in Honour of Sarath Amunugama, Colombo, Siripa Publishers, 2010 –ISBN 978-955-0564-00-2 Continue reading →

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June 9, 2014 · 9:59 am

History-Making in Lanka: Problems

Michael Roberts … re-presentation of an article that appeared initially in http://www.federalidea.com in April 2008 and is presented here with minor refinements.**

Central themes in the understanding of Sri Lanka’s recent as well ancient history have been fashioned by two occupational categories, namely, schoolteachers and politicians. The school teachers of the first 75 years of the twentieth century were mostly well-meaning personnel trained in the British empiricist traditions. Their tendency was to regard history as a collection of undisputed facts that could be juxtaposed along a chronological line. There was limited attention to the interpretive dimensions of the trade and the potential for debates around these interpretations. This heritage has been implanted in recent decades by what masquerades as an educational system (where I suspect that in practice it is a process of rote-learning that is now twisted by pliant teachers in each language stream to suit ethnic claims).

44-a classroom and its teacher a classroom in the 19th century

Continue reading →

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