Category Archives: Tamil migration

Canadian Double Standards ….. Both At Home & In Lanka

Professor Chandre Dharmawardena

According to The Island newspaper, 25 of July 2023 [1], the Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh in Colombo has barged into the controversy on the Kurundi archeological site. The Canadian HC had met T. Raviharan, a politician who spearheads the protests at the Kurundi site. HC Walsh’s explanation is that “Meeting people in different parts of the country, to better understand their priorities and perspectives, is a normal part of a High Commissioner’s role.”  These words ring hollow if he does NOT meet anyone from the “other side”, or the Archaeological Commissioner and other technical people.

Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, Canadian politics, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, propaganda, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, trauma, travelogue, world affairs

Travails of a Rookie District Officer in Polonnaruwa, 1957-58

Sugath Kulatunga

Fresh from the University of Peradeniya, after a stint of teaching at St. Anthony’s College Kandy, I was selected as an Administrative Officer in the Department of Agriculture in November 1957 with 18 others in a new cadre of administrative officers established in the Department. This cadre was the brainchild of the then Minister of Agriculture Philip Gunawardhane and was operationalized by the then Deputy Director Administration Sam Silva, who Philip called a ‘” human dynamo”. (Sam was also the prime mover in the establishment of the CWE and the Petroleum Corporation).

Sugath 

Philip Gunawardena

CP De Silva

c

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, transport and communications, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, wild life

Cricket Pitch Invasions: Contrasting Reactions in Different Times

Michael Roberts 

If memory serves me right Terry Alderman injured himself when he tackled a lone Aussie pitch-invader on one occasion. Johnny Baisow isa sturdy Yorkshireman and he had no problems carting off …..yes “carting off” …. a slim intruder at the holy-of-holies ground known as “The Lords.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, taking the piss, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

Hashish, Heroin, Sea Cucumber & Migrants: Sri Lanka Navy’s Seizures Today

Items in The Island, 19 May 2023 ….

ONE: https://island.lk/navy-takes-hold-of-smuggled-dried-sea-cucumber-and-contraband-in-kalpitiya-seas/

A search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy off Sinnaarichchalai, Kalpitiya on Thursday night, led to the apprehension of 02 suspects with about 193kg of dried sea cucumber and several other contraband items which were being smuggled.

Among the recovered items were; about 193kg of dried sea cucumber, 33600 shampoo packets (6ml each), 198 balm vials (50g each), 1 A/C plant and 1 Voltage Stabilizer (230 V). The suspects, contraband items and the dinghy were taken into naval custody and were handed over to the Customs Preventive Office in Katunayake for onward legal action.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, female empowerment, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, marine life, people smugglers, performance, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

The LTTE and Their Sacrificial Devotion to Cause

Michael Roberts on his Essays on this Theme within the Global Context ………… https://thuppahis.com/2017/07/21/sacrificial-devotion-how-i-entered-this-terrain/…. JULY 21, 2017 · …………..“Sacrificial Devotion” — How I Entered This Terrain

 

 Tiger fighters relax in camp, late 1980sPic by Shyam Tekwani who was embedded with LTTE for a while.

With the benefit of a Teen Murti Fellowship I was collecting data on communal violence in India in 1995 when my readings of news archives indicated that the death of Mrs Indira Gandhi by assassination in Delhi induced a handful of individuals in southern India to commit sympathetic suicide. Since news reports did not indicate similar reactions in other parts of India, I began to reflect on the cultural foundations that promoted such expressions – acting, of course, in contexts that also could provide political and economic inspirations. This eventually led to my first essay on this topic: “Filial Devotion and the Tiger Cult of Suicide,” Contributions to Indian Sociology, 1996, 30: 245-72.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, anton balasingham, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, cultural transmission, Eelam, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry

The Hill Country Tamils of Sri Lanka …. & Their Travails

Shamara Wettimuny in Financial Times, 12 April 2023 … with highlighting added by The Editor, Thuppahi

On a muggy Friday afternoon, the auditorium of the National Library of Sri Lanka slowly filled with an eager audience from Colombo, the Hill Country and beyond. It was the launch of a book by Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Mythri Jegathesan, of Santa Clara University.

Maithir Jegathesan

Her book, a work on and of solidarity with the Hill Country Tamils of Sri Lanka, ‘Tea and Solidarity: Tamil Women and Work in Post-war Sri Lanka’ was originally published by the University of Washington Press in 2019 to widespread acclaim. It was awarded the 2020 Diane Forsyth Prize for the best book featuring feminist anthropology research and in 2021, it won the Michelle Z. Rosaldo Book Prize for its significant contribution to feminist anthropology.

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, island economy, language policies, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

Keenie Meenie Mercenary Operations in Lanka in UK Gunsights

Phil Miller, in Declassified UK, March 14, 2023

A former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left millions of pounds in his will.

     Attached photo of Colonel Johnson leading an SAS parade in 1960. (Image: Imperial War Museum)

One of Britain’s most rapacious mercenaries amassed a fortune worth £4m before his death in 2008, an investigation by Declassified UK has found. The soldier of fortune, Colonel Henry ‘Jim’ Johnson, was once described by a senior British diplomat as having “political ideas [that] are probably to the right of Genghis Khan” – a reference to the infamously brutal Mongol emperor.

Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under accountability, atrocities, Britain's politics, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

Australia’s Policy towards Sri Lankan Refugee Migrants after the Civil War

Judith Betts & Claire Higgins: The Sri Lankan Civil War and Australia’s Migration Policy Response: A Historical Case Study with Contemporary Implications”  …. an article pubd on 16th May 2017 …. see https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.181 **

Abstract: Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted almost 26 years and cost tens of thousands of lives. Since the end of the war in 2009, several thousand asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have sought protection in Australia, but both Labor and Liberal/National Coalition governments have taken a restrictive approach to their arrival and have expressed support for the Sri Lankan government. This article explores Australia’s response to the protection needs of Sri Lankans during an earlier era, at the outbreak of the war in 1983, when a Labor government processed Tamils ‘in-country’ under Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, charitable outreach, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, transport and communications, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes

Remembering the Unseen Hands Supporting One of My Books

Michael Roberts in the DEDICATION presented on the first page of the book Tamil Person and State: Essays,  Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014, … ISBN 978-955- 665-230-7 

The essays that make up this anthology would not have been possible without the assistance of numerous individuals who provided me with information during face-to-face conversations, Skype and telephone chats or through responses by email. This will be only too evident if readers take note of my citations and footnotes. For this reason, it is entirely appropriate that I dedicate this work to all those who have assisted me in my researches over the last few years. Not all of them will agree with my thrusts. Indeed, there are a few of them in Colombo, such as Ananda Chittambalam, who have disputed some of my arguments, while yet encouraging me in my researches and publication programmes.

Ana Chittambalam: ex-Royal College, raconteur, promoter of causes and a staunch ally and dangerous foe

 

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, demography, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

Lamentations: Jeyaraj’s Black Review of Sri Lankan History

DBS Jeyaraj, in The Daily Mirror, 4 February 2023, where the title reads “75 Years of Independence and the Tamils of Sri Lanka

A SUMMARY: They invited Indian political leaders to the peninsula and held mass rallies and processions. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachariar, Sarojini Nayudu and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay are some of these.

It was only in 1833 after the Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms of 1832 that predominantly Tamil territories were integrated into a unified Ceylon. Until then they were administered separately.

The rationale was that independence from the British had only resulted in being ruled by the Sinhalese. There was only a change of masters. So, Independence Day was nothing to celebrate, but only to be observed as a black day, it was argued.

****

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, demography, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, language policies, law of armed conflict, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes, zealotry