In SRI LANKA 12 May 2024
Category Archives: Tamil migration
Blatant Double Standards towards Israel & Sri Lanka pursued by UN Watchdogs
Shenali D. Waduge, in Lankaweb, 9 May 2024, ….where the title reads “UN/UNHRC/US & Allies hypocrisy – comparison of Sri Lanka & the Gaza Conflict” ….
[My title and this article does not seek] to present a notion that Israel is right or wrong, or that Sri Lanka is right or wrong, but [seeks] to question UN’s treatment of Member states & the applicability of the UN Charter & the principles of equality & non-discrimination to Member states. UNGA has condemned Israel over 120 times. UNHRC has condemned Israel over 40 times. US has vetoed over 40 Resolutions against Israel but is spearheading resolutions against Sri Lanka in connivance with the UN. How fair is this to Sri Lanka?
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, disparagement, Eelam, foreign policy, historical interpretation, IDP camps, insurrections, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
From Karaithivu, Jaffna to Buckingham Palace
Premila Thurairatnam
Mr. Sabapathipillai Rajanayagam O.B.E was a wise man who lived till he was 104 years old (1908–2012). He was alert to the end when most of his contemporaries had passed on.
His achievements are exemplary: coming from humble beginnings – his London diaries (attached) state how he grew up in a mud hut in a remote island called Karaithivu1 off Jaffna, Ceylon. From there his career culminated in being invited to Buckingham Palace! He studied hard and was awarded the University Telegraph Engineering scholarship to Imperial College, London in 1930. His article written for the Imperial College centenary when he too hit a century, can be found here: ………………………………………………………………… https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/memories/Rajanayagam.shtml
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon
Black Friday in Colombo: 29 July 1983
Sugath Kulatunga, …. original submission with highlighting added by the Editor, Thuppahi
That** was the story of Monday. The Friday that followed was a stark tragedy and a national calamity which has left its bloody stain in the records of our recent history. This was my harrowing experience of Friday 29 July 1983.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, conspiracies, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
Campaign to Promote “Malaiyaha Thamilar” Identity
Diana Joseph in Groundviews, 25 March 2024 ….where the title runs thus : “Identity Crisis of the Malaiyaha Thamilar Community” … reproduced here with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
People of Tamil descent raised on plantations have endured a long history of discrimination, exploitation and violence tracing back to the era of colonization. The younger generation, both men and women, expresses a preference for employment opportunities in urban areas or Middle Eastern countries as labourers rather than on plantations. Unfortunately, this pursuit often results in their exploitation and entrapment in modern day slavery, a cyclical pattern that has persisted for over two centuries.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
The Roberts Mss at Adelaide University Library
Michael Roberts
Recent Email Exchanges with Jane Russell of UK, who has one foot in England and two feet in island Sri Lanka, and a revived focus on George E De Silva (1870-1950) reminded me of the George E. Mss Memoirs in typescript which Jane had given me long ago. This led me to a long list which amounts to a treasure trove for those addressing a variety of topics in the history of Sri Lanka. I present the details before. Those wishing to pursue specifics must write to the Head of the Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library Adelaide University, not to me: samantha.farnsworth@adelaide.edu.au
It is my conjecture that the same corpus of material (or parts thereof) will also be part of the Roberts Collection at the National Library Services Board along Torrington Rd (beside the National Archives) in Colombo. They could initially seek specifics from Mr Welimuni Sunil who heads the institution: viz …
Welimuni Sunil … sunilnldsb@gmail.com
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, Buddhism, caste issues, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, counter-insurgency, cultural transmission, demography, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, irrigation, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, land policies, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, plantations, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, riots and pogroms, Royal College, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, terrorism, transport and communications, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon
Tamil Women at War as ‘Birds of Freedom’ in the LTTE Cause
Vindhya Buthpitiya: “How to Capture Birds of Freedom: Picturing Tamil Women at War,” Trans Asia Photography (2023) 13 (1) … derived from ………………………………………… https://doi.org/10.1215/21582025-10365016 … with the aid of my Aloysian mate KK De Silva; whilr the highlighting is my imposition.
Abstract: This article examines the uses of images of women fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during and after the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) to explore the contrasting mobilizations of visual representations of Tamil women cadres, focusing on the cultivation and framing of contradictory nationalist imaginaries by competing ethnic and state actors. In northern Sri Lanka, portraits of gun-bearing women fighters were wielded to signal revolutionary possibilities for the future of the Tamil nation-state as well as to inform the political socialization of its hopeful citizens. Meanwhile, images of Tamil women cadres were cast as gendered and ethnicized threats by the Sri Lankan state in what constituted a calculated form of visual ethno-political othering and weaponization. This article reflects on the ways in which such appropriations exacerbated the political precarity of and the denial of victimhood to Tamil women.
Malathy was the First Tamil Tigress to face death for the Tamiil for the Tamil Cause
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, asylum-seekers, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, language policies, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, news fabrication, NGOs, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Ganeshananthan’s & Karunatitilaka’s Novels Reviewed by Anjum Hasan
Anjum Hasan: “Even As A Ghost” in The New York Review of Books, 18 January 2024 … reaching me via a tennis-mate Ralph Schlomowitz who is a ‘religious’ adherent of the NYRB and matters highbrow;while Amaasiiri De Silva in New York sent me the whole text in Worsd File –thereby ‘undermining’ the NYR’s effing barriers.
Hasan reviews two new books relating to Sri Lanka in this essay: Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Random House, 348 pp., $28.00; $18.00 (paper) …. & The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, Norton, 388 pp., $18.95 (paper)
In their new novels, V. V. Ganeshananthan and Shehan Karunatilaka use the “distance of time” to dramatize large chunks, if not the whole, of Sri Lanka’s recent past.
Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, historical novel, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes
Sri Lanka in IMF-Western Stranglehold
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake in The Sunday Island, 4 February 2024, where the title runs thus: “Of Elections, Bond scams, and Money Politics: The IMF and the Anatomy of Default @ 75 …. Default as Hybrid Economic Warfare” … with the highlights in purple being impositions by The Editor of Thuppahi and those in red Darini’s very own.**
With the wisdom of hindsight, the Root Causes of Sri Lanka’s first ever Sovereign Default, staged three years ago on the eve of 75 years of ‘Independence’ from the British Raj are clearly discernible.
Political cartoon _ Satire, Humor, Criticism _ Britannica
Ancient tree roots wrapped around a large boulder in the French alps Stock Photo – Alamy
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF as monster, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, NGOs, parliamentary elections, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Tamil X’mas Parade in New York Conveys Devotional Fare, 2023
Sent to Thuppahi by Ranjit Sirimanne …. revealing and arousing warmth in wintry conditions through song and traditional X’mas figures and vehicles
