Category Archives: the imaginary and the real

November 27, 2023 · 7:05 pm

DIG Jingle Dissanayake’s Report on the JVP in Lanka, 4th November 1974

A NOTE from Michael Roberts, 27 November 2023

This file is among the documentary material under my name in the Special Collections, Barr Smith Library, Adelaide University and Samantha Farnsworth, its chief, sent me a pdf copy  I cannot recall how the original Mss came into my hands. Its pdf format has been converted to Word File by my friend KKS Perera in Lanka. The spacing is erratic and difficult to change. I have resisted the temptation to highlight important details because I do not have adequate background knowledge of the situation in 1972 to 1974 (even though I conducted one or two lectures to JVPers held in the prison camp at Katugastota …… including Gamini Keerawella …… one of my previous History Honours students).

The photographs are my insertions …. and perhaps hit ‘n miss in character .

Wijeweera in rousing flow on platform … & on way to court with his lawyer

 

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November 19, 2023 · 3:36 pm

Fantastic Predictions: WORLD CUP FORECASTS from Lankan Cricketing Fanatics

A FORECAST by Errol FERNANDO, …. A Piano Player from the Heavens, 19 November 2023

After a long tournament, we reach the final that we all predicted many weeks ago, Lorenz   –   India vs Australia   –   with the obvious prediction that India will win. Millions will back India,of course.

Let me take a different path by predicting a win for the Aussies, especially if they bat first. Head, Marsh and Maxwell are dangerous players who can take the game away from India.

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November 18, 2023 · 7:53 pm

The Logic behind the Hamas Raid of October 7th 2023

Scott Ritter of Global Research, 14 November 2023, whose chosen title is  “The October 7 Hamas Assault on Israel: The Most Successful Military Raid of this Century” …. with highlighting emphasis in purple being that of the Author; while other highlights in blue  or red are those imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi … who thanks Jayantha Somasundaram of Canberra for leading him to this important essay

There is a truism that I often cite when discussing the various analytical approaches to assessing the wide variety of geopolitical problems facing the world today—you can’t solve a problem unless you first properly define it. The gist of the argument is quite simple—any solution which has nothing to do with the problem involved is, literally, no solution at all.

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November 18, 2023 · 6:11 pm

Revelations within Colonial Photographs of Ceylon: “Veins of Influence”

Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections, by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra

 [This book is a pioneering monograph that brings a rich array of early and previously unpublished images of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) into the global discourse of photography, pairing a striking lens of visual appreciation with distinctly humanizing perspectives.

 

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November 12, 2023 · 8:13 pm

Forgetting …. and Remembering

Michael Patrick O’Leary

I do not do much new writing these days but I do a lot of remembering. I have been reading a book about Forgetting by Gabriel Josipovici, but I have forgotten where I put it. Also have Ivan Illich’s  H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness and Lewis Hyde’s A Primer for Forgetting and A Sivanandan’s (met him in 1968) When Memory Dies and Forgetting by Scott A Small.

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October 30, 2023 · 2:00 am

Bertrand Russell’s Message to the World on Zionism in January 1970

“Bertrand Russell’s Last Message“…. January 1970 — presented at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egfCTz-ZuZU .… & now sent to me by “A Sri Lankan in Brisbane” who reiterates the stance he took a few days back with An APPRAISAL that I present for readers to appraise after listening to the You Tube presentation marked above and is attached Blogging Theology MEMO below.

Portrait of British philosopher and social activist Bertrand Russell smoking his pipe as he looks out to sea, circa 1960….. Photo by Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 


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October 24, 2023 · 7:44 pm

Plinio’s Description of “Taprobane”

Piero Perondi, whose chosen title was “THE SPLENDID TAPROBANE ALIAS SRI LANKA””

The main ancient source on Taprobane is the Roman historian Plinio the Old, in his manuscript “Natural History”, which does not fail to briefly retrace the testimonies of previous authors. He states that only in the time of Alexander the Great was it made clear that Taprobane was an island; before it was considered almost another world, the “land of the Antichthone ” (i.e. the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere).

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October 22, 2023 · 3:34 pm

The GAZA Clash & Its Ramifications: Fundamental Grounding …. A Sri Lankan’s Reading

A Sri Lankan in Brisbane … responding to my Thuppahi Question: Why did HAMAS launch an attack in Palestine [with implicit awareness of extreme Israeli retaliations] ? … with the highlighting in red being that of the Editor, Thuppahi and that in black being the author’s.

HIS RESPONSE

Dear Michael,

Israel has never been a country that abided by International rules.

Although the majority of Jews migrated to Israel from Russia & Eastern Europe, the British & US heavily back Israel because the wealthy Jews who fund US Congress are in the US & UK. The US Congress is beholden to these wealthy Jews for their election funding. In addition, almost all Arab countries are headed by corrupt US cronies, beholden to the $.

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October 20, 2023 · 8:28 pm

On the Brink of World War III?

Fair Dinkum …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

As this war escalates, it’s only a matter of time before these US warships are sunk. They are sitting ducks in the Red Sea. The US is not in a position to deter anyone except perhaps for the occasional dolphin.
What has not been reported is that not only is Yemen launching drones and air strikes, but that a major escalation of Hezbollah attacks occured last night on the Lebanon-Israel border and that Hezbollah successfully hit a number of US interests in the region. 

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October 18, 2023 · 8:23 pm

Scott Ritter at the Coalface of the Catastrophe Unfolding in Gaza and Israel

Michael Roberts …  summarizing some of the points made inan extended interview

Do spend time and digest the video presentation by Scott Ritter in a Q and A SESSION, …. It is a MUST-SEE event….. which also essays home-turuths about the war in Ukraine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6mWeUPj84E

 

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