Fair Dinkum, responding to developments in Washington involving the US State Department and SL Tamil representatives outlined by Daya Gamage recently
Michael, I read Daya Gamage’s article published in the Colombo Telegraph (4/12/2021) with considerable interest. It raises red flags for Sri Lanka, and I’ll touch on three in this short memo.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, TNA, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes
Gerald H. Peiris, in The Island, 16 & 17 December 2020, where the title runs thus: “Province-based Devolution in Sri Lanka: a Critique” …. https://island.lk/province-based-devolution-in-sri-lanka-a-critique-2/
John D’Oyly negotiating with Kandyan chiefs
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, devolution, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, TNA, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Tissa Vitarana, in Island, 29 July 2020, where the title runs “TNA has failed to come up with a realistic plan to address problems of the North-East people”
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has come out with its manifesto for the August 5 general election, and it is disheartening to see that the TNA has failed to come to grips with the new reality and introduce a realistic plan to address the problems facing the people of the North and the East, says LSSP leader, Professor Tissa Vitarana,
Prof. Vitarana has said in a media statement: “They have come out with the same set of demands that were raised by the TNA at the time the 30 year war of separation began. A news report of July 19 labeled it as a “low key event”, a clear indication of the lack of enthusiasm among the Tamil people.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, conspiracies, democratic measures, discrimination, doctoring evidence, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, Paranagama Report, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, TNA, truth as casualty of war, working class conditions, world events & processes
DBS Jeyaraj in Daily Mirror, 25 July 2020, where the title is “TNA Must Seek India’s Help To Protect 13th Amendment”
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, TNA, world events & processes
Michael Roberts, reiterating the original draft sent to a few on 10 June 2020
Recent forum discussions on the topic of “Reconciliation” and correspondence with concerned friends have prompted me to essay an analysis of Sri Lanka’s societal problems over the last 150 years. This is a tendentious quest.
This Map showing districts served by Regional Malaria Officers happens to suit the metaphor “Riddled” and/or “Honeycombed” in my title
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, discrimination, economic processes, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, land policies, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, riots and pogroms, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, TNA, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 12 November 2019 … “A message to Tamil voters in the North”
German ‘Iron Chancellor’ Otto von Bismarck between 1862 and 1890 effectively first ruled Prussia and then a unified Germany. He famously said, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”
The five-party Tamil coalition TNA, Tamil Maakal Mootni (TMK) led by former Northern governor CV Vigneswaran and Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) fired a broadside recently. It consisted of 13 demands. They promised to rally the support of northern Tamil voters for any of the frontline Presidential candidates who agreed to make good their conditions.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, reconciliation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, TNA, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, zealotry
Michael Roberts
In my readings of her past work, Shenali Waduge tended to go overboard in several of her claims, while also displaying one-sided Sinhala chauvinistic leanings in her assessments. But her recent article in Lankaweb, entitled “US in Sri Lanka since 2015 – turning Sri Lanka into a Neo-Colonial Military Base,” addresses a wide range of issues, including some that are looming over Sri Lanka today. It is also marked by considerable industry and embraces an extended sweep of time.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, Eelam, electoral structures, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, TNA, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
CA Chandraprema in Sunday Observer 13/10/19
The TNA is facing an existential conundrum at this election. In 2015, they went all out to make the common candidate win and gave all kinds of unrealistic pledges to the Tamil people of the north and east as to what can be expected by making Maithripala Sirisena President. But after he was elected, the Tamil people got nothing of what was promised and instead lost even what they had in the form of all the work that the Rajapaksa government had done or were in the process of doing in the north and east. Understandably, the people of the area are holding the TNA responsible and between the parliamentary election of 2015 and the local government elections of 2018, the TNA’s votes in the Jaffna and Batticaloia districts went down drastically.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, devolution, Eelam, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, TNA, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
Shamindra Ferdinando’s rambling presentation of an Interview with Lord the Michael Naseby has produced some vital information about the creaking inner workings of the British government as well as the circumstances surrounding Lord Naseby’s interventions on behalf of Sri Lanka. Naseby’s assiduous effort to extract the reports sent by the British Defence Attache in Colombo in the year 2009, one Lt. Col. Gash, did not commence till November 2013 when David Cameron, the British PM, was about to head to Sri Lanka for the CHOGM conference – a visit where Cameron played the hero for the British public, the world HR lobbies and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, discrimination, disparagement, foreign policy, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, sri lankan society, TNA, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes
Dr. Rajasingham Narendran, in Sri Lanka Guardian, 7 February 2009, where the title is “Rise and Fall of the LTTE – An Overview” …. with highlighting emphasis being impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi
Sri Lankan armed forces have almost ended the capacity of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to engage in conventional war in the near future. They may also succeed in severely curtailing attempts by the LTTE to resort to sabotage, terrorism and socio-economic disruptions, subsequently. They have also recovered almost the entirety of the territory once held by the LTTE. These achievements, contrary to the expectations of many, have not only attracted the attention of the world, but also its implicit support. However, the plight of the 250,000 Tamil civilians, believed held by the LTTE in the jungles of Mullaitivu is weighing heavy on the world’s conscience. How the Sri Lankan government and armed forces will deal with the issue of these civilians, is being scrutinized closely by a concerned world and the Tamil-speaking people at large.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, democratic measures, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, Rajapaksa regime, Rajiv Gandhi, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, TNA, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
thuppahi
