Michael Roberts
SYDNEY to ADELAIDE: Having been informed on Thursday night that I had no Covid and would receive CLEARANCE I proceeded to pack and on FRIDAY the 1st October confirmed my ticket booking to Adelaide that afternoon on JETSTAR [an airline which permitted extra luggage].
Michael Roberts
My D. Phil dissertation at Oxford in the early 1960s centred on British agrarian policy in the mid-nineteenth century and therefore included the British efforts to revive the tank irrigation systems of the Sinhala past. Several British colonial personnel as well as visiting dignitaries were captivated by the ruins of the Anuradhapura/Polonnaruwa periods which they observed during adventure trips. A few saw it as a challenge for their imperial capacity. Some British governors, notably Ward, Gregory and Gordon, took up the prospect.
Sir Henry Ward and SJV Chelvanyakam
Filed under ancient civilisations, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
Preamble: I flew to Sydney in Australia on Sri Lankan Airlines UL 606 leaving Katunayake at 17.00 o’clock on Wednesday 16th September. The airport was depressingly empty. Only about 35 passengers were on the flight –undoubtedly due to Australian restrictions. Two were Aussie women and the rest looked dinky-die Sri Lankan.
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Sophia Sleigh & April Roach in Evening Standrard 10 August 2020, where the title is RAF plane patrols English Channel after nearly 700 migrants cross”
An RAF plane was drafted in to carry out surveillance missions over the Channel today as the Government steps up efforts to prevent migrants crossing into the UK from France. The A400M Atlas flew from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to provide surveillance for the Border Force and Coastguard who can intercept boats. The Ministry of Defence said the aircraft, which flew from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, is an “initial offer of assistance” to the Home Office.
A group of people thought to be migrants crossing The Channel in a small boat headed in the direction of Dover, Kent (PA)Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, communal relations, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
Andrew Fidel Fernando. in Cricket Monthly within ESPNcricinfo, 11 August 2020, where the title runs “Growing up with Murali,”
Ten years after he retired, a reflection on what Muttiah Muralitharan has meant – and means – to a nation
Before I watched an umpire no-ball Muttiah Muralitharan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, I had no idea that cricket mattered.
Security personnel and spectators look on next to a giant cutout of Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan erected on a 17th century Dutch-built fortress during the third day of the first test cricket match between India and Sri Lanka in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
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Ryan Fahey for MailOnLine, 17 August 2020
My sister Norah Roberts, I now realise, was a remarkable woman. Further elaborations along these lines will follow in a second “Memoriam.” The present display is via a Letter she sent to Fr Corera of the Vanareeth House for Elders run by the Sisters of Charity in Galle on the 15th April 1995 …. a copy of which has been preserved by Moninna Goonewardena of 15 Parawa Street, Fort, Galle.[1]
The copy of the Letter below will be followed by a commentary on several facets touched on within the letter; while my Ode in Praise in a subsequent essay will present details on Norah Roberts and her difficult circumstances of total deafness from her 32/33rd years on earth.
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Dinasena Ratugamage, in Island, 15 August 2020, where the title is “Wiggy makes vow before LTTE memorial”
Newly elected TMTK (Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani) MP C.V. Wigneswaran, on Thursday (13), vowed before the LTTE memorial at Mullivaikkal that he would fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil people.
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The info-demic can be just as damaging as the pandemic itself, because if people aren’t getting the right information, if they’re not able to trust that information, and then we have a problem. There’s no point having solutions to offer people if they don’t hear about them, or they don’t believe in them,” said Michael (Mike) Ryan in this latest episode.
https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/S3-E4-we-need-to-save-more-lives
2 January 2019 – A helicopter transports a wounded health worker with their team including Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme for WHO (far right) and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General (second from right). Dr. Ryan helped attend to the health worker, who had been wounded in an attack against the Ebola vaccination team in Komanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Evacuated for advanced care, he later recovered from his injuries – Photo: ©WHO/Lindsay Mackenzie
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Chandre Dharmawardene, in Island, 26 July 2020, with this title “Ontario’s Bill on Alleged Genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils”
It was interesting to read Lynn Ockersz’ posting in The Island titled “UN Genocide Convention and Social Peace”. What should rise to the top of the minds of most Sri Lankan readers when the word “genocide” is mentioned, is the allegation against the Sri Lankan state. The columnist states that “As is known, some sections have been flinging the allegation of genocide against the Sri Lankan state in matters arising from its 30-year war against the LTTE, but it is clear that, going by the UN definition, the Lankan state has not committed genocide“.
C.V. Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka, addresses members of the Tamil community in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on January 15, 2017. During his trip to formalize a friendship agreement between the City of Markham and district of Mullaitivu, Northern Province in Sri Lanka Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran spoke about the importance of issues of transitional justice and post-war development to diaspora Tamils in Canada……..Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images
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thuppahi
