Posters being pasted in Colombo and suburbs yesterday to mark the 15 years since the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge which falls today.
Today marks 15 years since the brutal murder of iconic journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge with none brought to justice. To mark the occasion Lasantha’s kids Avinash, Ahimsa and Aadesh issued the following statement which will be read out today at Lasantha’s graveside memorial at the General Cemetery Kanatte.
Nishkula Suntharalingam, presenting a book review in Asian Affairs 2023 ….. https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raaf20 …. of the book by Moyukh Chatterjee. Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities. Duke University Press, Durham, 2023. pp. 166. Notes. Bibliog. Index. Ackmts. Hb. $94.95. ISBN 9781478017028. Sb. ………….$24.95. ISBN 9781478019664
Moyukh Chatterjee was an eyewitness to the aftermath of the 2002 riots in the west Indian state of Gujarat; three days of communal violence during which Hindu mobs attacked Muslims, their businesses and homes, leaving over a thousand people dead. This book focuses on how and why, in multi-ethnic, democratic states like India, targeted violence and anti-minority politics persist. In doing so, the author suggests an alternate approach to understanding violence against minorities while raising disquieting questions about the formation of modern states and the ways that ideas of “minorities” and “majorities” are produced and reproduced.
401733 08: Indian state police patrol the streets of Ahmadabad, India after rioting between Muslims and Hindus March 1, 2002 in Ahmadabad, India, two days after a Muslim mob attacked a train, killing 58 people in the Indian state of Gujarat. Indian troops arrived in the riot-torn western state of Gujarat but were unable to quell the Hindu-Muslim violence that has claimed the lives of 251 people. (Photo by Ami Vitale/Getty Images)
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, demography, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, Indian religions, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religious nationalism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, zealotry
Michael Roberts and Arthur Saniotis, … reproducing the editorial introduction to a collection of essays devoted to the topic identified in the title pesented within Social Analysis, Volume 50, Issue 1, Spring 2006, 7–24 © Berghahn Journals ... with highlighting emphasis imposed in this version by Michael Roberts
Facing death with equanimity and with a honed, trained body is an expression of sheer power.[1] When a group of like-minded individuals confronts an opposi- tional force with equal mental and bodily capacities, whether on a sports field or in a warring conflict, the result is power compounded. Each article in this special section ‘confronts’ such powers. Together they explore several regionally specific projects in Asia in which dying for a cause is seen as a virtue.
There are several parts of Asia where social practices and cultural traditions have consciously nourished bodily empowerment. In these select yet dynamic traditions, mind and body are conceived as a unity. Attentiveness to cosmic powers is an integral aspect of disciplined ascetic practices that seek to har- ness bodily energy in maximal ways. These practices confront death. They are directed toward transcending the fear of death—and death itself. When they are inserted into a moment of violent conflict involving interpersonal combat, they encourage a steely, terrifying fearlessness as well as deadly striking power.
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, Fascism, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immolation, Indian traditions, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, racism, racist thinking, security, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
Web Item conveyed by Dr Firazath Hussain of Wellawatte, Colombo
From Ramallah Friends School to the world, we share our version of the timeless “ Little Drummer Boy.” Our hearts come together in prayer for the safety of the children in Gaza. May our shared prayers echo for peace and justice, weaving a tapestry of hope that goes beyond borders, embracing the shared humanity we all hold dear……… 162,402 views Dec 4, 2023 ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsEbIVJy0Gg
A NOTE from One Thuppahi, 24 December 2023:
“I cried ….. tears came naturally …. especially when the WEB decided on its own to present a rendering of DANNO BUDUNGE sung by Kishani Jayasinghe ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plaKsOtC3b8
…. then more tears welled.
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A Suffering Ignoramus
About half a century back I was driving with my wife to Bath when I found myself struggling to breathe. We drove immediately to the Bath hospital where I joined the Emergency queue. The same problem persisted: fit and well but couldn’t breathe! I quickly saw that the others in the queue were far worse off than I was. One had a deep gash in his neck; another a badly wounded arm, etc, etc. My non-breathing was trivial to everyone except myself!
Camel Rider, responding to a general inquiry raised by Thuppahi in his Email Circuit
With regard to the mystery of why Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, I think the reason goes like this. The issue of a Palestinian state has been fading for many years due US foreign policy and the Abraham Accords sought to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states. If left unchecked, that process would have seen the death of Palestine, even among Arab states. Hamas gained an extraordinary strategic victory on October 7th in the sense that the issue of a Palestinian state is back on the table, the Abraham Accords are in tatters, and the majority of the world is demanding a solution.
Journalists take cover behind cars as Israeli soldiers take position during clashes with Palestinian fighters near the Gevim Kibbutz, close to the border with Gaza.
Filed under anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Thilini Meegaswatta, … whose title is “Temporality of History: A Reading of the Contemporaneity of the Past in Post-war Sri Lanka” … an article presented in Proceedings of the Open University Research Sessions in 2020
This short article is a reflection on how temporality— that is ‘time’ insofar as it manifests itself in human existence (Hoy, 2009, cited in Bryant, 2009)— interacts with socio-political realities and behaviours of conflict-ridden societies in complex ways. I draw on recent political history in Sri Lanka — a South Asian island nation that had faced protracted warfare—in an attempt to demonstrate how each political moment, each configuration of political identity constitutes a melange of temporal signatures that distorts the notion of a linear time line. In other word,s the examples elaborated are expected to illustrate how the present is legible only in the view of the past and also anticipated/ imagined futures, and as such, bear inscriptions of other times. On the other hand, I also contend that the past is a shifting narrative—a construct mangled by the discursive conditions of the time of recall— which is nevertheless at the heart of the question of national identity and nation-state building (Thapar, 2014). The arguments and observations in this paper that are made in relation to Sri Lanka can nevertheless be applied to other conflict-ridden societies whose constant attempts to re/imagine a collective national identity and a consciousness is haunted by violent legacies and future anxieties.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, trauma, vengeance
thuppahi
