Michael Roberts
The attacks on Tamils living and/or working in the southern and central parts of island Sri Lanka by elements of the Sinhala population were indefensible, horrible and disastrous for the country. It is not adequate to depict them as “riots.” They constituted a “pogrom” – with all the pejorative colourings attached to that concept.[1]
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts … reproducing an article that appeared initially in a collection of my essays in 1994 under the title above in EXPLORING CONFRONTATION, Readng, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994, pp. 317-27. It was subsequently reproduced in Nethra, vol. 6, 199-213. …. and then placed on web in Groundviews (without its footnotes) .… https://ground views.org/2019/03/28/the-case-for-foreign-judges-in-a-judicial-mechanism-in-sri-lanka-countering-falsehoods/.
Bystanders after the burning and assaulting: also at Borella Junction area, 24-25th July 1983, picture by Chandragupta Amarasinghe. There is a suggestion here that popular participation in attacks were also initiated and/or facilitated by state functionaries. It is also likely that some of those described as ‘bystanders’ were perpetrators of some of the destruction, burning and killing. I had not discovered whom the photographer was when Exploring Confrontation went to press in 1994. Let me use this occasion to record my greatest respect for the bravery and ingenuity revealed by Chandragupta Amarasinghe in extremely dangerous and trying circumstances.
Filed under anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, fundamentalism, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts
In re-visiting an assortment of historical episodes in Sri Lanka’s past in unsytematic fashion I have been led to Tarzie Vittachi’s Emergençy ’58 (published in 1958) by Sugath Kulatunga’s detailed and invaluable recounting of his experiences as a government official in Polonnaruwa in the 1950s (an item still being processed).
While Vittachi was an experienced journalist, we cannot take every ‘fact’ that he presents as indubitable. However, this pointer towards his slim volume should, hopefully, bring new generations of Sri Lankans and outside observers into reflections on the consequences of the political currents unleashed in the general election in 1956 — notably the upsurge of the underprivileged classes and the demand for Sinhala Only.
This focus, however, should not promote currents of denunciation which throw the baby out with the bathwater. The inequalities of the pre-existing dispensation must be clinically drawn out as well.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, power politics, propaganda, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
An Observer in a Black Sea Town
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, economic processes, European history, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Russian history, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, World War Three?, zealotry
Item in the DAILY MIRROR, 28 April 2023… with this title “Designating Karannagoda; Russia hits back at US: Says West should not interfere in other countries affairs”
The United States has designated former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, for his alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights. The US State Department said that Karannagoda has been designated pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, due to his involvement in a gross violation of human rights during his tenure as a Naval Commander. As a result of today’s action, Karannagoda and his wife, Srimathi Ashoka Karannagoda, are ineligible for entry into the United States.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, Eelam, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, news fabrication, patriotism, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, sea warfare, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
Michael Roberts on his Essays on this Theme within the Global Context ………… https://thuppahis.com/2017/07/21/sacrificial-devotion-how-i-entered-this-terrain/…. JULY 21, 2017 · …………..“Sacrificial Devotion” — How I Entered This Terrain
Tiger fighters relax in camp, late 1980s—Pic by Shyam Tekwani who was embedded with LTTE for a while.
With the benefit of a Teen Murti Fellowship I was collecting data on communal violence in India in 1995 when my readings of news archives indicated that the death of Mrs Indira Gandhi by assassination in Delhi induced a handful of individuals in southern India to commit sympathetic suicide. Since news reports did not indicate similar reactions in other parts of India, I began to reflect on the cultural foundations that promoted such expressions – acting, of course, in contexts that also could provide political and economic inspirations. This eventually led to my first essay on this topic: “Filial Devotion and the Tiger Cult of Suicide,” Contributions to Indian Sociology, 1996, 30: 245-72.
Filed under accountability, anton balasingham, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, cultural transmission, Eelam, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts
In presenting a Zoom Lecture relating to the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka in April 2021 for Dr. Geethika Dharmasinghe’s class at Colgate University in USA a month or so back, I deplyed the work that went into one of books: that entitled FIRE & STORM.
I now atempt to schock people around the world with pictorial illustrations of some — note “Some” (with all its partialities) — photographs of the political and Eelam War scenarios in Sri Lanka displayed in Fire & Storm.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, jihadists, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, meditations, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Chandra Schaffter ... responding to an earnest request from Michael Roberts**
I started playing cricket from the age of five. My father who was also a good cricketer in his time, gave me great encouragement. Unfortunately, he died in 1941 when I was 11 years old. Thereafter I had nobody ever interested in my cricketing career.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, vengeance
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, debt restructuring, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, meditations, military strategy, parliamentary elections, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Phil Miller, in Declassified UK, March 14, 2023
A former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left millions of pounds in his will.
Attached photo of Colonel Johnson leading an SAS parade in 1960. (Image: Imperial War Museum)
One of Britain’s most rapacious mercenaries amassed a fortune worth £4m before his death in 2008, an investigation by Declassified UK has found. The soldier of fortune, Colonel Henry ‘Jim’ Johnson, was once described by a senior British diplomat as having “political ideas [that] are probably to the right of Genghis Khan” – a reference to the infamously brutal Mongol emperor.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, Britain's politics, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
thuppahi
