Category Archives: violence of language

BBC rendered impotent by Azerbaijan President

An Observer from the Black Sea

This interview is why the BBC stands for British Bullshit Corporation. The journalist from that ‘august’ agency claims the higher moral ground – just read it in her facial gestures; but she can’t provide a single source and is then speechless when the President of Azerbaijan asks her a question.

The BBC do the same on China,  HK, Iran, Russia and any country that chooses their own destiny independent of Anglo-Saxon control.

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, education, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, violence of language, world events & processes

The LTTE and Their Sacrificial Devotion to Cause

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 1980sPic 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.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

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

Revisiting FIRE & STORM

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.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

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

Peter Jennings presents A Manifesto For War

Raucous Aukus … in an original essay for Thuppahi, who has taken the liberty of inserting highlights selectively

Peter Jennings is without doubt the most odious and dangerous warmonger in Australia today. His frequent writings in The Australian demonstrate an absolute hate for dissenting or opposing voices. He claims to be a man of peace, yet his writings read like a Manifesto for War.  He has reiterated that bipartisan support for Aukus is fundamental to keeping it going, and that politicians on all sides must stand united with Aukus and America and resolutely against China.

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, australian media, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, disparagement, foreign policy, governance, life stories, military strategy, Pacific Ocean issues, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, violence of language, world events & processes

The “Truth Tigers” Documentary of May 2002

Truth Tigers – Sri Lanka  ….. Journeyman Pictures

2.14M subscribers

Subscribe

428

Share

Download

111,954 views Feb 2, 2008

27 May 2002 Blood drips off the deck; a torrent of rapid gunfire sores through the air. We are in the midst of a savage sea battle, fought by the Sea Tigers — the maritime arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Produced by ABC Australia Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

 

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, education, Eelam, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, prabhakaran, propaganda, sea warfare, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

Adolf Hitler’s Logic

Courtesy of Richard Koenigsberg in New York

HITLER: “If I don’t mind sending the pick of the German people into the hell of war without regret over the spilling of precious German blood, then I naturally also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin.” …..

Adolf Hitler raises a defiant, clenched fist during a speech.

circa 1933: German Dictator, Adolf Hitler addressing a rally in Germany. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, disparagement, ethnicity, Fascism, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, military strategy, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes, World War II, zealotry

The US Ambassador’s Enthusiasm for the Aragalaya

Malinda Seneviratne … whose title runs thus “Ambassador Chung and Xeroxable Change” …. with highlighting emphasis being impositions by The Editor Thuppahi

Aragalaya. Translatable as revolt, uprising, protest, agitation, struggle or even insurrection. Aragalaya is singular, but considering statements and actions it was certainly not marked by concert, ideological agreement, unity of purpose etc.

Julie CHUNG, US Ambassador in Colombo

Eclecticism was the signature of the rumbling. There was mumbling, nothing more, about system-change, but a revolution it certainly was not. So, aragalaya: singular; aragala: plural. The latter is the better descriptive. And perhaps it is exactly this eclectic and disjointed character that forced the agitators to dilute whatever revolutionary fervour there may have been to a project that targeted an individual and once that ouster was obtained shift focus to another individual.
Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, disparagement, economic processes, governance, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes

The ARAGALAYA’s Demands in English

Courtesy of my Aloysian Friend KK De Silva …………with a PIX from his schoolboy days at St Aloysius, Galle

Transcript of the Programme spelt out in Sinhala: viz https://fb.watch/eaarPjDUCc/?fs=e&s=cl

Yesterday we took part in the aragalaya. It was good. Now there is talk about a caretaker government. This is something new to the people & us.

First I must say that we got together irrespective of ethnic differences. Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils were together as Sri Lankans. In future no one can act differently. I am saying this to those actors. They should listen carefully. There is a set of actors, like the yellow group. There is another set called artistes (kalaakaruwo). There is a fellow wearing a sheet (?) There are others like Bhatiya & Santush. Are they not ashamed? Where were they yesterday. Then there is Iraj. Dont come wearing a cloth. Don’t come this way for shows. You all have been rejected,

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, disparagement, economic processes, education, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes

Malinda’s Inside View from within the Colombo Cauldron

Malinda Seneviratne, at …. https://malindawords.blogspot.com/2022/07/when-centre-cannot-hold.html  …. with this title “When the centre cannot hold…”

I write (it is 12.09 pm, on Wednesday) at a time when there’s a remarkable and unprecedented lack of political clarity in the country. As I write, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has left the country. As per the Constitution, if indeed Rajapaksa did resign, or, as reported, Rajapaksa citing Article 37.1 of the constitution , Ranil Wickremesinghe has assumed the presidency in an acting capacity. There’s ‘fighting’ within parliament with parties and politicians unable to decide on Rajapaksa’s successor and of course who the next premier should be. There’s fighting among ‘aragalists’ over representational legitimacy, ideological and political thrust, and preferred endgames.

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes

The ARAGALAYA Proclaims in Sri Lanka: A Six-Point Set of Demands

With thanks to my Aloysian compatriot KK De Silva

  1. Gotabaya Rajapaksa should resign from the post of Executive President forthwith.
  2. Government including Ranil Wickremasinghe, Rajapaksa regime should resign forthwith. ( This includes all Cabinet, Non cabinet, Deputy, Project Ministers, Ministry Secretaries, Directors, Advisors, State & Corporation Chairmen, Ambassadors).
  3. With the removal of the Gota-Ranil government, an interim administration should be set up which accords with the economic, social & political objectives & aspirations of the Peoples Struggle (Aragalaya). A Peoples Council  in which there is legal binding for representatives of the Peoples Struggle to  intervene/create an impact, should be established.

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, Left politics, life stories, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry