February 13, 2023 · 3:48 pm

Jaffna on the Boil in the Late 1970s & My Experiences There

Sarath Amunugama, on “Visit to Jaffna and the Evolving Tamil Political Scene” …. https://island.lk/visit-to-jaffna-and-the-evolving-tamil-political-scene/ ….. Being an Excerpt from volume two of His Autobiography

While tensions were rising between the two communities in 1978 I suggested to my Minister Wijetunga that we should visit the Jaffna peninsula for an inspection tour since Kokavil had a radio transmitter and the Japanese planners were proposing the erection of a TV transmitter also in the same location.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, education policy, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

February 13, 2023 · 3:32 pm

Australia’s Policy towards Sri Lankan Refugee Migrants after the Civil War

Judith Betts & Claire Higgins: “The Sri Lankan Civil War and Australia’s Migration Policy Response: A Historical Case Study with Contemporary Implications”  …. an article pubd on 16th May 2017 …. see https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.181 **

Abstract: Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted almost 26 years and cost tens of thousands of lives. Since the end of the war in 2009, several thousand asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have sought protection in Australia, but both Labor and Liberal/National Coalition governments have taken a restrictive approach to their arrival and have expressed support for the Sri Lankan government. This article explores Australia’s response to the protection needs of Sri Lankans during an earlier era, at the outbreak of the war in 1983, when a Labor government processed Tamils ‘in-country’ under Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, charitable outreach, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, rehabilitation, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, transport and communications, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes

February 13, 2023 · 1:01 am

The Minutiae of Historical Endeavour: Searching for Details of the Interaction between Virginia and Leonard Woolf

 A = Temma Berg’s Initial Query via Email, early December 2022

I write in response to your blog about Leonard Woolf. I am working on Leonard and Virginia and exploring how much they might owe to one another. I have read her novels, diaries, letters, and short stories and his autobiographies and novels and many articles (including yours) and have become fascinated with how much husband and wife influenced one another.

I write to you to ask if you have ever wondered where Virginia’s emphasis on 500 pounds a year came from? I have been trying to find out how much Leonard might have earned while in Ceylon and have been unable to come up with any figures. Do you have any idea how much he might have earned per year?

Temma Berg

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

February 10, 2023 · 11:53 pm

Remembering the Unseen Hands Supporting One of My Books

Michael Roberts in the DEDICATION presented on the first page of the book Tamil Person and State: Essays,  Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014, … ISBN 978-955- 665-230-7 

The essays that make up this anthology would not have been possible without the assistance of numerous individuals who provided me with information during face-to-face conversations, Skype and telephone chats or through responses by email. This will be only too evident if readers take note of my citations and footnotes. For this reason, it is entirely appropriate that I dedicate this work to all those who have assisted me in my researches over the last few years. Not all of them will agree with my thrusts. Indeed, there are a few of them in Colombo, such as Ananda Chittambalam, who have disputed some of my arguments, while yet encouraging me in my researches and publication programmes.

Ana Chittambalam: ex-Royal College, raconteur, promoter of causes and a staunch ally and dangerous foe

 

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, demography, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

February 10, 2023 · 12:37 am

Old World Charm: The New Oriental Hotel in The Fort of Galle

Joe Simpson, in https://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/noh.html … with highlighting added by Thuppahi and pictorial embellishments from Joe on request or from his past articles plus other cameramen

“Preserving the spirit of a forgotten world”  ––  anecdotal glimpses of the New Oriental Hotel, Galle Fort, by Joe Simpson. otesaga@shaw.ca

Not long ago while reading a Canadian newspaper article about the restoration of Penang’s Eastern & Oriental Hotel, founded in 1885 by the Sarkie brothers, the same Armenian-born Malay Peninsula hoteliers who built Singapore’s legendary Raffles Hotel, I felt stirred to begin delving into the history of an even more venerable South Asian hostelry of my past acquaintance – Sri Lanka’s New Oriental Hotel.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tourism, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

February 8, 2023 · 10:37 pm

Gamini Goonesena as a Legend

Hugh Karunanayake, presenting an old article from 2012 once again, with this title “Farewell to a Legend of Our Times” … with “Times” standing for the past inhabited by us octogenerians … & ….. the highlighting here being the intervention of Thuppahi

A gathering of family, friends, former schoolmates, and members of the Australian cricketing fraternity, assembled at the South Chapel of the Rookwood Cemetery on Friday 12 August 2011 to bid farewell to the legendary Gamini Goonesena one of the greatest achievers Sri Lankan cricket has ever known.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, photography, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people

February 8, 2023 · 9:06 pm

For Sri Lanka: February Newsletter from eLanka

eLanka Newsletter 8 February 2023 …. presented here by Thuppahi because eLanka is a patriotic cause located in Australia working for the island and all its peoples in their considerable variety.  eLanka also offers to deliver gift packs to residents or insitituions and charities in the island….. visit Elanka … newsletter@elanka.com.au>

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, photography, photography & its history, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people

February 7, 2023 · 11:50 am

Muslims in the East of Sri Lanka: Ashfaque Mohamed’s Insightful Film

Laleen Jayamanne, whose title is “Notes towards a Politics and Aesthetics of Film” in a review essay presented in The Island, 1 & 2 February 2023: the focus being Ashfaque Mohamed’s ‘Face Cover’ **

 

 ‘Face Cover’ by Ashfaque Mohamed

Asfaque  Mohamed

“Black cat, at the tip of my fingers pulsates poetry,

Desiring hands, yours, nudgingly pluck those roses of mine

In the soft light of the moon

The dreams we picked from the foaming edges of waves of the sea.”

                                                                          Jusla/Salani (in Face Cover)

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, meditations, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes

February 6, 2023 · 10:49 pm

Lanka’s Independence Day Gathering in Adelaide in Pictures

Bandula Alahakoon has professionally captured the Independence Day Celebrations held at a Community Centre in Hectorville, Adelaide on Saturday 4th February with Dr Charitha Perera (Hony Consul), Nayan Perera (servingas compere) and such personnel as Nazli Farook and Mano Ransoma supporting the organising work and marshalling of ‘troops’.

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy

February 6, 2023 · 7:53 pm

Lamentations: Jeyaraj’s Black Review of Sri Lankan History

DBS Jeyaraj, in The Daily Mirror, 4 February 2023, where the title reads “75 Years of Independence and the Tamils of Sri Lanka“

A SUMMARY: They invited Indian political leaders to the peninsula and held mass rallies and processions. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachariar, Sarojini Nayudu and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay are some of these.

It was only in 1833 after the Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms of 1832 that predominantly Tamil territories were integrated into a unified Ceylon. Until then they were administered separately.

The rationale was that independence from the British had only resulted in being ruled by the Sinhalese. There was only a change of masters. So, Independence Day was nothing to celebrate, but only to be observed as a black day, it was argued.

****

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, demography, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, language policies, law of armed conflict, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes, zealotry