July 26, 2022 · 1:22 pm

NW Goonewardena withdraws from Thuppahi in Disgust

An EMAIL MEMO from NW Goonewardena, 26 July 2022, … with emphasis in black being his work.**

I was well aware of the meaning of the word “slander.”  But, since I am old now, my memory is not that good.  So, I decided to see the meaning of the word “slander” in various dictionaries.  A cross-section of the meaning in various dictionaries (eg. Collins, Webster’s) are given below:
(1) “Outright LIES about a person’s actions or character and can seriously harm their reputation.”
(2) “Malicious gossip.”
(3) “Make FALSE and damaging statements about someone.”
(4) “The utterance of FALSE charges or misinterpretations which defame and damage another person’s reputation.”

Continue reading →

15 Comments

Filed under accountability, discrimination, disparagement, life stories, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, tolerance, unusual people, vengeance

July 26, 2022 · 11:28 am

Pastor Jeyaraj and His Missions within the Lankan Prisons

Sam Premaraja …….. executivenationaldirector.lpf@gmail.com

Dear Friends and Family, Pastor Sivarajasingham Jeyaraj was originally a communicant member of the JDCSI Tellippalai Church (1983-1987) and later at the JDCSI Colombo Church (1987-1991) while I served these churches as the Priest-in-Charge. He was equally involved both in our Churches’ ministries as well as that of Youth For Christ (YFC). He was gifted in theatrical skills, deeply committed to serve the most vulnerable, pursued theological studies at Colombo Theological Seminary in Nugegoda (CTS). He displayed Pastoral Leadership skills with a sound and practical theology in his ministries.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, economic processes, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, unusual people, voluntary workers, working class conditions

July 26, 2022 · 1:35 am

An American Reading of the Populist Aragalaya in Sri Lanka

German Lopez in The Morning, 24 July 2022

Good morning. Today, we explain what led to Sri Lanka’s recent protests.

Storming the Palace

Sri Lanka’s recent upheaval offers an extreme example of the world’s recent problems. Covid disrupted the country’s major industries, particularly tourism, and then leaders failed to adapt — setting off a chain of economic calamities, including food and fuel shortages. The crisis prompted protests, culminating in the president’s resignation and the installation of a new president on Wednesday.

  Protesters overtaking the prime minister’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka….. Atul Loke for The New York Times

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, economic processes, governance, landscape wondrous, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, riots and pogroms, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

July 25, 2022 · 9:34 pm

Thilan Samaraweera in Australian Coaching Set-Up

Michael Roberts

Thilan Samaraweera may not have possessed the natural talents of an Aravinda, Kumar or Mahela, but he was (and is) an intelligent and industrious man who worked at his trade. He also faced that traumatic episode when the Sri Lankan coach was attacked by Pakistani jihadists as they headed for the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore on the 3rd March 2009.  He was one of those injured by shrapnel (like Tharanga Paranavithana) and despatched to hospital.

Sri Lankan player Thilan Samaraweera is taken aboard an ambulance on March 4, 2009 shortly after flying home from Pakistan where the Sri Lankan team was ambushed by gunmen just before entering a cricket stadium in Lahore. Seven players were wounded in the attack that also killed eight Pakistani nationals and drew wide spread international condemnation. AFP PHOTO/ISHARA S. KODIKARA

03 Mar 2009, LAHORE, Pakistan — epa01653561 Sri Lankan cricketers board a Pakistani Air Force helicopter, as they are air lifted from Gadaffic cricket stadium, after unknown gunmen attacked Sri Lankan cricket team, in Lahore Pakistan on 03 March 2009. Unidentified gunmen attacked Sri Lanka’s cricket team when it was being escorted to a local stadium in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, leaving six policemen and two civilians dead and four Sri Lankan players injured, media reports and officials said. EPA/RAHAT DAR — Image by © RAHAT DAR/epa/Corbis

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, conspiracies, jihad, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, security, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes

July 25, 2022 · 6:47 pm

Sri Lanka in Deep Abyss: Indrajit

WATCH …… Absorb …. https://youtu.be/hLLMdx74-aw

If Ranil Doesn’t Take Tough Steps, Sri Lanka Economy Could Fall into Abyss: Former Central Bank Head

Support The Interview with Karan Thapar – https://fij.mojo.page/support-the-int… One of the most highly regarded former Governors of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has said that if Ranil Wickremesinghe does not implement very tough measures the country’s economy can fall into the abyss. Indrajit Coomaraswamy says he believes it will take the Sri Lankan economy at least five years to get back to where it was in 2019 and that will only be possible if the tough steps of recovery that he speaks about in the interview are implemented by the Wickremesinghe government. Join The Wire’s Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire’s founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWt…

153 Comments

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, debt restructuring, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

July 25, 2022 · 2:57 pm

China’s Way in Africa … and The Success Story in Rwanda

This Video Presentation is an Eye-Opener. It was sent to me recently by Sanath Jayatilaka (who is in Sri Lanka). I do not know whose voice and politics is behind the pitch. It is presented here in Thuppahi so that more information can be elicited  …. including challenges and/or confirmationsre the specific claims. Michael Roberts

Leave a comment

Filed under Aboriginality, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, energy resources, export issues, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

July 25, 2022 · 2:30 am

Australia’s Mindless Slide towards War with China signalled by Hugh White

Hugh White, whose title in Quarterly Essay is  “Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with America”

Competing with China for primacy in East Asia is by far the most serious strategic commitment America has undertaken since the Cold War. And yet Washington has launched into it with no clear idea of what would count as winning, how it could be won, how much it will cost and why winning really matters. This would seem almost unbelievably foolish and irresponsible if it did not sound so familiar. This is what happened when Washington launched America into Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s, and indeed into Vietnam in the 1960s.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, unusual people, world events & processes

July 25, 2022 · 1:53 am

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in Countercurrents

“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022

Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever, due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an international Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, conspiracies, cricket for amity, debt restructuring, economic processes, energy resources, foreign policy, IMF as monster, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, modernity & modernization, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes

July 24, 2022 · 1:21 am

Rajiva Wijesinha on the Riots of July 1983

Rajiva Wijesinha,  being Chapter 7, entitled “The Riots of 1983,” in his book JR Jayewardene’s Racism, Cold War Posturing and the Indian Debacle, …. pubd in 2021 by Godage & Co 

 

The initial outbreak

The sixth anniversary of the election of 1977 fell on July 22nd. JR summoned his conference for the week previous to that. But not one single opposition party turned up, only his own UNP and Thondaman’s CWC. The absence of the others made it clear that no one was willing to continue playing a game in which the President not only held ail the cards, but also changed the rules as and when he required.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

July 23, 2022 · 9:26 pm

In Support of Sri Lanka: The House of Lords in Britain

Events in the HOUSE OF LORDS

 Urgent Question asked by Lord Moylan

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give urgent material assistance to Sri Lanka to alleviate the economic crisis in that country.
 The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con):
My Lords, we are closely monitoring the humanitarian and economic situation in Sri Lanka. The United Kingdom provides assistance to organisations in both these areas in Sri Lanka, including through the Red Cross and the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund; the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF; the World Bank; and the Asian Development Bank. We have offered to support a key role in the UN on humanitarian co-ordination. This is in addition to our existing £11.3 million CSSF programme funding focused on addressing the legacy of conflict.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under charitable outreach, economic processes, foreign policy, heritage, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, rehabilitation, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes