Sri Lankan Migrants Abroad as Productive Oysters for the Island

Item circulated by Sunil Thenabadu, Keith Bennett and  one Dee de  Silva

The Sri Lankan diaspora consists of approximately three million Sri Lankans living abroad, significantly contributing to their host countries and maintaining ties with Sri Lanka.

Demographics and Distribution

The Sri Lankan diaspora includes emigrants and expatriates from Sri Lanka residing in various countries, with significant populations in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, Australia, and North America. An estimate from 2013 indicated that around three million Sri Lankans live outside their home country, with about one million permanently settled abroad. This diaspora is characterized by a diverse mix of ethnicities, including Tamils, Sinhalese, and Burghers, each contributing uniquely to the cultural landscape of their host nations. 

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Is Prabakaran NOT a Hitler! …. Goodness Gracious Me!

Shenali D. Waduge, whose slashing sarcastic essay is entitledLet’s Celebrate Prabakaran & the LTTE’s Glorious Achievements!”  ... with the highlighting being that in  the original item

A tribute to the world’s most misunderstood mass murderer and his liberation-through-terror campaign.

They say greatness demands sacrifice—and Velupillai Prabakaran understood this better than most. He wasn’t content with speeches; he offered the world a blueprint: to build a homeland, first destroy the present; to claim justice, first silence every voice—especially your own people’s; to prove your worth, leave no witness behind. For over three decades, he led with unmatched precision: dismantling democracy, eliminating dissent, recruiting children, and bleeding civilians dry—all while demanding the world call it liberation. Some build nations through unity; he built his with bunkers, landmines, cyanide, and the bones of the innocent. And still, they light candles for him. They hold commemorations in universities. UN officials attend. Foreign parliamentarians give speeches. So, in the spirit of glorifying terror, let’s not just mourn Velupillai Prabakaran—let’s celebrate the man who redefined cruelty and called it Eelam, by honoring every child stolen, every right violated, and every drop of blood shed in his name.

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A Tennis Love Match Beyond Imagination

A Web Item sent by one Ramsay and one Eric

They met on the courts, forged in fire and fame. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were more than tennis royalty — they were survivors of pressure-packed childhoods, two athletes who’d once been treated more like machines than children. So when they became parents, something shifted. Not just in their lives, but in their hearts. There was a quiet vow between them — a promise not to repeat the past, not to push, not to mold. They wouldn’t raise champions. They’d raise *children.*

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Austalia A Squads for Indian Cricket Tour

Alex Malcolm in ESPNcricinfo, 07-Aug-2025 .. .https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/sam-konstas-oliver-peake-nathan-mcsweeney-in-australia-a-squad-for-india-tour-1498270 …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppaho

Ashes hopefuls Weatherald, Harris, Bancroft, Renshaw not included as the squad is a look towards the 2027 Test tour of India, with Connolly, Murphy and Rocchiccioli included as spinners

Sam Konstas drives one in the nets, Australia vs Sri Lanka, Galle, February 4, 2025

Sam Konstas has played five Tests so far  •  Getty Images

Sam Konstas‘ bid to retain his Test place this summer will begin in India as he was named in the 14-man Australia A squad that will play India A in two red-ball four-day matches in Lucknow in September, albeit the squad has been selected with an eye towards Australia’s 2027 Test tour rather than the upcoming Ashes.

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Reflections on the Test Scenario from A Lankan Cricket Aficianados

Errol Fernando’s Email Note to Lorenz  Pereira

Dear Lorenz,
As someone who claims to always support the underdog I was delighted that India won the final Test by 6 runs and made it 2 – 2. Perfect result.  India was playing against a team that has the best ‘first five’ batsmen in the world –  Duckett, Crawley, Pope, Root and Brook.  No one better.  By contrast Australia probably has the WORST first five  –  Khawaja, Konstas and three other jokers. However , the Aussies have the best quartet of bowlers in the world   –   Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon with Boland in the wings. No one better.
The 5 India-England Tests were totally riveting, and I couldn’t take my eyes off. High quality stuff.  Captain Gill made 754 glorious runs for the series and Rahul and Pant were also glorious. England’s top 5 were good too.

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Chemmani Graves: The Site Today

Map  and Photos supplied by a friend


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Global Economics & Sri Lanka over the Recent Centuries

Sunil Bastian: “Sri Lankan state in a changing global context”  … a 2025 article presented  here with highlights  imposed by The Editor,  Thuppahi.**

This short article emphasises the need to analyse the Sri Lankan state by placing it in the global context. This means not confining our minds within the borders of the Sri Lankan state. To emphasise this point I would like to point out that the formation of the Sri Lankan state itself was a product of a global phenomenon – British colonialism (see Bastian Sunil (2025) State formation and Conflicts in Sri Lanka. London: Bloomsbury Academic for an analysis of Sri Lankan state formation).

Under British colonialism the entire geographic space of the island was covered by a single unit of territorial power. To administer the territory, the island was divided into spatial units using the directions of a compass. In this way cartography became an instrument of British colonialism. Other techniques of state formation were establishing an administrative structure, a judicial system, a system to collect taxes, regular census and the coercive power of the state to cover the entire island.

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Chemmani Graves Site & OCHCR Finds

N. Sathiya Moorthy, in CEYLON TODAY, 1 August 2025,  with this  title “Hundred Not Out” **

For the uninitiated readers of the national media, and possibly the majority Sinhala media, Chemmani may yet to happen. But after weeks of digging up unmarked graves in Northern Jaffna town, Government officials under Court supervision have already taken out over a hundred human skeletons, including those of infants and grown-up children. The numbers are growing with each passing day of digging, which is at times halted for logistics reasons, one should assume.

Yes, only scientific studies would show if they are of recent origin, but the fact that they have been recovered from dig-outs six to eight metres deep may indicate that they are not ancient. Yet, they are historic in their own way, adding heft to the Tamils’ charges that the Armed Forces ruthlessly killed their civilians during the three-decade-long ethnic war – and are yet to be held accountable.

 

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Hara Kiri at Lords Test Match. Or, Was  England ‘Shirajed’?

Michael  Roberts 

It was a thrilling privilege to watch the exciting Test Match  at Lord’s unfold into a  nail-biting  finish with India winning by  just 00 runs. India’s  hero of  the day was the  unlovable  Mohammed Shiraj.** But he was  aided by  some foolish batting from some of England’s men. Both Bethell the  evening  before and Jamie Smith on the 5th morning dismissed themselves  with nervy, ridiculous shots.

THAT, of  course, is a judgement of an armchair critic. IT is easy to slash a sportsman from the ease of a couch. … Ouch! Continue reading

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Deciphering Patriotic Devotion: The Japanese in the 1940s & the Lankan Tamil People For the LTTE

Michael Roberts reproducing an article presented in a popular website during the final stages in Eelam War IV in 2008/09 within the context TODAY of a horrendous war-situation in Palestine and its environs — the website being GROUNDVIEWS: …………….. https://groundviews.org/2009/04/21/ltte-and-tamil-people-i-preamble/ ….. This article was just the first essay in a four-part enterprise.**

LTTE and Tamil people, I: preamble,” http://www.groundviews.org, 21 April 2009.

This set of essays on “LTTE and Tamil People” submitted to Groundviews is a sequel to the four articles on “Suicidal Political Action” reproduced in http://www.transcurrents.com from 2 April onwards. Both sets of essays are interconnected and involve a measure of repetition because they are set out as separate articles. All of them are a product of a comparative survey that I embarked on about five years ago: namely, reviewing the cultural ingredients which have motivated the projects of the jihadists (holy warriors) and mujahideen (fighters for cause) on the one hand and, on the other, the

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