News Item in Deutsche Welle, 31 December 2019 ,with this title “Australia: Thousands trapped on beach as fires approach”
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3847652
“More than 4,000 people were trapped on a beach by advancing fires in southeast Australia on Tuesday as devastating blazes encircled the seaside town of Mallacoota, where sea or airborne evacuation was being planned
The Pilbara (/ˈpɪlbərə/) is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore; and as a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna…...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara
Shenali Waduge, in LankaWeb, 31 December 2019 and at SPUR Victoria, 17 March 2019 where the title reads thus = “Questions for UNSG & UN Human Rights Council regarding Sri Lanka”
1. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon commissioned 3 members (Ban Ki Moon Panel of Experts) selected personally by him to submit a personal report on the ‘final months’ of Sri Lanka’s conflict. This report was not commissioned by the UNGA or UNSC. This report was never tabled at the UNGA, UNSC or even UNHRC. This report was actually leaked to the public. How can the UNHRC head quote from this leaked personal report & how can 3 successive UNHRC resolutions be based on a personally mandated leaked report?
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, human rights, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, news fabrication, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
Gerald H Peiris, in The Island, 1 January 2020, where the title runs thus“Career Challenges of a Public Servant”
Among the treasures in my collection of books there are several biographical works received as gifts ―those of Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Gunadasa Amarasekara, Kingsley de Silva, Usvatte Aratchchi, Jolly Somasundram, Sudath Gunasekara and Walter Fernando. All of us belonged to the Peradeniya segment of the University of Ceylon in the 1950s which, over a brief and exhilarating spell, seemed to fulfill the expectations of its founders in epitomising the long awaited national resurgence, offering an acceptable blend of ‘intellectual’ and ‘utilitarian’ perspectives of higher learning. Since then we have travelled along different paths that merged and diverged at various times. Now in our old age we have shared memories of both joy and sorrow.
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, cultural transmission, education, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, unusual people, world events & processes
ACL Ameer Ali, in Daily FT, 20 December 2019, where the title is “GR’s political exclusion and economic inclusion”
“There should be a huge program to make them (bhikkus) aware of what a modern state is. This has to be a secular state and politicians – not monks – should make the decisions. We have not fully developed the idea or understanding of the modern state. Religion should not be a factor… Buddhism is myself, and how I treat you…” – Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera, 18 July 2006.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (PGR) appears to have found a magic solution to the national question of ethnic division and religious turbulence in Sri Lanka, a solution that somehow seems to have escaped the minds of previous political leaders and social scientists. He consistently maintained that the majority is against devolution of power to north and east.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, chauvinism, communal relations, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, world events & processes
Ned Dean and Ranat
“We meet and we part
In this journey through sansara
But the meeting or parting does not end with time or years
It is a long stretch of an eventful road
Where milestones matter more than rises or falls
We have travelled together on this hard, endless road
Where milestones matter more than rises or falls
The journey was neither smooth nor full of magical moments alone
But many achievements reached more worth than monuments in gold
Leaving a fragrance that would linger on and unfold
Gifting a memory of a life rich and rare
Now you are gone as you wished on a fateful morn
While family, friends and students remember and mourn
A warm tear drops that none would see or feel
As I ponder about you, while my memory unfolds your sight.”
Neetha S. Ratnapala
Filed under Buddhism, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
Fr l-to-r= Philip, Colvin R, NM and Reggie Perera
ABOUT Nathan Sivasambu: Nathan Sivasambu is an old-school Trotskyite and a Sri Lankan to the core. After his undergraduate degree from the University of Ceylon in the 1950s he migrated to England. He has sustained his interest in island politics as well as the literary world associated with the Bloomsbury Group and Leonard Woolf. His batchelor-flat near Russell Square placed him close to the Bloomsbury arena in London… and the British Museum as well as SOAS and its Sri Lankan stock of books.
Filed under authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, economic processes, historical interpretation, island economy, language policies, Left politics, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, working class conditions, world events & processes
When Sudesh Wickramasekara walked in at No. 5, the score was 107 for 3. For long, the 37-year-old, named Batsman of the Year in the domestic 40-over league three times, has been considered the Czech team’s most destructive batsman. Hopes of a high total rested on him and he didn’t disappoint. Against a young Turkey attack, Wickramasekara struck ten sixes and eight fours in the final nine overs of the innings to make 106 in 36 balls. He equalled the T20I record for the fastest hundred and helped Czech Republic make the joint-highest T20I total.
Michael Roberts
My recent use of the term “pogrom” to mark the constellation of events in mid-1915 that were (are) commonly referred to as “riots” has been challenged on Facebook by a Sinhalese ideologue named Amare Kodikara[1] (who has not taken the trouble to read the original articles in 1994 on which this usage was based).[2] I am therefore placing the relevant segment from the pertinent article in the web-domain once again as Segment Two in this article.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, British colonialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, Fascism, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes
thuppahi
