Watch “Thrown Out Of Sydney No Go Zone” on YouTube
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Hardy Women: Yesterday’s Africans in Today’s Lanka
African sisters in Sri Lanka
On the road to Sirambiyadi
In every culture family is an important element of human life. For centuries Ceylon had been a maritime domain for foreign traders, defiant conquerors and zealous missionaries. All these foreigners left behind their ancestors, who with time, integrated into our society. There were many nationalities who lived here in those ancient times – Arabs, Europeans, Indians and Africans. Much focus has been given to the various ethnic clans, but, people of African origin domiciled here were marginalised. Once in a while, these African-Sri Lankans would capture our attention via a youtube song video. One of the last such families of direct African origin live in Puttalam. The name Puttalam, is believed to be derived from the Tamil word “upputhalam” – uppu meaning salt and thalam meaning area of production, thus Puttalam is still famous for salt.
Chinese Alibaba to retail Sri Lankan Tourist Potential in China
Editor, NEWS-in-Asia, 13 August 2018, whose title is “Sri Lanka to ink agreement with China’s Alibaba to attract more tourists“
Colombo, Aug 14 (newsin.asia) – The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) will ink an agreement with Alibaba’s travel arm, Fliggy, to bring down 1,000 travelers weekly to Sri Lanka in order to expand the island’s growing tourism sector, Daily FT quoted Tourism Minister John Amaratunga on Tuesday.
high jinks at Bentota beach
Vorsicht! Looking for a Hitler in Sri Lanka Today
Tisaranee Gunasekara, in Sunday Observer, 12 August 2018, where the title is “On Doctors and Kings. An authoritarian wind is sweeping across Sri Lanka”
The current yearning for the heavy hand of a strong leader is in tune with the Zeitgeist. Across the globe, people, disillusioned with democracy, are opening their ears to the siren song of authoritarianism. As Barrack Obama pointed out in his Mandela Centenary Lecture, “We now stand at a crossroads – a moment in time at which two very different versions of humanity’s future compete for the hearts and minds of citizens around the world.”
In Sri Lanka, the less immoderate, less illiberal government is in a state of semi-paralysis. The extremist and anti-democratic opposition is surging ahead. The myth that democracy is part of ‘The Problem’ (or even ‘The Problem’) rather than the least bad form of governance is ascendant. If democracy is the problem, then the solution, by definition has to be anti-democratic. This is the dangerous place to which Sri Lanka is careening. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Pirapāharan’s Inspirations and Mind-Set
Michael Roberts … being an expanded and illustrated version of an article that has been presented in the Daily Mirror = http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Understanding-Velupillai-Pirapaharan-s-mindset-153407.html ...where it has received 1878 hits thus far
Recent revelations on the detailed course of Eelam War IV in its last phase in 2009 made possible by Lord Michael Naseby’s extraction of the contemporary readings of the battle theatre provided by the British Military Attache in Colombo, namely Lt. Col. Gash, permits one to chart specific strands of deceit and conspiratorial design perpetuated by the Western states led by USA and Norway[1] with the implicit or explicit participation of a host of humanitarian agencies, such as ICG, AI and HRW together with several agencies in Colombo.[2]
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, anton balasingham, atrocities, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, Rajiv Gandhi, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes
NEVER AGAIN! Groundviews Recalls Black July 1983 … Towards Meaningful Reflection
Borella Junction Mayhem–Pic bt Chandragupta AmarasingheA Forgotten Community: Remembering Black July
Writer S Karunakaran reflects on Black July from the perspective of a marginalised and often forgotten community – the Malaiyagha Tamils – and specifically those who tried to resettle in the North…
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Young Pirapāharan’s Inspirations and Ideology: Ragavan’s Incisive Memorial in May 2009
Ragavan, being a reprint from The Sunday Leader, 24 May 2009, where the title runs “Memories of a much-mythologised rebel leader by a former LTTE fighter ” …. with the highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi
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Filed under accountability, conspiracies, Eelam, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tamil refugees, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
A Place to Savour: Coron Island, Philippines
Coron Island
Coron is the third-largest island in the Calamian Islands in northern Palawan in the Philippines. The island is part of the larger municipality of the same name. It is about 170 nautical miles southwest of Manila and is known for several Japanese shipwrecks of World War II vintage. Because of its unique ecological features, the entire area is protected by several legal proclamations.
- Max length: 20 km
- Max width: 9,000 m
- Population: 2,649 (2010)
Anagarika Dharmapala in Ceylon and the World: Missing Dimensions highlighted by Kemper
Sasanka Perera, in The Island, 8 August 2018, where the title is “Rescuing Dharmapala from the ‘Nation’,” …. with emphasis via highlighting in this version being an imposition by The Editor, Thuppahi
I was intrigued to see the worlds of knowledge of the past that were opened up when reading Steven Kemper’s 2015 book, ‘Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World’ published by the University of Chicago Press. Growing up Sinhala Buddhist in Sri Lanka, Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) would easily be one of the most important historical characters from the recent past, we had become familiar with early in our lives. This was certainly so for my generation. As we know from that experience, Dharmapala was closely and intimately linked to the country’s Buddhist revivalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Precisely due to this reason, he was the most iconic culture hero of the Sinhala Buddhists in the modern period.
Filed under British colonialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power sharing, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
