January 29, 2018 · 8:50 am

Lanka’s External Debt: 2010 and 2016 in Comparison …. There is no Chinese Gonibilla Monster

Nishan de Mel of VERITE RESEARCH

“There is a tendency for discussion on Sri Lanka’s economy to overstate its dependence on China. It is important to take a look at the numbers. In 2010 China’s part of Sri Lanka’s loan portfolio was 3%. By 2016 it had grown to 9%, with the 6% growth coming from the Chines EXIM Bank. This is less than the loan portfolio held by other bilaterals and multilaterals such as Japan and ADB. The largest growth during this period was in the loan portfolio held by international financial markets. In 2010 it was 30% and by 2016 it had increased to 44% of the loan portfolio.”

SO: one has to ponder this question — which elements and which media outlets have promoted and massaged the fears of China? and towards what goals? Editor, Thuppahi

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January 28, 2018 · 10:25 pm

Delhi Today and Yesterday: Entangled Urbanism

Sanjay Srivastava’s Entangled Urbanism

Cover for Entangled Urbanism

Entangled Urbanism: Slum, Gated Community and Shopping Mall in Delhi and Gurgaon

  • A timely study of the urbanization process of Delhi
  • Analyzes a wide range of issues
  • Discusses all aspects of the process of urbanization – from gated communities, to malls, to consumerism

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January 28, 2018 · 12:26 am

Overcoming Hate: A Lesson for Tamils and Sinhalese from a Holocaust Survivor

Zygmunt Swisrak

“I had so much hate towards the Germans. That hate was killing me. I realised this later when I went to Germany. Three times I have been there. They wanted me to lecture at university, at ­technical colleges, about what I suffered in the ­concentration camp in Frankfurt. I just went there to tell them what happened. And I met so many Germans; it started to change me. After I finished one talk, a student wrapped herself around me. She had tears in her eyes and said, “I am sorry for what our fathers and grandfathers have done to you, your family, and your country.” Then I started to get emails from students saying that my survival was not wasted and that to hear from somebody who was there, as an inmate in their country, was a ­different story. That’s how I got rid of the hate. I didn’t expect that. I have changed a lot. I can’t get rid of the hate altogether but it’s much less than I had and it doesn’t kill me anymore.” …. An Extract from Zygmunt Swisrak’s Last Testament

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January 27, 2018 · 11:43 pm

Profound Testimonies: Aged Holocaust Survivors and Their Last Testaments

Fiona Harari, in the Weekend Australian Magazine 27/28 Jan 2018, where the title reads “Last Testament”

Survivors of Nazism who have adult memories of the ­Holocaust are a fading group. Born in 1926 or earlier, they were at least 18 when the war ended. The war consumed a small fraction of their lives, percentage-wise. But its legacy endures in their memories, their outlooks and, increasingly, in their dreams. They are the last living voices of a generation that was not meant to be, men and women now in their 10th and 11th decades who have defied not just the law of a nation that sought to annihilate them, but the law of nature that not so long ago would have dictated a much shorter lifespan.

Mala Sonnabend. Picture: Fiona Harari

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January 27, 2018 · 10:20 pm

In Honour of Ambalavaner Sivanandan as Anti-Racist Radical Intellectual in Britian

Meera Srinivasan, in The Hindu, 4 January 2018, where the title is “A ‘Black intellectual’ from Sri Lanka”  …. Emphasis added in this version

Sri Lanka-born British writer Ambalavaner Sivanandan, theorist of state racism and Black liberation politics and founding editor of Race & Class journal, passed away in London on Wednesday. He was 94.

Best known for his political essays and his novel When Memory Dies, Mr. Sivanandan made original contributions to understanding communities of resistance in Britain, focussing on the Black working class that he felt was more prone to the “racism that kills”, as opposed to the “racism that discriminates” against middle-class Black people. Continue reading →

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January 27, 2018 · 10:23 am

Queen Elizabeth at Trinity in 1954

Sheshan Abeysekara in Trinity College web site, where the title is “Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Trinity in 1954”

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II must have fond memories of her first visit to Sri Lanka in 1954.  As well as visiting Colombo during the ten days she spent here, she also visited Kandy to watch the Perahera, and while there, she was felicitated at the grounds of Trinity College Kandy before she was escorted to the historical “Magul Maduwa” to be welcomed by a delegation of Kandyan Chiefs.

QUEEN_AT_TRINITY_1954_-2_

Picture: “The Mayor of Kandy welcoming the Queen at  the Trinity College main entrance drive.” | Picture Credits: GettyIma

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January 27, 2018 · 2:15 am

Trinity College Chapel: Two Images

Trinity College Chapel …. courtesy of ThreeBlindMen

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January 24, 2018 · 10:39 am

Islamic Terror within French Prisons

Yves Mamou, in Gatestone Institute, 23 January 2018, where the title is  “Prison in France: Terrorism and Islamism”

  • Like its police and the firefighters, France’s prison guards say they live in a permanent climate of violence and fear. And their exasperation is growing.
  • “Before, every morning, I was afraid to discover a guy hanging in his cell. You know what I’m dreading today? To be slaughtered, stripped, stabbed in the back. In the name of Islam and ISIS. Every day, on my way to work, this fear gnaws at my belly.” — ‘Bernard,’ a French prison guard.
  • “In the old days, aggressive behavior was linked to the difficulties of everyday life. Now hatred and violence are unleashed [by Islamists] against [our] authority, our society and its values.” — Joaquim Pueyo, MP, former director of Fleury-Mérogis prison.

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January 24, 2018 · 12:59 am

The Fort of Galle: Images Past and Present

 

Identified as “Old Dutch Fortification, Point De Galle,” this image a has been kindly supplied by the National Library of Australia. It is a late 19th century picture — before the new entrance was punched through the frontal ramparts and before a clock tower was built to honour Dr Anthonisz.

Whately’s water-colour painting (12.9 x 17.7 cm) of Point de Galle, dated 31 July 1874 has also been provided by the National Library of Australia.

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January 23, 2018 · 2:03 pm

Restoring the Hymen or Re-virginising

Re-virginising: From an Australian clinic’s advertisement offering hymen repair surgery, or hymenoplasty

Many women approach us to have their hymen re-instated for social, cultural and religious reasons. Many women’s hymens may have inadvertently broken through strenuous sporting and vigorous activity. We have been performing this simple procedure for many years.

The Wonder Down Under: A user’s guide to the vagina by Ellen Stokken Dahl and Nina Brochmann.

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