Darrell Lieversz
Experiencing Terror in the Heart of New York: 9/11
Palitha Kohona, courtesy of Ceylon Today
It was another sunny September morning. The sky was a brilliant blue. As I gazed out of my kitchen window while having breakfast, in Midtown Manhattan, the Twin Towers were glistening in the morning sun. I noted, as I often had, that they were still there, a familiar reassuring sight. The cute young blonde in the apartment across the street was drying her wet hair, as usual, by her plate glass window. The walk to the United Nations (UN) and my office on the 32nd floor of the Secretariat was uneventful.
Kent Kobersteen, former Director of Photography of National Geographic
“The pictures are by Robert Clark, and were shot from the window of his studio in Brooklyn. Others shot the second plane hitting the tower, but I think there are elements in Clark’s photographs that make them special. To me the wider shots not only give context to the tragedy, but also portray the normalcy of the day in every respect except at the Towers. I generally prefer tighter shots, but in this case I think the overall context of Manhattan makes a stronger image. And, the fact that Clark shot the pictures from his studio indicates how the events of 9/11 literally hit home. I find these images very compellingÑin fact, whenever I see them they force me to study them in great detail.”
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, atrocities, foreign policy, jihad, life stories, meditations, military strategy, photography, politIcal discourse, security, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
ELIYA launched as Challenge to the Present Lankan-US Dispensation
Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 12 September 2017, with title “A challenging task for Gotabhaya”
The high profile launch of Eliya (light) by wartime Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa underscored Sri Lanka’s PATHETIC failure to counter unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, directed by a section of the international community, since the conclusion of the war, in May 2009. Sri Lanka paid a very heavy price for its failure and the previous government can never absolve itself of the responsibility for the situation. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Eelam, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
Shaping the Constitution: Several Voices, Discordant Scenarios
ONE = Editor, NewsIin Asia: “Political posturing unlikely to hamper Lanka’s constitution making process,” 12 Sept 2017
Forces which are eager to give the country a new constitution as per the pre-election promise solemnly made by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, are confident that the competing parties would sink their differences and agree to the Steering Committee’s Interim Report which is to be submitted to the Constitutional Assembly (CA) on September 21. writes P.K.Balachandran in South Asian Monitor.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, language policies, legal issues, nationalism, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, Tamil migration, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
One Pillar vs Ethnic Chauvinism: Global Cross-Cultural Families
Swaminathan S. Ankleswaria Aiyar, courtesy of The Times of India, 2 April 2005, “My family and other globalisers”
In 1992, I wrote a book titled Towards Globalisation. I did not realise at the time that this was going to be the history of my family. Last week, we celebrated the wedding of my daughter, Pallavi. A brilliant student, she had won scholarships to Oxford University and the London School of Economics. In London, she met Julio, a young man from Spain. The two decided to take up jobs in Beijing, China. Last week, they came over from Beijing to Delhi to get married. The wedding guests included 70 friends from North America, Europe and China.
see https://alchetron.com/Swaminathan-Aiyar-123884-W Continue reading
Filed under citizen journalism, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, reconciliation, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Felicitating English among Novices Through Literature
Sachitra Mahendra, in Daily News, 12 September 2017, where the title reads “Courage that Counts”
They wanted to speak English. Some of them could deliver well. But most of them could not, sadly. For them all – the newly chosen batch of undergraduates – the university offers a course with the English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU). But then these undergraduates were not interested in attending the course either. They were still required to pass the ELTU exam to be qualified for the degree completion. However excellent they may have scored in other subjects, they would not obtain the certificate without the ELTU green light. The fault is not theirs, according to Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayake, who was the ELTU Head attached to the University of Sri Jayawardanapura.
Pictures by Wasitha Patabendige
Turbulence & Grandiose Visions in the SL Government’s Situation
Sunday Times Editorial 9 September 2017
The President and Prime Minister coming in one car for the launch of V2025 (Vision 2025), the blueprint for the future of a “rich Sri Lanka” was clearly to deliver a message. ‘We are in this together – till 2025.’
This was against all the evidence to the contrary that the two coalition partners of the National Unity Government, viz., the SLFP and the UNP were drifting further and further apart and only on a ‘holding operation’ till the end of this year. The more than symbolic ‘coming together’ as it were at the BMICH on Monday, was also in the immediate afterglow of the SLFP’s 66th year convention the previous day where President Maithripala Sirisena told his followers that there is now a Government that talks in one voice. In Hakmana the same day, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa told that faction of the SLFP opposed to Mr. Sirisena’s leadership that the party had sold its soul to the UNP under the incumbent President. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs
Farmer Field Schools Initiative on Sri Lankan Tea Plantations
Dushy Perera, at where the title is “Taking Farmer Field Schools to Sri Lankan Tea Plantations”
Partnership site 
ToT attendeesTourist spike from Indian Cricket?
Item in NewsInAsia, 10 September 2017, where the title reads “Sri Lanka tourist arrival up 2.5-pct in August driven by India”
Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 190,924 mostly driven by India, as explosive growth Chinese arrivals fell away, data from the state tourism office showed. Arrivals for the 8 months to August rose 3.5 percent to 1.406 million.
unIndian tourists arriving in planeloads
The New Constitution is a Neo-Colonial US Project
Tamara Kunanayakam, being the full text of a talk entitled “The new Constitution – a neo-colonial project!” at a Forum in Sri Lanka on 6th September 2017 .. with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi
As we meet here this evening, a radical overhaul is underway – of our political, economic, financial, social and cultural system. A new Constitution is being discussed, at the same time a plethora of radical reforms are being rushed through. The fact that many of these reforms are being challenged as unconstitutional indicates that the new Constitution is aimed at making what is un-Constitutional today, Constitutional tomorrow, making legal what is illegal by a simple trick of changing the Law!
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, democratic measures, devolution, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, Left politics, life stories, military strategy, NGOs, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes
