Policy Exchange’s Hannah Stuart discusses police counter-terrorism operations on BBC Radio 5 Live……..May 2, 2017 …. https://policyexchange.org.uk/news/hannah-stuart-5live/
Following the recent terrorism related arrests, Hannah Stuart, Policy Exchange Co-Head of Security and Extremism, discusses police counter-terrorism operations on BBC Radio 5 Live:
Hannah Stuart on BBC Radio 5 Live
A manhunt is on in Sri Lanka for a hard-line Buddhist leader after a series of attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses that authorities accuse him of encouraging. President Maithripala Siresena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes after assuming power in 2015, however, attacks have escalated over the past two weeks. Another Muslim shop in the town of Kahawatte was reportedly burned to the ground this week by unidentified attackers.
Galaboda atththe Gnansaara Thero
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General-Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasara has encouraged his Buddhist supporters to lead another campaign against Muslims following the deadly Aluthgama riots in June 2014, which attempted to create disunity between Buddhists and Muslims. Less than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million are Muslim. The majority are Sinhalese Buddhist, while most Tamils are Hindu.
Filed under atrocities, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, Indian religions, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
ONE: “NPC reports alarming number of attacks on Muslims,” Island, 29 May 2017,
The National Peace Council (NPC) has called for urgent action to prevent Muslims being targeted by extremist elements. Dr. Jehan Perera has issued the following statement on behalf of the NPC: “An alarming number of attacks against Muslim religious places of worship and businesses are being reported countrywide causing economic ruin to many people, hurting their religious sentiment and bringing them dismay and leaving the entire community in fear of life and security. The worsening trend has been going on for several years and has a pattern of repeating after a short lull. It has intensified since April this year with over 20 attacks or attempted attacks being reported from different parts of the country in the past two months. So far no one has been arrested by the police for these crimes. Also, the government has so far failed to take steps to arrest this trend which has been acknowledged by the Minister of Law and Order in Parliament. This is an escalation of the longer-term trend that included the torching of a section of a town in the South of Sri Lanka (Alutgama) in 2014 in which Muslims live in large numbers.
Getty Image from Mark Hay’s article in 2014 = https://news.vice.com/article/meet-the-violent-buddhists-starting-riots-in-sri-lanka Continue reading
A Tale from”Prasa,” her proud father
The Situation Report issued by the Disaster Management Center today at 7 am Sri Lanka time on the 29th May said that around 471,542 people belonging to 128,586 families were affected in 15 Districts . 164 deaths and 104 missing reported . Further, 75,236 people belonging to 18,652 families were located at 336 safe locations.
Jude Ratnam is worried how his film might go down with his fellow Sri Lankan Tamils. And he has a point. Demons in Paradise, which is premiering at the Cannes film festival, tells of the bloodbath that drove some Tamils to take up arms in the three decade-long insurgency that tore the island apart. But the documentary also shatters a taboo by insisting that some of most horrific violence the minority endured was at the hands of their supposed defenders, the Tamil Tigers. And the “hard truth” comes from the mouths of former Tamil fighters themselves.
Filed under accountability, anton balasingham, atrocities, communal relations, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
News Reports
The number of deaths reported in floods and landslides was increased to 126 while 97 people had gone missing, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said today. In its latest situation report, the DMC said the adverse weather condition had left 49 people injured. In total, 423,068 people of 109,773 families had been affected by the weather calamity. The South-West monsoon unleashed torrential rains, which ravaged fourteen districts in the western and southern parts of the country on Friday and Thursday.
The disaster is described as one of the worst-ever calamities since the 2003 floods.
–See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Update-killed-in-weather-calamity–129692.html#sthash.tVT0J37T.dpuf
Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne …. http://www.jhc.org.au/museum/collections/survivor-testimonies.html
The JHC has over 1300 video testimonies as well as over 200 audio testimonies in its collection. These provide eyewitness accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as glimpses into the vibrancy of pre-war Jewish life in Europe. The collection is widely used by researchers and students of oral history, the Holocaust and a variety of other disciplines. The testimonies’ project began in the 1980s as the Melbourne Oral History Project, established by Sandra Cowan and Jenny Wajsenberg and later co-ordinated by the late Anne Bernhaut. They conducted over 200 audio recordings of Holocaust survivors.
Greg Bearup, courtesy of The Weekend Australian 29 April 2017, where the title is “Top of Her Grade”
n 1976, a 14-year-old Romanian gymnast named Nadia Comaneci stormed into the Montreal Olympics with the first-ever perfect score of 10. Gymnastics would never be the same again. Comaneci did things that had never been done and in doing so vastly increased the level of skill, and the risks, for all those who would follow. She made gymnastics more spectacular and infinitely more dangerous. Greg Mortimer reckons the sport of rock climbing is undergoing a similar “paradigm shift”. Leading this revolution, he says, is a 12-year-old climber from the Blue Mountains, NSW, called Angie Scarth-Johnson. “She is breaking all the rules,” Mortimer says. “She’s just freakishly good.”
Angie climbig –http://www.onsight.com.au/2013/12/angie/
thuppahi
