November 21, 2014 · 7:49 am

The Poet Richard Murphy’s Account of Killings in the 1980s in Sri Lanka

Padraig Colman, Extracts from his “Rambling Ruminations of an Irishman in Sri Lanka,” at http://pcolman.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/richard-murphy-long-version/

MURPHY 2 ………. I was surprised to learn that Murphy spent a great deal of his childhood in Ceylon where his father, Sir William Lindsay Murphy was the last colonial Mayor of Colombo (and first Municipal Commissioner from 1937 to 1941). Richard was taken to Ceylon at the age of six weeks, having been born in a damp, decaying big house in the west of Ireland. The young Richard Murphy spent holidays in Diatalawa, which is not far from my home. After leaving Ceylon, Sir William succeeded the Duke of Windsor as Governor of the Bahamas. Continue reading →

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November 18, 2014 · 2:15 pm

The War in Sri Lanka and Post-War Propaganda

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Groundviews where it appeared on 7th Nov. 2014.    

Mike at great WALL This Memorandum was sent to Geneva on 14th November and again later and its receipt was acknowledged. The reproduction here contains additional hyperlinks – that is more than the original Memo/GV version. It is also embellished with specific cartographical and pictorial illustrations at one remove: the Cross-References marked “Pics” can be found in the sister-posting in Thuppahi. In my reading, no study of the last phase of Eelam War IV can be conducted by armchair-intellectuals or lawyers with no experience of battles and limited visual and geographical sensibilities. My emphasis on visual aids in the two-volume Tamil Person and State (Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014) is an attempt to overcome my own shortcomings in this area of expertise.

Issapriya and soldies -white flagIsaipriya captured –– Pic from http://white-flags.org/

Dear Sandra Beidas and OISL Team,  

As a Sri Lankan Australian and academic I have been collecting and analysing the material on the last phase of the war in Sri Lanka for six years now. I come across new evidence regularly in the midst of misinformation and dis-information that is a facet of the propaganda war that has been sharpening since the LTTE began to retreat in 2008. Since the volume of data is huge, a thorough investigation calls for assiduous work by a team which includes those who are culturally competent and able to discern manipulation. They must transcend the clever tactics of misinformation and fabrication from both sides, with the additional awareness that the Tamil migrant networks outdo the government (GSL) on this front by a proverbial mile.[1] Continue reading →

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November 18, 2014 · 2:04 pm

Cartographic & Photographic Illustrations in support of the Memorandum Analysing the War in Sri Lanka and Its Propaganda Debates

Michael Roberts

No survey of Eelam War IV — especially its last phase from late 2008 to May 2009 — can be pursued without some comprehension of the unfolding geographical context and some attention to illustrative pictorial details of the LTTE ditch-and-bund system of defense as well as the defensive deployment of a congealed mass of people and Tiger personnel from circa mid-February to mid-May 2009 within what is best referred to as the “Last Redoubt.”[1] Attention to pictorial evidence must obviously embrace evidence of shelling and casualties (both injured and dead) as well as prima facie instances suggestive of extra-judicial execution by both sides. These in their turn must sit alongside the graphic photographs of clusters of people streaming or struggling across the Nandikadal Lagoon or crossing sand and scrub terrain in April and May 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army infiltrated and penetrated the Tiger arena in the Last Redoubt…. and released them from their corralled situation.[2]

1-UNITED-NATIONS-SRI-LANKA-facebook+ Pic 1: The Fate of the Corralled Tamil Populace of  Thamilīlam = on the move constantly — from mid 2008 in some instances — Pic from en.wikipedia.com Continue reading →

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November 16, 2014 · 2:35 pm

Explorations in Sri Lankan Archaeology with Raj Somadeva PART 2

Darshanie Ratnawalli, … being the second part of an interview with Professor Raj Somadeva published in  The Nation (print edition here) on Sunday, 16th November 2014

6Somadeva and team in Ranchamadama.

Professor Raj Somadeva, PhD (Uppsala), Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, Sri Lanka spoke to Darshanie Ratnawalli on a variety of topics, assiduously tackling all questions both verbally and in a 2400 word answer script, and modestly dismissing all thanks, citing his obligation to answer to the public. Here are excerpts from the interview continuing from last week.

DR: You believe in giving weight to the internal dynamic when interpreting findings?

RS: Yes. We separated from the Indian mainland 7000 years ago. We developed as an island. The main characteristic of an island civilization is the insularity. We got capabilities of developing some things on our own. We had a series of external influences, but the internal dynamic was the most crucial factor in shaping our culture. During the last 100 years, the main theoretical perspective to dominate our historiography, inspired by our first generation of historians and archaeologists was diffusionism. Everything diffuses from the powerful place to here. This is an old fashioned way of thinking. Every people has the capacity to develop their own things. As an archaeologist by profession, I believe that it is more important to look at our ‘internal dynamic’ than try to find conquering external connections. It does not mean that the external influences should be ignored. Continue reading →

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November 16, 2014 · 12:06 pm

Explorations in Sri Lankan Archaeology with Raj Somadeva PART I

Darshanie Ratnawalli, … being the first part of an interview with Professor Raj Somadeva published in  The Nation (print edition here) on Sunday,9th November 2014

6Professor Raj Somadeva, PhD (Uppsala), Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, Sri Lanka
Raj Somadeva, one of the top Sri Lankan archaeologists, has drawn attention to his work in recent times with two interesting claims viz: discovery of a yaksha inscription and the existence of Buddhism in the island complete with a cave dwelling monastic sangha prior to the 3rd century BC. He spoke to Darshanie Ratnawallie on these claims as well as the ideological debates within the discipline. The following are excerpts of the interview.

DR: Dr. Susantha Goonathilaka, the president of Royal Asiatic Society, Sri Lanka alleges that you call every settlement complex a ‘civilization’ indiscriminately when cities and/or evidence of writing are necessary for a culture to be called a civilization. How do you define a ‘civilization’?

RS: First I want to say that I am confident about what I am saying and also academically and professionally qualified to say so. Civilization is a particular state of development achieved by humans. It is mainly characterized by an ‘urban way of life’. This is a highly relative notion. My stand on what is civilization appeared in my book titled ‘Urban Origins in Southern Sri Lanka’. It was published in 2006 by the UppsalaUniversity in Sweden in their series of Global Archaeology. Presence of a writing system and cities are not the valid characteristics for identifying the emergence of civilization any more. This ‘bundle of criteria’ of pre-modern urbanism was first explained by Gordon Child in his seminal article on ‘Urban Revolution’ published in the 1940s. Now this list of criteria has been discredited as a non-representative ‘laundry list’ which is not adequate to explain pre-modern urbanism. You have ancient civilizations that had no writing system. For example the civilization of Great Zimbabwe. You have civilizations that had no proper cities. For instance take the case of the Egyptian civilization. Continue reading →

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November 15, 2014 · 9:45 am

Apartheid? Prabā-Loyalism? Questioning the TNA Stand Today

Chandre Dharmawardana, courtesy of The Island, 13 Nov. 2013 where the title reads: “Secession and the TNA stand”

Writing to the Island newspaper, 5-11-2014, Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan has contested one of the issues that emerges from the article published by Prof. Gerald Peiris (Island, 24 October). In effect, Nirmala Chandrahasan suggests that, given the assertions found in the TNA Manifesto, and the public statements of the Hon. Mr. Sampanthan, the issue of the fear of a secessionist policy is no longer a concern. In fact, Nirmala C writes: “I am not sure whether the writer is aware that the TNA leadership in general and the leader of the TNA in particular Mr. R. Sampanthan have in Parliament and outside, and in their Manifesto categorically stated that they are for a United Sri Lanka, and are not espousing a separate state.”

TNA-LTTE Continue reading →

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November 15, 2014 · 9:02 am

Safa: The Black Prince of Galle Fort

Juliette Coombe,in the Daily News, http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=features/galle-fort-s-black-prince

With nearly a hundred gem shops in the fort I went to meet with one of the historic families Ibrahim Jewellers at 47 Church Street, where I learnt many fascinating facts such as the 400-carat blue sapphire, known as the ‘Blue Belle’, which adorns the British crown is from Sri Lanka. Through a set of smaller glass doors you find yourself in Safa’s lair on Church Street and as the lights flicker on, the glittering gems reveal themselves, creating bespangled wallpaper that you can’t tear your eyes away from.

SAFA 2  SAFA 6  Continue reading →

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November 15, 2014 · 8:42 am

Jayantha Dhanapala secures IPS Award for Nuclear Disarmament

Courtesy of The Nation,  15 November 2014

Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. under-secretary-general for disarmament affairs (1998-2003) and a relentless advocate for a world free of nuclear weapons, will be the recipient of the 2014 International Achievement Award for Nuclear Disarmament sponsored by Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency. “Short of actually dismantling nuclear devices himself,” says Dr. Randy Rydell, until recently a senior political affairs officer at the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs, “he has contributed enormously in constructing a solid foundation upon which the world community will one day fulfill this great ambition.”

JAYANTHA D Continue reading →

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November 14, 2014 · 12:56 am

Histories

Michael Roberts,…..Being a reprint of an article with the same title printed in International Social Science Journal, 1997, vol. 49/153: pp. 373-385. This essay was written at short notice following an invitation from Michael Herzfeld.
captain cook miniature 

Captain Cook  in watercolour miniature from circa early 1780s

Pl 7 Azavedo Don Jeronimo de Azavedo in Ceilao
Captain Cook’s law:

Captain Cook figures in the stories related by several Aboriginal peoples in Australia. In rare cases he has been incorporated into their sacred tales of mythic origin. Among the Aboriginal people of the Victoria River Downs (VRD) region in the Northern Temtory he is a central figure in more straightforward narratives, where he is ‘understood to be the first white fellow to invade Australia’ and where his landing points and actions at specified locations along the coast of Australia are detailed (Rose, 1992, pp. 188-89). In these stories there is frequent reference to ‘Captain Cook‘s law’ – a representation which Debbie Bird Rose understands to indicate ‘the set of rules and the structured relationships’ to which the VRD Aboriginals have been subject for some time.

Read the full article Here  Continue reading →

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November 13, 2014 · 5:21 am

The Fragmented Republic: Reflections on the 1972 Constitution of Sri Lanka

DEEPIKA UDAGAMANelum Deepika Udagama, A Review Article, courtesy of Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities (2013) Vol.39, pp.81-87. 

Welikala, Asanga, ed. The Sri Lankan Republic at 40: Reflections on Constitutional History, Theory and Practice. 2 vols. Colombo: Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2012. 1-1038. The book is available for download from:http://republicat40.org

Asanga Welikala “ We seek your mandate to permit the members of Parliament you elect to function simultaneously as a Constituent Assembly to draft, adopt and operate a new Constitution. This Constitution will declare Ceylon to be a free, sovereign and independent Republic pledged to realise the objectives of a socialist democracy; and it will also secure fundamental rights and freedoms to all citizens.” Manifesto of the United Front of the SLFP, LSSP and the CP (1970)

  1. INTRODUCTION. Like most ex-colonies Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) too idealized becoming a republic. It was with much fanfare and national fever that the first republican Constitution of Sri Lanka was adopted on 22 May, 1972.  It was hoped (as the above political call indicates) that the establishment of a republic would herald the ‘era of the people’ when Sri Lankans would come onto their own. Paying obeisance to an alien Head of State and an equally alien apex court (the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) was a thing of the past. It was only logical to expect that this extraordinary moment in the political life of the State would be the catalyst to begin nation building in earnest.

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