“Subramaniam Sivakamy Alias ‘Col’ Thamilini becomes a ‘Suthanthirapparavai’ (Free Bird) Again” by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

““Suthanthirapparavaigal”(Birds of Freedom)was the popular name by which the Women’s political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)was known in the past. Last week , saw a former woman political commissar of the LTTE tasting freedom after three years of detention and one year of rehabilitation.41 year old Subramaniam Sivakamy alias”Col”Thamilini became a Suthanthirapparavai or free bird on June 26th 2013.”

via: http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/22263

source: www.dbsjeyaraj.com

“Time magazine stopped at Customs” By Sanjaya Dassanayake, Upatissa Perera and Teshari Karanayake (Ceylon Today)

Time magazine, carrying a cover story comparing the Myanmar Buddhist Monk Wirathu and his organization ‘Buddhist 969’ to the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), has been withheld by customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

The Myanmar Government has taken steps to ban the July issue of Time, as the cover page of the magazine portrays the Monk with the headline describing him as ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror.’

Via http://www.ceylontoday.lk/16-36228-news-detail-time-magazine-stopped-at-customs.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

source: www.ceylontoday.lk

Dossier de Presse d’Ini Avan d’Handagama

Nous avons le plaisir de partager le dossier de Presse du dernier film Handagama, Ini Avan, qui sera diffusé en avant première au MK2 bibliothèque le 6 juillet 2013 à 21 heure. Le film sortira dans plusieurs salles parisiennes- et notamment au cinéma Reflet Médicis dans le Véme arrondissement- à partir du 10 juillet 2013.

 

INI AVAN-DP-couv

INI AVAN-DP-filmo real

INI AVAN-DP-reperes histo

 

INI AVAN-DP-synopsis

 

INI AVAN-DP-mot distrib

 

INI AVAN-DP-fiche art-tech

talk on “Gradients in Space, Time and Scale: A Resilience-based Analysis of Forest Gardens in Central Highlands Landscapes.” by Yvonne Everett, at the American Center Auditorium on Tuesday 2 July 2013

Yvonne Everett (Humboldt State University) will give a talk on “Gradients in Space, Time and Scale: A Resilience-based Analysis of Forest Gardens in Central Highlands Landscapes.”

This event will take place at 4 PM on Tuesday 2 July at the American Center Auditorium, 44 Galle Road, Colombo 3.  To reserve seats,
contact Nowzad at the American Center on Tel: 011 249 8128, Mobile: 077 236 6368 or via e-mail:nowzadaj@state.gov

For more details please see the attached poster.

Gradients_in_Space

Source: AISLS

“Sri Lanka: Muslims under threat again (Part 1)” (www.presstv.com)

The ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has shocked the world and drawn attention to rising Islamophobia in Asia. Now Muslims in Sri Lanka are under dire threat as well.

The similarities with Myanmar are striking and foreboding. Buddhist monks are at the forefront of the rising hatred, the government is taking sides against Muslims and attacks have begun.

Full scale violence is threatening to break out to create another catastrophe for Muslims in the region.
There have already been a series of attacks on mosques and Muslim places of work.

Via http://www.presstv.com/Program/310585.html

“Invitation to Open Edit: Mobile Library, Sri Lanka”,

Raking Leaves and Asia Art Archive in Partnership with the Goethe InstitutGroundviews and the University of Jaffna invite you to the opening of Open Edit:Mobile Library, Colombo.
Opening
7–9pm, Friday 5 July 2013
Warehouse D
Park Street Mews (see map)
Colombo
All events are free
Open Call – Artworks about the Archive
6–7 July 2013, Colombo
10am to 6pm
An exhibition of 16 artworks made in response to the Mobile Library and the Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture & Design.
J. Abiramie, Muhanned Cader, Marisa Gnanaraj, S. Hanusha, Sharni Jayawardena & Malathi de Alwis, T. Krishnapriya, , S. Puranthara, P. Pushpakanthan, G. Samvarthini, N. Savesan, K. Suresh, T. Thajendran, Pradeep Thalawatta, Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Thisath Thoradeniya (working with Kumari Kumaragamage and Janananda Laksiri) and M. Vijitharan. 
Open Talk – Talks about the Archive
6–7 July 2013, Colombo
A 2-day programme of talks, including a film screening about the subject of the archive.
Saturday 6 July
10–11am
Siting Research – Sabih Ahmed
Is the archive a benign place? Sabih Ahmed will present case studies from India that relate to the disciplines of art history and visual culture and reflect on the archival impulses of our time, in their institutional and non-institutional forms.
11.30am–12.30pm
Digital Traces – Sanjana Hattotuwa
Sanjana Hattotuwa will look at the growth of the digital archive in Sri Lanka. He will reflect on the ways the archive is being generated – how curation, participation, technical platforms, and use have altered how we assess our past, re-examine our present, and capture them for posterity.
5–6pm
Inheritance: the Burden of the Archive – Sharmini Pereira
Sharmini Pereira speaks with relatives of two major Sri Lankan artists about the imperatives and choices they have faced in their efforts to share, and to keep private, their family archives. With Deborah Philip, granddaughter of artist and architect Geoffrey Beling (1907–1992) and Jomo Uduman, son of artist and cartoonist Fareed Uduman (1917–1985).
6.30–9pm
Celluloid Man: A Film on P. K. Nair – Dir. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
Produced by Dungarpur Films, India, 2012
35mm; English with Subtitles; Duration: 164 mins.
Released this year to commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s film Celluloid Man is a documentary about the life and work of the legendary archivist P. K. Nair. Fuelled by a personal passion, P. K. Nair travelled all over India collecting cans of film that would otherwise have been lost. He founded the National Film Archive of India and is regarded as the guardian of Indian cinema.
Sunday 7 July
11am -12pm
Noolaham Foundation – Sivananthamoorthy Seran
In 2005, two students began an open source, un-edited, digital archive of material concerning Tamil speaking peoples of Sri Lanka. In 2012, nearly 115,000 different users accessed 2.5 million pages of material on the Noolaham site. Run as a crowd-funded, non-profit organisation, the Foundation employs over a hundred volunteers in Sri Lanka and overseas to scan and archive materials from personal and institutional collections. Director S. Seran speaks about different approaches the Noolaham Foundation has taken to building its archive of print material – through personal, institutional, and community collections.www.noolahamfoundation.org
12-1pm
Spittel’s Travels and Other Stories – Dominic Sansoni
Dominic Sansoni has recently begun scanning and documenting family albums that contain disappearing histories of Sri Lanka. He will comment on the beginnings of this exercise and introduce us to a few excerpts. One collection Sansoni is working with is that formed by the diaries and photographs of physician, naturalist, and writer R. L. Spittel, recounting the journeys he made at the turn of the 20th century to document Veddah communities.
3-4pm
Archiving the Archivists in Jaffna: Material, Memory and Loss – P Ahilan
Personal archives have played a crucial role in the creation of public and national archives as well as in registering alternative or other voices. They exist in the slippage of the personal and the public. This presentation examines the personal archives of four key archivists from Jaffna: the late Kalaigani Selvaratnum, a studio photographer; Mylankoodaloor P. Nadarajan, a retired school teacher; Kurumpasity R. Kanagaratnam, retired from the private sector; and Mr A. Jesurajah, a retired Post Master. While considering their intentions, interests, and methods in relation to their collections and accounts, it also traces the socio-political context of their endeavours.
4-5pm
The Search for Lester James Peries’ Nidhanaya – Anomaa Rajakaruna
The burning of film studios in Sri Lanka’s 1983 riots, as well as an inadequate preservation of film, has resulted in great losses from the Sri Lankan film catalogue. A search has been underway to find the negatives of Lester James Peries’ critically acclaimed Nidhanaya. While the picture negative remains missing, five years ago a sound negative was found. Filmmaker Anomaa Rajakaruna will tell the story of Nidhanaya as a physical object. She will reflect on the significance of the recent discovery and on the future of the film archive in Sri Lanka. Nidhanaya means ‘treasure.’
5pm
Closing song – Ajit Kumarasiri
Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture & Design
Launched by AAA and Raking Leaves, the Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture & Design will be presented alongside Mobile Library in Colombo. The first of its kind in the country, the Sri Lanka Archive will continue independently after Mobile Library closes in Sri Lanka. Second copies of many materials collected by the Sri Lanka Archive will be donated to AAA, enriching its representation of Sri Lanka for international audiences.
Open Edit: Mobile Library is presented in collaboration with:
Working in partnership with:
Funded by:

Venue sponsor:

Website on “Robin Tampoe (1935-2000), Sri Lankan filmmaker at the cross-roads of cultures.”

Mr. Robin Tampoe
A new website has been created on the life and times of Sri Lankan filmmaker of Tamil origin, and one of the pioneers of Sinhala cinema
 Robin Tampoe. Tampoe made a significant contribution to early Sri Lankan cinema in the Sinhala language. His career straddles two contrasting periods in the islands cinema history and marks the shift from South India to Ceylon as the site of shooting Sinhala films. He was also witness to efforts made by the government to purge the local industry of foreign and Indian influence.  Although he worked in the melodramatic style, Tampoe stands out as one of the rare ethnic Tamil Sri Lankan director making films in Sinhala. Most of his films were blockbusters, made between 1960 and 1970, when Sinhala ethnocentric feelings were running high, with pressing demands for the sinhalization of the cinema industry. The popularity of his films also attested to the cross-cultural reception of film by Ceylon’s multi-cultural population.
link to access to the website: http://www.robintampoe.com/

L’appel des Tamouls mauriciens pour obtenir le boycott par l’Île Maurice du sommet du Commonwealth organisé à Colombo (Lemauricien.com)

Nous partageons plusieurs liens d’articles publiés dans lemauricien.com qui évoquent les manifestations organisées par les Tamouls mauriciens appelant leur gouvernement à boycotter le sommet du Commonwealth qui doit se tenir cette année du 15 au 17 novembre à Colombo. Les organisateurs souhaitent prendre part à la mobilisation transnationale des Tamouls favorables à la création du Tamil Eelam afin de dénoncer les attentes aux droits de l’Hommes dont victimes ceux de Sri Lanka.

MAURICE AU SOMMET DU COMMONWEALTH : Le PM : « La décision mauricienne prise sur la base du principe » a révélé le PM  publié le 13/05/2013

SRI LANKA — MANIFESTATION DES ASSOCIATIONS TAMOULES: Le boycott du Sommet du Commonwealth réclamé publié le 18/05/2013

PMQT : Maurice maintient sa participation au Sommet du Commonwealth publié le 18/05/2013

Source: Lemauricien.com

 

Dixième stage international d’épigraphie tamoule du 16 au 27 septembre 2013 au Tamil Nadu (Inde)

Ce stage s’adresse aux étudiants et chercheurs qui n’ont pas ou peu d’expérience dans cette discipline.Merci de noter que ce stage aura lieu à Pondichéry et à Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, en Inde. Nous accorderons une très grande importance aux travaux pratiques et au terrain : technique d’estampage, lecture des inscriptions sur le terrain et paléographie.Responsables : Appasamy MURUGAIYAN (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes -UMR 7528 Mondes Iranien et Indien), K. RAJAN (Université de Pondichéry) et V. SELVAKUMAR (Tamil University, Thanjavur).

 Calendrier :

Ce stage de deux semaines s’organise comme suit : du lundi au vendredi, de 9h30 à 12h30 (pause déjeuner) et de 14h à 16h. Le stage se déroule en deux sessions : Introduction à l’épigraphie tamoule (Pondichéry, du 16 au 20 septembre) et Travaux pratiques et de terrain  (Thanjavur, du 23 au 27 septembre).

Programme d’enseignement : Ce stage intensif a pour objectif de permettre aux chercheurs  d’accéder directement aux sources épigraphiques tamoules. Pour plus de détails merci de consulter le document ci-joint.

Stage Epigraphie tamoule-2013a

Inscription :

Il n’y a pas de frais d’inscription à payer mais chaque participant doit participer aux frais des travaux pratiques et des déplacements lors des visites de terrain. Les participants doivent s’inscrire obligatoirement avant le 15 août 2013. Pour l’inscription et toute demande de renseignements, merci de contacter : a.murugaiyan@wanadoo.fr

 

 

“Human Rights Defender Nimalka Fernando harassed, heckled and threatened by Sri Lankan Embassy officials in Japan” (www.lankastandard.com)

IMADR strongly condemns any kinds and acts of reprisal and harassment against Human Rights Defenders and expresses its grave concern and protest against the action and behavior of Sri Lankan Embassy representatives for Japan at a public event in Tokyo hurling abusive words at a prominent Sri Lankan Human Rights Defender.

to read the article: click

source: www.lankastandard.com

Holding CHOGM in Sri Lanka “absolute sham” – Dr Saravanamuttu (Tamil Guardian)

The Executive Director of the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Analysis has slammed the hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka later this year.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu called the awarding an “absolute sham” and criticised that Sri Lanka, a government accused of war crimes, will be the chair of the Commonwealth.

Via http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=8152&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

source: Tamilguardian.com

“Exploring the ‘Chat Republic’: In conversation with Angelo Fernando” by Groundviews

Angelo Fernando, in addition to being a long-standing columnist in the Lanka Monthly Digest (LMD) is also the author of a new book, Chat Republic: How Social Media Drives Us To Be Human 1.0 in a Web 2.0 World.

We begin our conversation on matters digital and online by looking at how Angelo’s father in particular networked socially in the world of brick and mortar, and how this shaped the author’s take on online social networking and new media. After going into how Angelo started to get interested in new media, and web based communications and communities, we talk about his take on media literacy, and its importance today.

Via http://groundviews.org/2013/06/23/exploring-the-chat-republic-in-conversation-with-angelo-fernando/

source: Groundviews

“uphill road The winners in Sri Lanka’s civil war continue to make life hard for the losers” (Economist.com)

OFTEN, when Sri Lanka’s ethnic-Sinhalese-dominated government appears to be offering a hand in friendship to the Tamil minority, it turns out to be a slap in the face. For example, in 2010 it appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the final phase of the 26-year civil war. But many Tamils saw it as a whitewash, because it absolved the Sri Lankan army of charges that it had deliberately attacked civilians during the war’s apocalyptic final battles in 2009, and many of its confidence-building recommendations have not been implemented. Or take the election scheduled for this September in the north of the country when (mostly Tamil) voters are for the first time to elect a provincial council. The government is now moving to neuter the council, depriving the region of much of the autonomy it had been promised.

Via http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21579820-winners-sri-lankas-civil-war-continue-make-life-hard-losers-uphill-road

source: Economist.com

“Harsh satire on Sri Lanka politics proves hit” by AlJazeera

A humorous but hard hitting satire on the country’s political scene is proving highly popular in Sri Lanka.
Those attending the play say “The Hon Chaminda Pusswedilla” provides a chance to let off steam about frustrations over local politicians and political developments.
The play is also seen as carving a niche as a hard-hitting forum for political commentary in the Asian country.

Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez reports from Colombo.

Via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G1I9O-Fc-I

source: AlJazeeraEnglish and youtube