The Technopolitics of Dissent in Sri Lanka – By Shakthi De Silva     Source:internationalaffairs.org.au Observers in Australia and elsewhere have covered Sri Lanka’s ongoing protests and accurately teased out the nuances of the situation. However, many underestimate how technology played a key role in instigating this organic social uprising. Web platforms and social media has revolutionised the politics of public dissent. They give new meaning to free expression and empower citizen journalism and activism to take a life of its own outside the traditional domains of private or state-influenced media. Information is now coproduced by people and shared on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and more. Representative democracies around the world are feeling the pinch as stories, pictures, and posts on corruption and political malpractice become viral sensations. In more ways than one, this has become a feature of the modern-day democratic techno-politic climate we live in. Nowhere is ...

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    “FELINE FURORE” – By Des Kelly This is a bit early, in the brand new decade, and I very seldom even get the chance to peruse various “posts” on Facebook, minutely, but because this one, sent in by the Gentleman whose name has now become famous on the FB Platform, will also be publicised on eLanka, although a tad long, is still a very interesting “fantasy of feline furore” and a piece of humour that I would like to share with many thousands of eLanka members in Australia, plus many more thousands of avid eLanka readers around the world.           Speaking (or writing) personally, after scrolling thru dozens of puerile,silly, and sometimes absolutely stupid jokes & “posts” on FB, it is indeed a pleasure to come across one that can actually make you laugh, (because this is what “jokes” are meant to do), and ...

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  Who thinks this stuff up! – By Des Kelly English has always been a strange, but interesting language. In this particular instance, the prose is solely intended for readers to have a bit of fun, with. From time to time, quotes such as these have come into Facebook, quite a few, not fit to be published, because of the coarse “lingo”involved. As everyone knows, or should know, this writer has never been a “wowser”, swears with the best of them, and will write “HARD”, when I have to, but somehow, do not like to see epithets, four letter words etc., in print.      eLanka readers especially, deserve better, and in this article, “Who thinks this stuff up”, they get it, much better than an article titled “Who thinks this is A stuff-up, I suppose.  Desmond Kelly.  (Editor-in-Chief) eLanka. Who thinks this stuff up? • Venison for dinner again? ...

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