A number of books have tried to condense and capture the essence of human history in a short span. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1998, ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’ by Jared Diamond kickstarted this trend and took an interdisciplinary approach that looked at past to present lessons for the future. Recently, the heavily criticised ‘Homosapiens’ and the more leftist ‘The Dawn of Everything’ have adopted this approach too.
‘Serendipity’, a publication that is part comic book and part zine, uses this method to tackle Sri Lanka’s environmental history and advocate for an ecosocialist future. The narrative is accompanied by quotes and citations from an extensive reference list and handmade illustrations. Written and curated by Quincy Saul, a researcher and musician from Vermont who is based part-time in Sri Lanka, and illustrated by Rashmi Thalagala, the book reinforces the need for a harmonious future shared by humans and nature.
Sri Lanka as an island nation is vulnerable to climate change. Air pollution led to school closures in 2022. Landslides and floods in 2023 impacted rural areas. Temperatures in April have scorched urban areas. The Hindu Kush Mountains are melting and there is a lack of both research and mitigation to tackle this shift. The X-Press Pearl disaster in 2020 leaked plastic beads across the island’s pristine beaches.
Despite the country’s vulnerability, no candidate in the 2024 elections has touched on the topic of climate change. With the current economic crisis and the pressure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout scheme, the environment is likely to be pushed into a corner in favour of investment, profit, and development. Books such as ‘Serendipity’ are crucial if the radical transformation of society is to truly be enacted.
The publication is divided into five chapters and is under 50 pages. Quincy and Rashmi pick out the various events that increased Sri Lanka’s environmental vulnerability such as the colonisation of the land by Western countries, the transformation of rainforest into plantations, the liberalisation of the economy in the 1980s, and the influx of multinational corporations into environmentally sensitive areas.
The book praises the old monarchs that institutionalised the harmonious relationship shared by humans and nature and marvels at the country’s artificially manufactured reservoirs and the cascade system for farming. Social movements such as protests in the North Central Province in the early 2000s are praised as a model for mobilisation and resistance. The recently deceased A. T. Ariyaratne’s vision for a nonviolent revolutionary movement from the bottom-up is also included as a roadmap.
The book leaves the reader curious. I have a number of questions for the creatives. The book looks at Sinhala-Buddhist culture. What about ancient Tamil culture, particularly in relation to artisan fisheries? What about the pearl fisheries industry in Mannar? Context about the country’s old elite or rentier capitalists is also needed, as their use of land to extract natural resources and improve their status is a key part of this story.
Key sections about the country’s labour movements are also essential. What about the labour movement in the 1900s, the 1953 hartal, the General Strike 1980, and the return of the labour movement in the protests in 2022? While Ariyaratne’s vision is of value, there are a number of female environmentalists that have advocated for the environment such as Prof. Savitri Gunatilleke’s research about the Sinharaja rainforest, Kamini Vitharana’s advocacy about the abuse of natural resources, and Bhagya Abeyratne’s exposure of the deforestation on national TV.
Despite these limitations, the book is a valuable resource and an entry into the importance of ecosocialism in Sri Lanka. Educators and activists in particular can use this book to introduce students and citizens to the subject. The book, quick and concise, can be read in under an hour and is perfect for people that have a short-attention span and are more receptive of visuals over text. The book is to be released in mid-June. There is a Sinhala release at Sarvodaya and an English release at Barefoot.
(Devana Senanayake is a journalist focused on questions of labour. She has reported for Whe Washington Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and Foreign Policy. She is currently researching intimate labour in the economic crisis)
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The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication