What started out as a somewhat tepid protest of placard bearing against the Government’s failure to address and provide immediate solutions to pressing issues (fuel shortage, power crisis, gas shortage, soaring commodity prices, and the rising cost of living, etc.) and held towards the evening of last Thursday (31 March) at Jubilee Post in Nugegoda soon gathered numbers, a repertoire of animus infused slogans, assorted four-letter epithets, bars/clubs/rods/sticks and handy projectiles, and thus momentum à la the Ides of belated March, and voila, Rajapaksa of Pangiriwatta had a mini resistance on his hands (only, he was not at home). Perhaps, the protestors creatively interpreted the request made by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) Chairman the day before (30 March), to not queue up at filling stations as they lacked adequate diesel stocks to supply, and therefore decided to take this respite from the rat race to obtain essentials and instead sought to ferret out the pied piper of economic disembowelment and his family who seem to be flying high whilst the hapless masses are flung from rickety financial pillar to penury post.
In the throes of untreated persecution mania and ever quick to resurrect the hydra of extremism, the President’s Media Division (PMD), surveying the violent riot’s damages to property (vehicles including those belonging to the Army and Police being set alight) and injuries to police and STF personnel and journalists which required hospitalisation, claimed that the protest in Mirihana, described by the Public Security Minister as an act of sabotage, was the work of a group of organised extremists and have made arrests in the double-digit range (ironically, a Government Parliamentarian was acquitted of murder the same day) – arrestees who were then produced before court and were subsequently either enlarged on bail or remanded. Curfew too was subsequently, albeit briefly, imposed on several areas.
What’s more, after it was announced that similar agitations supposedly organised by social media-based online citizens’ groups, and which are purportedly not politically driven, and from which the political Opposition has distanced itself, were to be held yesterday (3), the President, in a preemptive move “in the interests of public security” to allegedly protect “public order” declared a state of public emergency and imposed islandwide curfew last Saturday (2) evening until today (4) dawn, along with the restriction of access to and the use of social media sites. The move has the chilling effect of suspending the people’s sovereignty and violating the fundamental rights, and instead provides the cloak of legal impunity for the stifling of legitimate dissent and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Government’s chickens have most certainly come home to roost.
The public’s exercise of civil disobedience and the constitutionally guaranteed rights to the freedom of peaceful assembly and the exercise of the freedom of speech and expression, including publication, are of vital essence at this particular juncture. They serve two purposes; one, providing a palpable motif of the people’s pulsating pain which the “leaders” must be pressured to feel owing to the rulers’ complacency and insouciance as regards their efforts to overcome the crises that have beset the nation, and two, to rouse up the administrators from their repose within echo chambers. The prospect of losing power may, and who knows, put the fear of god into them and in turn, stir them into action to embark upon important course correction.
These protests are therefore a necessary first step. But to what?
It is easy for anyone, not just life “style” anarchists, to be swept up in the adrenaline rush, thrill-seeking hysterics, and happy-go-lucky bacchanals of the madness of crowds and protests for the sake of protesting, when after all, the strength is in the numbers and history may be in the making. Similar fervour has accompanied previous regime changes. But the work of democracy is not the theatrics of the corrida; it is the work of episteme, craft, and logos. It is apt therefore to remind the zealous amongst us of the dangers of collective zealotry, and also of the instability and oppression that become realities in the aftermath of a coup d’etat (not that the present bunch of Lankans are capable of pulling one off). As Scottish journalist Charles Mackay observes: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Where then is the method to be found in this madness?
It appears this fervour of resistance is becoming a revolution of change, but can the revolution of change become a reform of hope? The options in this regard on the political front are utterly desultory. Since the democratically elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa is unlikely to step down, a motion of no-confidence against the Government coupled with a resolution for the impeachment of the President on the basis of the Constitutional Article 38(2)’s ground of him being “incapable of discharging the functions of his office by reason of mental infirmity” should seriously be considered. This is where the plan runs its course. Who is to succeed this Rajapaksa and take over if this Government is toppled? The answers lie in the future, once the primary objective of the protests are achieved.Power of the people’s protest
03 Apr 2022
Power of the people’s protest
03 Apr 2022
What started out as a somewhat tepid protest of placard bearing against the Government’s failure to address and provide immediate solutions to pressing issues (fuel shortage, power crisis, gas shortage, soaring commodity prices, and the rising cost of living, etc.) and held towards the evening of last Thursday (31 March) at Jubilee Post in Nugegoda soon gathered numbers, a repertoire of animus infused slogans, assorted four-letter epithets, bars/clubs/rods/sticks and handy projectiles, and thus momentum à la the Ides of belated March, and voila, Rajapaksa of Pangiriwatta had a mini resistance on his hands (only, he was not at home). Perhaps, the protestors creatively interpreted the request made by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) Chairman the day before (30 March), to not queue up at filling stations as they lacked adequate diesel stocks to supply, and therefore decided to take this respite from the rat race to obtain essentials and instead sought to ferret out the pied piper of economic disembowelment and his family who seem to be flying high whilst the hapless masses are flung from rickety financial pillar to penury post.
In the throes of untreated persecution mania and ever quick to resurrect the hydra of extremism, the President’s Media Division (PMD), surveying the violent riot’s damages to property (vehicles including those belonging to the Army and Police being set alight) and injuries to police and STF personnel and journalists which required hospitalisation, claimed that the protest in Mirihana, described by the Public Security Minister as an act of sabotage, was the work of a group of organised extremists and have made arrests in the double-digit range (ironically, a Government Parliamentarian was acquitted of murder the same day) – arrestees who were then produced before court and were subsequently either enlarged on bail or remanded. Curfew too was subsequently, albeit briefly, imposed on several areas.
What’s more, after it was announced that similar agitations supposedly organised by social media-based online citizens’ groups, and which are purportedly not politically driven, and from which the political Opposition has distanced itself, were to be held yesterday (3), the President, in a preemptive move “in the interests of public security” to allegedly protect “public order” declared a state of public emergency and imposed islandwide curfew last Saturday (2) evening until today (4) dawn, along with the restriction of access to and the use of social media sites. The move has the chilling effect of suspending the people’s sovereignty and violating the fundamental rights, and instead provides the cloak of legal impunity for the stifling of legitimate dissent and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Government’s chickens have most certainly come home to roost.
The public’s exercise of civil disobedience and the constitutionally guaranteed rights to the freedom of peaceful assembly and the exercise of the freedom of speech and expression, including publication, are of vital essence at this particular juncture. They serve two purposes; one, providing a palpable motif of the people’s pulsating pain which the “leaders” must be pressured to feel owing to the rulers’ complacency and insouciance as regards their efforts to overcome the crises that have beset the nation, and two, to rouse up the administrators from their repose within echo chambers. The prospect of losing power may, and who knows, put the fear of god into them and in turn, stir them into action to embark upon important course correction.
These protests are therefore a necessary first step. But to what?
It is easy for anyone, not just life “style” anarchists, to be swept up in the adrenaline rush, thrill-seeking hysterics, and happy-go-lucky bacchanals of the madness of crowds and protests for the sake of protesting, when after all, the strength is in the numbers and history may be in the making. Similar fervour has accompanied previous regime changes. But the work of democracy is not the theatrics of the corrida; it is the work of episteme, craft, and logos. It is apt therefore to remind the zealous amongst us of the dangers of collective zealotry, and also of the instability and oppression that become realities in the aftermath of a coup d’etat (not that the present bunch of Lankans are capable of pulling one off). As Scottish journalist Charles Mackay observes: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Where then is the method to be found in this madness?
It appears this fervour of resistance is becoming a revolution of change, but can the revolution of change become a reform of hope? The options in this regard on the political front are utterly desultory. Since the democratically elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa is unlikely to step down, a motion of no-confidence against the Government coupled with a resolution for the impeachment of the President on the basis of the Constitutional Article 38(2)’s ground of him being “incapable of discharging the functions of his office by reason of mental infirmity” should seriously be considered. This is where the plan runs its course. Who is to succeed this Rajapaksa and take over if this Government is toppled? The answers lie in the future, once the primary objective of the protests are achieved.Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!