Ipass black4/10/2023 The recent occupation of the Presidential Secretariat, the official residences of the President and the Premier, and of the Prime Minister’s office have raised concern among the public, particularly among the middle-class. Questions about representation within and by the Aragalaya come up frequently. The Aragala is now a real and an imagined community, demanding accountable governance and a better future. In 2022, island-wide peaceful protests have built up. ![]() But these movements remained in the fringes of a society which suffered from many ailments, including dynastic politics, corruption and ethnonationalism. When the rural youth made such demands collectively, they did so with violence. Before this, it was the minorities and workers who were on the streets, making normative demands of the state. In 1931, Sri Lanka was the first to receive universal franchise in Asia but it is in 2022 that the People are coming to the foreground as a democratic force. ![]() This is Sri Lanka’s moment of re-democratization. We can finally hope that this office will be abolished from our constitution and from our political imagination. The hitherto impenetrable Executive Presidency has now, fallen. After much uncertainty, the death of a protestor and much more struggle and pain, the resignation of the President was officially announced today (July 15). That day, the President promised to resign by July 13 and the Prime Minister also promised to resign. I came back home that night confronted by what I had experienced that day and with more questions than answers about Sri Lanka’s democracy and what that means for constitutional governance. People walked, rode trucks, carpooled, cycled, boarded tightly packed trains and buses to be there. Ironically this President was elected with 52% votes in 2019. I hand them out and they are accepted, not with mere gratitude but with a sense of solidarity.įor more than two weeks Sri Lanka has had an acute shortage of fuel, but it is estimated that more than 500 000 people flocked to Colombo to peacefully compel their President and Prime Minister to step down. ![]() At some point, I pass around packets of biscuits a home bound elder had sent through us, to distribute at the protest. A mother carrying a young infant, a university student sporting a black bandana which reads ‘GotaGoHome’, an elderly couple, a group of young schoolgirls and a father pushing a wheelchair with his son caught my eye on July 9 at the Aragalaya (roughly translated as the struggle) in Sri Lanka.
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