A crisis for a new dawn!

So, a nation in crisis has realised the need to act! When the socalled leaders have collectively failed the people’s needs, an uprising of this magnitude should be expected. Politicians in Sri Lanka consider themselves all mighty and above the law. Now, realising their folly for electing such politicians, the people themselves have taken their struggle not only into the streets but also into the world.

Isn’t it time to accept this change?

Throughout history, movements that promoted change have been driven by passionate leaders. Whether it was women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, or resistance against apartheid, strength and dedication marked the efforts of these leaders. The movement that we now see in Sri Lanka is a spontaneous uprising of a nation continuously failed by consecutive governments. All politically ambitious politicians who came into power have considered themselves as the ultimate rulers and fooled and failed their subjects for too long. They have created distrust and antipathy among ethnic and religious groups that lived together for generations in harmony.

This time, people of all classes, races and religions have shown their capacity and strength to stand up for social change. This is a movement driven by hunger and necessity. At present, all those issues based on class, ethnicity and religion had become less important to the current political and economic crises fuelled by rising unemployment, the ever rising cost of living, an acute shortage of consumer items, commodities, medicine and the ever-increasing foreign debt that burdens many generations of the present and yet to be born. So, what’s wrong with the masses coming out of their houses to protest in a peaceful way? Many revolutions had been inspired by the needs of the masses. The French Revolution of 1789 was fuelled by a combination of social, political and economic factors. The Black Power Movement, for example, was a revolutionary movement of the 1960s and ’70s based on centuries of deprivation and discrimination. In more recent times, George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked one of the largest racial justice protests in the United States and other parts of the world, showing that people’s rights are not to be toyed with.

If a government that came into power to mitigate the burning issues of its people based on promises of progress, stability and security, is unable to provide even the basic human needs of the people, are they meant to suffer in silence? For how long?

This new wave in Sri Lanka has no leaders. It is where the majority feel the need for change. Their demands show a common ideology and a desire for a changed Sri Lanka. A change that should cleanse the whole political system, the politicised institutions and the present political culture. People’s belief that all 225 parliamentarians should leave gives the strongest message of how they despise politicians of all colours and parties. Their unrehearsed slogans, some even hilarious, are indicative of a collective rejection of this corrupt political culture. They chant, sing, dance, share and care. That alone is an indication of an evolving society. But has not that message been conveyed yet?

Without giving solutions to the burning issues of the masses, the government is engaged in its small-minded power games as usual. The other parties are engaged in fiery debates. The duty of all to the country is to make a genuine effort to clear up the mess they have created.

People want a change through non-violence. So, let them have it.