Thousands of protestors have stormed homes of the president of Sri Lanka and the prime minister. They refuse to leave until they are officially resigned. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces corruption charges that has bankrupted the country, and caused egregious economic crises. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will formally resign Wednesday. He reportedly tried to flee the country. We travel to Colombo to meet Bhavani Fonseka (a human rights lawyer and senior researcher at Centre for Policy Alternatives), who has been part of the protest. She describes the peaceful protests that brought us to this point over many months. “Considering the crisis and considering the demands of the people that there has to be a change, we need to look to general elections as soon as the environment is conducive,” notes Fonseka.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Sri Lanka, where President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has reportedly made a failed attempt to flee the country ahead of his resignation set for Wednesday. Agence France-Presse reports the president may now use a navy patrol craft to flee the island nation, which is facing a major economic crisis and saw thousands of protesters storm the president’s home Saturday and set fire to the prime minister’s residence. Protesters are still occupying the president’s home until he formally resigns. Rajapaksa is immune from arrest while he’s still president, and may be trying to leave in order to avoid being detained. He’s accused of bankrupting Sri Lanka with massive corruption and economic mismanagement and also of war crimes during his time as defense minister.
A temporary all-party unity government, which he resigned from, is expected to lead the country. Sri Lanka’s Parliament will meet Friday, and a new president is set to be elected by the members of the Parliament next week.
We travel to Colombo to talk to Bhavani Fonseka (a human rights lawyer and senior researcher at Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo). She’s been participating in the protests. Recent events article is headlined “Sri Lanka’s Crisis and the Power of Citizen Mobilization.”
Welcoming to Democracy Now!Bhavani, thank-you so much for being here. If you can start off by talking about how these protests began, now the protesters occupying the prime minister’s and the president’s home, demanding both resign? Talk about citizen protest.
BHAVANI FONSEKA:Amy, I am grateful for your time. I mean, Sri Lanka is in a very unique period. At one level, we have an unprecedented political and economic crisis, but at another we’ve seen citizens peacefully protesting for months, asking for change, a change in political culture, a change in the political leadership and, basically, political accountability. So there is a real reawakening of the citizen, and it’s quite remarkable to see the numbers that have come out to the streets peacefully protesting over demands.
What was even more impressive was the sheer number of people who turned out on Saturday, July 9th. And this was in a context where many don’t have fuel to travel, so many walked for hours to get to the protest site. They occupied the protest spot. And, unlike other protests, they were allowed to enter the presidential secretary, the presidential palace, as well as the official residence of Prime Minister. And they are now occupying these spaces ’til the president resigns and the prime minister resigns. But so, it’s quite dynamic and fluid days in Sri Lanka, but it’s all centered in this backdrop of citizens’ mobilization and the citizen — the power of the people to bring in change.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ:Bhavani Fonseka: Could you talk a bit about the origins of the crisis? There’s a lot of international press coverage of what’s happening now, but there’s been little attention to how the crisis evolved, and especially in terms of whatever financial debt the country owes to outsiders. The country was visited by an International Monetary Fund group at the end June.
BHAVANI FONSEKA: Yes. Sri Lanka is in a lot of debt. And that goes back — it predates this government, the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The debt is actually returning to different governments. The debt has reached a point that Sri Lanka is now facing bankruptcy. A few months ago, they announced a default. It is clear that there is a lot of debt.
But also it’s related to the mismanagement of this government. Now, in 2019 onwards, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office, there’s been several policy decisions that led to this present crisis. One was the tax cut in 2019 which significantly impacted government revenue. The 2021 ban on chemical fertilizers was implemented overnight, which had a significant impact on the agricultural sector and food security. We also faced challenges with the COVIDThese have been impacted by the pandemic and the more recent conflict between Ukraine and Russia. But largely it’s been domestic policies and mismanagement of this government which has led to an economic crisis. We now face a political crisis as well as political instability.
This has caused many in Sri Lanka to face severe hardships. It is difficult to get essential items, long power outages, and long lines for fuel. We are currently experiencing long queues, where people have to wait for days, three, or four days just to get petrol and diesel. So that is the hardship that’s faced by many people, and it’s impacted most in Sri Lanka. It has caused extreme anger and frustration among the population.
The economic crisis and the mismanagement are what prompted the public mobilisation and demand for accountability. But now it’s become a political crisis, as well, so it’s a combined situation in Sri Lanka. And now it’s also there is a situation where we are seeing an unfolding humanitarian crisis, so multiple challenges on the ground.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ:Both the president and prime minister have now said that they would resign but have not yet done so. How do you see the next few hours unfolding? Which person is most likely run a caretaker administration?
BHAVANI FONSEKA:This is a worrying dynamic. You know, you would think with all the people peacefully protesting and all the developments over the last few days — but over the last few months, really — that the message would be — you know, it would be clear, that they are asking for the resignation of the president, and they’re asking for the resignation of the prime minister. Now, I would have thought any government would have heard this message and resigned immediately, but we are at a situation where the president has said he will resign tomorrow —
AMY GOODMAN: Bhavani Fonseka, I’m looking at an article by Reuters, “How a band of activists helped bring down Sri Lanka’s government.” It says, “In June, a few dozen activists started meeting regularly at a seaside tented camp in Colombo for hours-long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka’s flagging protest movement.
“The group, which included a Catholic priest, a digital strategist and a popular playwright, succeeded beyond their wildest hopes.
“Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Colombo. After initially clashing with police, protesters occupied key government buildings and residences, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his prime minister to promise to step down.”
What is your opinion? Would you agree this band of activists, the Catholic priest, digital strategist, popular playwright, gathering together, and soon hundreds of thousands of people are now occupying the prime minister and president’s residences and demanding they resign?
BHAVANI FONSEKA: Well, it’s quite remarkable what we are seeing, you know? Different communities, different sectors, coming together. I mean, this we have not seen in Sri Lanka’s past, and Sri Lanka has a rich history of protest. This kind of mobilization, however, is quite rare. And the fact that the protests have been there for now several months — this is not something that just happened in the last couple of days, but over the months people have persistently come out, and largely peacefully coming out and demanding for change. So, that’s quite something.
We had our then-prime minister resign in May. We had the resignation of the Cabinet in April. So we saw results. We also saw the president retaining his office despite all protests and despite the clear message to him to leave. So, now with the announcement that the president is going to leave on Wednesday the 13th, we hope that he keeps to his word, because if he doesn’t leave, there will be further instability.
But, his resignation by itself is not enough to satisfy protesters and the citizens of Sri Lanka. They also want the resignation of the prime Minister and the establishment of a new caretaker government. We must also consider the next steps. Although a caretaker government may be useful for a short time, considering the crisis and the demands of the people, it is important to consider general elections as soon the environment allows. Many things are on the table. I believe that there are many things that can be done to address the current crisis and ensure stability.
AMY GOODMAN:Bhavani Fonseka is a human rights lawyer and senior researcher at Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo. I thank you for participating in the protests. We’ll link to your article, “Sri Lanka’s Crisis and the Power of Citizen Mobilization.” Of course, we’ll continue to follow what’s happening in Sri Lanka.
After break, the Pentagon has authorized another $400 million to fight in Ukraine. We will then go to Joe Lauria as editor-in-chief. Consortium NewsThis article is about the pressure placed on independent media outlets to follow one approved narrative on Ukraine’s war. Stay with me.
