Thread by @ChayuDamsinghe

I'm going to do a single political thread on the #GotaGoGama #GoHomeGota #OccupyGalleFace protest and a threat it faces. Might be contentious, but please give alternative views.

#SriLankaCrisis #SriLankaEconomicCrisis #SriLanka

(1/20)

Starting off with a few disclaimers.

I think the protests are great for Sri Lanka, I think they've done permanent good already, I think they should continue.

I'm also not a political/social expert - so take this from that POV.

(2/20)

The response to the poll confirms something I was concerned about - that there is space for the protest to be attacked based on perceptions of elitism

If a Twitter poll of what protestors think is like this, I feel actual sentiment might be worse

(3/20)

https://twitter.com/ChayuDamsinghe/status/1514835306645946372

What people perceive doesn't have to be reflected in reality. Even if the protest is 100% from the bottom 50% of Sri Lankans by income, it doesn't matter if there are thousands of Sri Lankans who have been led/manipulated to THINK it's by the rich.

Perceptions matter.

(4/20)

I think this also ties into a theory that once you exclude the top 1%, the rest of the top 10% or even 20% might not think they're actually rich - despite being so by every relative metric.

vox.com/the-goods/2267…

(5/20)

I think this is true in Sri Lanka as well. I did a recent poll that gave the idea that most people thought a 100k earning household is not that rich, and maybe even lower-class/bottom 50% of households

While "class" is subjective, numbers are not.

(6/20)

https://twitter.com/ChayuDamsinghe/status/1514865588526452736

The numbers actually suggest that such a family would be in the top 20% of households by income, and that 80% of Sri Lankan families are poorer than that. I'd argue that makes them at least upper middle income.

Whenever I bring this stat up, it's hard to believe.

(7/20)

I get why this is not a believable thought, that many of us on Twitter for example, are actually "rich". We might not feel rich, we have financial issues, we don't have money to just waste away, surely we can't be rich?

I agree. We aren't rich.

(8/20)

But Sri Lankans are poor. That's what this is really about. A vast majority of Sri Lankans live very different lives to well, most people I know, including myself.

The vast majority of Sri Lankans are poor and we need to be aware of this.

(9/20)

They're not in poverty by any means, and they have a lot of facilities too. Free healthcare, education, electricity across the country all means that a poor Sri Lankan lives a far better life than a poor Indian for example.

(10/20)

But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of Sri Lankans earn far less than we (those in WP+urban/suburban areas) think they do.

Of course, aspirations are also different - recommend Hans Rosling's excellent work on "levels" for more on this

gapminder.org/fw/income-leve…

(11/20)

But I think this difference between actual income levels and perception is critical to understand even the protests in Sri Lanka

The economic pain felt by someone with a family income of 100k, however difficult, is very different to someone earning less than that.

(12/20)

Now, I want to be clear again. I'm not saying the protests are elitist in reality. I think there's a wide range of people there.

But given the very different lived realities of Sri Lankans, what it can be PERCEIVED AS matters.

(13/20)

Of course, those in power have a clear incentive to highlight this. Those who support the Rajapaksas despite everything have an incentive to call the protests rich, entitled, parties, whatever.

The risk is that this might work.

(14/20)

Because as great as the protests are, I don't think anyone can genuinely argue it is perfect and there's nothing to improve on or make better. That's insanely arrogant, and I don't think many would agree that the protests are perfect in all ways.

(15/20)

These factors are what can delegitimize genuine citizen action, by making it seems elitist, by spreading division, not just on race/religion grounds, but also on the economics that impact a huge part of our lives.

Remember, we're in an economic crisis.

(16/20)

I'd argue that a key priority for citizen protests is the need to have an economic message too and cooperate with other protests across the country.

Stand in queues for those who can't. Fight against the decisions that brought us inflation. Do whatever we can.

(17/20)

Above all, it's critical to coordinate with people who feel the economic pain the most. This does require us to be self-aware and understand that despite all the terrible pain we face, economic and otherwise, a majority of Sri Lankans still have it worse.

(18/20)

My part in this, as is clear to me, is to explain the economics of it as much as possible. But if the rising divisions in the protests (and we can't ignore these can happen) are not addressed ahead of time, the great success of what has been achieved can be lost.

(19/20)

In the end, Sri Lanka is going through the worst economic crisis since independence. Struggling through this will be hard for all of us, but some more than others. We must stay united in this struggle, or else the consequences are too high to imagine.

(20/20)