General strike - some scenes of various trade union protests that arrived at Galle Face/#Gotagogama today. The uniting demand - #GoHomeGota - is for GR & his family must answer for their failures, then go to jail. Power to the people ✊🏾 #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota2022
Collective of Trade Unions and Mass Organisations - dragons, drums, and this reminder of the damage done to the agricultural sector. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#GoHomeGota2022
Collective of Beauticians, who'd come from Panadura. 'No lights in the salons or to take photos, and no weddings because people can't afford anything. The cost of living is taller than Chichi's rocket.' #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#GoHomeGota2022
In-between scenes and characters. Long sign around the outer fence of the Presidential Secretariat says 'stop repression to save tourism'. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#GoHomeGota2022
A powerful day, seeing so many different groups - everyday working people, contributing to the country, all wanting a (hopefully) better and Rajapaksa-less future. Spectacular skies all day. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#GoHomeGota2022
Not possible to capture the immense scale of today's crowd with a phone camera in the middle of it all, but @ThilinaKalu has you covered - multiple marches, big + medium sized, converging on this site of resistance. #Gotagogama#lka#srilanka#gohomegota
We visited three women in Hungama in the Hambantota district, whose loved ones were forcibly disappeared by the UNP govt cracking down on the second JVP insurrection. They had no links to the movement, or joined to escape violence from the JVP. (1/10) @pasanghe #lka #srilanka
We were with them while the aftermath of the IUSF protest on August 18 was unfolding. The stories they were telling us matched the WhatsApp messages flowing in from our lawyer/activist friends trying to respond to the arrests. Verbatim. (2/10) #lka #srilanka
Abductions in broad daylight; running between Police Stations trying to find persons taken away; false charges – all against a backdrop where the victims of the state’s violence are labelled criminals & terrorists. Not unique to the South, or to this moment. (3/10) #lka #srilanka
A few months back, we spoke to farmers across #SriLanka about the impact of the chemical fertiliser ban on their cultivation & livelihood, and what it means for the country.
Hambantota: 'Development' of the highway had reduced acres of agricultural land & affected farmers hadn't gotten compensation for the fields they lost yet. #lka#srilanka
Sammanthurai: Farmers had to halt water being sent from the Gal Oya by the Irrigation Department because, due to all the setbacks, they couldn't get their fields ready in time. #lka#srilanka
A thread: on claims that talking about 'other issues' - racism, militarisation, PTA, LGBTQ+, Sin-Bud supremacy, most often issues faced by 'minority' communities - result in 'diluting' & 'losing focus' of the aragalaya/GGG. #lka#srilanka#GoHomeGota
1. Everyone is feeling the economic crisis, though admittedly to different degrees. They are all suffering due to this govt's policies, especially already-marginalised folks. They therefore have every right to make themselves visible at the protest. #lka#srilanka#gohomegota
2. Many communities have been in struggles against Rajapaksa power long before the aragalaya/GGG. Most of those protesting now didn't know/care about those struggles. Communities bringing those demands to GF is not a dilution but a continuation of their longer, harder fight. #lka
Scenes from Colombo's first ever Pride March yesterday, continuing the protest against the 'sTaBiLiTy' ie repression of the Gota-Ranil government. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#Pride
Beginning at the Liberty roundabout, where the LGBTQ+ community gathered for the first time a few years ago to protest after Sirisena's homophobic 'butterfly' remark during the constitutional crisis. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota#Pride
May 11th, yesterday - scenes from a mellow but alert and hopeful #Gotagogama. Tents have been repaired, there are books in the library again, everyone speaks to of calm and non-violence and tea was being made in the evening. #lka#SriLanka#GoHomeGota
'We ask everyone to be calm. Save your strength - we have more to do, not to set fires. This isn't a place to sacrifice lives. We remember those who hit us till we bled - 'nahi verena verani, වෛරයෙන් වෛරය නොසන්සිදේ' (violence doesn't drive out violence) #lka#srilanka#GoHomeGota
'Many think those who follow the law are spineless. Politicians see if we break their laws while they broke them completely.
We don't want a military government. We don't want a dictatorship. We want a government that respects people's sovereignty.' #lka#srilanka#GoHomeGota