Amalini Profile picture
May 12, 2022 14 tweets 15 min read Read on X
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
'Last year they burned our people's bodies for COVID. I protested alone on the Maligawatte water tower. Police arrested & tried to institutionalise me. No one stood with me then.
I'm here to ask, on behalf of them too, for this government to go home.' #lka #srilanka #GoHomeGota
This small plaster structure is inspired by the Raddolugama memorial (humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news…) to Sinhala youth disappeared by the UNP govt during the 2nd JVP insurrection in 88/89. When the tent of the Families of the Disappeared was destroyed, this was broken. #lka #SriLanka
'We know who was behind the attacks. I'm sure the PM knows the Penal Code laws under which he is guilty, for unlawful assembly etc. Now it's upto the courts to show that the law is equal. I also remind the Navy commander that it is an offense to protect criminals.' #lka #SriLanka
'When we see this level of state terrorism, we wonder what our citizenship in this country means. I ask everyone not to be moved hastily by emotions. We know it hurts, but we also know who our enemy is. They have guns, but our weapons are our heart & intellect.' #lka
New art installation that went up close to where the Easter memorial once stood - a slipper that's wasting away, stamping down on a tear gas canister. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
New trilingual sign going up over the barricade at Gate Zero. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
Steady flow of pineapples yesterday, being unloaded off a lorry from Weliweriya right to this table, chopped up by these guys and being distributed to folks out of buckets all day. Sponsored by the kind ladies sitting here. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
'Look, a lot of Basils!', someone exclaimed pointing at the sky. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
Sundown at the barricade. These guys have plasters and bandages on their arms and legs, and some on the backs of their heads too. Note the guy also in a collar. From the hospital, right back to the protest - hope they will recover well. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
Sisters have been here all day, all night, all month long - caring for the people, helping prepare food and keeping the peace. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
Nightfall and a long line for food being distributed at one tent - the govt keeps aggravating the crisis, but for the month it has been around, #Gotagogama has fed so many low-income & unhoused people left in an even more desperate situation. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

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More from @Amaliniii

Aug 24, 2022
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Read 10 tweets
Jul 19, 2022
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.

Read the article here - longform.watchdog.team/c7e988acbdc640…

Here's a thread of some things we learned: #lka
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
Read 17 tweets
Jun 27, 2022
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
Read 10 tweets
Jun 26, 2022
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
This incredible flag colouring the whole stretch from Kollupitiya to #Gotagogama. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota #Pride
Read 7 tweets
May 9, 2022
'Today is one month that Nande has been at home'

Scenes from a #Gotagogama that has immediately started rebuilding, and evolving situations elsewhere.

Please stay safe. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota Image
Police and Army barricade at Lotus Road, 2.31 pm. They eventually left. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota ImageImageImageImage
'You thought you could crush our protest with your violence and bloodshed. We thank all those who stood with us and say, we will be stronger now'

Spirits seemingly high on the barricade when we eventually made it there. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota ImageImageImageImage
Read 22 tweets
May 8, 2022
Scenes from the Maadan Badhrakali Puja, last night at #Gotagogama/Galle Face.

With thanks to everyone who translated and explained the parts of the ceremony as it went on. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota
The rituals came to #LKA with Indian labourers brought by British colonisers & are continued by their descendants, the Malaiyaha Tamil community.

The deities are village guardians, who were worshipped before formal Hinduism began & they can speak to in their own languages. #lka
The Vikki Parai Isai group from Ingiriya heating the drums to tune them before the ritual. Parai drums are played by oppressed castes & is a key part of Malaiyaha Tamil culture, along with dances such as the kooththu, all of which their ancestors brought from India. #lka.
Read 13 tweets

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