Thread by @h_liyan

"Is #GotaGoGama and the violence of the 9th evening orchestrated by left-wing parties?" -- A THREAD.
Those who know me, will identify me as historically right-of-center, pro-west, pro-free-enterprise and generally anti-communist. #SriLanka 1/

I am a vice president and shareholder of a global tech company (previously VP of a fortune 100 corporation) and a graduate of Moratuwa University, then heavily opposed to IUSF. Read these comments through that lens. 2/

I (and many other tech company leaders) joined the protests to help create an environment in #SriLanka that can retain our best minds (who are now leaving), without whom I have no job. 3/

I have been at many protests since April 8th. I was at parliament shortly before the second teargas attack. I was there at GGG on May 9th, shortly after the thugs retreated. 4/

At GGG, there were people from every political affiliation from day one: including SJB, JVP and even SLPP. Even an "expert" who pushed for Muslim COVID cremations was allowed to speak from the barrier. But anyone who tried to promote a party was quickly shooed away. 5/

I have had to re-assess my past hatred of IUSF ("anthare"). These students are now qualitatively different from those I remember from 20 years ago. They didn't even let us carry clubs for self-defence on the 9th. They had people take off helmets. 6/

They got hit with teargas meant for hostage situations, and they still reassembled peacefully. Cops were literally coming off duty and walking away through the crowd, unharmed. Did not hear a single angry word yelled at them. 7/

They sent away people who were drunk. One drunk was literally loaded onto an ambulance, with the announcement "let him go peacefully, he just made a mistake", to the laughter of the crowd. 8/

At parliament, there were people who were clearly thugs. The students simply announced via bullhorn, "There are outsiders here trying to stir trouble. Let's not let them. Let's move back". If their own ranks tried to stir trouble, they were yelled at and sent back. 9/

On my way home on the 9th, close to my neighborhood, I saw several crowds gathered near the sites of pancaked vehicles owned by local politicians. They were not JVP types -- just random collections of area kids and uncles. 10/

I was also there at GGG when the first news of burnt buses started coming in. The organizers there were getting the news exactly the same way, at the same time we were getting it -- through their phones. 11/

Those who are incredulous at the rapidity with which the targeting of politicians took place need not look to some shadowy central group with superpowers. They just need to reread their sociology, history and learn a topic we techies know well: "network effects". 12/

Finally, I spent a day chasing down some "reliable sources" that claimed the 9th evening violence was orchestrated by a group calling themselves the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). They all turned out to be fake sources or SLPP/SJB politicians. 13/

The risk of leftist parties trying to take over the protests is real. But the narrative that they have been running it all along and that they centrally orchestrated the house burnings, comes from the same people who brought you forced sterilizations. 14/

They tried to divide & conquer the protest through race and failed. They tried religion and failed. They even tried "Colombo rich kids vs. rest of us" and failed. Now they try a 30-year-old Cold War ghost: communism. Don't fall for it. 15/