- How the online narrative on the #GoHomeGota protests sweep harassment under the rug
By Paramie Jayakody
As Saturday, 28 May marked 50 days of the Aragalaya, I met Vasi Samudra Devi standing on top of the platform set up in front of the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike statue, waving a black flag.
The ‘Occupy Galle Face’ movement – which, with the subsequent setting up of GotaGoGama, became the symbol of the nationwide Aragalaya – was alive with people even at 10.30 p.m. when we sat down on the platform to talk.
PHOTO © KRIS THOMAS
Despite the crowd, our conversation had caught the attention of another protester, who approached Vasi while ignoring all the other people seated on the same platform, noting her identity as a queer woman and blatantly stating: “You’re not allowed to be here.”
Within moments, we were joined by a number of people defending both parties, with many familiar protesters reiterating that no one was there to fight and that everyone was equal. Yet this did not stop the conversation from escalating and almost devolving into violence. It was some time later that all of us got into our vehicles and headed home somewhat shaken.
This incident would have never reached the eyes or ears of many who were watching the proceedings of GotaGoGama online. Unfortunately, this was not the first such occurrence, but rather one of many that simply didn’t reach most of the online community.
Two protest narratives: Offline vs. online
Vasi, a transgender woman who has been pursuing her art at GotaGoGama since early April, noted that this was not the first time she had been harassed. “It has got to the point where I don’t even go to the main protest area. I stay at the tents, where there are people I know,” she told me.
“When I post about these incidents on social media, there’s a lot of personal support towards me, but no willingness to address GotaGoGama as a place where harassment happens,” she continued, adding: “People want to keep everyone’s hopes up, so they pretend everything is okay.”
Hashtag Generation social media analyst Saritha Irugalbandara agreed. “People are extremely protective of the protests and sites, especially GotaGoGama,” she noted. “The Gama inspires a lot of hope, so people don’t want to hear anything negative about any problematic behaviour displayed there. I have noticed that when I bring up the fact that people, including myself, have gotten sexually harassed at GotaGoGama, people either tell me to chill (which is really quite funny) or that we have other problems to focus on.”
While Saritha thinks the disparity between the offline and online situations of harassment may not be that wide as she has seen occasions of both, she also pointed out that it’s more difficult to notice whether people speak about it online. As people can simply choose to not engage with certain topics, it becomes progressively harder to judge whether they are aware and not engaging, or not aware at all.
Journalist Kris Thomas, who actively reports on GotaGoGama from the ground as well as follows the happenings online, said that he had personally not seen any incidents of harassment during his visits. However, by dint of mutual followers with Vasi, he had seen some of the online discourse following the issue.
The ‘it wasn’t me’ protester version
While noting that the response was very positive towards the person who had the experience, he also noticed a certain dissociation. “More often than not, [the conversation] talks about how this was not a thing during the first weeks of GotaGoGama and now it is, and how it is very sad that it’s happening.”
“I’ve also noticed people using the argument that any harassment is done by people who come from outside,” Saritha said. “They seem to miss the point that the movement is made up of people who come in from ‘outside’.”
Explaining further, she pointed out that most people had either of two arguments against this topic being discussed. One was denial that this was a systemic issue – the statement that it was by “outside people,” in a deliberate attempt to create distance between the protests and their assumed ‘purity’ vs. the ‘outsiders’ creating trouble – and the other was that “we have other problems”.
Women, gender minorities and politics
During our conversation, Vasi recalled that most people viewed political agendas as entirely separate from social issues such as equality and harassment. The lack of will to merge the two issues in the mind has led to one being sidelined for the other’s sake.
Saritha also believes this lack of willingness to discuss the issue stems from the fact that most people see women’s rights and political movements as two separate issues – more specifically, that women’s rights are not seen as political issues. The only exception to this would be instances where violence against a woman can be politicised to fulfil or fit a political/ideological agenda or purpose. She pointed out that a woman from the Anthare (Inter University Students’ Federation) being harassed by an ‘outsider,’ for example, would receive a very different reaction to any other woman being subject to the same harassment.
“For example, let’s take the video of the attack on Maureen Noor at MainaGoGama. That was so widely circulated online and people were so outraged because that woman now represented the people’s movement and a common political purpose,” she explained.
How many instances of politically unaffiliated harassment have we seen where the majority of the community was outraged?
What happens on the ground is clearly different from the narrative enforced online.
Narrative disparities: A global phenomenon
This difference of narrative in the online sphere is not something new; rather, it’s a fairly normal occurrence. Internationally, one must only look at the disparity between the Israel-Palestine invasion and the Russia-Ukraine invasion to see two entirely different narratives.
At their core, the two situations are very similar. However, the narrative surrounding the two is as different as night and day, with Palestine living in perpetual darkness. The same actions by Israel and Russia are justified for the former and villainised for the latter, and the same actions by Palestinians and Ukrainians are narrated in terms of counter violence vs. defence.
While this disparity is widely believed to be an issue of race, whereas Sri Lanka’s is a case of gender disparity, the end result is the same: drastically different narratives.
The future everyone is protesting for
However, this cannot continue if we are to continue protesting for a different future. “If [harassment] is happening, it needs to be addressed. If someone sees something happening, it must be called out at that moment,” Kris stated. “I personally think that if not, these matters will only discredit the movement.”
“Why are we out here suffering through hardship to protest and aid the struggle if we’re not going to see a change for us?” Vasi questioned, with Saritha also agreeing, saying, “How much can someone feel represented in a people’s struggle where you constantly get harassed?”
“I don’t think there’s a short-term solution for this,” she added. “However, the struggle itself continues, and the fact that more and more people are now willing to have these conversations is a good step. I can’t say that this is a solution, but it’s a good first step.”