Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans are going through a very inspiring few days at present. Yes, we are protesting because of an unprecedented economic crisis brought about by years of mismanagement, abuse of power, and wanton debt commitment, but we are also more united than we have ever been, at least in the last few years.
The rallying cry of the people is “#GoHomeGota”. As a hashtag it has become ubiquitous, as have other slogans like “Enough is Enough”, “Give Us Back Our Future”, and so on. The protests have also seen a huge engagement with our country’s youth, with social media playing a huge role than ever before in mobilising our nation’s youth to protest and demand accountability and clear, transparent solutions from the President, the Prime Minister, and the Cabinet.
Along with that engagement (and not just among youth, to be honest) are cries less focused on political change and more focused on death, blood, and murder, mostly aimed at the ruling family, but also at those close to the centres of power. There are also protests calling for demonstration to the end, come what may, all of which evoke images of violence and revolution. And that begs the question, are the protests, despite being driven by noble intentions and a genuine essential need for change, glorifying violence? And what role is social media playing?
Brunch chatted with activist and communications consultant Shanuki de Alwis for her thoughts. Addressing violent behaviour being glorified, de Alwis said that, in her view, this is not the case. “It could be my algorithms, but I’ve seen a lot of people calling out violent behaviour. I think what we’re seeing is violent behaviour being captured and shared more because it is social media, and because we have such easy access to it that people see it and think it is being glorified,” she said, stressing that what she has seen is a lot of moderate voices, especially from young people, and advisories being shared on not engaging in violent behaviour, keeping an eye out for such behaviour, and taking steps to stop such behaviour, or, at the very least to avoid it.
What we are seeing and hearing about, de Alwis shared, are reports of those with vested interests infiltrating the protests and inciting violence to escalate the situation and disrupt the process to further their agendas, whatever those agendas may be. “Colombo is more or less aware of this, and people are being conscious and maintaining discipline, but people are frustrated and angry and at the end of their tether, and our political culture is such that you show hurt or show power,” she said, noting that outside Colombo has seen more violence than within Colombo and a lack of awareness on infiltrators inciting violence and similar machinations could be what contributes to this.
Another aspect of violence in protests is less direct, but still powerful – language and the use of hate speech to convey messages of frustration like “ponnaya” and “pissek” and to malign those in power.
“Ponnaya” is a slur akin to the word “faggot” which is used to insult those who are gender-diverse, transgender persons and those who are non-conforming, and especially those who show feminine gender-expression. In Sri Lanka’s political lexicon, “ponnaya” is associated with power and used to insult those who do not meet the heteropatriarchal ideology and standards of political power, and while in politics, it is used largely without sexual connotations, it does still carry with it connotations that strip dignity from gender-diverse and transgender persons.
Other forms of hate speech include “pissek” which translates directly to madman, and the irresponsible use of words like “pissek” and other words that allude to mental illness do much to strengthen the stigma around mental illnesses and mental health.
Then, of course, there are the death threats, from chants calling for the ruling family’s death, to placards with messages along the lines of “death to X”, to the threats people those from the ruling family, the ruling party, and those associated with them have received online.
“This is is a very emotional time and the hate speech is part of the emotional outbursts of the people, but we need to be very careful when using words that do harm to communities and groups of people,” de Alwis said, noting: “If we’re asking for change in this country, then this growth too is part of that change. People need to stop acting out of hate and discriminating against other people. That’s what the politicians were doing, and this is how the current regime came into power as well. Lots of education needs to happen. This is not to say ‘don’t scream or don’t shout or don’t vent out your frustration’ but to be conscious of who else you’re hurting in the process.”
So, how can we work towards protesting responsibly? The key is to remember what your goal is, de Alwis said, but to also remember that the protests currently taking place are very different from the ones we’ve seen before, and the amount of youth involved plays a part in why this is. “The whole style of protesting has changed from what I’m used to, and I have been exposed to global movements as well as been a part of creating movements as well. I have seen how youth have changed the game and what they’re doing is working, because it is the youth talking to the youth. I know that some people might be very uncomfortable with the party and baila atmosphere, and I know I am personally very uncomfortable with it because I am more conscious and aware of the real, very dark, very deep struggles of ethnic minorities, families, and rural communities are facing and in that context, it does seem like disrespecting and trivialising the issue by turning this into a party, but the atmosphere of enjoying being a part of something big, the energy of the whole song and dance, is what is bringing youth out and making them participate.”
De Alwis said it is important to let the youth define how they engage because they engage with causes and issues very differently in comparison to older generations, but what older generations need to do is guide them to have a larger understanding of what the issues are and what demands need to be made to solve these issues.
“Anger mobilises but hope organises,” de Alwis, said, quoting a phrase she first heard from a global activist that has since gone on to become a personal mantra. She noted: “Right now there is a lot of anger and frustration which is why people are mobilising, but they do not yet seem to know how to identify what the hope behind their mobilisation is.”
Clarity of purpose, at the end of the day, is what will make these protests successful, de Alwis highlighted, stressing: “We need to have a goal and a vision, and we need to stop expecting Parliament to give us that vision. Parliament needs to act on our vision; that is the point of citizenry and democracy. For this, we need the youth as well as older people who know how the system works, and we definitely need to prioritise what the youth feel about what kind of Sri Lanka they want to live in and develop that vision with unified effort to push governance to deliver that vision.”
