Let’s take back our nation before it perishes

I think there has been a major misunderstanding of the Aragalaya, either purposefully or accidently as there was no official strategic department to define a single roadmap or promotional department to communicate the roadmap or the lack of it. Aragalaya was born naturally to express the displeasure of the general public who could not stand the failures of the government that directly impacted their livelihoods. 

As the robber barons Rajapaksas headed by Gota became the chosen culprits, Aragalaya focused on throwing out Gota first, which attracted the entire nation for the single cause. The narrow focus of the cause was so sharp and powerful, it not only attracted average citizens from different segments who had faced hardship, it also attracted political goons from almost all political parties (cults) to gain their political mileage. Yes, they should have been kicked out but it was a time of crisis. Fortunately, they all learnt to live and share resources in harmony until the buffoons in the Government tweaked the Aragalaya folks with thuggery and pushed the peacefulness of the Aragalaya to a different level. 

While the original non-violent people remained peaceful, youth representing political parties couldn’t stand against the government sponsored thuggery and they retaliated, resulting in Gota running away through the backdoor. Therefore, we should all be thankful for that. But the core theme of the Aragalaya which was brewing at its centre still remains the same: demand a ‘system change’ as many people for the first time in Sri Lanka realised that it is the upside down of governance that is the root cause which resulted in the failure to serve and protect the people for seven decades. Therefore, Aragalaya should be continued peacefully as non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of humankind. 

Instead of generalising and banishing the Aragalaya folks lock, stock and barrel or arresting the peaceful protestors, we need to help them define new goals and a way forward. Phase 2 of the Aragalaya needs to become our ‘Pro Democracy Civil Rights Movement’ without any influence of the established political goons, so it can remain as an independent people’s movement. If the political youth wish to become independent, they should be included in the movement as it is independent ideas that matter in a social movement while ensuring the focus remains untarnished. 

As a testament to the revolutionary power of nonviolence, Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King, Jr., who argued that the Gandhian philosophy was “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom, let’s practice what has proven to work. We are oppressed, because we can only observe while the ship we are in is sinking and we are helpless even when we know what needs to be done. 

Therefore, with an objective to take back our nation from sliding to an abyss, we will need to protect, defend and strengthen the ideals, values and goals of democracy for all as anything lesser will only destroy what is left in our nation. Therefore, this is a call for like-minded citizens to come together to determine how we could transform our nation to protect and serve its citizens away from protecting only the political, commercial and religious elites. Hence, we must replace the current structure serving the crony and powerful, designed to ensure the welfare and happiness only of 225+1 and their blind loyalists. 

As such, we need to come together with a union of citizens under an independent representation, operating on a new constitution of the people, by the people and for the people that can protect all people as equal citizens, To achieve this, we need to be honest about who stands in our way and embrace a shared set of values to strengthen the rights and responsibilities of all the citizens to grant social, political and economic freedoms to all under a common set of laws.

The reaction by those in power will be and will continue to further reinforce the same politics that brought us to this mess. Power has been incrementally concentrated and increased to a degree of unlimited powers and hijacked by political cults and lately by a set of families while people have been divided to make solidarity extinct. Today, the vast majority of people are finding it difficult to feed their children, while the politicians are debating what piece of the carcass they could steal or rebuild their houses as the nation is dragged into an abyss of fascism and extreme poverty. Very soon, they will apply authoritarian and often dictatorial policies while denouncing and exercising the values in liberalism to safeguard their powers.

All the political elites can do is to cover their failures with lies and tricks. This is understandable: they see their survival is at risk, and they will withdraw and defend themselves with everything they’ve got. Recently the 225 went as far as appointing a President with no will of the people to protect them from the people and the laws. Hence, whether it’s red, white, blue or green, we cannot expect the solution to come from the political sharks and the yellow and industrial pets that have prioritised their own gains over the wellbeing of the people for too long. We must now unite under a common vision to protect and serve all its people by first recognising the current limitations in our social, political and economic systems in order to build a new order of inclusive solidarity.

Times of great crisis are also times of great opportunities, if we can only recognise the root causes without being misled by the prevailing religious, ethnic and political cults and have the will to change. We need to realise that the current economic turmoil was only a symptom of an aged political dysfunctional system where the rules were tilted to favour a handful of elites while they used ethnicity and religion to create social divisions to make people insecure and keep people away from the real issues. That is why we now need to come together in order to take back our country. Abandoning our collectiveness and returning to separate tribal entities should not be an option as we all need to feel the pain of our siblings and believe that the same atrocities could one day come back to haunt each one of us. The coronavirus health crises have proven what we already knew: real solutions for the many, not the few, can only be realised when we join forces among all people independent of language, caste, gender, political opinion, race, religion, adopted superiority/inferiority groups or borders we have built to survive within an ever increasing insecure environment.

Obviously, we cannot turn seven decades of decay overnight or by any individual among the established politicians who promises to be our saviour rather than by the people ourselves. We need to put our collective minds together to develop a shared, ethical, moral and legal vision and a set of values as our common foundation. Only then, we can start to build the pillars of rule of law, limited self-government with necessary checks and balances for self-determination, so we can prioritise investing in the people rather than on the elite power. 

In such a newly fertile landscape with well protected institutions, there will be enough new leaders who will be born we are yet to see in this blessed land of ours. Since the non-violent Aragalaya opened the eyes of many anesthetised citizens, it is now the opportunity as the people have finally realised that the country needs to be overhauled if the general citizenry needs to become Number One. It is our opportune moment to fill this unique void and thanks to the awareness created by the Aragalaya youth. Hence, we should now embark upon phase 2 of the Aragalaya to champion our Pro Democratic Civil Rights Movement. 

Our purpose should be to take back the nation we deserve before it can perish. Our goals should be to build the nation from ground up inclusively to enable, protect and serve all citizens. Our strategy should be to build a new social structure with humanity at the centre as an inclusive society based on a shared set of values and a commitment to uphold the fundamental human rights and rule of law where all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of humanity. It is a society in which all members, regardless of their backgrounds, are able and motivated to participate in civic, social, economic and political activities which can give rise to a new civilisation. 

For this to happen, legal, regulatory and policy frameworks must be inclusive, so that equal access to basic education, public space, facilities and information are ensured, and diversity and cultural pluralism are respected and accommodated. Tactically, we should coordinate our efforts across the country to unite like-minded citizens and create enough momentum. We must act quickly, before it is too late. 

(Please share your thoughts ([email protected]), positive or negative as our new nation should be built on new ideas, thoughts, aspirations and solutions we can bring forward as we need to take back the nation we all deserve.)