(no title)
adeeshaek | 3 years ago
I recently saw a video where an agitator came up to a mob of mostly Sinhalese people (Sinhalese being the majority ethnic group) and said "The Muslims are coming after me with swords!" only to be told by the mob to take his racism and nationalism elsewhere. The current administration came to power on a racist and nationalistic platform, and it seems that racist and nationalist thinking is falling from grace right along with the ruling clan.
I couldn't find the video I mentioned above, so I am not able to cite it, but I can cite the following examples of more un-racist and un-nationalist behavior in Sri Lankans at present:
1. In the following article, you can see posters of murdered Tamil journalists (Tamil being the second biggest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, which historically had a great deal of ethnic conflict with the Sinhalese) being displayed right alongside pictures of murdered Sinhalese journalists - https://groundviews.org/2022/05/13/challenging-impunity-for-... . To me, this is groundbreaking - for a very long time, Sinhalese Sri Lankans would dismiss any atrocities against the Tamils out of hand. As part of the current protests against the president of Sri Lanka, I've heard more and more stories of atrocities performed against Tamils being discussed and elevated by Sinhalese people, and that is a powerful sign of positive change.
2. Sri Lankans are also becoming more open to LGBTQ people - in the past, Sri Lanka has been incredibly conservative, and profoundly dismissive and marginalizing of everyone who is not straight and cis. However, there was more openness and acceptance of LGBTQ folks during the protests against the president, and Sri Lankans even celebrated pride: https://www.themorning.lk/pride-in-colombo-past-present-and-...
Having said this, Sri Lanka is in a very tough spot indeed - being more open-minded and progressive is cold comfort when you are eating just one meal a day, or sleeping in your car while in line for fuel.
No comments yet.