Keeping The Risen-Up Electorate Awake; An Imperative!

By Mohamed Harees –JUNE 12, 2022

Lukman Harees

In a ‘dog-eat-dog’ society where ‘the market’ is idolized as the ‘supreme natural law,’ greed, and not collective happiness, makes people cooperate, especially the politicians, businessmen and vested interests who amass wealth at the expense of the common good.  As opportunities for larger numbers of people to participate in deciding their ‘collective wellbeing,’ falls into the hands of a few, a nation obviously falls into a catastrophic phase, to a great extent due to the cumulative result of lack of a participatory political culture and widening social inequities. Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, described the horror of the authoritarian regime of Gilead. In this theocracy, self-preservation was the best people could hope for, being powerless to kick against the system. But her sequel, The Testaments, raises the possibility that individuals, with suitable luck, bravery and cleverness, can fight back.

The rulers’ notion of ‘the common good’ and that of the majority of the populace always happened to be is in constant conflict ever since Sri Lanka gained Independence; however people mostly adopted a slavish attitude to politics and blind loyalty to party politics. However, for the first time in its Post-Independence history, an awakened electorate realized the folly of seven decades of their slumber and apathy to the doings and un-doings of their elected representatives, and Sri Lanka witnessed a historic turning point. The youth in particular and people in general rose up with a rallying cry via an Aragalaya, calling for a total revamp of politics and seeking to create a cleaner political culture responsible to their electorate. The hypocrisy of the concept of democratic process being the ultimate panacea for all political and social issues was exposed, when people realised that their elected representatives were exploiting it for personal gains. The sovereignty of the people became a mere mockery. Reference to ‘Rajapaksas’ became a synonym of such mockery and corrupt politics in recent history.

If there is one clear victory of the Aragalaya to highlight , it is the emergence of an awakened electorate calling for real change, shunning all racial or religious divides the cunning rulers have imposed to gain or stay in power. There is more sense coming out from the streets, than from the aimless debates in parliament. Both the elected Executive and the Legislature have failed their mandate a thousand times. Those in the Aragalaya better represent the interest of the people of this country than the rulers who have brought the nation down to its knees. One beautiful country being known for the wrong reasons in the modern context, has been burning in one form or another since the British left its shores. Thus, a real awakening is rising in Sri Lanka, and there are evidence to that effect now, two years after a power hungry, ethno-religious majoritarianism group acquired power at the total expense of the others, with the people realizing the futility of the ‘otherness’. The pendulum has well and truly swung from ‘Rajapaksas, who like an octopus, held on to every aspect of public life in Sri Lanka, once seen as saviours; to ‘Rajapaksas now seen as traitors who ruined this country’! What a historic irony!

Popular uprisings are as old as history. In classical Greece, “revolutions” were considered a normal way of assuming power by differing regimes. They occurred whenever democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic regimes alternated in assuming power, and such alternation of political power often came through violence.  Revolutionary situations seem to occur when massive and rapid social, economic, and political factors reshape the people’s socio-political value systems and affect their economic welfare. It would need one or more of the main conditions such as economic development, regime type, and state ineffectiveness, to produce the onset of popular uprisings or revolution. These are variables that tend to occur suddenly and unexpectedly. The triggering factors in Sri Lanka was the ignition of a long resentment that have been boiling in the heads of the people, including chronic corruption, economic/ fiscal crisis, acute social injustice and rising prices. Both the classes of human rights scheduled in the Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) namely political/civil as well as social/economic rights have been grossly violated by the Rajapakse led ruling class in Sri Lanka.

In some ways this is a dark time for human rights. Unaccountable governments that autocratic leaders lead become prone to repression, corruption, and mismanagement. Yet while the autocrats and rights abusers may capture the headlines, the defenders of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law are also gaining strength. The same populists who are spreading hatred and intolerance are spawning a resistance that keeps winning its share of battles. Victory in any given case is never assured, but it has occurred often enough in the past year to suggest that the excesses of autocratic rule are fuelling a powerful counterattack. The non-partisan Aragalaya initiated by a victimised electorate should be viewed in this light. Unlike traditional dictators, today’s would-be autocrats typically emerge from democratic settings. Rajapaksas pursued a two-step strategy for undermining democracy: first, scapegoat and demonize vulnerable minorities to build popular support; then, weaken the checks and balances on government power needed to preserve human rights and the rule of law, such as an independent judiciary, a free media, and vigorous civic groups. Even the world’s established democracies have shown themselves vulnerable to this demagoguery and manipulation. Sri Lanka is a live example.

This is not a predicament exclusive to our time. Global history can point us in the direction of those who felt exactly the same. Ordinary people who, constrained by injustice, took action to challenge those who held the power. People who are being duped by their leaders should consider that it is their right, and moral obligation, to protest over unjust political, economic or social conditions. Many of the rights people take for granted came about as a result of protest—human rights, women’s rights, the rights of workers. It has always been a struggle to bring about change, but it can be achieved.

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