An unpopular president has gone into exile, a presidential palace and a prime minister’s residence have been stormed by protesters. Rebellion is written in capital letters in a fragile democracy. Sri Lanka is a glaring example of political cynicism and misrule, but also a warning of times that may – and probably will – come.
For the uprising is aimed at both corruption and an almost galloping animal time. And the war in Ukraine has also come to the island in the Indian Ocean, with price jumps on food, petrol and diesel.
THE FLIGHT: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled after his home was surrounded by angry protesters on Saturday, July 9, reports AFP. sea view
–
Just to remind you: The Arab Spring of 2011 began as a protest against rising food prices and threats of food shortages. This breathed life into at least three completely exhausting civil wars, and even more misfortune, in the Arab world.
The resigned president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka also goes by his own powerful family under the nickname “The Terminator”, the man who crushes all opposition. As he did when he was defense minister between 2005 and 2015, when he crushed the Tamil armed resistance, while his brother Mahinda was president.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is suspected of being responsible for war crimes by human rights organizations, and as many as 40,000 Tamils have been killed or disappeared in the civil war.
But now it is the opposition that has crushed the president and – perhaps – the Rajapaksa dynasty. A third brother has left the post of finance minister, while big brother Mahinda – the former president – resigned as prime minister in April.
At Gotabaya Rajapaksa In the end, having to flee did not come as a big surprise. The signs of the times have been many. The most serious thing is that the normally vegetated island is running out of food. A recently resigned prime minister – not related – has told parliament that the economy has “completely collapsed”. The World Food Organization says that every fourth inhabitant is at risk of starvation. Inflation from June last year to June this year was 80 per cent.
And it will only get worse, because many farmers now can not afford to sow. In addition, fertilizers are a critical shortage because the president on the run last year suddenly imposed a ban on the use of artificial fertilizers. This led to a dramatic decline in agricultural production, and loss of income for farmers.
The presidency is filled by a former prime minister, who has introduced a state of emergency. Without it solving anything. Sri Lanka is the unruly island that could be a bad omen for other ungovernable countries at a time when the consequences of the war in Ukraine are becoming a magnifying glass of world misery.
