You messed with the wrong generation

By crushing the Aragalaya, we are failing our youth

by Angeline Ondaatjie

It’s a universal truth: we empower, educate, and nurture the youth because they are our future. Parents spend their savings and the best of their lives disproportionately to fulfil this duty. Similarly, corporates allocate huge budgets to harness and train the best young minds to think critically and to challenge.

I’m reminded of this every day as an educational counsellor to a leading international university, where I coach and evaluate applicants for their hungry, drive to make the world better, “wholesome goodness” and ability to succeed in a holistic manner. It’s a volunteer position, but in reality it’s one in which I gain more than I give.  Each time I interview a student I leave humbled, inspired and educated. Their fountain of energy, humility, and pure desire to make a difference is unparalleled.

During the early months of the 2022 economic crisis, the youth spearheaded protests at Gotagogama (GGG) Galle Face following the steps of farmers, neighbourhoods in Colombo, around Sri Lanka, and the world. Many of us were drawn to their “Aragalaya” because they were unspoiled, determined and driven to see a country free of corruption, racial and ethnic divide. A country where meritocracy is rewarded over privilege and political connection.

On my visits to the GGG camp I met bright young students from every level of local and international education, lecturers, professors, engineers, educationalists, who united to demand change and reform. I recognised many of the qualities that I was trained to identify when evaluating talented youth: remarkable energy and sharpened moral compass, qualities that are sorely lacking in our political and corporate hierarchy.

Among them were Sri Lankans from leading colleges and professional pursuits from around the world, who chose to devote themselves to this remarkable movement. They grasped the opportunity to steer a country broken by decades of ethno-racial divide and institutionalised corruption. They were savvy, witty and fearless, using both raw efforts and technology in the brightest ways to propel change.

They created a solar power station to sustain protests around the clock during a fuel crisis, a multilingual library to share ideas between peers, and an art camp to foster communication through mediums that convey what words could not. The free and inclusive space they enabled for open discourse in both national languages, and through artistic and creative expression, is a monumental achievement for peaceful dissent.

During the early weeks of the Aragalaya in April, corporates, religious groups, civil and legal societies supported the movement openly. Both parents and corporates encouraged the exercise of democratic rights and took the opportunity to provide donations of food, water, medicine and camping equipment to display their social responsibility. Supporting the movement was deemed mainstream, and thereby acceptable, both in Colombo elite living rooms and corporate boardrooms.

On May 9, 2022, the Aragalaya was brutally attacked by pro-government mobs and the camp at Galle Face was partially destroyed. Only momentarily fettered, the fearless youth returned stronger and were determined to carry out the struggle to forge change.  The movement continued to be maligned and the worst of the state oppression happened after July 9 when the “new government” openly cracked down on students and key Gotagogama activists. Leaders who have used nationalism and a religious chauvinist agenda to gain power since our Independence, feared the youthful clarity of inclusive change and branded it “terrorist ideology”.

Violent acts on peaceful protestors have been largely ignored by the authorities, while the Public Property Act has been selectively used to “nail and frame” those they want punished. Students, bloggers and activists have been arrested multiple times while the leaders of the student’s movement have been isolated under the draconian PTA Act.

The democratic act of “peaceful protest” has been criminalized and protests have been branded as the new form of “terrorism”. In a fast deteriorating landscape for freedom of expression, police charge sheets have been issued for car horns tooting “Kaputu Kaak”, peaceful bike rallies have been stopped by invoking the emergency law (even though said law has already lapsed) and people have even been prevented from walking with the national flag.

In this tragic reversal of justice, the most disturbing silence is from the corporates, the chambers of commerce, and civil societies, as the combined call for change, a national reboot, has gone mute.  Many of the students whom I interacted with at GGG have already left for lives overseas, while others have lost their livelihoods as the corporates no longer tolerate their activism. The data is out: the brightest of our doctors, nurses, engineers, IT personnel, innovators, entrepreneurs and students have chosen to leave the country, and in all likelihood, are lost from our workforce forever.

Why do corporates bragging about “Corporate Social Responsibility” shirk their responsibilities to protect the youth? “We need economic stability”, “be positive” and “patriotism” are some euphemisms used to maintain the status quo.  Do we not realise that the investment we make both in the public and private sector to educate, train and harness talent is now lost forever to foreign countries?  Haven’t we learnt that the biggest loss of post-colonial Ceylon of the 20th century was of human resource, when the Burghers, the Tamils, the Malays, the Muslims and the wealth of diversity of Sri Lanka were forced into migration or became refugees?

We are truly complicit if we sit in silence in the complacency of “a sense of normalcy” and watch the great loss of the brightest of our youth. Those capable of steering us out of our lowest times, our moral army. If the true measure of success is wisdom, not just monetary gain, a migration that is sieved by meritocracy will result in a bankruptcy with no bailout. If we don’t act now, defend and speak up for our children, we will be left with a generation forced to thrive in a cankerous, despondent society that rewards corruption over merit, and perpetuates a system that is rotten to the core.