The Sri Lankan Crisis and The Power of Public Protests.
Posted on : August 10, 2022Author : Ankita Sen
ABSTRACT –The island nation of Sri Lanka is currently experiencing an ongoing economic crisis that began in 2019. Since its independence in 1948, this country is witnessing its worst economic crisis. Almost complete depletion of foreign exchange reserves, shortages of medical supplies, and a spike in the cost of basic goods have brought heavy mass protests across the nation. The pressure of mass protest prompted Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign as prime minister in May 2022. This brings us to question the future of this island nation and its role in the changing Asian politics. The situation also highlights the power of public protest and the role of citizens in the positive functioning of a government. Thus, this article will discuss the Sri Lankan Crisis, its unsteady future, and the power of public protest.
Sri Lanka’s ongoing crisis needs global attention and not just because of its economy but its humanitarian crisis as well. It all started with a two-day protest on April 9 where people camped in front of PresidentMr. Rajapaksa’s office. Heavy violence broke out as resentment towards his way of handling a worsening economic crisis in the island country of 22 million people. Due to a serious lack of foreign currency, Rajapaksa’s administration was unable to purchase fuel and other necessary imports, which resulted in crippling power outages that last up to 13 hours.
Debts have accumulated. Sri Lanka owes over $50 billion to multilateral organizations, foreign governments, and commercial creditors. It stopped making payments in May, becoming the first Asian sovereign borrower to do so since 1999. It is facing the most complex sovereign debt restructuring in recent memory. Other emerging economies that gorged on debt during the pandemic will be watching this process closely. According to the IMF, 38 developing countries are in or near debt distress. Concerns have been expressed by observers about Pakistan, Ghana, and other countries.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remarked, “Countries with high debt levels and limited policy space will face additional strains. Look no further than Sri Lanka as a warning sign”.
In late 2019, newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa implemented populist tax cuts, reducing revenues just months before the pandemic devastated the economy, causing international flights to be grounded and successive lockdowns to be ordered. Remittances from overseas Sri Lankan workers had dried up, and many people have lost their jobs, causing unrest among them, mostly from the middle and lower class. Despite receiving credit lines from neighbours such as India, Sri Lanka was unable to pay for imports of fuel and essential foods regularly, resulting in starvation.
The government owes $51 billion and is unable to pay its debts, let alone make interest payments on its loans. Until 2018, tourism was the only active and consistent contributor to the Sri Lankan economy. However, in 2019, that sector suffered a major setback as a result of the horrifying Easter bomb blasts in Colombo, which killed more than 250 people. The impact on the Sri Lankan economy was immediate and shocking. There was a 20% decrease in tourist income, which harmed foreign exchange reserves. From 2016 to 2019, the country followed the IMF’s suggestions and gained some currency back, but the GDP continued its downfall. The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major blow to the nation’s foreign trade. Countries closed their borders, and people’s movement came to a halt. Export demand, particularly for Sri Lankan products, fell as well.
The Rajapaksa administration’s proposal to outlaw all chemical fertilizers starting in 2021, a decision that was later overturned, adversely affected the country’s agricultural industry and caused a decline in the crucial rice crop. Farmers were caught off guard by the sudden push for organic farming, which devastated rice crops which were their chief food grain, and raised prices. The importation of other goods perceived to be luxuries was also prohibited to conserve foreign currency. Indeed, the idea of organic farming was not bad, although the timing of its implementation was wrong. When the nation faced such a crisis, the government’s foremost priority should have been safeguarding its agricultural sector. In the meantime, rising food and gasoline prices were also a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
Amid this situation, China got the chance to keep the economy of this island nation hostage, served on a silver platter. The Hambantota and Colombo Port City, both of which have been leased to China for 99 years, may appear to be a source to boost employment and trade, but they were always a means of gaining political and security leverage against India, as well as protecting its interests in the Indian Ocean Rim, through which the majority of China’s energy movement occurs. It is one of China’s important checkpoints in the theory of the string of pearls over the Indian Ocean. It is now Sri Lanka’s second-largest lender. By 2019, it had accumulated more than 10% of Sri Lanka’s outstanding foreign debt. Despite its adversarial geographical location, China became the largest investor in Sri Lanka between 2010 and 2020, displacing India as the largest importer of Sri Lankan goods.
The situation has deteriorated as people are trying to find jobs overseas. To sustain their food, families are skipping meals to stretch their rations, as monitored by the UN World Food Program. According to experts, the crisis also had a significant impact on human rights as well. Prolonged disruptions in access to food and healthcare have had a severe impact on people with illnesses, aged people, and pregnant women who are in critical need of life support.
The poor in Sri Lanka have suffered the most as a result of the country’s economic crisis. Except for the power outages, it is largely business as usual for Colombo’s elite and upper middle class. The infrequent flash of light from a posh hotel or a posh apartment building breaks through the dark streets of the capital as lights have been turned off to save electricity.
Protests, historically,have always inspired positive social change and the advancement of human rights. They strengthen representative democracy by allowing citizens to participate directly in public affairs. It gives individuals and groups the power to express their dissatisfaction and grievances, share their perspectives and opinions, expose flaws in governance, publicly demand authorities and other powerful entities to rectify their problems, and hold themselves accountable for their actions. In other words, it can be described as the most powerful form of a pressure group. Throughout history,many such protests were carried out that changed the shape of nations, for they became the path of independence, whereas, for some, they were a hope towards change. One such incident was the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Moreover, parallels can be drawn between both of these incidents. The Egyptian revolution reflected people’s rage, demand for justice, and freedom from corruption. The revolution, which saw similar carnage as the Sri Lankan protest, resulted in the government’s collapse.
Public protests in Sri Lanka also showed a similar outcome proving that government can only function with the support of its citizens, and when the government loses the support and faith of its citizens, the strength of the government, no matter how powerful, crumbles under the pressure of public outbursts. When news circulated that the leader had fled the country, protesters calling for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa scaled security barriers and invaded his official mansion.
They did so while dodging tear gas and water cannons. Footage of the same has surfaced online and it looks like something out of friction that has sent shock waves across the world. Thousands of people from across the South Asian islands gathered at an oceanfront protest site near the presidential residence in Colombo, including civil-rights activists, religious leaders, and artists.
Protesters also set fire to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s private home in Colombo’s affluent suburbs. Earlier he stated that he was willing to resign to ensure the safety of civilians and to make way for an all-party government, but shortly after his announcement, videos of his house on fire began to circulate.
Omalpe Sobitha, a senior Buddhist monk at one of the main monastic orders and an outspoken critic of the government, told reporters ahead of the protest that the crisis was not the result of famine or natural disaster, but misgovernance.
That being said and done, debt relief initiatives that were launched by the G20 countries of large economies during the pandemic were intended to address unsustainable debts before they turned into crisis zones. However, Zambia, now followed by Sri Lanka, is the latest example of how those initiatives have failed. On the current note, Sri Lanka is without a solid government, with an Acting President in charge, and its only way towards stability is a solid government in the centre. It is an eye opener for other developing nations, which need to extract big loans, along with highlighting the risk of mismanagement of a country’s resources, as it can turn a nation into dust.
However, regardless of these setbacks and uncertainties, Sri Lankans have an opportunity to take advantage of this moment and forge a new vision for their country and bring positive change. They can now address structural inequalities and violence while demanding social and economic justice, political accountability, and new governance culture. Although this task will be difficult, the results will not be immediate either, but the recent developments provide hope that sustained, innovative, and inclusive citizen mobilization has the potential to transform the fate of Sri Lanka.
Ankita Sen
Intern, Asia in Global Affairs
References
- Protesters storm Sri Lanka President’s home July 9, 2022, REUTERS, AFP AND BLOOMBERG
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2342927/protesters-storm-sri-lanka-presidents-home
- UN officials in Sri Lanka calls for inclusive consultations to solve crisis, July 22, 2022, Press Trust Of India
- Sri Lanka gets new president in six-time PM Wickremesinghe, July 21, 2022, Uditha Jayasinghe, Alasdair Pal and Devjyot Ghosal
- Sri Lanka: Why is the country in an economic crisis?, July 14, AyesheaPerera, BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61028138
- Crisis in Sri Lanka a warning to other countries with high debt levels and limited policy space: IMF chief, July 18, 2022, THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
- How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port, June 25, 2018, Maria Abi-Habib
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html
- Pulsing Instantiations of a Revolution: “The City Always Wins” by Omar Robert Hamilton, August 25, 2017, Farid Farid
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