By Raju Prabath Lankaloka
Gotabhaya Rajapakse had to flee both his official residence and the office on July 9, re-confirming that even a dictatorial frenzy ruler would have to bend his knees to the power of the people. All three places, namely the President’s official residence, the President’s Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s official residence, which were impossible to penetrate due to their heavy security, were taken under the control of the people within a concise time.
Gotabaya’s name was added to the long list of cynics who retreated from power in the face of mass protests, including Marcos in the Philippines, Pinochet in Chile, the Shah of Iran, and Ben Ali in Tunisia. As of this writing, it has been confirmed that he has left the country for the Maldives. Even at the very end, he had used an air force aircraft maintained with public money to flee the country by abusing the power.
The people’s struggle achieved this success with the great sacrifices made by the people. Millions of people contributed to the struggle that spread across Sri Lanka for months intending to end the treacherous and reactionary rule. Among them, about ten militants died, and hundreds of other fighters were injured. We express our solidarity and fraternal gratitude to all of them.
People have joined the protests and done those sacrifices not just to overthrow a government and bring another similar capitalist regime to power. On July 9 and after that, it was very clear how much people hated such parties who opportunistically sought advantages to come back to power. What people want is to change this system entirely which is dragging the people into the abyss. People are fed up with the current system. They have a great desire to get rid of this system.
However, the things happening now show otherwise.
By now, the UPFA has split into several groups. Rajapakse supporters have preferred to go ahead with Ranil Wickremesinghe for their protection. For that, they will try to hang on to the clauses of the existing constitution. This is why we continued to say that we should not be trapped within the existing constitutional frameworks to find solutions to the crisis. Especially in the mids of a crisis like this, when it is clear that the existing constitutional framework has strongly contributed to the crisis, there is no possibility of finding solutions by being confining within the same constitution that led to the crisis. No matter what manoeuvres Rajapakse supporters use, Ranil Wickramasinghe will also have to leave in the face of public opposition.
Even if the Rajapaksas and their closest protector Ranil Wickramasinghe are removed, the proposed administrations termed as interim, all-party, etc. will continue the existing system using the same crooks, just by changing faces. It is clear that America, Western imperialist countries and India are working behind the scenes to establish this type of administration. That was the aim of the proposals presented by the Bar Association from the beginning.
Any government formed in this way will not have any ability to provide solutions to the problems faced by the people, such as shortage of goods, hyperinflation, loss of jobs, indebtedness of the country, depletion of foreign reserves etc. yet, a temporary change in governance generates hopes among the people and the purpose of such governance will be to keep the people away from the struggle.
On the other hand, any regime established in this way will not have political consensus within itself and surely become the regimes that will be plagued by internal conflicts and exacerbate the crisis from its inception. The coming period will be a period of conspiracies and counter-conspiracies carried out to establish the control of the capitalist class, that is slipping away at this moment. It is essential to mobilise the working class to defeat those conspiracies and counter-conspiracies.
We have always said that the current system of governance is not a system that addresses the needs of the people, looks into their requirements and provides solutions to them. This system was established based on the needs of imperialism, to build a political environment to implement the neoliberal program within the country. Today, it is clear what that economic program has achieved for the people. As long as this system is in place, this disaster will continue irrespective of the change of faces.
As the current constitution was created to carry out this disastrous economic program, the abolition of the institutional structure, including the Executive President and the Parliament created by this constitution is a need of the hour. For that purpose, establishing workers’ committees, farmers’ and fishermen’s committees at the local level, people’s councils at the regional level and building a people’s government, which is made up of elected representatives of those councils have become one of the main requirements for solving the problems, the country is facing.
The time has come to form people’s committees and actively intervene in the functions of maintaining the people’s life, without being baffled by the manipulations that are going to be taken by the crooks To preserve the existing system.
It is indisputable that the ousting of the Rajapaksa is a huge victory for the people. But that’s just the beginning. The unfolding of any successful revolution begins with the removal of the reactionary leadership. This can also be seen in the Russian Revolution. Although the rule of the Tsar ended in February 1917, the revolution dragged on until October 1917, when Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks came to power. By now the Rajapakshas have been kicked out one after the other. Ranil Wickramasinghe, the Rajapaksa’s protector, should also be gone with them. That is when the mass struggle finds its true spirit. Only by then, the people will move forward to change the system by defeating the various manipulations brought to maintain this system.
