Aragalists’ proposals for ‘System Change’

Although there is much talk of “system change”, it is hard to find specifics of the new systems that are to be created. In the early seventies, Mahinda Wijesekera, the father of the present Minister for Power, was a student leader of the Vidyodaya University. As a key figure of the JVP, he told me that they are fighting for a “system change”. My critique of their plans got reported by Viranga (Nihal Ratnayake) in the Daily News. The campus faced student strikes with the demand that I withdraw my critique, considered reactionary and insulting. The five lessons of the JVP sufficed for the young revolutionaries to fall behind Wijeweera and cause mayhem.

Pathum Kerner, one of the Aragalists out on bail, is a medical doctor, in his forties. He contested the 2020 general elections as the leader of an unofficial Green political party, rejecting the existing corrupt political parties. More recently, his approach to “system change” was presented in a YouTube presentation.

The rural farmers began the initial protests. They faced Gotabaya’s ban on agrochemicals that drastically reduced harvests and brought them to bankruptcy. The eco-extremists of the Viyathmaga, who triggered the ban, believed that traditional agriculture and organic farming were “healthier” and equally bountiful. “Going organic” was the SYSTEM CHANGE that the eco-extremists had wanted. That the “present methods of food production are unsustainable”, and that “a different system” is needed, seems reasonable and has acceptance among the elite, among politicians, and even among many scientists who gloss over the realities of feeding a world of 7-8 billion people. Many people regard the switch to organics as an objective that “should be achieved gradually”. Pathum Kerner would have endorsed this policy in July 2020. The JVP also seems to support going “fully organic” gradually.

The present writer has argued (in many publications) that even the “gradual approach” is meaningful only if we let half the world population starve. Growing organic food for a niche market of elites and for export, while retaining fertiliser-based agriculture for feeding the world, is the only scientifically valid model of agriculture that we have today. Modern approaches to agriculture using agrochemicals are far friendlier to the environment than “organic” models of agriculture.

The Yahapalanites under Sirisena, Ven. Ratana, Champika Ranawaka and others pushed to ban the pesticide Glyphosate, destroying the corn harvest and critically damaging the plantation sector. This was not lesson enough for the eco-extremists of the Viyathmaga who influenced Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The protests of farmers were soon overtaken by the protests of the middle class, facing shortages of natural gas for cooking and fuel caused by the forex crisis that was expected in the wake of the pandemic. The Aragalaya gathering at Colombo’s Galle Face Green, fueled by the forex crises, swelled, demanding Gotabaya’s resignation to make a radical “system change”. It was not only a protest, but also a cultural carnival displaying a spontaneous creativity and gaiety nourished by the inputs of the leisured classes of Colombo. I was reminded of the “fête de l’Humanité” that the French Communist party newspaper has held every September in Paris, since the 1930s, showcasing its many famous literary and artistic adherents. The Aragalaya sent President Gotabaya into exile on 10 July but the goons of the government and the violent side of the Aragala got exposed in the process.

Although Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) bemoaned the destruction of his valuable collection art, books and Buddhist sculptures in his house, he had no thoughts of preserving for posterity the spontaneous art of the Aragalaya. The public has clearly expressed its opposition to violence and counter-violence, destruction of MPs’ houses and ignored the August 9th Aragalaya call to regroup.

Gotabaya called several leaders to ride the cusp of the crisis, but it was RW who captured the wave and shot up to become the new President. The Aragalaya and the public had rejected all political parties, corrupt to the core, and asked for a clean break. In contrast, the party leaders and political commentators have called for an “all-party interim government (APIG)”. This did not happen even under daily suicide attacks by the LTTE, and so, how can cantankerous politicians come together heeding a largely peaceful Aragalaya? An election under an APIG would have returned the same politicians, conferring them a false façade of legitimacy. The best option is indeed to carry on with RW and a skeleton government. But what corrupt skeletons did RW gather? Why was it necessary for RW to appoint individuals with criminal records, men suspected of blatant bribery etc. to his Cabinet? One of the reasons given by Premadasa against joining the government is the continuing stench of corruption in the RW government.

The Island