Towards a Republic of humanity free of hunger, war and killing!

Following is a statement by 52% Force – a women’s movement committed to building a new political culture founded on justice, accountability and equality:

The attack on 21 April which claimed the lives of over 250 and injured a large number, caused fear in the entire society. Despite having received information about an attack and having the ability to protect those lives, the fact that the State was unable to ensure and guarantee the people’s safety shows its nudity and failure. 

The majority of those in the Government and the Opposition knew about this attack. Muslim leaders had provided information on those behind the attack to former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2014 and present State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene in 2015. The primary responsibility of the State is to provide protection to its citizens. What is the use of a Government, an Opposition and security institutions which carelessly absconded on this main responsibility?

The tragic situation we saw arise after the 21 April attack was the spread of racist riots against the Muslim community, several weeks after the attack, in various parts of the country. How did extremist groups get the opportunity to cause damage to Muslim shops and lives during curfew? This is the matter, which, we as the people, should think about.   At the same time, another aspect that should be paid attention to, is the fact that the Government is using the present situation to gain undue advantage, whereby it is exploiting this state of affairs, to drag the society towards the direction of militarisation. While emergency laws have been imposed, the Government is using this opportunity to attempt to enact oppressive laws such as the disgraceful and infamous Counter Terrorism Bill which forces acting on behalf of democracy strongly oppose. 

History shows us plenty of examples to the fact that the normalisation of having the military intervene to provide civil security as opposed to the Police and thereby establishing the oppressive abilities of the State, is not for the mental wellbeing of the majority of the people.  

While State failure was thus becoming evident, the majority of the mass media acted in an irresponsible manner in the face of this issue. Instead of dousing the flames, they acted to further impose the hand of social terror towards the daily lives of the majority of Muslims. By irresponsibly presenting the weapons discovered by the security forces, they created fear in the society and acted to further divide the society. 

Also, banning in the name of national security, the burqa worn by Muslim females, was done as if it was the only solution for all of this. Actually, the discourse that resulted showed the oppressive and harmful patriarchal system within the State apparatus and institutionalised religious institutions. 

In the backdrop of all of this, when we look at the Government’s intervention, what we can see is that, in the name of preventing terrorism, the Government is taking measures to further open up the country for Western economic and political needs and to expedite the process. Also, the oppression of the people will be done through the privatisation projects that are being commenced. Therefore, we have to intervene to create a new socio-political view to change State and religious terror, and social oppression. 

Our proposal is for a form of politics which directs towards a State of humanity sans hunger, war and killing. It is our belief that we as females should organise in this regard and engage in politics to achieve such.