Hope youre staying safe in all the chaos! Just out of interest, what are your opinions on tourism to sri lanka at the moment?
I am quite safe, been parked at home well away from the capital. š Tourists are 100% safe to come here, or at least as safe as any other South Asian country would be. Coming here would be a huge help to the economy actually, and people would probably bend over backwards for tourists because it's one of our arterial industries and it's all but dead in the water right now.
The protests have so far been peaceful, and foreigners have even pitched in for some of them, especially at Gotagogama. šThe violence has come purely from state enforcers, and even they think twice about harrassing a foreign national. Situations only get out of hand and result in casualties when the cops keep escalating their attacks, because it's second nature for protestors by now to head towards a clash rather than away from it. The people erupted into violence exactly one day in May, and even then the riots targeted only government MPs and their assorted enforcers. No one else was harmed. And yes, we're as flabbergasted about that as anyone.
The thing about the Aragalaya (the People's Struggle, a purely groundswell movement all over the island, dedicated to ousting the Rajapaksas) is that we're very, very clear on what we want, which is the Rajapaksas and their cronies out and the current government dissolved. Because there are so many disparate groups and factions involved, whenever one starts picking a sidequest, the others step in like "what're you doing, you're putting all of us in danger". The Aragalaya also has many middle class urbanites and moderates in the mix, whose socioeconomic privileges shield the others from the kind of police brutality the poorer ones would receive. The price of that otoh, is staying "respectable" and proving that they're aligning themselves with people exercising their democratic rights and not unpredictable rabble-rousers.
Some of us have actually been talking about "protest tourism" in a jokey but semi-serious fashion, because the Aragalaya is so wonderful and unprecedented. Gotagogama (Gota Go Village) sprung up as an encampment that grew to an organic anarchist community, subsisting entirely on mutual aid and refusing gifts of money. I haven't been able to visit it myself because I'm not well enough to travel so far and be among a high-energy crowd, but I have never seen the disability community this visible or represented anywhere before. People in wheelchairs, disabled soldiers, Deaf and Blind people and their interpreters and guides, people with physical and facial differences of every race, class and gender. Also, LGBT people with rainbow flags flying high over the heads of Catholic nuns distributing food, imams leading prayers, Buddhist monks chanting pirith. Performance art, dances, musical shows, and paintings and sculptures of so many different traditions hung all around. "Unity" is a cosmetic concept for me, that spackles over unhealed hurts, conflicts and sins. But Gotagogama is the very definition of co-existence; people with drastically different values and worldviews who can live next to each other in a co-operative community just because there is no hierarchical power to exploit against one another. This is replicated in smaller scale in the GGG satellite communities in Kandy and other protest villages in the South. It's an extraordinary thing to witness an entire nation rising up against a common oppressor in such a peaceful fashion. It's rather terrible that I have never been able to see any of these in person except through a phone screen, due to lack of health, money and transport.
Which brings me to the actual sticking point - lack of fuel. Everyone is hoping and praying that the caretaker government we're waiting on will be able to negotiate some loans and aid relief to ease the fuel crisis in the coming weeks, but right now nobody outside Colombo can find a cab for love or money, the fuel queues are miles and days long. People are trying to work from home as much as possible, the few buses still running are packed, and it's a struggle to even get in deliveries on time. I've been stuck at home for two whole weeks. The hotels would keep you well supplied with food and essentials, but the cost of living is currently around 50% from where it was a few months ago, and the country is hurting for dollars, so it might not be the budget destination of your dreams. Otoh, 1 USD could buy someone a whole meal, and 1 in 2 children are in a state of health emergency, so I am unapologetically asking people to see this as an opportunity for poverty tourism. If you can help feed a child or give someone money for their meds, then I don't give a shit if you want to see how the poors live or starving children photos you want to take. Make this your Good Samaritan Summer or something.
The only people I don't want to come here are anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. We have a robust culture of masking and vaccinating here because nobody has thought of dying of plague to own the liberals (yet, god forbid), and our vaccination drives have always been a point of national pride. But we're still way short of the vaccination targets, and masking has regrettably fallen by the wayside during the protests, the cases are spiking again and masking is non-negotiable for places of business like hotels. If you try to sneak into this country full of vulnerable malnourished people and a public health sector teetering on the verge of collapse by forging your vaccination papers, I will personally feed you to the crocodiles in Diyawanna Oya.
TL:Dr: please come, nobody's hurting foreigners, you're quite safe as long as you listen to the locals, we need your dollars desperately so choosing to come here for your tropical holiday fun is also a Good Samaritan act, transport will be an issue so don't plan to travel a lot though, and for the love of God, vaccinate yourself and mask up. ā¤ļø
