KAMALIKA PIERIS

GotaGogama was attacked on the afternoon of  May 9^th,2022 around 2.30 pm- 3 pm. Sri Lankans who were watching live television coverage of the Temple Trees meeting called by  Mahinda Rajapaksa , saw mobs carrying wooden poles and other objects trooping out of Temple Trees, immediately after Mahinda Rajapaksa had ended his speech.

 They headed to the main entrance to Temple Trees along Galle Road, went to Minagama, broke down the tents and beat up those inside them. The mobs then marched towards the Galle Face Green and attacked GotaGogama supporters there, who were wearing easily identifiable white headbands saying in black, ‘Gota Go Home.’

They were ‘mercilessly’ assaulted and the tents were burnt down, said the media. However, none of those attacked were hospitalized. Over a dozen tents were demolished. The police stood by. Later, the Police moved into action to disperse the crowds and baton charged sections of the protestors.  Armed troops also moved in around this time. Television channels and social media provided uninterrupted coverage of the attacks.   

It was like a real-life action movie, said the media.  It was like a real-life action movie because that is exactly what it was. It was a staged performance, planned well ahead.  Wooden poles and other objects had appeared when needed. Critics asked, who provided the funds and the organization for this.

Critics noted that the camp at GotaGogama was rebuilt immediately after the attack. It was rebuilt within a few hours of the attackers leaving. Television showed people arriving with new tents in the very next clip. The new GotaGogama camp was better than the earlier one observed commentators. The tents were superior. We could see that on TV. Aragalaya is the visible arm of a dark invisible anarchic movement, said Weerakkody. This quick reconstruction of the vandalized site with no show of anger aroused comment.

Jonathan Manz has an explanation. He says this is yet another    false flag operation of the USA. A False-Flag operation is a political or military act done in such a way that it appears to have been carried out by the opposite party. The history of the CIA (aka NED) is replete with False-Flag operations hatched to topple governments, initiate wars, stage coups and starve countries into submission, said Manz.

 The False-Flag operation in Colombo, that began five meters from the American Embassy on 09 May 2022, was the  start of  a US inspired coup d’état that would illegally seize political power from the legitimate government of Sri Lanka.  Mahinda Rajapakse, America’s bete noir was ousted as Prime Minister.

Manz says a group of agent provocateurs, wearing protective helmets and armed with batons, infiltrated a group of marchers showing solidarity with the former Prime Minister who had refused to agree to President Gotabaya‘s call to step-down as Prime Minister. Thereafter, the agent provocateurs began attacking protestors camping on the pavement in front of Temple Trees.

Reports suggest that the poles, backpacks and helmets used by the ‘peaceful-protestors’ were conveniently placed in restaurants and eating houses in the vicinity, for the protestors to ‘grab-and-go’ observed Manz.

The   Galle Face operation mirrored the False-Flag operation in Ukraine, continued Manz. In October 2013    US encouraged two paramilitary groups of Ukraine, Svoboda Party and Right Sektor, toestablish a protest site in the city of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The protest issue was the trade offer made by the EU, which the USA supported and Ukraine was refusing to sign. They were funded by the CIA.

These two para military groups had previously fought, under US military command, as mercenaries, in America’s invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. They had been trained by the 33^rd Infantry Brigade in Illinois.

 These two groups occupied Maidan-Square in the city and established a barricaded Zone there. They too established libraries, workshops, beauty parlours, tents, bedding, bathrooms, toilets, food outlets in this zone. TV media gave extensive coverage to activities inside the zone implying that this was how Ukraine thought, continued Manz.

On 20 Feb 2014, agent-provocateurs trained by the US in ‘urban-warfare’, armed with batons, shirts with distinct shoulder sleeve insignia and helmets, infiltrated the Square, merging with protestors. Buildings close to the protest site, controlled by ‘Right Sektor’ gangs were occupied by snipers.

At the right time the snipers fired indiscriminately at both the protestors and the government forces alike. Baton wielders also went into action. It was a blood bath. Elsewhere, mobs rampaged. Parliament was overturned. The President went into hiding. On 24 February 2014, the President was unconstitutionally removed from office and on 27th Feb, USA’s choice Yatsenyuk, USA’s nominee was unconstitutionally inducted as Prime Minister of Ukraine, concluded Manz.

GotaGoGama fell silent as soon as Mahinda Rajapaksa was removed and Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed Prime Minister. Wickremesinghe’s appointment as Prime Minister should have angered the protestors at Galle Face, but it did not.

After Ranil’s appointment there was a sudden loss of enthusiasm at Galle Face, reported the media. The campaign visibly lost momentum. Many who had camped had packed up   and left.  Private sector firms, which had serviced the protest pulled out after the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister, noted the media. A skeletal structure continued at Galle Face but there were no more demonstrations. Television news stopped featuring GotaGoGama.

Critics commented on the sudden end to the protests. They pointed out that the main demand of the GotaGogama, which was ‘Gota must go’, had not taken place.  Gotabaya had not gone, he was still there. What the protest   had achieved was   getting Mahinda Rajapaksa out. Clearly that was the purpose of this protracted exercise.

GotaGogama, which also posed as ‘Aragalaya’, was sharply criticized by the intelligentsia. One could see a comprehensive organization behind the face of spontaneity in Gotagama. The slogans they shout do not sound spontaneous but orchestrated. This is also evident in the ‘sister’ protests in the provinces. They are reading from a script, the leader as well as the chorus said Asoka Weerakkody.

Sena Thoradeniya had identified two major groups which supported the Galle Face Protesters, one local player, the other international players. He had divided the local players into 18 sub-groups and gave the characteristics of each sub-group.   I was not able to locate this essay.

Sena said that the Aragalaya leaders had nothing to say politically. They did not make any practical or strategic utterances when interviewed on TV. They could not state clearly on TV, in a convincing manner, what the Aragalaya was about, what its aims were.  Nor were they able to respond to the questions asked, he said.

Sena Thoradeniya commented on the costs.See the enormity of funds pumped to Gota Go Gama”, he said. A lot of funds seemed to be pouring in, agreed Asoka, from where, he asked.  For instance GotaGogama was providing expensive buriyani free. Who is providing the huge amount of money to provide this and why, he asked.

Sena was not impressed by GotaGogama. One of my learned friends who visited Gota Go Gama in its early days talked very highly about the structure of GGG, said Sena. He said it was a wonderful place full of disciplined youngsters; he was highly impressed by the structure presented in Gota Go Gama.

 A few weeks later, I visited GGG. I saw all the structures well set up and appealing. Legal Advisory Unit with two-three people running it, but no one seeking legal advice. The library with four or five aged males and females, chatting.

The food stall was the only place functioning at its full capacity with a long queue. One who occupied a centre of GGG said all those who joined the queue for food are not a part of the GGG rebellion. Some came to pick food to sell out, concluded Sena.

The statement that the Aragalaya group was not communal is incorrect. It was highly communal. They were pro-Eelam. Media reported on 24.4.2022 that the national anthem was initially sung each day at GotaGoGama in Sinhala. After this was criticized as being dismissive of the Tamils who have undergone decades of repression, it is being sung now in both languages. It is popularizing and familiarizing Sri Lankans with the Tamil words of the anthem said the report.

The library had a biography of Mahinda Rajapaksa written in Tamil. All books were stamped with a trilingual library seal. Books were also shared with the Jaffna Library as a gesture to remember the 1981 burning of the Jaffna Library.  Books   were also donated to begin a temple library near Hambantota for children from a nearby farming community who had to contend with frequent wild elephant attacks.

The notion that the GotaGogama protest was a leaderless protest movement cannot be accepted. There cannot be a leaderless ‘movement’. A movement by definition must have a direction and a leader. GotaGogama protest definitely had a leader. It is now public knowledge that JVP and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) have been behind the protest, said an Island editorial.

The JVP General Secretary, said, Our party has been there right from the beginning; we have our youth, cultural, students’ and women’s wings at the Galle Face”. Lal Kantha had wanted the venue of the protest site changed from Galle Face to Diyawanna.  This showed that JVP was clearly the force behind the Galle Face protest, said Sena Thoradeniya.

JVP and FSP have forged an alliance and function as the leading force at Galle Face and other protest sites.  Youth activists of the two parties work together at the Galle Face protest site, observed Sena.

Frontline Socialist Party, also known as Peratugami, is a registered political party launched by dissident members of the JVP in 2012. FSP polled a paltry 20,000 votes at the last general election. It has now come into prominence thanks to GotaGogama. Its leader hits the headlines daily, observed analysts.

Political antagonism emerged when the leaders of the Opposition came to GotaGogama after the May 9^th attack. Sajith Premadasa was hooted, attacked and had to be rescued, whereas the JVP leader was welcomed. 

SJB Chief Premadasa and several of his MPs, including Eran Wickremaratne and Mujibur Rahuman had to flee Galle Face when protesters threw various objects at them. Their bodyguards had to evacuate them. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and former MPs, Lal Kantha, Wasantha Samarasinghe and Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa visited the scene without any problem.

Galle Face Protest is no more a peaceful” and non-partisan” agitation of angry young men and women”, said Sena. Now it is being led by the activists and front organizations of JVP and FSP.  My view is that it was never spontaneous. It was obvious from the very beginning that the Galle Face Aragalaya was   using public protest as a tool to further a political purpose.

Sena Thoradeniya suggests that the Aragalaya will go further. It will not stop at GotaGogama.  He predicts a return to the JVP violence of 1971. Aragalaya is the visible arm of a dark invisible anarchic movement, added Weerakkody.

In 1971, JVP launched a one-day armed insurrection to capture state power, overnight. They were so sure of capturing power, in one night, and did not have any alternative plan if the insurrection failed. This time it will be different, said Sena. They intend to move forward incrementally. Their third upheaval is going to be a protracted one.

General Secretary of the FSP in a press interview (June 01) has told that the current public agitation should be sustained in the long run, that it should not be confined to Galle Face alone it should  spread across the country.

It is very clear that their aim is to create a Guatemalan type struggle in Sri Lanka said Sena. A 22-minute video, shown at GotaGogama, drew parallels between Guatemalan rulers and Rajapaksas in Sri Lanka.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake presented a set of files as documentary evidence of corruption of Rajapaksas and some other politicians at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. These were known files already exposed by political commentators of Sunday newspapers many years ago. Similar activities preceded the protests that took place in Guatemala, too said Sena.

The 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état,  was a covert operation carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which led to the overthrew  of the democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944–1954. It installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas, the first in a series of U.S.-backed authoritarian rulers in Guatemala.