Tag: Galle Face

Court of the People

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Young protestors celebrate as news arrives on social media that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse has agreed to step down. Galle Face Court, Colombo. 9th July 2022. Months of public protest culminated in violent clashes between demonstrators and the authorities, and the storming of the presidential palace and several government offices. Rajapakse would flee to the Maldives four days later, accused of corruption and ineptness, and causing the biggest economic disaster in the country’s recorded history.

• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/2500 • ISO400 •

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A Break in the Aragalaya

David BlackerLeave a comment
A tired protestor celebrates as news arrives on social media that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse has agreed to step down. Galle Face Green, Colombo. 9th July 2022. Months of public protest culminated in violent clashes between demonstrators and the authorities, and the storming of the presidential palace and several government offices. Rajapakse would flee to the Maldives several days later.

• 35mm • f/4 • 1/250 • ISO400 •

The Rank and File of the Revolution

David BlackerLeave a comment
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Galle Face Green, Colombo. 9th July 2022. Hundreds of thousands of protestors march in support of the demand that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse resign. Accused of corruption and ineptness, and causing the greatest economic disaster in the country’s recorded history, Rajapakse would flee to the Maldives four days later.

• 200mm • f/5.6 • 1/1000 • ISO400 •

A Day Too Late for Smiles

David BlackerLeave a comment
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Two young Tamil men from the north who had travelled a long way to be at the protests in Colombo on 9th July 2022. The placard accuses Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of playing games while the country was in ruins. They insisted I take their picture and, as word began to trickle through the crowd that Gotabaya had announced he would resign, I asked them to smile. They replied that though they were happy, it was too late for Sri Lankans to smile.

• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/4000 • ISO400 •

“Api Awa Colombata, Gota Epa Kiwwata!”

David BlackerLeave a comment
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“අපි ආවා කොළඹට, ගෝටා එපා කිව්වට!” (“We came to Colombo, though Gota said no!”) chant hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans covering the Galle Face Green promenade in downtown Colombo, on 9th July 2022; the culmination of months of demonstrations demanding President Gotabaya Rajapakse step down. Since the protests began in April, Gotabaya’s brothers, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse have been forced to step down, accused of corruption and ineptitude that has caused the worst economic catastrophe in the country’s recorded history. After protestors overran President’s House and several other government offices and official residences on the 9th, and burned down the home of current Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that night, President Gotabaya Rajapakse fled the country, though he continues to issue decrees while in exile, amidst mounting tension and clashes between protestors and the in Sri Lankan police.

• 50mm • f/4.5 • 1/2500 • ISO400 •

Sustaining the Revolution

David BlackerLeave a comment
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A street food vendor sells fresh rotti and vadai at Gotagogama, the ad hoc village of tents, shacks, and portable toilets that have sprung up on Galle Face Green, in downtown Colombo. Set up almost a month ago, the village is home to a core of protestors calling for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government, who’s corruption and ineptitude have been blamed for creating the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history. In addition to the resident dissidents, Gotagogama sees a constant ebb and flow of protestors from all over the city and its suburbs, driven by widespread shortages of electricity, fuel, cooking gas, and medicine, to join in the strident call for the government to step down. Sri Lanka, May 2022.

• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/100 • ISO3200 •

One More Messiah

David BlackerLeave a comment
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With an image of the Buddha tattooed on his forehead, this monk assured me he would one day be the leader of Sri Lanka; just as soon as Gota went home. He also told me he could drive any vehicle on land or sea, and knew how to use everything from a 9mm pistol to a T56 to an RPG. He said he’d lived in Jaffna throughout the war and that the ‘Koti’ had taught him everything he knew. ‘Gotagogama’, the ad hoc protest village of tents, shacks, and portable lavatories set up on Galle Face Green, in early April, attracts all sorts; from communist student bodies to local ladies’ book clubs; all united in wanting Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government to step down, accused of corruption and ineptitude, and the creation of the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history. Colombo, May 2022.

• 60mm • f/5 • 1/50 • ISO6400 •

Church, Temple, and that Old Red Line

David BlackerLeave a comment
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Anglican and Roman Catholic nuns calling for Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government to step down, protest against the backdrop of the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapakse Theatre, a stark reminder of the wasteful policies of a regime that has brought the country to economic ruin. Colombo, April 2022.

• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/800 • ISO800 •

Continue reading “Church, Temple, and that Old Red Line” →

Where were You, Dad, When We Sent the Tyrants Home?

David BlackerLeave a comment
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Protestors atop the barricades at the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, at Galle face, Colombo, call for President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government to resign; accused of corruption and ineptitude that has created the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history. The Galle Face demonstration, which began on 9th April 2022, is now in its fourth week, dubbed ‘Gotagogama’, after the protestors’ primary demand — “Gota, Go Home!” The protests have seen Sri Lankans turn out in hundreds of thousands, mostly middle and working classes, of all ages and ethnicities, united in suffering, and a hope of turning things around before it’s too late. An acute shortage of foreign exchange reserves has seen Sri Lanka unable to import essential fuel, causing widespread electricity cuts, some as long as thirteen hours a day, and forcing millions to stand in interminably long queues for petrol, diesel, and cooking gas. President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his Prime Minister, and older brother, Mahinda Rajapakse, have refused to resign in spite of the protests, prolonging the crisis. Vital medicines and essential supplies are running out, and the government has already indicated that it will default on its $51 billion foreign debt repayments due in June. With the country on the verge of bankruptcy, any recovery depends on a prompt replacement of the current administration, as the protestors are demanding.

• 170mm • f/5.6 • 1/250 • ISO100 •

The Left of the Line

David BlackerLeave a comment
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While Sri Lanka is yet to see the widespread strike action expected to be launched by communist opposition parties like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) — the National Liberation Front — trade unions have been visible from the very beginning of the Galle Face protests; presenting an older voice to what is often seen as a youth-led effort, calling for President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government to resign. Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis in modern history, and a large part of the blame for it has been apportioned to corruption and ineptitude within the Rajapakse government, studded with the president’s brothers and other relatives. The crisis, triggered by a lack of foreign currency reserves, has seen widespread shortages of fuel, cooking gas, and medicine, skyrocketing inflation, and electricity cuts as long as thirteen hours; the latter sparking the first protests in March, this year. While youth have been the visible face of the Colombo demonstrations, protests outside the city have often taken a harder edge; angry, older men, many of them fathers desperate to feed their families, clashing with police who have responded with tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets and, on one occasion, with live ammunition, killing a protestor a week ago, in Rambukkana, less than 100km from the capital.
Continue reading “The Left of the Line” →