LIFE's video: Sri Lanka: Call a Hartal Prepare for Power

NEWS ALERT🚨දිවයින පුරා හර්තාලයේ සැබෑ තත්ත්වය...රට පුරා හර්තාල් - ගෝලෆේස් ගෝටාගම තත්ත්වය _Go_Gama @HoruGoGama A month has now passed since nationwide anger erupted in Sri Lanka, leaving the ruling class shellshocked. The movement has shown remarkable resilience. Neither monsoon rains, nor the Sinhala Tamil New Year festivities, nor the shenanigans of a government that knows every dirty trick in the book have succeeded in defusing the rage of the masses. And yet, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa remains stubbornly entrenched in power, mocking the masses by his presence. The gloves must come off. Yet it has taken until yesterday, April 28, for the nervous and hesitating trade union leaders to call even so much as a single day of strike action. But however trembling the call to strike might have been, the workers nevertheless responded to it with élan, giving the world a glimpse of their enormous power. Gota Go Gama It is worth briefly recapitulating how the anti-government movement in Sri Lanka has developed and the problems that it has posed. One month ago, on March 31, without a party or program, the masses of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, came out spontaneously onto the streets to express their seething rage. The Rajapaksas’ regime tried to bare its teeth. Rather than being cowed, the movement exploded into an all-island movement that swamped the government. The briefly declared state of emergency collapsed and the ruling class was thrown into a panic. The protests have since grown and grown, reaching a decisive turning point with a march on April 9. The masses from across Colombo and beyond descended on the capital’s Galle Face Green, adjacent to the president’s beach-side office building. The protest was enormous. Over 100,000 attended—a significant show of strength in a city of 700,000 and a country with a population of 22 million people, the majority of whom live in rural districts. But the protesters didn’t disperse as night fell on April 9. Rather, they established a permanent tent village. Dubbed “Gota Go Gama” (“Gota Go Village”), it has become a focal point for the movement, much as the occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo offered a point of reference for the spontaneous movement of the Egyptian masses in 2011.