‘Revolutions are Happening that Refuse to be Ignored’: Why Does the West Ignore the Suffering of Sri Lanka?

By Hesandi Jayasekara

Sri Lanka, once one of the most prosperous countries in the South Asian region, has rapidly become one of the least successful in the last few years due to the Rajapakse dynasty that came into power in 2019; they showed how far they would go in their quest for power, leaving a shattered country behind in the process. Their actions and the aftermath – millions of people left without food, fuel or electricity – have frustrated the people of Sri Lanka, to say the least.

You might have seen the videos of protestors rushing to the Presidential Residence on July 9th, intent on one purpose: to drive away a president that wasn’t willing to leave his position. You may have even followed the situation in Sri Lanka for quite some time, but let me ask – have you ever shared the story among people you know, or even shared one of the Instagram infographics that people are so willing to share without doing any of the work themselves?

It’s time we unpack how it has become a trend in the Western world to concentrate on what’s immediate and geographically close to you, like the situation in Ukraine, or, conversely, when it’s not geographically close but something you can sympathise with and share an Instagram post or rant on Twitter about, like the post about the children in Yemen who are going hungry that I’ve seen shared a million times by the Americans that I follow on socials.

The situation in Sri Lanka is neither of those things. It’s a story of people who are jaded and tired of their current leaders and want to live in a country without feeling the urge to escape. It’s a story of days-long fuel queues, power cuts that leave you without electricity for hours on end, children who have lost their education because their exams have been pushed back for months, and so much more.

I can’t help but think of something my friend said to me when I was complaining about how I haven’t seen anything shared by my friends from the Western world about Sri Lanka. They said: ‘Sri Lanka is too small of a country and hasn’t done anything significant enough for the world for it to care.’ But why do we have to do something significant to be acknowledged as a country that’s suffering, but only as long as it lives up to a specific, artificial perimeter that we’ve decided to impose on ourselves?

The West only caring about tragedy nearby isn’t a recent occurrence. How many of you shared a post about the burning of Notre Dame in 2019 but turned a blind eye to the Easter Bombings that happened at the same time in Sri Lanka, which killed hundreds of people and left many without those they considered their family?

Sri Lanka has always been a welcoming country, almost too eager to get tourists into their hotels and restaurants and lavish them with attention whenever they visit to get a hint of the mountainsides or the beaches. Yet, we are never paid back in kind, never become more than a place to visit and recall when you get home. We’re never acknowledged as people – people who are suffering in this economic climate, people who are tired and weary of all they have lost.

There have been stories about resistance in all the young adult novels you read, or stories shared with you by your parents, grandparents and countless others that you treasure and keep in your heart like a secret. We vow never to let the things in these stories happen again. But a part of that vow, a part of not letting history repeat itself, is to be aware of and share the stories that are happening now, that are not simply stories but memories.

Revolutions are happening right this instant that refuse to be ignored. All I – all we – ask is to not be remembered as an afterthought, to bring the same sense of justice ingrained in you from all the stories you’ve heard as a child that you do to causes that are geographically close. After all, isn’t it a form of compliance to ignore the suffering that’s happening in one county, to turn a blind eye and not raise any awareness of it?