Absence of a Political Nucleus is a Leaderless Struggle’s Strength

"A union of all colours and shades of masses from all walks of life, sans dirty politics or affiliation with the rejected 225+1, has considerable strength, power, force and vigor of their own accord"

While the moribund patient called Sri Lanka, narrowly escaped a mass slaughtering by government executioners and is presently being cared for by a large group of non-political leaderless youth, they have now become a target of several vultures hovering over Galle Face skies, hoping for the dead body of the first victim to scavenge on.

They are being motivated by sections of clergy and artistes too. The city’s business community and foreign donors’ generous financing, keeps the spirits of the brave youth high; while a few self-confessed ‘civil activists’, ‘political analysts’ and Marxist undergrads, affiliated with JVP and those with ulterior motives, have already invaded the ‘GotaGoGama’. These factions shouldn’t be allowed to overrun the independent uprising. They are engaged in a systematic promotion of the ‘vulture agendas’ at ground level, helping their political masters to hijack the strenuous build up of the movement, by creating a carnival atmosphere. These are some thoughts for the educated youth to ponder upon.

A union of all colours and shades of masses from all walks of life, sans dirty politics or affiliation with the rejected 225+1, has considerable strength, power, force and vigor of their own accord.

Democracy and pluralism are under assault in many nations. Authoritarian rulers are striving to extinguish the leftovers of dissent and extend their destructive authority on new corners. Many democratically elected leaders are reducing their concerns to a fixed interpretation of the national interest. Such leaders—of the world’s two largest democracies, the US and India, are more in favour of a breakdown in institutional protection and ignore the rights of minorities as they follow their populist agendas.

France’s gilets jaunes [GJ], popularly known as the yellow-vest protests, brought turmoil to France and forced President Macron to tear up key reforms. In just a matter of weeks, they caused the worst crack between France and Italy since world war-II. The leaderless political uprising GJ, the pressure group, isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. Certainly, leaderless protests face queries on their legitimacy. Macron’s government used violence in France to assert that the GJ movement was unlawful and against democracy. ‘Arab spring’ and ‘Me Too’, are similar recent examples of this development, though there are the good and bad sides in them too. 

Self-organised leaderless ‘Reddit’, the American social news aggregation and discussion website, helped elect Donald Trump. Leaderless movements are spreading, and we need to understand where they come from, what legitimate action is and if you want to start one, what works and what doesn’t.

"Leaderless movements are spreading, and we need to understand where they come from, what legitimate action is and if you want to start one, what works and what doesn’t"

Former British diplomat and author, Carne Ross in his “The Leaderless Revolution”, explains how to construct a leaderless revolution and win permanent political change. Leaderless movements spring from disappointment with conventional top-down [where decisions are made by a few people in authority rather than by the people who are affected by the decisions] politics, a frustration shared by many. Arab spring began with the sacrificing of oneself by setting oneself on fire [self-immolation] of a young Tunisian. The uprising rapidly spread across the region, just as disapprovals grew in France. The action of a single agent can trigger what theorists call a “phase shift” over the entire system. One major drawback of such serial popular uprisings was, there was no agreement about what kind of rule should replace the authoritarians. Tahrir Square protests in Egypt, failed to find an organised democratic political setup that could face an election.

In September 2011, there erupted an agitation campaign titled, ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS) which began in  Zuccotti Park , in Wall Street’s financial district. It was a protest against the influence of money in politics, greed, corruption and economic inequality, which gave rise to the wider ‘Occupy’ movements across the States and spread to other countries. The main slogan; We are the 99%;, that referred to inequality in income and wealth in the US.  

They are challenging the established political framework—navigating in search of greener pastures. It is unprecedented in our recent history as it began showing its strength not in numbers but with enthusiasm, vigour and vitality suffice to overpower the conventional political set up.

Many independent intellectuals; politically and socially sensitive citizens joined the struggle to encourage them and facilitate with a spirited effort in providing the moral support to the initiators of the movement. When race discrimination confronted American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King paid serious attention to tactics, switching to alternate policies.
The leaderless youth should not leave room for the momentum to dissipate, in fact it should gather more support from ordinary civilians, instead of those who represent the 225 + 1.

"The leaderless youth should not leave room for the momentum to dissipate, in fact it should gather more support from ordinary civilians, instead of those who represent the 225 + 1"

Leaderless movements should take adequate precautions against those who seek to exploit them to their own benefit. These groups must preserve their non-violent approach as well as readiness to enter into a dialogue with, and not condemn, parties who offer an olive branch. It is not a huge, single-minded pressure group. It has no leadership composition, no accepted programme of demands. It’s a total movement of disgruntled, ‘non-affiliated’ youth. That’s what makes it absorbing.

The rich, urban lower and upper middle class, [most affected section of the 13-hour power cut], and the minorities, the victims of Rajapaksa ‘racist policies’, are spearheading the movement. Do they need an alternative leadership to steer the campaign to its logical and desired destination?

Who are the so-called alternatives? If there’s any, they should be totally outside the present stinking political units and non-represented at the Diyawanna’s assembly; a novel outfit not hated by the apolitical, independent youth. Any involvement of present political parties could transform the peaceful agitation into a violent, arsenic and destructive force, as witnessed and led by political stooges in several places a week ago. The peace that existed since post 1994 days was shattered, leaving indelible scars in the minds of stupid supporters affiliated to opposing groups. Involvement of bankrupt ‘politricks’ could create a No-Win situation rather than the toppling of the ‘Rajapaksa cabal’—further, the protests could end up in the slaying of a few lives; exactly what the power-hungry ruling and opposing forces would anticipate, so as to respond violently by mobilizing counter attacks.

No one can prevent a policeman or a tri-forces man from joining, [already there may be quite a few] as long as they appear in civilian clothes. Some of the emotionally charged youth who greeted him have created a very unhealthy precedent. The sergeant as claimed by ‘Law; Order’, was under interdiction and reinstated on sympathetic grounds, if that is true, obviously he deserves punishment; through legal action, of course!
 Allow True leadership to evolve within the current uprising initially commenced as an un-organised ‘agitation campaign’. Today it has turned out to be an awakening of people belonging to all strata of society. Political Vultures, keep your hawk-eyes focused elsewhere. Hands off the brave men and women of the ‘younger brigade’ at ‘GotaGoGama’!

Writer can be contacted at - kksperera1@gmail.com