The Black Cap Movement which initiated the public protests against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially concluded its contribution to the Galle Face protest with effect from today.
Issuing a statement, the movement said that following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, there is no reason for it to continue occupying the Galle Face protest site now that the primary objective has been fulfilled.
The Black Cap Movement further announced ‘Aragalaya 4.0’, which it stated is the next phase of its protest which aims at bringing about the reforms that have been included in the ‘Beyond Galle Face’ declaration.
Full statement:
The Black Cap Movement initiated the candlelight vigil held on March 1, 2022 at the Kohuwala Junction in response to an inefficient regime headed by Sri Lanka’s Seventh Executive President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Since we observed that the socio-economic crisis was transforming into a political crisis, we aimed at spearheading a non-violent people’s protest based on the #GotaGoHome social media campaign. As such a series of peaceful micro protests commenced from Kohuwala and expanded to other parts of Colombo and the suburbs.
As people continued to be burdened by the prevailing crises the #GotaGoHome slogan was made a reality through the micro protests that took place across the country.
This non-violent protest model then succeeded in attracting women in the middle-class segments through the series of protests titled ‘Kitchen Lament’ that kicked off after May 9.
The April 9 protest at the Galle Face Green proved to the world how people could achieve their demands through a non-violent protest.
Our generation has symbolically succeeded in ousting an Executive President through the ‘Gota Go Home’ campaign. As such the ‘Gota Go Home’ slogan has become a reality.
The next step would be to fulfill the unfulfilled demands that were drafted alongside the ‘Gota Go Home’ campaign and as such this protest requires a new phase to bring about these reforms.
These demands have been included in the ‘Beyond Galle Face’ declaration which was drafted following discussions with various stakeholders at the Galle Face protest site which were held from April 12 to May 12.
As such, our protest hereby aims at bringing about these reforms and we look forward to join hands with civil society and political movements to achieve this objective. We hereby name this phase as ‘Aragalaya 4.0’.
We believe that there is no reason for us to continue occupying the Galle Face protest site now that its primary objective has been fulfilled. As such the protest has expanded into a broader socio-political space and as such we hereby conclude our contribution to the Galle Face protest with effect from today. (NewsWire)