SENKU Seminar with Øivind Fuglerud

In July 2022 TV-viewers all over the world could watch images of demonstrators breaking through police barriers to enjoy themselves in the Sri Lankan President’s official residence in Colombo, bathing in his swimming pool and exercising in his gym. The forced entry was the culmination of months of protests going under the name of Aragalaya, the ‘Struggle’, gathering at times hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down only two and a half years after he won the presidential election with a solid 52, 25% victory. This paper takes a closer look at this situation and the conundrum of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s lost support: the logic behind Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election, what triggered the Aragalaya, and the way in which the protests played out over a period of five months.