International academics call on Sri Lanka president to protect right to protest and other freedoms

(Statement)

We, the undersigned academics who work on Sri Lanka and South Asia more broadly, fully condemn the violent assault on peaceful protestors in Colombo by the Sri Lankan security forces on 22 July 2022.

We are aghast at reports that five of the protestors were abducted and tortured by security force personnel; violently beaten, forced to kneel on rocks and perform extremely tedious exercises whilst being threatened with death if they tried to escape. Nine protest leaders were also arbitrarily arrested and detained by the police.

That such a brutal attack against non-violent protestors was ordered by the country’s new President Ranil Wickremasinghe, less than 24 hours after taking office, is shocking and sends distressing signals of his method of governance. Over the last several months the protestors have been inspiring and disciplined in exercising basic democratic rights to call attention to the crisis. This space for resistance has also been used for educational purposes, with a university and library, advancing knowledge to all groups of people. The reference to protestors as “fascist” is totally inaccurate, inappropriate and damaging; it weaponizes the term to provide an excuse for the use of extreme force. Wickremasinghe was elected by parliament to take on the presidency, which was vacated due to the non-violent pro-democracy movement against authoritarianism and failed governance. His decision to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors is deeply alarming and does not offer the prospect of Sri Lanka progressing beyond the current crisis it is in. It is disheartening and telling that one of his first actions in office was to attack the people rather than take steps to address the suffering of the people.

We call on the President and government of Sri Lanka to immediately desist in the use of any force against protestors and reduce the current extreme military presence around the protest site at the Galle Face Green in Colombo and around the country including the north and east. The government must investigate the use of extreme force and torture and hold accountable those found guilty of committing these crimes. We call on the government to respect the right of all Sri Lankans to protest and protect protest spaces. The Sri Lankan constitution guarantees Sri Lankans fundamental rights including freedom of speech, expression and peaceful assembly; in addition, these are internationally guaranteed rights which Sri Lanka is committed to protect.

(for Sinhalese and Tamil translations please refer below the signatories list).

Signatories

1. Dr. Farah Mihlar, Lecturer, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
2. Vasuki Nesiah, Professor of Human Rights and International Law, The Gallatin                   School, New York University, USA
3. Kanchana N Ruwanpura, Professor of Human Geography, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
4. Professor David Ludden, Department of History, New York University
5. Arjun Guneratne, Professor Anthropology, Macalester College, U.S.A.
6. Dr. Ashwini Vasanthakumar, Associate Professor, Queen’s Law School, Canada
7. Dr. Cheran Rudhramoorthy, Associate Professor, University of Windsor, Canada
8. Dr. Amarnath Amarasingam, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada
9. Prof. Dr. Maarten Bavinck, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
10. Dr. Neena Mahadev, USA
11. Sharryn Aiken, Associate Professor, Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Canada
12. Mark Balmforth, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada
13. Suresh Canagarajah, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Applied Linguistics and English, Pennsylvania State University, USA
14. Professor John Harriss, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada
15. Yalini Dream, Visiting Artist, University of San Francisco IME and Human Rights Education, USA
16. Dr. Nalika Gajaweera, Los Angeles, USA
17. Patricia Jeffery, Emerita Professor, University of Edinburgh
18. Neil DeVotta, Professor, Wake Forest University
19. Dr. Narayani Sritharan, Global Research Institute at William & Mary, USA
20. Pradeep Sangapala, PhD Candidate, University of Alberta, Canada
21. V.V. Ganeshananthan, Associate Professor of English, University of Minnesota, USA
22. Nimanthi Perera-Rajasingham, Associate Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Colgate University, USA
23. Roger Jeffery, Professor of Sociology of South Asia, University of Edinburgh, UK
24. Mythri Jegathesan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Santa Clara University, USA
25. Veena Das,FBA, Research Professor, Johns Hopkins University
26. Sonali Perera, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
27. Deborah Philip, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA.
28. Jennifer Robertson, Professor Emerita, Anthropology, University of Michigan
29. Anne M. Blackburn, Professor, Cornell University, USA
30. Rajesh Venugopal, Associate Professor, LSE, UK
31. Bart Klem, Associate Professor, Gothenburg University, Sweden
32. Dennis McGilvray, Professor of Anthropology emeritus, University of Colorado, USA
33. Dr. John Paolillo, Associate Professor, Indiana University, USA.
34. Jonathan Goodhand, Professor, SOAS – University of London, U.K.
35. Vivian Choi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, St. Olaf College, USA
36. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, USA
37. Daniel Bass, South Asia Program Manager & Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Asian Studies, Cornell University, USA
38. H L Seneviratne, Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, University of Virginia, USA
39. Dr Rachel Seoighe, Senior lecturer in Criminology, University of Kent, UK
40. Dr. Tayyab Mahmud. Professor of Law, Seattle University, USA
41. Prof. E. Valentine Daniel, Retired Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, USA
42. Kamala Visweswaran, USA
43. Thushara Hewage, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Ottawa, Canada
44. Indrani Chatterjee, USA.
45. Patrick Olivelle, USA
46. Sanjay Reddy, Associate Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research, USA
47. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia University, USA
48. Ritty Lukose, Associate Professor, Gallatin School, New York University, USA
49. Jeevan R Sharma, Senior Lecturer in South Asia and International Development,, University of Edinburgh
50. Samanthi Gunawardana, Senior Lecturer in Gender and Development, Monash University Australia.
51. Robert Perinbanayagam, Professor of Sociology (Emeritus), Hunter College, New York, USA
52. Janice Leoshko, Associate Professor, University of Texas, USA
53. Jeanne Marecek, Professor of Psychology (Emerita), Swarthmore College, USA
54. Dr Charishma Ratnam, Research Fellow in Human Geography, Monash University Australia
55. Professor Cynthia Caron, Professor of International Development, Clark University, USA
56. Swati Birla, Doctoral candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst  
57. Sisira Jayasuriya, Professor of Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
58. Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Literary and Cultural Studies, Monash University Australia
59. Kanishka Jayasuriya , Professor of Politics and International Studies, Murdoch University , Australia
60. Lylah D’Souza, Artist, Melbourne, Australia
61. Bina Fernandez, Associate Professor Development Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia
62. Antony Anghie, Professor, University of Utah, USA
63. Ali Saha, Teaching Associate and Researcher, Monash University, Australia
64. Roanna Gonsalves, Creative Writing, University of New South Wales, Australia
65. Eleanor Gordon, Monash University, Australia
66. Dr Nirukshi Perera, Curtin University and Tamil Studies Research Network, Australia
67. Dr Niro Kandasamy, University of Sydney and Tamil Studies Research Network, Australia
68. Dr Alice Whitmore, Warrnambool, Australia
69. Bambi Chapin, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, U.S.A.
70. Dr. Tanuja Thurairajah, Switzerland
71. Suvendrini Perera, John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Curtin University, Australia
72. Sreejata Paul, Assistant Professor of English, Shiv Nadar University, India
73. Tejaswini Ganti, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University, USA
74. Dr. Prashanth Kuganathan, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate/Lecturer, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
75. Dr. Eva Ambos, Germany
76. Dr. Francesca Bremner, Adjunct Professor, City University of New York/Montclair State University, NJ. USA.
77. Michelle de Kretser, Writer, Sydney, Australia.
78. Nari Senanayake, Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky, USA
79. Nivedita Menon, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India
80. Jinee Lokaneeta, Professor, Drew University, NJ, USA.
81. Meredith Jones, Professor of Gender and Culture, Brunel University London.
82. Annee Lawrence, Writer, Sydney, Australia
83. Dr Alessandra Mezzadri, Senior Lecturer, SOAS – University of London, U.K.
84. Jonathan Spencer, Regius Professor, University of Edinburgh
85. Dr. Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa, Senior Scientist, Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research, Germany
86. Dr Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore, ATER, University of Lille, France
87. Dr. Papia Sengupta, Assistant Professor. Jawaharlal Nehru University. Delhi. India
88. Dr Heloise Weber, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Development, The University of Queensland
89. Sayan Dey, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Witwatersrand
90. Dr Nipesh Palat Narayanan, University of Grenoble, France.
91. Tobias Kelly, Professor of Political and Legal Anthropology, University of Edinburgh
92. Dr. Joeri Scholtens, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
93. Mohammad Shahabuddin, Professor of International Law & Human Rights, University of Birmingham, UK
94. Dr. Nilanjana Premaratna, Lecturer in International Politics, Newcastle University, UK
95. Dr. Thiruni Kelegama, Lecturer in South Asian Studies, University of Oxford, UK
96. Sharika Thiranagama, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University, USA
97. Sujit Sivasundaram, Professor of World History, University of Cambridge, UK.
98. Dr Martin Weber, Senior Lecturer, International Relations, The University of Queensland, Australia.
99. Dr Kiran Grewal, Goldsmiths College, London, UK.
100. Dr. John Kurien, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India
101. Gananath Obeyesekere, Emeritus Professor, Princeton University, USA.
102. Dr. Ranjini Obeyesekere, Retired Professor, Princeton University, USA.
103. Themal Ellawala, Doctoral candidate, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
104. Hans Oberdiek, Research Professor, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA USA
105. Rupal Oza, Professor, Hunter College, CUNY
106. Goldie Osuri, Professor, University of Warwick, UK.
107. Aradhana Sharma, Associate Professor, Wesleyan University, USA
108. Lisa Mitchell, Professor, Dept. of South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
109. Nitya Rao, Professor, University of East Anglia, UK
110. Farida Khan, Professor of Economics, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, USA
111. Madhumita Dutta, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
112. Dr. Missaka Hettiarachchi, Melbourne, Australia
113. Smita Ramnarain, Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island, Kingston RI, USA.
114. Luc Bulten, Lecturer, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
115. Madu Galappaththi, PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo, Canada
116. Ragnhild Lund, Professor Emerita, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.
117. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Professor of Art, University of Rhode Island, USA
118. Charles Hallisey, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures, Harvard University, USA.
119. Dr Alexander McKinley, Adjunct Professor, Loyola University Chicago & Lake Forest College, USA
120. Dr. Eranga Galappaththi, Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and state University (Virginia Tech), USA
121. Sunil Bastian, Independent Researcher/Writer, UK
122. M. Shobhana Xavier, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
123. Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, New York University, USA
124. Subah Dayal, Assistant Professor, NYU Gallatin, USA
125. Nidhi Srinivas, Associate Professor of Management, The New School, New York City, USA
126. Garrett Field, Associate Professor, Ohio University, USA
127. Dr. Sunil Siriwardena, Consultant, UK
128. Janice Leoshko, Associate Professor, University of Texas, USA
129. Dr. Justin Henry, Georgia College & State University, USA
130. Paul Halliday, Julian Bishko Prof. of History and Prof. of Law, University of Virginia, USA
131. Chandan Reddy, Associate Professor, University of Washington, USA
132. M. Neelika Jayawardane Associate Professor, State University of New York-Oswego, USA
133. Satya P. Mohanty, Professor, Cornell University, USA
134. Dr. Annelies Goger, Maryland, USA
135. Rohini Sen, London, United Kingdom
136. Prabha Kotiswaran, Professor of Law and Social Justice, King’s College London
137. daniel dillon, PhD, University of Texas at Austin
138. Dr. Tsigkas Alexios, University of Zurich, Switzerland
139. Dr. Dalmia Katyayani, University of Zurich, Switzerland
140. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Syracuse University, USA
141. Dr. Rohan Mukherjee, Singapore
142. S. Charusheela, Professor, University of Washington Bothell
143. Chaumtoli Huq, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
144. Smriti Rao, Assumption University, USA
145. Professor G Patel University of Virginia, USA
146. Dr. Derek Johnson, Professor of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Canada
147. Sara Shroff, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
148. Maria Ritzema, Associate Professor, USA
149. Dina M. Siddiqi, New York University, USA.
150. Dr. Devaka Gunawardena, USA
151. Dr Jayanthi Lingham, Research Associate, University of Sheffield, UK
152. R.L.Stirrat.University of Sussex, UK
153. Susan Reed, Associate Professor, Bucknell University, USA
154. Amjad Saleem, SWITZERLAND
155. Subhash Jaireth, Canberra, AUSTRALIA
156. Dia da Costa, Professor, University of Alberta, Canada
157. Dr. Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, Barnard College Columbia University, USA
158. Dr. Osama Siddique, Law & Policy Research Network (LPRN), Pakistan