Severe shortages of fuel, food and medicine appear to have unified Sri Lankans against the ruling Rajapaksa family
Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented political and economic emergency, a result of government mismanagement and the effect of global crises. But the tiny island nation is also seeing signs of cathartic revival. Despite longstanding ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional fault lines in Sri Lankan society, protesters have taken to the streets in unified resistance against the ruling Rajapaksa family, demanding a fix to spiralling food and energy costs.
After Sri Lanka emerged from decades of bloody civil war, it looked as if it would become one of Asia’s success stories, with growing industries and a burgeoning middle class. But today its rupee is the world’s worst performing currency, amid a crippling economic catastrophe compounded, in part, by the war in Ukraine.
