July 9 uprising unified Sri Lanka across races, generations: Booker Prize winner

Thiruvananthapuram: The uprising witnessed in Sri Lanka on July 9 last year was "something spectacular" as it unified the whole country across races, generations and political views, says noted writer and Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka.

Karunatilaka, considered one of Sri Lanka's foremost authors, won the Booker Prize 2022 for his second novel, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida".

He was in Kerala to participate in the ongoing Kerala Legislature International Book Festival (KLIBF) at the state Assembly premises and the Kerala Literature Festival currently underway in Kozhikode.

Talking to PTI on the sidelines of a programme organised at the KLIBF here, the writer said there were "positives" to the upheaval that overthrew Rajapaksa family from power and expressed hope that "a new generation of leaders would come through to solve the problems" of the island nation.

"It was a beautiful moment, even though it was being demonised. There are a lot of narratives around it. It was a movement, especially July 9, 2022 where the whole country unified across races, generations, political views and I think that was something spectacular," Karunatilaka said, when asked about the positive outcome of the movement.

He said the movement showed that the country, which had witnessed ethnic conflicts for several decades, can come together and look out for each other.

"There were incidents and so on...but largely peaceful... I think it was a positive movement and hopefully it can be harnessed towards our future," Karunatilaka said.

Born in Galle, Sri Lanka, in 1975, Karunatilaka grew up in Colombo, studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He currently lives in Sri Lanka.

Asked whether the people's movement in Sri Lanka has helped unite Sinhalese and Tamils setting aside their differences, Karunatilaka said the young generations were united in their protest but there are a lot of people who are traumatised by the ethnic conflict, and they need to still heal.

"Well... I saw that the young generations don't have these hang-ups that my generation had. When you see the youth and how they protested -- they were unified across races. I think that was wonderful. But the wounds of the ethnic conflict and the wounds of the many catastrophes -- they have not yet healed. They need to still heal," said the author who has also written screenplays and travel stories.

Karunatilaka, however, said the people's movement in Sri Lanka was a step in the right direction.

"I am glad to see that the new generation has the right ideas -- see themselves as Sri Lankans rather than different ethnic groups. But hopefully we can preserve that," he said.

It was on July 9, 2022 that then Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced he would quit, hours after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for an unprecedented economic crisis that had brought the country to its knees.

Karunatilaka also spoke about the helping hand extended by India to Sri Lanka during the period of the country's unprecedented crisis.

"I write ghost stories and cricket stories. Global geopolitics is beyond me... But all I can say is that we are grateful to the help of India throughout this crisis. Our neighbours came to our aid...," the writer said.

He said Sri Lanka had a long-term plan to use its economy on its own and make it self-sufficient, but it is in chaos itself for now.

"Yes, we rely on and are grateful for our kind neighbour," Karunatilaka said.

The writer said "we went through a year, and I don't know a country that has experienced ups and downs like we have." Things have been more stable now, but the problems are not over, he said.

The writer said the country and its vast majority of people are suffering, struggling to keep their children in school and so on.

"So, there are also challenges ahead and I hope one thing that our leadership will provide solutions to, and we will get a new generation of leaders...that's what we saw -- lot of ideas, a lot of new energy coming through".

"I would like to see that Sri Lanka doesn't repeat its mistakes and get out of this situation", Karunatilaka said.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, has been under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil since last year, the worst in seven decades of its history.

The island nation had witnessed a mass uprising against the Rajapaksa regime after it was crippled by an acute shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, and other commodities.

The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in sovereign debt default, had announced in April last year that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026.

Sri Lanka's total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.