A farmers’ struggle in Sri Lanka, siding with elephants
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They seek a wildlife reserve for elephants to prevent them from raiding farms, homes
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They seek a wildlife reserve for elephants to prevent them from raiding farms, homes
With rows of Sri Lankan flags fluttering in the morning breeze, it was not hard to spot the Independence Day event on Thursday in Walsapugala village, in the southern Hambantota district. But paired alongside were black flags, flapping as much, on poles slightly shorter.
“While they celebrate this day in a grand manner in Colombo, we are marking it with both national flags and black flags. We are not shaming our country, but we want to remind our rulers of the darkness that has descended on our lives,” said Mahinda Samarawickrama, leader of a local farmer organisation, delivering a fiery speech from the podium. “What does an Independence Day mean, when neither our farmers nor our elephants are free?”