The seeds of disaster

The real purpose of disinformation is to create a more hostile society, where difference is negotiated violently.

- SANJANA HATTOTUWA

Recently, I was referred to in a social media post with a word I hadn't heard of. It turned out to be an awfully violent one aimed at Indians. I am not Indian, but I guess that shows how much local racists know about South Asia.

What I found more worrying was the permissive environment on social media for sharing racist discourse, with no discernible pushback. That worry, in turn, is anchored to my home country, its present condition and how it got there.

Many in Sri Lanka today can now afford to eat just one meal a day. People have died in the huge queues for gas, petrol or diesel. Schools are closed. Hospitals have run out of essential medicines. The economy has completely disintegrated. The resulting impact will be intergenerational.

Covid-19 saw the collapse of Sri Lanka's tourist trade - one of its biggest foreign currency earners - although it had already started to trail off following the Easter 2019 bombings. But economic mismanagement and corruption are also to blame for the country's debt-driven dilemma. It's no surprise that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country before resigning and losing his immunity from prosecution.

All of this is a Google search away, and it is heartbreaking.