Maldivian Democracy Watch (#mvprotest #mvcoup)
The elected President was deposed in a coup just weeks ago. Maldivian protests are now in what I think is their sixth day of organized protests. They’ve also set up a pretty good site to collect info on the ongoing struggle, which looks damn difficult to be honest. Remnants of the dictatorship used police forces, military and violence to depose the elected President. They look loath to give power back.
For background, here’s a report from CNN-IBN to the planning and execution of the coup.
Anni, the deposed President, has called for elections to restore democratic government to the Dives, something they’ve struggled for already. The Commonwealth has called for elections within this calendar year, which is good, but I dunno of what import. I heard that the coupers are angling for votes by increasing civil service pay and returning government office hours to 7:30 to 2:30 (seriously, what?). But at least they’d be up to a vote.
It’s become increasingly clear that it was a coup, enabled by violence, sustained by it, and in defiance of Maldivian democracy, and the right of the people to choose for themselves. The way out is fresh elections, whereby the coupers can win by voting, if they can. That needs to happen soon, and while international bodies seem to be coming round, what really matters is the people on the street. I hope they keep their will and keep going. For now I mainly just follow them at mvdemocracy.com.
Posted on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 in International, Maldives.
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
The chutzpah of this government knows no bounds. Every government since Independence has had to balance placating Sinhala nationalists (AKA racists) while at the same time actually running a sensible, inclusive nation that doesn’t send minority citizens, capital and foreign investment fleeing. Basically, they’ve had to pay lip service to nationalists while at the same time trying to run an actual nation. Every government has also generally failed, SWRD being killed by a nationalist monk and everyone after almost losing the country to various rebellions. In that context Mahinda is actually doing a better job by virtue of not being dead and not losing control of the country. But he’s still not doing a good job.
No comments yet.