The Federation of University Teachers (FUTA) unreservedly condemns the repression of Aragalaya activists by the current regime led by President Ranil Wickremasinge. The Aragalaya represented a truly democratic movement in Sri Lanka’s political history where people with diverse political, ideological, cultural and social beliefs and orientations united for a common purpose. The aragalaya slogan ‘Gota go home’, which resonated across the county (and beyond), was not just about the individual politician Goatabhaya Rajapaksa but about the rotten political order he represented.

FUTA stands with the democratic spirit of the aragalaya and will take active action to resist and protest the illegitimate action of this government. FUTA remind the Wickremasinghe-phohottuwa government that it lacks any legitimacy and to stop taking refuge behind the constitution. Rather than hunting aragalaya activists FUTA demand that this illegitimate government immediately gives way to a fresh political mandate and to restore the legitimacy of this political order of this country.