{"id":212419,"date":"2020-08-07T16:41:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T11:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=212419"},"modified":"2020-08-11T00:21:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T18:51:42","slug":"election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Afterthoughts: I&#8217;m Googling For Opportunities To Migrate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>By <a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Isurinie+Mallawaarachchi\">Isurinie Mallawaarachchi<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_212421\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Isurinie-Mallawaarachchi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-212421\" class=\"wp-image-212421 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Isurinie-Mallawaarachchi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Isurinie-Mallawaarachchi-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Isurinie-Mallawaarachchi-45x45.jpg 45w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Isurinie-Mallawaarachchi.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-212421\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Isurinie Mallawaarachchi<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This is for everyone who feels as if they have failed, who feel as if they have failed the country, the society we live in, I understand you, because I feel the same.<\/p>\n<p>I hear my mother talking over the phone about this presidential election candidate who is said to have sought medical help after his defeat. My mother said, \u201chow can we trust such a spineless person who needed professional help after his defeat?\u201d Her rationale was that one should be \u2018strong enough\u2019 to withstand any obstacle that comes in their way without needing help. Mental health and mental health issues do not exist in her world. So, my mother, ecstatic at the victory of her Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, tells the world that this candidate is weak for seeking help for a mental health issue while her daughter is on two pills per day for depression and anxiety.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, I felt like a failure.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I realize that her hatred towards this candidate does not come from a personal grudge but because she so-blindly follows this extremist party. Blind faith could lead to many forms of atrocities; I felt so powerless and unmotivated. I am going to get back up after writing this note but imagine the homophobia, islamophobia and the hatred towards a woman\u2019s reproductive health that the advocates of the extremist nationalist party disseminated all over generations during the last few months.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This is where I feel like a failure and that I have failed the country. The very knowledge that a loved one of mine contributed to reinfecting Sri Lanka with all sorts of extremism is what hurts the most. Military interventions at every facet of life is going to be normal in the near future. The students who laughed at me when I explained to them what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=LGBTQ\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">LGBTQIA+<\/span><\/a> is are going to continue laughing and we are going to be living in anger, dissatisfaction and frustration. And the saddest part, a part of the country that we live in, a part of the country that we are weeping for, inflicted this upon ourselves. My mother is one of them.<\/p>\n<p>As many of the status updates on Facebook today said, the people have spoken and one needs to realize that this is what the people want. I wish I could end this on a motivational note, and some clever anecdote or something of that sort, but I am at a loss for words. I have had palpitations since this morning. I have been googling for opportunities to migrate. As a collective, we have failed our country. My heart weeps and I do not see anything else to do.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>*Isurinie Mallawaarachchi M.A. [@isurinie on Instagram] is a university lecturer, researcher and intersectional feminist activist, specialising in the area of gender-based violence faced by Sri Lankan women in public transport. She is an alumna of the University of Kelaniya and the University of Malaya.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1132,"featured_media":212425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Election Afterthoughts: I&#039;m Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Election Afterthoughts: I&#039;m Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-07T11:11:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-10T18:51:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/\",\"name\":\"Election Afterthoughts: I'm Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-07T11:11:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-10T18:51:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f836e5ec3cc7c138f5825e6ec5b4c7f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":619},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Election Afterthoughts: I&#8217;m Googling For Opportunities To Migrate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f836e5ec3cc7c138f5825e6ec5b4c7f\",\"name\":\"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3563a5da561c31bcf62d2b4a46dc010ce9c272b0e8f8f9730122f412e0985adf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3563a5da561c31bcf62d2b4a46dc010ce9c272b0e8f8f9730122f412e0985adf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/isuriniemall\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Election Afterthoughts: I'm Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Election Afterthoughts: I'm Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2020-08-07T11:11:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-10T18:51:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":619,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/","name":"Election Afterthoughts: I'm Googling For Opportunities To Migrate - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-07T11:11:32+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-10T18:51:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f836e5ec3cc7c138f5825e6ec5b4c7f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg","width":900,"height":619},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/election-afterthoughts-im-googling-for-opportunities-to-migrate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Election Afterthoughts: I&#8217;m Googling For Opportunities To Migrate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f836e5ec3cc7c138f5825e6ec5b4c7f","name":"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3563a5da561c31bcf62d2b4a46dc010ce9c272b0e8f8f9730122f412e0985adf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3563a5da561c31bcf62d2b4a46dc010ce9c272b0e8f8f9730122f412e0985adf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Isurinie Mallawaarachchi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/isuriniemall\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212419"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212424,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212419\/revisions\/212424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}