And yet they voted largely the same way across ethnic and religious lines in the recent parliamentary election. And the protests in 2022 brought together people across those lines to get rid of a bad government. It may not have been entirely successful, but more common struggles like that help break down the divisions.Tough ask, there is deeply embedded division in the psyche of Sri Lankans, following the destabilising nature of colonisation.
This paper suggests the protests weakened Sinhalese nationalism, which is probably the first step in forming a better-integrated society.