Leader of the Panama Pattuwa Land Struggle

Photo courtesy of Samanthi J. Gunawardana

Gnanamuttu Kusumawathi, known as Kusuma akka, passed away five years ago. We remember her rebellious spirit and strength with admiration and gratitude. Kusuma akka was a leader in the Panama Pattuwa (Pattuwa refers to an identified area of land in Sinhala) land struggle from August 2010 until the day she died of a heart attack on December 23, 2017. We reflect on her contribution and leadership in the land struggle and on where it is at present, especially in light of the vibrant social movements that emerged in 2022. Her contribution marks a long unrecognized tradition of leadership among rural women in Sri Lanka.

Kusuma akka, like her parents, husband and children, was born in Panama in 1973, a coastal town in Eastern Sri Lanka. Before the emergence of the prominent land struggle the area was understood through the lens of an era-defining separatist war between the LTTE and the armed forces. Panama was an intermediate area in the landscape of contested territory where Tamil and Sinhala communities had a long history of intermarriage, kinship and ritual. Caste was the major source of social division rather than ethnicity. Panama had religious and spiritual significance. The two ethnic communities were connected through cross religious ritual and worship involving the god Murugan (Tamil Hindu) known as Kataragama deiyo (Sinhalese) and Hindu goddess Pattini (Kannagi in Tamil) and god K?valan. Pattini in particular is worshiped in Panama across all social categories and is seen as protecting the villages and giving its people strength.