Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
, by KADIRGAMAR Ahilan
Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy is being transformed through a rapid process of financialisation. Such widespread financialisation facilitated infrastructure development, a real estate boom linked to urbanisation and expansion of credit leading to increasing indebtedness of the (...)
, by BHADRAKANTHI Renuka, WEDAGEDARA Amali
Weligepola All Women’s Asso. for Integrated Community Development Exec. Dir. Renuka Bhadrakanthi highlights limitations in proposed microcredit legislation and in policymaking on rural dev./finance
Microfinance loans disbursed at usurious interest rates have trapped thousands of low-income (...)
, by GUNAWARDENA Madhulika, SRITHARAN Sinthuja
The push for privatisation of SOEs, public goods and services, the liberalisation of markets, and the increased indirect taxes on working people are reflective of an anti-working people commercial budget
Sri Lanka’s Budget 2024 follows the IMF package signed in March 2023. While President (...)
“The President’s decision to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe ‘delays’ by the CC constitutes a threat to the members of the Constitutional Council who are constitutionally mandated to deliberate on and independently decide on whether or not a Presidential nominee will be (...)
, by WARAVITA Pamodi
With a drastically-reducing trend of funds being released to the higher education sector over the years, experts question the feasibility of Budget 2024’s ‘ambitious’ plans to provide a university education to every child who passes their Advanced Level (A/L) examinations.
RTI finds drastic (...)
, by KARUNATHILAKA Prageeth Sampath
A quantity amounting to 2.4 million metric tons of paddy is required to maintain a level of substantial rice consumption in this island
As of now the mill owners have been engaged in raising the price of paddy. Given the current drought and rainfall situation that prevail these individuals (...)
, by SENANAYAKE Devana
“The economic crisis devastated us,” Vadivel Vasanthy, a 40 year-old maid based in Vavunathivu in Batticaloa told me. Prior to the economic crisis, Vasanthy ran a small business which sold spices and peanuts in her local area, but had to close it because of a rise in supply costs. In 1998, (...)
, by NILAFDEEN Ammaarah, SILVA Shashik
During his recent visit to the United States, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the National People’s Power, addressed an interesting question from a Sri Lankan resident. The person highlighted the significant dominance of the white population in the US but also emphasized their peaceful (...)
, by MUDUGAMUWA Maheesha
In the quiet village of Wanathawilluwa in Puttalam, Kamala, a 46-year-old resident, opens up about a seemingly endless ordeal. Her story, while poignant, is sadly one among thousands echoing across Sri Lanka’s rural landscape. As the nation grapples with a microfinance debt crisis, Kamala and (...)
, by GUNASEKARA Skandha
Cattle farmers in Batticaloa are embroiled in a relentless struggle against the intrusion of outsiders into their grazing land. This ongoing situation has escalated, leading to physical attacks, threats, the tragic loss of livestock, and the deliberate destruction of their land.
These dairy (...)
Sri Lanka’s IMF deal neither solves the country’s economic crisis nor helps those who need it most
Sri Lanka entered its seventeenth loan arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 20 March 2023. Through a medium-term lending window known as the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), (...)
, by GUNAWARDENA Devaka
Ahead of the 2015 Presidential Elections that were held on 8 January, Mahinda Rajapaksa seemed unlikely to be defeated. Although Maithripala Sirisena had split from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Rajapaksas had tremendous control over the state and media. Any struggle to prevent a third term (...)
, by BOHOSLAVSKY Juan Pablo, HEMACHANDRA Lakmali, SKANTHAKUMAR Balasingham
LH: As the previous Special Procedures mandate-holder of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations on foreign debt and human rights, would you please begin by explaining how debt and finance impinge on human rights; and why human rights matter, or ought to matter, when it comes to issues (...)
, by KAILASAM Vasugi
Brotherless Night is V. V. Ganeshananthan’s second novel. I read this novel in late July 2023, with a fevered reminder of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Black July in Sri Lanka. The reading was a moving exercise that prompted me to pause and reflect on the fractured nature of (...)
, by Daily FT
Trade unions and civil society activists have come together in a concerted effort, presenting five critical demands to challenge what they perceive as detrimental policies of the Government.
These demands aim to address concerns surrounding the Employee Trust Fund (ETF) and Employee (...)
, by Daily FT
A collective of 80 trade unions yesterday wrote to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to express their concerns about the ongoing Domestic Debt Restructuring process affecting the most vulnerable and marginalised citizens of the country.
The trade unions said while people began to feel (...)
, by Petition
An open letter by 82 Sri Lankan trade unions against the IMF’s devastating debt restructuring program.
The IMF and the World Bank have sanctioned an attack on the social security of Sri Lankan working people who are still reeling from the devastating socio-economic impact of the global (...)
Last year, a protest movement in Sri Lanka stormed the presidential palace and forced the president to flee the country. It reminded many of the hartal strike action in 1953, one of the most impressive displays of working-class power in Asia’s modern history.
Last year’s anti-government (...)
, by GUNASEKARA Skandha
In recent years, a growing undercurrent of Hindu majoritarianism and nationalism within the Tamil community has raised significant concerns about their potential repercussions on communal harmony in Sri Lanka. This phenomenon has come under scrutiny due to its manifestations in both online (...)
“It was the class struggle in free flow and it constituted the highest point that the class struggle had yet reached in Ceylon”
70 years ago this month, on 12 August 1953, “a demonstration of the tremendous power of the masses in action” influenced by Left parties and trade unions, shook (...)
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