The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka is holding a public meeting in Colombo on March 29 to conclude its general election campaign. Under Sri Lankan election regulations, all public campaigning has to stop 72 hours before the poll.

The meeting will explain the underlying political principles of the SEP campaign and its perspectives for the working class. At the centre of the SEP’s program is the fight for internationalism. Along with its sister parties of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the SEP is aiming to develop a global counter-offensive against imperialism, uniting the working masses in Sri Lanka with their class brothers and sisters in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the advanced capitalist countries.

The SEP demands the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all government troops from the North and East of the island. At the same time, the party has made clear that the only genuinely progressive means of ending the catastrophic 20-year civil war is through the development of an independent political movement of the working class and rural masses—whether Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Christian—for the Socialist United States of Sri Lanka and Eelam.

Over the past few weeks, the SEP has campaigned at factories, workers’ quarters and universities distributing tens of thousands of copies of statements and articles from the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) on Sri Lankan and world events. Our members have been able to discuss our analysis and perspective with hundreds of workers, young people and intellectuals.

The main speaker at the public meeting will be SEP General Secretary Wije Dias, who is a member of the WSWS International Editorial Board. Dias heads the slate of 23 SEP candidates standing in the Colombo district. SEP Political Committee member and candidate Nanda Wickramasinghe will chair the meeting. Indian Trotskyist Arun Kumar will also speak along with SEP candidates Vilani Peiris, M. Devaraja, Panini Wijesiriwardana, Priyadarshana Maddewatte and S T Chandrasekaran.

Venue: Hyde Park, Ibbanwela Junction, Colombo 2

Time: 4 p.m. Monday, March 29