Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan police detain Muslim leader under terrorism laws
By K. Ratnayake, 11 May 2013
Salley’s arrest signals a new political witch-hunt against opponents of the Sri Lankan government.
Sri Lankan SEP holds May Day meeting
By our correspondents, 9 May 2013
The May Day meeting in Colombo was held under the banner: “Fight for international socialism to defeat US imperialist war drive.”
Sri Lankan mass grave recalls rural massacres
By Gamini Karunasena and Evan Weerasinghe, 29 April 2013
An estimated 60,000 youth were killed or “disappeared” during the 1988-90 repression.
Sri Lankan corporate profits soar as workers face poverty
By Saman Gunadasa, 25 April 2013
The government has helped boost profits by keeping the maximum corporate tax rate low and imposing austerity measures on working people.
Sri Lankan plantation unions sign secret wage deal
By M. Thevaraja and W. A. Sunil, 16 April 2013
The agreement was the result of a coordinated effort by the unions, employers and the government to pre-empt any struggle of workers for a wage increase.
Sri Lanka: Pro-government thugs set fire to Tamil newspaper office
By Subash Somachandran and S. Jayanth, 15 April 2013
The attack on Uthayan is part of a wave of violence against the government’s political opponents and media critics.
Sri Lankan pseudo lefts back bogus US calls for human rights
By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 13 April 2013
The NSSP has joined the right-wing UNP to appeal to the Rajapakse government to implement the recent UN resolution on human rights abuses.
Sri Lankan Buddhist extremists attack Muslim-owned businesses
By W.A. Sunil and Dehin Vasantha, 2 April 2013
The Rajapakse government is fostering provocative Sinhala-Buddhist organisations in an attempt to divide the working class.
UN body passes further resolution on Sri Lankan human rights
By K. Ratnayake, 23 March 2013
The resolution is part of the diplomatic manoeuvring by the US and other major powers to advance their interests in South Asia, particularly against China.
India manoeuvres over UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka
By Deepal Jayasekera, 19 March 2013
The Indian government is under pressure from Tamil Nadu parties over its stance on a US-backed resolution at UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan president rejects fresh war crimes evidence
By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 12 March 2013
New photos confirm that LTTE leader Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son was not killed in crossfire, as the military claimed, but shot in captivity.
Report exposes sexual torture of Sri Lankan detainees
By Panini Wijesiriwardena, 9 March 2013
The HRW report examines one aspect of the gross abuses of democratic rights and crimes for which the government and military are responsible.
Pressure mounts on Sri Lanka over human rights abuses
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 1 March 2013
A UN Human Rights Commissioner’s report last month criticised the Sri Lankan government and called for an international investigation into war crimes.
IMF demands deeper austerity measures in Sri Lanka
By Saman Gunadasa, 27 February 2013
The IMF has rejected the government’s request for a new $1 billion loan to cover the budget deficit.
Sri Lankan journalist shot by gunmen
By W.A. Sunil, 18 February 2013
The attack on the Sunday Leader journalist is another attempt to intimidate anyone who makes even limited criticisms of the government.
Sri Lankan SEP meeting marks 25th anniversary of Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
By our correspondents, 14 February 2013
Around 200 workers, youths and professionals attended the meeting held to discuss the enduring significance of Keerthi’s life and work.
US sponsors new UN resolution on Sri Lankan human rights
By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 11 February 2013
The Obama administration’s concern is not with democratic rights in Sri Lanka, but with undermining Chinese influence in Colombo.
Sri Lankan army report denies war crime accusations
By Sarath Kumara, 8 February 2013
The report is a bid by the military for a greater political role as social and economic tensions on the island sharpen.
Sri Lankan ex-lefts and the impeachment crisis
By Vilani Peiris and Sarath Kumara, 2 February 2013
Throughout this political crisis, the NSSP and USP have intervened to subordinate workers and youth to the United National Party, a right-wing bourgeois party.
Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis: The way forward for workers
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 30 January 2013
The SEP calls for the broadest campaign by workers, the rural poor and youth to defend democratic rights on the basis of a revolutionary socialist program.
SEP holds meeting in Jaffna despite military threats
By our correspondent, 25 January 2013
The advertised venue had been closed by the management, citing “an order of the defence ministry”.
Sri Lankan SEP condemns defence ministry ban on Jaffna meeting
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 25 January 2013
The SEP organised a public meeting in Jaffna to introduce its perspectives, The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party, published recently in book form.
Sri Lanka government faces rising debt burden
By Saman Gunadasa, 19 January 2013
Escalating public debt will intensify the government’s austerity measures.
Sri Lankan government installs new chief justice
By W.A. Sunil, 18 January 2013
Peiris’s appointment was clearly a political selection, aimed at ensuring that the country’s top judge would be no obstacle to government policy.
Sri Lankan president removes country’s chief justice
By W.A. Sunil and S. Jayanth, 14 January 2013
The president’s action, which flouts court rulings, has set the stage for a constitutional and political crisis.
Saudi Arabia executes young Sri Lankan housemaid
By Vilani Peiris, 11 January 2013
The execution exposes the callous indifference of the Sri Lankan government toward its migrant workers, as well as the reactionary character of the Saudi regime.
Sri Lanka heads toward constitutional crisis
By K. Ratnayake, 10 January 2013
The government and the Supreme Court are at loggerheads over the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Sri Lankan Buddhist chauvinists provoke violence against Muslims
By Gamini Karunasena and Wasantha Rupasinghe, 9 January 2013
Given a free hand by the government, Buddhist groups are fomenting attacks in various parts of the country.
Sri Lankan Tamil party legitimises military occupation
By M. Aravinthan, 7 January 2013
The Tamil National Alliance indicated last month that it would no longer demand a complete military withdrawal from the North and East.
Sri Lankan government prepares to impeach chief justice
By K. Ratnayake, 3 January 2013
The president is concentrating power in his hands amid a growing economic crisis and explosive social tensions.
25 years since Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
South Asia’s foremost Marxist of the second half of the 20th century
Part two
By Wije Dias, 28 December 2012
The second part of a two-part series about the political struggle waged for proletarian internationalism by the Sri Lankan RCL’s founding general secretary.
25 years since Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
South Asia’s foremost Marxist of the second half of the 20th century
Part one
By Wije Dias, 27 December 2012
This article is the first part of a two-part series about the political struggle waged by the RCL’s founding general secretary for proletarian internationalism.
Thousands affected by floods in Sri Lanka
By our correspondents, 22 December 2012
Most of those affected are poor farmers, fishermen and workers, who received no official forewarning.
Australia boosts links with Sri Lankan regime
By Mike Head, 19 December 2012
The Australian foreign minister announced closer military cooperation in preventing refugees fleeing Sri Lanka and exercising their right to seek asylum.
Sri Lankan SEP marks 25th anniversary of Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
By our correspondent, 19 December 2012
SEP members and supporters attended the memorial ceremony in the Colombo General Cemetery.
The enduring significance of the life and work of Comrade Keerthi Balasuriya
18 December 2012
The International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site today mark 25 years since the death of Comrade Keerthi Balasuriya, the general secretary of the Revolutionary Communist League, forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka: Security forces continue arresting Tamil youth
By our correspondent, 14 December 2012
Jaffna University students have been targeted because they have opposed the suppression of democratic rights and the privatisation of university education.
Sri Lanka: Parliamentary panel backs impeachment of chief justice
By K. Ratnayake, 11 December 2012
The rift between the government and the judiciary reflects a hostility among sections of the capitalist elite to the concentration of power in the hands of President Rajapakse.
Sri Lankan unions prepare political trap for plantation workers
By W.A. Sunil, 6 December 2012
The TUFPW is being formed not to fight for the interests of plantation workers, but to block an independent movement against the companies and government.
Sri Lanka: Jaffna University students arrested
By our correspondents, 4 December 2012
The latest detentions follow a series of police and military provocations against Jaffna students.
Report highlights UN “failure” in Sri Lanka
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 29 November 2012
The lessons drawn from the report are aimed at fashioning the UN into a more effective tool of imperialist intervention.
Sri Lankan SEP public meeting on Historical and International Foundations document
By our correspondents, 24 November 2012
Workers and students discussed the main perspective resolution adopted at the SEP’s founding congress in 2011.
Former leading member of Tamil nationalist LTTE assassinated in Paris
By K. Nesan, 22 November 2012
On November 8 a leader of the pro-LTTE Tamil Coordinating Committee was assassinated in Paris.
LTTE officials work with Sri Lankan government after civil war
By K. Nesan, 22 November 2012
LTTE cadre Selvarasa Pathmanathan’s career exemplifies how the Sri Lankan government works with Tamil nationalists to police the working class after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war.
Sri Lankan president presents austerity budget
By Saman Gunadasa, 21 November 2012
The budget is in line with IMF demands for higher taxes, lower social spending and concessions to big business.
Sri Lankan government unveils charges against chief justice
By K. Ratnayake, 15 November 2012
The real trigger for the impeachment was a Supreme Court ruling that a major government bill was unconstitutional.
The political lessons of the Sri Lankan university teachers’ strike
By Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 14 November 2012
From the outset, the teachers were confronted with the necessity of a political fight against the government, but the union was bitterly opposed to this perspective.
US criticises Sri Lanka at UN Human Rights Council
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 13 November 2012
The US and India want Colombo to distance itself from Beijing in order to advance their strategic and economic interests in South Asia.
Sri Lankan security forces kill dozens of prison inmates
By Sampath Perera, 12 November 2012
Friday’s attack inside the country’s biggest jail underscores the government’s reliance on police-state measures.
Sri Lankan government moves to impeach chief justice
By K. Ratnayake, 6 November 2012
The conflict with the judiciary reflects concerns within the country’s ruling elite over the political and economic impact of the president’s autocratic methods of rule.
Lecture on Sri Lankan SEP’s historical and international foundations
5 November 2012
The lecture will launch the SEP’s new publication—The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party-Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka: Tamil party to resume talks with government
By W.A. Sunil, 29 October 2012
The TNA has clearly come under pressure from India regards the failure to resolve the Tamil question as an obstacle to New Delhi’s ambitions in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan defence secretary initiates communal campaign over 13th amendment
By K. Ratnayake, 26 October 2012
The call for constitutional change is aimed at stirring up anti-Tamil sentiment to divide working people amid widespread discontent over the government’s austerity policies.
On the spot report
Sri Lankan military forcibly “resettles” Tamil detainees
By our reporters, 22 October 2012
The remaining 1,200 people detained by the army after the LTTE’s defeat have been dumped in a rough clearing in thick jungle.
Sri Lanka: SEP holds Piyaseeli Wijegunasingha memorial lecture
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 20 October 2012
The lecture, “Counterculture or Scientific Socialism,” explained and defended Piyaseeli’s struggle for Marxism, particularly in the field of art.
Unprecedented military budget in Sri Lanka
By Saman Gunadasa, 19 October 2012
Defence spending will rise 26 percent next year, boosting the military amid growing discontent among workers.
Sri Lankan union sells out three-month university strike
By Panini Wijesiriwardane, 16 October 2012
FUTA called off the strike without achieving any of the academic staff’s demands.
Sri Lanka: Rift between president and judiciary
By Sanjaya Jayasekera, 12 October 2012
The conflict reflects growing differences within the ruling class over the government’s flouting of the law, its cronyism and its alienation of the Western powers.
Sri Lankan union prepares to sell out university strike
By our correspondents, 5 October 2012
While the teachers’ march gained considerable support, the union called it simply to let off steam before betraying the strike.
Australia pressures refugees to return to Sri Lanka
By Mike Head, 2 October 2012
Tamil asylum seekers are being coerced to return despite clear evidence of persecution and torture.
Sri Lankan government moves to revive the death penalty
By Sanjaya Jayasekera, 1 October 2012
The push to execute hundreds of prisoners on death row is part of the government’s deepening assault on basic democratic rights.
Sri Lanka suicide rate one of the world’s highest
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 28 September 2012
Poverty, joblessness, high debt burdens and other social problems are rampant throughout the country.
“Counterculture or Scientific Socialism”
Sri Lankan SEP to hold Piyaseeli Wijegunasingha commemorative lecture
25 September 2012
The SEP speaker will answer the recent post-modernist misrepresentation of Piyaseeli’s writings and explain her revolutionary Marxist standpoint.
Support the struggle of Sri Lankan university teachers
By Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 25 September 2012
The SEP warns that the union leaders are fundamentally opposed to a political struggle against the Rajapakse government and are preparing to sell out the strike.
UN human rights officials visit Sri Lanka
By Sampath Perera, 24 September 2012
The government’s invitation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is a message to Washington that it wants closer ties to the US.
Share market scandal erupts in Sri Lanka
By Saman Gunadasa, 12 September 2012
The share market manipulation has highlighted the parasitic operations of speculators operating in collusion with government.
Sri Lanka: Ruling UPFA wins provincial elections but with reduced votes
By Deepal Jayasekera, 10 September 2012
The election result underlines the deepening hostility and resentment, not only to the government but to the Colombo political establishment as a whole.
Vote SEP in Sri Lankan provincial elections
By Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 7 September 2012
The burning issues facing working people can be solved only through the struggle for an international socialist perspective.
Reject the plantation unions’ fraudulent electoral front
By M. Thevarajah, SEP election candidate for Kegalla District and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council, 4 September 2012
These discredited unions have come together to divert the opposition of workers to the government into the reactionary dead-end of communal politics.
Jerry White concludes visit to Sri Lanka with meeting in Galle
By our correspondents, 1 September 2012
Socialist Equality Party (US) presidential candidate Jerry White concluded his tour of Sri Lanka on Thursday with a meeting in the southern port city of Galle.
Sri Lanka: US SEP presidential candidate speaks in Kegalla
By our correspondents, 31 August 2012
The candidate’s speech provoked an important and lively discussion in the question-and-answer session.
US SEP presidential candidate speaks with Sri Lankan plantation workers
By our correspondents, 30 August 2012
Visiting presidential candidate Jerry White discussed the necessity for the unity of the American and Sri Lankan working class.
Lively discussion with US presidential candidate at Colombo meeting
By our correspondents, 28 August 2012
The questions pointed to an understanding among workers and youth that the political situation in Sri Lanka is intimately bound up with broader international processes.
Sri Lankan government shuts universities to break strike
By Kapila Fernando, 28 August 2012
Even as the government is threatening striking university teachers, their trade union FUTA is preparing to betray the struggle.
Sri Lanka: Colombo public meeting hears US SEP presidential candidate
By our correspondents, 27 August 2012
US presidential candidate Jerry White addressed a well-attended meeting in Colombo yesterday.
US SEP presidential candidate begins international tour
By our correspondents, 25 August 2012
Jerry White received a warm welcome from the Sri Lankan SEP on his arrival in Colombo yesterday.
Sri Lankan SEP campaigns for US presidential candidate’s meetings
By our correspondents, 24 August 2012
Sri Lankan workers and youth expressed keen interest in the US presidential candidate’s tour.
Colombo press conference announces US SEP presidential candidate’s visit to Sri Lanka
By our correspondents, 23 August 2012
Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party’s US presidential candidate, will address public meetings in Colombo, Kegalle and Galle.
Sri Lankan power unions sell out strike
By W. A. Sunil, 20 August 2012
The unions have ended the strike with nothing but vague promises and, in doing so, have opened the door for a further assault on jobs, wages and conditions.
Sri Lanka: Retrenched garment workers speak with SEP campaigners
By Kapila Fernando, 18 August 2012
The Socialist Equality Party is campaigning for a public meeting in Yatiyanthota, where about 1,000 workers were retrenched last year at the Ranmalu Fashions garment factory.
Sri Lankan SEP holds election meeting in Kegalla
By our reporter, 11 August 2012
The first in a series of public meetings for the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections was attended by workers, youth and students.
Sri Lankan graphite miners speak to SEP campaigners
By Panini Wijesiriwardena, 9 August 2012
“Though the LSSP leaders abandoned us, those revolutionary days still echo in our mind.”
Sri Lankan SEP campaigns among rubber plantation workers
By our reporters, 4 August 2012
Together with tea and coconut plantation workers, rubber workers have been hit hard by the government’s austerity measures.
Sri Lankan government moves to gag web sites
By Vilani Peiris, 1 August 2012
The new regulations are part of an intensifying attack on media and democratic rights by President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government.
Sri Lankan SEP candidate speaks to WSWS
By Panini Wijesiriwardene, 31 July 2012
Ananda Daulagala has a record of more than three decades of fighting for the program of international socialism.
WSWS interviews tortured Tamil political refugee
By Athiyan Silva, 30 July 2012
The WSWS recently interviewed a former Tamil political prisoner, beaten and tortured in so-called rehabilitation centres by the Sri Lankan army and intelligence.
Sri Lankan SEP to contest provincial council election
By Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 24 July 2012
The Socialist Equality Party will contest the Kegalla District of Sabaragamuwa Province in provincial council elections to be held on September 8.
Ex-army chief calls for regime change in Sri Lanka
By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 23 July 2012
Former presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, has appealed for Western support for a campaign to overthrow the present government.
Sri Lankan government moves to extend the police custody period
By Sanjaya Jayasekara, 13 July 2012
The doubling of the detention period is another step to entrench the police-state measures adopted during the country’s civil war.
Sri Lankan SEP meeting discusses socialist policy for fishermen
By our correspondent, 12 July 2012
The SEP and ISSE campaign dealt with the issues raised by protests by fishermen earlier this year against fuel price hikes.
Credit agency rates Sri Lanka “very high risk”
By Saman Gunadasa, 11 July 2012
S&P became the second ratings agency to warn of Sri Lanka’s exposure to the deepening financial crisis unfolding in Europe.
Sri Lankan unions betray university workers’ strike
By Dehin Wasantha, 4 July 2012
The IUTUJC ended the campaign on the basis of an empty promise over salary anomalies.
Sri Lanka: Pro-government thugs kill two JVP supporters
By Sujeewa Amaranath and Wasantha Rupasinghe, 29 June 2012
The murders are part of the anti-democratic methods being used to stifle any opposition to the government’s imposition of IMF austerity measures.
Sri Lankan SEP to hold meeting on fishermen’s struggle
By Socialist Equality Party, 26 June 2012
The public meeting in the western Sri Lankan port of Chilaw will discuss a socialist program for fishermen and their families.
Sri Lanka tilts toward the US
By Sarath Kumara, 23 June 2012
Sri Lankan officials secured military assistance from the US and India at the recent Singapore security summit.
Ratings agency warns of Sri Lanka’s exposure to European crisis
By Saman Gunadasa, 18 June 2012
Of the Asian countries, Sri Lanka is “most at risk” from any global financial shocks because of its high external borrowing needs and weak balance sheet.
Sri Lanka: Plantation workers oppose tea factory closure
By M. Vasanthan, 8 June 2012
Hundreds of Park Estate tea plantation workers have begun strike action to defend jobs and oppose cost-cutting measures.
Non-academic university staff strike in Sri Lanka
By Panini Wijesiriwardane, 7 June 2012
The strikers are demanding an immediate 25 percent pay rise as part of their protracted campaign to rectify salary anomalies.
Sri Lankan president’s salute to militarism
By Wije Dias, 28 May 2012
This year’s “victory” parade only underscored the degree to which his government rests on the country’s huge military apparatus.
Sri Lankan president releases jailed rival
By Sampath Perera, 26 May 2012
Rajapakse announced Fonseka’s release in a bid to ease tensions with the US, just days after Sri Lanka’s foreign minister visited Washington.
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