The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka will hold the first public meeting of the party’s campaign for Provincial Council elections in Karainagar, Jaffna on August 24. The SEP is running a slate of 19 candidates for the Jaffna district.
The September 21 election is being held amid a deepening crisis of global capitalism, rising militarism and attacks on democratic rights. As in other countries, Sri Lanka’s Rajapakse government is unleashing savage austerity measures that impose the burden of the global crisis on working people. At the same time, the US is pressing the Sri Lankan government to align itself with Washington’s war preparation against China.
In the north, the lives of working people have been devastated by Colombo’s savage war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They face an ongoing repressive military occupation and many lack proper shelter, jobs, health care or education.
The United People’s Freedom Alliance, the United National Party and all the Tamil parties, including Tamil National Alliance, are silent about these crucial issues. The central preoccupation of the Tamil parties is not the catastrophic situation facing working people and youth but how to secure the interests of the Tamil elite.
In opposition to all other parties, the Socialist Equality Party fights for a socialist and internationalist program against the danger of war and the deepening attack on living conditions and democratic rights. The SEP is the only party demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all troops from the North and East.
The SEP election campaign is aimed at building a unified struggle of the working class—Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim—for a workers’ and peasants’ government to implement socialist policies. We urge workers, youths and intellectuals in the Jaffna area to attend our meeting and participate in this important political discussion.
Venue: Anderson Hall
Oori, Karainagar, Jaffna
Time: Saturday, August 24, 3.30pm.