Category: Sri Lanka

‘The Canary in the Coal Mine’: Sri Lanka’s Crisis is a Chronicle Foretold

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Tuesday, 16 August, 2022 — Socialist Project

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Sri Lanka’s acute economic crisis and sovereign debt default, along with its people’s uprising in 2022, has drawn attention across the world. It is described as the ‘canary in the coal mine’, that is, a harbinger of the likely future for other global south countries. Eric Toussaint, spokesperson for the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM) interviewed via email Colombo-based Balasingham Skanthakumar of the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka and the CADTM’s South Asia network. The responses in draft were improved by Amali Wedagedera’s review and finalized on 5th August.

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Our Entire Civilization Is Structured Around Keeping Us From Realizing We Can Do This

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Saturday, 9 July 2022 — Caitlin Johnson

Author: Caitlin Johnstone

The video footage coming out of Sri Lanka right now has been the recurring nightmare of every ruler throughout history.

Thousands of protesters outraged by the deteriorating material conditions of the nation’s economic meltdown have stormed the presidential palace of Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and I guarantee you the aerial footage as they poured into the building en masse has made every government leader and plutocrat a little uncomfortable today.

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U.S. military presence and popular resistance in Sri Lanka by Asoka Bandarage

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12 August 2019 — Covert Action Magazine

United States Arleigh Burke-class destroyers docked in Sri Lanka. Included in the task-force were the USS Howard (DDG 83), USS Shoup (DDG 86), USS Pinckney (DDG 91) and the USS Kidd (DDG 100). (October 28-31, 2017) [Credit: Sri Lanka News / Ada Derana
via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVKAKSz1rU]

The Indian Ocean is one of the most contested regions in the world today. China, the United States, India, and also Japan, Saudi Arabia and other rich and powerful states are struggling for influence over Sri Lanka, located in the geographical heart of the Indian Ocean. Sea lanes of the Indian Ocean are considered to be the busiest in the world with more than 80% of global seaborne oil trade estimated to be passing through them.
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