wisidagamage, Author at Lanka Socialists Forum

20 Feb

Beyond dystopia

wisidagamage0 CommentsArts & Culture, Features

ROBERT MISIK 14th February 2022 To change the pessimistic Zeitgeist, left-wing politics and radical art must renew their alliance, Robert Misik writes. Onward march—da Volpedo’s c1901 depiction of Il Quarto Stato, emerging as workers confidently on strike, hangs in the Museo del Novecento in Milan Left-wing and progressive parties continue to win elections. Only rarely, it’s true, with strategic majorities, as for the socialists recently in Portugal. But there have been surprising successes, such as that of the SPD in Germany, and clear victories, such as that of Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the United States. Elsewhere, as across Scandinavia, they remain in office. Yet today left-wing parties…

20 Feb

‘They’re taking our jobs’—really?

wisidagamage0 CommentsLabour, News

PIERO ESPOSITO, STEFAN COLLIGNON and SERGIO SCICCHITANO 7th February 2022 It is widely believed that migrants have displaced indigenous workers in Europe. Widely believed, but false. Taking her place: celebrating Sweden’s National Day in Norrkoping in 2014 (Rolf_52/shutterstock.com) The arrival in 2015 of well over a million refugees, largely from the middle east and north Africa, shook the European Union again to its foundations. Old demons of nationalism and xenophobia re-emerged, populist anti-European parties gained strength and insistence on ‘national sovereignty’ blocked solutions compatible with European principles and human dignity. Many Europeans still seem to fear that acccepting migration must mean that native populations will lose out, because public resources…

20 Feb

Climate accountability now

wisidagamage0 CommentsEnvironment, Features

MARY ROBINSON 15th February 2022 Major emitters must deliver on critical ‘climate justice’ issues, such as financing for vulnerable countries. Short supply—poor countries rendered victims of climate change by rich-country emissions need much more financial support (Piyaset/shutterstock.com) It has been 30 years since world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro and agreed a set of measures to start the global mobilisation against human-caused climate change and to meet the imperative of a more sustainable development model. Their Rio Declaration affirmed that ‘human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony…

20 Feb

POSITION OF CMU AND UFL ON THE RECENTLY SIGNED MOU AMONG JAAF AND THREE TRADE UNIONS

wisidagamage0 CommentsNews, Struggles

16th February, 2022 POSITION OF CMU AND UFL ON THE RECENTLY SIGNED MOU AMONG JAAF AND THREE TRADE UNIONS The Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers’ Union(CMU) and the United Federation of Labour (UFL) representing over 10,000 workers in Sri Lanka write this letter to share our deep concerns regarding the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Sri Lankan employer association Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) and three trade unions. MOUs such as the above, despite having little ability to override existing labour laws could have still been an opening for industry wide consensus between Employers in the Garment Sector and Trade Unions. However the…

19 Feb

Barack Obama’s father identified as CIA asset in U.S. drive to “recolonize” Africa during early days of the Cold War

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures

Posted Feb 10, 2022 by Gerald Horne Originally published: CovertAction Magazine(February 7, 2022 Over the last decade, the U.S. has been quietly expanding its covert intelligence empire in Africa as part of a growing geopolitical rivalry with China. A new book published by Susan Williams, entitled White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa, reminds us that the likely consequences will be disastrous. Williams’s book updates an earlier study edited by Philip Agee, Ellen Ray, William Schaap and Louis Wolf, entitled Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa. She focuses mostly on the ties between Ghana and the Congo roughly between 1957 and the…

19 Feb

Journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama’s residence attacked

wisidagamage0 CommentsNews

February 14, 2022 A group of individuals have reportedly attacked the residence of senior journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama at Wewala, Piliyandala. Speaking to reporters, the journalist said that he was woken up by a large noise at around 2.10 a.m. this morning and then found that the glass on several windows had been shattered while feces had also been thrown at the house. He said that around four unidentified individuals had arrived in a vehicle and they had first threatened the security guard on duty at the housing complex by pointing a gun at his head. The suspects had concealed their…