Features – Lanka Socialists Forum

05 Jul

Remembering Comrade P. Rajanayagam – Who articulated the link between the right to self-determination of ethnic minorities and human rights, workers’ rights and poverty.

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures, News, Reviews

By Redley Silva and Wilfred Silva Comrade P Rajanayagam, a stalwart in the golden era of the history of the left and the working class in Sri Lanka, fought a continuous and unrelenting struggle for the liberation of the workers and the oppressed of all races based on democracy, equality and solidarity has passed away. We were deeply saddened to hear about the death of Comrade Rajanayagam. We express our deepest condolences to Comrade Raja’s relatives, friends and comrades in Sri Lanka, the UK and other countries at this sorrowful time. We join with you in mourning the loss of this…

29 May

The IMF in Debt Restructuring, the Resurgence of Austerity, and the Urgency of Fiscal Justice – Bhumika Muchhala

wisidagamage0 CommentsEconomy, Features

Originally From : http://ssalanka.org/imf-debt-restructuring-resurgence-austerity-urgency-fiscal-justice-bhumika-muchhala/ As Sri Lanka officially defaults on its sovereign debt repayments, and enters negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for access to loans in return for structural macro-economic change in response to the ongoing economic crisis, the Women and Media Collective, the Social Scientists’ Association, and the Feminist Collective for Economic Justice jointly organised an online talk with Bhumika Muchhala on 18 April 2022, to inform a critical understanding of these developments and alternatives that are preferential to dominated classes and oppressed groups. Polity magazine is pleased to publish an expanded and edited version of her talk, transcribed by Treshan Fernando.…

25 May

Art Is a Dream in Which We Imagine Our Future: The Twentieth Newsletter (2022)

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures, Reviews

Originally From: https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/culture/ Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On 11 May 2022, an Israeli sniper fired at the head of the veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh as she reported on an Israeli military raid on a refugee settlement in Jenin (part of the Occupied Palestine Territories). The snipers continued to fire at the journalists who were with her, preventing them from aiding her. When she finally arrived at Ibn Sina Hospital, she was pronounced dead. After Abu Aqleh’s death, the Israeli military raided her home in occupied East Jerusalem, where they confiscated Palestinian flags and…

27 Mar

The Belligerati

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures, Politics

RICHARD SEYMOUR 22 MARCH 2022 Originally From: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-belligerati The defenestration of dignity and common sense may be among the lesser tragedies of war. But in late capitalism the cynical, the sinister and the stupid tend to be enfolded in the same apocalyptic drive. Consider, for a moment, recent gestures of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, currently suffering under Russia’s increasingly brutal assault. As Western states have imposed vigorous sanctions on Russia, though not as severe as those imposed on Iran or Iraq, others have taken their own initiatives. In the United Kingdom, some supermarkets have taken Russian vodka off the shelves.…

27 Mar

War is good business

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures

Originally From: https://labourhub.org.uk/2022/03/18/war-is-good-business/ A new World Peace Foundation report, Missing in Action: UK arms export controls during war and armed conflict, authored by Anna Stavrianakis, Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, was published this week. Its findings are unequivocal. Despite the UK’s commitment to a ‘rigorous and robust’ arms export control regime, the outbreak of war or conflict has had little or no restraining effect on UK arms exports. Even where violations of human rights and humanitarian law are documented, UK arms export controls have not restricted transfers in any meaningful way. The report examines UK export patterns in…

27 Mar

The rulers of the great powers are playing with fire

wisidagamage0 CommentsFeatures, Politics

By Gilbert Achcar Originally From: https://labourhub.org.uk/2022/01/30/the-rulers-of-the-great-powers-are-playing-with-fire/?fbclid=IwAR2pRiWTOUO4SO__zBXAf3yjTECzIaSsM3XiXcCBRomlHZLsaVYgNNN45Dc It is not an exaggeration to say that what is currently happening in the heart of the European continent is the most dangerous moment in contemporary history and the closest to a third world war since the Soviet missile crisis in Cuba in 1962. True, neither Moscow nor Washington has hinted at the use of nuclear weapons so far, although there can be no doubt that the two countries did put their nuclear arsenals on standby in the face of the current circumstances. It is also true that the level of military alert in…