Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
“By holding elections to select overlords one cannot change the status of overlords or the slaves.” Frankfurtian philosopher Herbert Marcus once said.
With the introduction of the universal suffrage in 1931, people of this country voted at every election with high enthusiasm and expectation. (...)
The author of this article, Sumanasiri Liyanage, presents the political evolution of Dr. Vickramabahu (Bahu) Karunarathne, the leader of the Nava Samasamaja Party (NSSP), who runs today in the elections for The United National Party ( UNP ). [ESSF]. Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarathne, the leader of (...)
The 25th anniversary of the death of Mrs. Theja Gunawardana, a great personality and an indefatigable fighter for social justice who played an indelible role in the Left Movement in Sri Lanka falls on July 17, 2020. Most of the people belonging to the present generations may not be aware of the (...)
The China of today is vastly different to the China that I knew of in my younger days. Thinking about the China of those times evokes memories of many things like the cultural revolution, red guards, the great leap forward, the red book of Chairman Mao’s thoughts and above all Mao Zedong himself (...)
The Fourth International condemns the repression and violence committed on June 8 in central Colombo during a protest organized by the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP).
People had wanted to gather in front of the US embassy to protest the killing of George Floyd and show solidarity with the (...)
A protest against police brutality in the U.S. is met with police brutality in Colombo.
On Tuesday afternoon, June 9, a small crowd began to gather opposite the United States Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Holding placards bearing slogans like “Racism is a deadly virus,” the protestors donned (...)
Dr. Lional Bopage turns 74 this year. In this interview he looks back at key moments in the history of the Sri Lankan left.
Bopage got involved politics in his student days while attending Rahula College, Matara. He was among the students who experienced the change of medium of instruction to (...)
Upali Cooray, who passed away on 21 August 2009, was a revolutionary socialist; trade unionist; anti-racist; partisan of anti-colonial and national liberation movements; human rights lawyer; university teacher and much more. Upali Cooray: His militancy had no match
Upali Cooray (17 September (...)
In four decades, Sri Lanka has moved from poor country category to lower middle income category. However, as we all aware averages do not tell the entire story and are oftentimes misleading.
Since 1977, Sri Lanka has been following uninterruptedly neo-liberal economic policies. The change of (...)
Between April 2017 and his death in February 2018, the veteran Sri Lankan activist Joe Seneviratne met Harini Amarasuriya for a series of remarkable interviews in which he recalled his life and set down his views on the people and events he had encountered on the way. Joe was born in June 1943, (...)
President has removed Ranil Wickramasinghe and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapakse as the new Prime Minister. Executive Presidents abusing their powers in violation of democratic norms is not new to our political history and this unacceptable act follows in that line. It has also (...)
With Independent Sri Lanka having reached the age of 70, it cannot reconstruct itself without self-criticism. As we live under the shadow of the twin forces of Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil nationalism, where will the impetus for such self-criticism come from? I find a flicker of hope with the (...)
Q: Could you speak about your family and your background? Did it have an influence on your politicisation?
A: My family is from the Islands, Nainativu and Analaitivu and my father was a clerical servant in the Education Department. As a small boy, my family stayed with the Poobalasingam family (...)
Caste relations and conflicts have taken varied forms at different times in Jaffna. The recent conflicts around upper-caste cemeteries in proximity to oppressed caste dwellings resulted in a major protest on May 13th, opposite the Jaffna Bus Stand. In Kalaimathy village in Puttur, historically (...)
To say that the Sri Lankan leftist movement is on its last legs would be… generous, at best. Having all but abandoned all pretence of their once venerated Marxist/Trotskyist ideology, it is by no means a stretch that many hardcore leftists of old are now in bed with right-wing capitalist (...)
Maithripala Sirisena, Honourable President, Presidential Secretariat, Colombo - 01, Sri Lanka
Hon. President,
Protecting the Politicat Rights of Comrade Kumar Gunaratnam
Frontline Socialist Party politburo member comrade Kumar Gunaratnam has been sentenced to a one-year prison term (...)
To mark the 80th Anniversary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party — on the 18th of December 2015 — the Leader of the LSSP, Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy Tissa Vitharana, former Professor in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, offers a prescriptive (...)
These days the focus of most of the country is on the general election scheduled for 17th August 2015. People want to know how the victory achieved by Maithripala Sirisena after defeating Mahinda Rajapakse in the 8th January 2015 presidential election will be reflected in the representation of (...)
Reflecting on Santasilan Kadirgamar’s life.
He was my comrade and neighbor and oft would we sit out on my veranda, sipping the stuff that cheers and first talking sensibly, then slinging it out in voices that kept the neighbors, too polite to complain, awake till the late hours, as a bottle of (...)
The 2015 parliamentary election in Sri Lanka is marked by the rejuvenated presence of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (‘People’s Liberation Front’, known nationally and internationally as the JVP, its Sinhala abbreviation). At this election, the JVP is striving to increase its headcount in (...)
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