We the working people know that this economic crisis was a long time coming.

For four decades, our workers, especially the free trade zone workers, plantation workers and migrant workers, have held our economy in their hands and brought in dollars. The political elite, supported by the corrupt business establishment, has exploited the hard work of our people, used it for unproductive investments and unregulated imports of luxury goods, and saved for themselves the wealth earned by the working people in offshore tax havens. The crisis we face today has been in the making since the 1970s, when the political and business elite commenced economic warfare against the working people by privatizing state assets, dismantling the welfare state, weakening labour protections, breaking unions and allowing for unregulated flow of capital and goods. Rampant racism against Tamil and Muslim communities, sexism against women and bigotry against the LGBTQI community was carefully used by the political and business leadership to fragment the working people.

The result of four decades of undemocratic and anti-working people policies resulted in food inflation rising over 90%, inflation rising over 70%, electricity tariffs rising by 200% percent, transport cost tripling, kerosene prices, quadrupling, interest rates almost tripling and real wages falling by 40%. The entire cost of the crisis has been placed on the working people. Meanwhile, large export and import businesses continue to report profits even while company owners stubbornly refuse to increase wages of our workers. The Government with its incompetence in international negotiations has surrendered to the IMF and creditors. International private creditors who had no shame lending to the Rajapaksas, knowing in full that loans would not be used for the benefit of the people, today demand for haircut on domestic debt. Their demand to ‘restructure’ this odious debt will result in our working peoples’ retirement savings ,the EPF and the ETF funds being slashed.

We are also facing a political crisis. Today we are ruled by an unelected executive President who is fearful to seek the people’s mandate through elections. Today we are a country which has been denied our franchise by an all authoritative executive which controls all arms of the State. The executive has used emergency powers, the PTA, the Police and the Military to deny the people’s fundamental rights including free speech and assembly.

Our economic and political crisis unfolds in the midst of a global economic and environmental crisis. Globally, the world economy is in a state of recession. The World Bank sends alarm bells that the world economy is ‘perilously close to falling into recession’. Despite these dark predictions of economic recession which will push millions to poverty and desperation, neither the powerful states nor international agencies like the World Bank and the IMF have taken any responsibility for this crisis which is caused by the economic structures which they create and control. Meanwhile global temperatures keep rising with the past eight years marking the warmest years on record, pushing the world to climate extremes. Countries like Sri Lanka stand to suffer the worst effects of climate catastrophe, despite doing the least to cause it.

This year, trade unions, mass organisations, workers, farmers, fishers, professionals and artists are coming together in a joint International May Day march. We are marching for a decent living for our working people. We are marching against the unbearable cost of living. We are marching for affordable food, affordable transport, affordable electricity, free education and free healthcare for our working people. We are marching against corrupt privatization deals and the dismantling of our welfare state and labour protections. We are marching against dispossessing farmers and fishers of their lands and assets through loans bearing draconian conditions. We are marching for redistribution of wealth to the working people through increased wages and wealth taxes.

We are marching against the conditions of international agencies like the IMF which have bargained with an unelected President and enforced an agreement which passed the cost of the crisis solely onto the working people of this country. We are calling out on the hypocrisy of the IMF which preaches anti- corruption to our people while negotiating deals with the same corrupt leadership which brought this country to this crisis. We are marching against state oppression and draconian anti-terror laws which define working people and those resisting the state as terrorists.

We are marching against racial injustice against Tamils, Muslims and Malayaha Tamils. We are marching for an equitable political solution to the national question which has plagued our country and divided us since Independence. We are marching against the patriarchal oppression of women and the LGBTQI community. We are marching for the abolition of the executive presidency, for the devolution of power to regions and for the democratization of the State.

On this May Day the working people unite to send a clear message to our unelected President and Government: the economic crisis was not brought upon by the working people. The costs of the crisis will therefore not be borne by us. Moving forward, we the working people will resist every action by the political and business elite to impose the cost of the crisis on the working people.

On this May Day we the working people of Sri Lanka march together and in solidarity with working people across the world for a just future. We march for an economic system that does not steal the wealth of working people to enrich those who do not labour to produce the wealth. We march for our resources and wealth to be equitably and sustainably used and shared amongst us and for future generations.

United Working Peoples

Click here to subscribe to ESSF newsletters in English and/or French.