Category: Intervention

A clear line against political repression is beginning to emerge within democratic opposition forces in Sri Lanka, or broadly speaking, those who oppose the current government of Ranil Wickremesinghe. But the crisis of the old order requires thinking more about the relationship between politics and economics that is materialised in the State. The people’s movement… Continue reading Outline of a Redistributive State in the Southern Periphery – Devaka Gunawardena

In the fourth in a series of talks organised by Polity magazine of the Social Scientists’ Association and the Women and Media Collective with feminist economists abroad to help us in Sri Lanka think through this economic crisis that we inhabit, and how best to respond to it in ways that take forward or at… Continue reading ‘The Writing Was on The Wall’: Debt Distress and Ways Forward in Sri Lanka – Jayati Ghosh

Experts keen to endorse the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) tentative programme for Sri Lanka have attempted to highlight the supposedly progressive aspects of its intervention to try and rescue the country from economic collapse. The IMF’s prescriptions for structural economic reform in Sri Lanka will likely include “increasing female labour force participation”. On the face… Continue reading What Does Increasing the Participation of Women in the Economy Mean? Devaka Gunawardena

Dr. Ahilan Kadirgamar made this presentation at an online discussion on the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka, organised by the Kuppi Collective on April 26, 2022. It was transcribed by Treshan Fernando and edited for publication by Polity. In this talk, I wish to address three questions: One, what kind of crisis is this?… Continue reading What is this Crisis? Ahilan Kadirgamar

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

In response to Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, and the consensus across the political spectrum and even social classes that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out and structural adjustment programme is the only short-to-medium term exit or at least breathing space for citizens, the Women and Media Collective and the Social Scientists’ Association organised an… Continue reading The Argentinian (2001) and Sri Lankan (2022) Financial Crises: Ways Forward from a Feminist Perspective – Corina Rodriguez

The current crisis in Sri Lanka is not only a political crisis of the regime of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It is also a structural breakdown of the way in which neoliberalism has historically attempted to legitimise its own regime of accumulation. According to one framing of the debate, while the Rajapaksa regime is going backward, neoliberal… Continue reading The Crisis of Neoliberalism and the Progressive Alternative – Devaka Gunawardena

The last United States (US) security contingent left Afghanistan at midnight on 30th August 2021, ending a 20-year long occupation. George W. Bush along with his Western allies sent their forces to invade Afghanistan in the wake of the ‘9-11’ terror attacks in 2001, in order to wipe out the Al-Qaida and remove the Taliban… Continue reading US Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Its Impact on Sri Lankan Democracy – Pradeep Peiris

Source Among elite policy makers and experts, there is an unshakeable belief that going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide a pathway for Sri Lanka out of crisis. The IMF, however, applies its policy in a fragile global economy: one entirely different from the dawn of the neoliberal era when global trade was… Continue reading The IMF Can’t Save Sri Lanka – Devaka Gunawardena

The Left in Sri Lanka—currently more of an aspirational idea, than an active movement—is once again at the crossroads. Those people who at least explicitly self-identify as Left appear to be split between those who see the current regime in power as heading down a dangerous path, versus those who wish to expose the imperial… Continue reading Sri Lanka’s Left isn’t ‘Taking Democracy Seriously’ – Devaka Gunawardena