According to Eric Toussaint, debt restructuring has always been the result of economic and geopolitical calculation, rarely producing a favourable long-term outcome for the debtors; unless the creditors saw a strategic advantage for themselves in it. Sovereign debt “restructuring”, as it is now called by the IMF, the Paris Club and the big banking corporations, and more recently by the… Continue reading Restructuring, Audit, Suspension and Abolition of the Debt
Éric Toussaint interviewed in 2015 by Maud Bailly for CADTM
Author: ssalanka
Restructuring, Audit, Suspension and Abolition of the Debt
Rethinking Odious Debt – Pierre Pénet
How, to what extent, and under what conditions states should repay their debt are critical questions which resurface after every major financial crisis. Debts being legal contracts, states are bound by the principle of pacta sunt servanda (“agreements must be kept”). Hence, the general expectation is that all debt must be repaid, no matter the… Continue reading Rethinking Odious Debt – Pierre Pénet
Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis: a feminist response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis – Feminist Collective for Economic Justice
A history of failed economic policies and continued mismanagementSri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic crisis in its post-independence history. The country is short of foreign exchange reserves to pay for imports for many essentials, including fuel, which is affecting the functioning of the economy and crippling the lives of its people. Sri Lanka… Continue reading Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis: a feminist response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis – Feminist Collective for Economic Justice
‘සදාතනික වර්තමානය’ විකිණීමට තිබේ..! අනාගතය අදයි’..! – විදර්ශන කන්නන්ගර
ඇතුළත පිටත ද? පිටත ඇතුළත ද? කලාවේ ආකෘතිය යනු පිට කවරයක් වැනි බාහිර ආවරණයත් වන බවත් එහි අන්තර්ගතය යනු ඇතුළත මදය වැනි යමක් බවත් තවමත් කලාව කියවීමේ අධිපති මතවාදය ලෙස පවතී. විචාර නාමයෙන් දශක ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ඇහෙන මේ විකාරයට අශෝක හඳගමගේ කලාත්මක භාවිතය විසින් අභියෝගයක් එල්ල කර තිබුණ ද ‘කලාව යනුම ආකෘතිය මූලික කර ගත්තක්’… Continue reading ‘සදාතනික වර්තමානය’ විකිණීමට තිබේ..! අනාගතය අදයි’..! – විදර්ශන කන්නන්ගර
The Unwomanly Face of the 1971 Revolt – Samal Vimukthi Hemachandra
Sarath Wijesinghe Charithapadanaya saha 71 Tharuna Pibidhime Yatapathkala Ithihasaya (The Biography of Sarath Wijesinghe and the Suppressed History of Youth Awakening in 1971) By Susila Hemamali Wijesinghe Author Publication, Colombo, p. 380, 2022 The title of this book review is borrowed from Svetlana Alexievich’s masterpiece, The Unwomanly Face of War (2017), where through interviews with… Continue reading The Unwomanly Face of the 1971 Revolt – Samal Vimukthi Hemachandra
Marriage, Morality, and Modernity — Tharindi Udalagama
Making the Right Choice: Narratives of Marriage in Sri Lanka by Asha L. Abeyasekera (Rutgers University Press, 2021) Asha Abeyasekera’s Making the Right Choice: Narratives of Marriage in Sri Lanka (Rutgers University Press, 2021) documents change in marriage practices among the Sinhala-Buddhist urban middle class located in Colombo, Sri Lanka and sets out to “make… Continue reading Marriage, Morality, and Modernity — Tharindi Udalagama
Wading through a stream of memories for answers: The Single Tumbler by Sumathy Sivamohan – Afrah Niwas
Sumathy Sivamohan’s latest feature film “The Single Tumbler”, woven around stories of a single family, is a heart-wrenching tale of life, war, loss, trauma, and the search for answers. The film centres on the loss or disappearance of Jude, a brother and son, during the war in Sri Lanka, foregrounding the eviction of Muslims from… Continue reading Wading through a stream of memories for answers: The Single Tumbler by Sumathy Sivamohan – Afrah Niwas
‘Ecological Agriculture is a Political Question’
The government’s overnight ban on the import of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides, to make Sri Lanka’s agriculture “100 percent organic”, of 06 May 2021, caught everyone by surprise. No preparation had been made. Local production and supply of organic inputs was nowhere near the level needed for substitution. There had been no prior restoration… Continue reading ‘Ecological Agriculture is a Political Question’
Colombo’s Gentrification: The ‘Right to the City’ during Neoliberalism – Hasini Lecamwasam
IntroductionOne thing that classical economists seem to agree on with their colleagues of a more leftist persuasion is that cities are all about spatial concentration, with a view to optimising economic efficiency (Storper and Scott 2016; Henderson and Venables 2008). According to Harvey (1985), the capitalist (and especially neoliberal) city is a result of space… Continue reading Colombo’s Gentrification: The ‘Right to the City’ during Neoliberalism – Hasini Lecamwasam
The Crisis of Neoliberalism and the Progressive Alternative – Devaka Gunawardena
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