Working women are bearing the debt burden! In 1908, 15,000 working women marched through New York City demanding decent working hours, better pay, and voting rights. In 1910, at the Second International Conference of Working Women, Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of an International Womenâs Day. On this 8 March 2023, we are moved by …
Sri Lanka, along with many other low- and middle-income countries, has experienced a series of financial shocks due to both external and internal factors. Global forces have caused food and energy import costs to soar and interest rates to rise, even as the currency has devalued significantly. These shocks,  along  with  a  history of  policy …
Statement by academics on dealing with Sri Lankan debt, January 2023 Read More »
We are a group of feminists writing to call urgent attention to the extra-constitutional attempts of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to suppress dissent. Lacking a popular mandate, hunting down student protestors and activists, including a LGBTIQ activist has become a central strategy of the political Ă©lite to retain power. The latest move by …
SL Govt – Stop Labeling Student Protestors and Activists as Terrorists! Read More »
As a professional trade union which has historically stood for social justice in Sri Lanka, FUTA is appalled by the massive repression unleashed on leading Aragalaya activists by the illegitimate Wickremasinghe-Pohottuwa government. FUTA as an organisation identifies itself with the spirit of the Aragalaya. We stand by the brave youth and activists drawn from all …
We, the undersigned academics who work on Sri Lanka and South Asia more broadly, fully condemn the violent assault on peaceful protestors in Colombo by the Sri Lankan security forces on 22 July 2022. We are aghast at reports that five of the protestors were abducted and tortured by security force personnel; violently beaten, forced …
“We condemn the violent assault on peaceful protestors” — Academics Abroad Read More »
The July 9th uprising is a revolutionary moment. The people have spoken, in their millions, in the midst of a grave economic collapse, demanding change and clamouring for greater democracy. They pointed out the dire failure of the political leadership at the top. Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled overseas, without resigning, holding the country to ransom; and …
[i]The Sri Lankan nation is facing the worst financial, economic, and socio-political crisis in 74 years since independence. The entire world is aware of the extreme economic, financial, social, and political turmoil that the citizens and working people of Sri Lanka are going through and the extreme difficulties they are facing. Following the resignation letters …
 Our broken nation lies before us, caught up in an unprecedented social and economic tragedy of incomparable historic proportions. Young and old spend hours and days queuing for petrol, gas, medicine. Some have even died in these queues.  The cost of food skyrockets before our eyes, and our beloved farmers, unable to tend their …
As the national trade union representing university academics, which has stood firmly behind the ongoing peopleâs struggle for democracy and economic stability, the Federation of University Teachersâ Associations (FUTA) strongly condemns the non-consultative and self-serving appointment of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on 12 May 2022. On …
An Undemocratic Political Deal: FUTA on Ranil Wickremesinghe Appointment Read More »
Sri Lanka is in the grip of a collapsing economy causing immense suffering to its people. Acute food, medicine, and fuel shortages are crippling the day-to-day lives of the people, giving way to despair and frustration and driving them to the streets to express their dissent against a government that has failed them. This crumbling …