Japan is a US Colony, How about Sri Lanka?

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 28 January – 03 February 2024

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Unlike in India, the national anthem in Sri Lanka is not associated with a freedom struggle.

Independence battles in this country were fought by Keppetipola, Puran Appu,

Gongalegoda Banda, Dharmapala & others, but there was no such battle fought

by Jayewardene, Senanayake, Wijewardene, Wickremesinghe, Arunachalam, or Ramanathan.

– Nalin de Silva, see ee Economists, We need to build a national manufacturing economy

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There was no fight for freedom, which involved a fight

for principles, policies, and programs… No. It just came overnight.

We just woke up one day and we were told, ‘You are a dominion now’.

– SWRD Bandaranaike, Ceylon Prime Minister (1956-59, Assassinated)

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‘During the agitation for constitutional reforms a secret memorandum was sent

by those who were opposed to the reform, to the Colonial Office in Whitehall.

In the Legislative Council, the Colonial Secretary refused to table a copy. He was fully

confident that none of the signatories would give it. Alwis was able to obtain a copy

surreptitiously from a member of the household of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan.

Sir Ponnambalam was one of the instigators of the memorandum.’

– ee Media, RE de Alwis was friendly with Wilfrid Woods, Colonial Treasurer

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The Soulbury Constitution of 1946 was an ‘agreement between

the English-educated elites of all the island’s principal groups.’

The Ceylonese judiciary struggled to assert itself

as a counter-majoritarian check on Parliament.

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‘The locus of uncertainty was Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution,

which prohibited Parliament from enacting discriminatory legislation

and set forth constitutional amendment rules.

Ceylon Parliament did not enjoy supremacy in the Westminster sense.

& because it lacked the unfettered powers of its English counterpart, its sovereignty

– & Ceylonese sovereignty – was questioned throughout the Dominion period.’

– ee Sovereignty, Uncertain sovereignty: Ceylon as a Dominion 1948-72

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‘Yet another secret military deal with the USA was approved

following agreement by both parties on April 6, 2022.

It is not surprising that Sri Lankan media failed to report this as they were silent

 on the 1^st ACSA secret deal signed between US & SL on March 11, 2007.

This was extended 10 years later as the original 2007 ACSA created an inescapable military trap.

The new military engagement with US (2022 April 6) is far more dangerous, intrusive & invasive.’

– ee Sovereignty, Sri Lanka a US Military Vassal State

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The USA has military bases & troops throughout West Asia, from occupied Palestine to Turkiye to Saudi Arabia to Qatar (home of BBC camel Al Jazeera), UAE, Oman, Bahrain, etc. They also have 100,000s of troops in East Asia: Japan (which with 16 white countries, suspended aid to Palestine after the ICJ ruling), occupied Korea, Taiwan etc; the Pacific (Australia, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, etc), & Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia etc)  Then there are US military bases & troops in Africa (at least 29 bases!) and in Europe (England, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Poland, Spain, etc). Does this not make them US colonies? The media never modifies those countries with the adjective US-occupied or US-colonized? And yet, all attacks on US & English machines in West Asia are called ‘Iran-backed’? (Also see ee Sovereignty, Pentagon’s Own Map of U.S. Bases in Africa Contradicts its Claim of “Light” Footprint)

     US envoy & Korean collaborator Julie Chung, with blood on her hands (not just from Palestine but Colombia, Iraq, Haiti too, see below) was allowed into the so-called ‘1^st Arts Festival’ in Matara this week. It shows the slimy sewers, our ‘intellectuals’ & ‘artists’ will slather in. Indeed, the depths & the lengths imperialism goes to prevent the independence of Sri Lanka, has ranged from economic sabotage (starting with the very 1^st US designer & governor of SL’s Central Bank, 1950) to assassination (1959) to coups (attempted 1962 & those unnamed 2022), to mass-murder (1971, 1983-2009), and secret military agreements.

     The more subtle variations obstructing Sri Lanka’s release from colonial thrall include the US- & EU-funded constitutional & judicial wrangling to undermine state power. Also, the steady diversion by the media and the education system, away from vital issues such as modern industrialization that can truly unshackle us (see ee Focus, Promoting High-quality Development through New Industrialization). This ee Focus (D’Oylys Ghouls – English Department & its National Erasures) also looks at how the so-called English-educated erase our real history in the name of countering erasure, by downplaying the hideous role plantations have played in destroying the economy.

     And while the Sri Lanka Institute of Architecture puts on the ritz this month (they can build a private house, but cannot blueprint a nation), ee reproduces the Communist Party’s alternate program on Housing & Urban Planning. These effete aesthetes would be well-advised to read it:

Sri Lanka faces a catastrophic situation regarding shelter, with a

chronic shortage of housing: of 6 million families, some 800,000 have no homes at all…

Sri Lanka’s urban planners have robbed the urban environments steadily of green public open space.

(see ee Focus, Housing & Urban Planning)

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• Instead of focusing on such brick&mortar matters, there’s instead incessant jabber about constitutionalism – a splurging pig’s trough for ageing lawyers & retiring professors, with a former ’71 JVPer-turned-NGO professor calling for the return of an unelected Senate! The purpose of these endless ruminations has been indeed to prevent a strong state backed by ‘majoritarian’ rule. But who is this ‘majority’ they are so butt-scared of, given that democracy is usually promoted as majority rule? They of course mean, the ‘Sinhala people’. But who specifically makes up this ‘Sinhala people’? Agriculturists? What do these Sinhala do during their waking hours, that so frightens them?

     Last week ee noted how Sri Lanka’s agriculture is being slowly taken over by US multinationals with their elder English siblings (Unilever, CIC/ICI, CTC) in tow, with major inputs for paddy cultivation being made unaffordable under IMF dictat. This week saw Swiss multinational Nestle advance its grab of Milco & the local milk industry which they pretty much monopolize. Though the corporate media will not divulge such, and why should they?

     Milco workers are in court to prevent its sale, lock & stock & milk barrel to India. This will surely ruin a local much-loved brand, which we’ve been drinking all our post-breast-feeding-life. Yet, we were wondering about the connection between the sale & Nestle, who curiously delisted recently from the Colombo Stock Exchange.

     We found that link in the recent appointment (see ee 6 Jan 2023) to the Cargills (Ceylon) board of Dushni Weerakoon & Ganesan Ampalavanar. Cargills, which has old and close ties to the USA (from the Hollywood Chittampalams to the latest setup of EV car charging centres at Cargills outlets) is listed as the local front for the sale of Milco to India.

     Former USAID employee Weerakoon is still an Appointed Member of the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank & a Director of the Board of Investment (BOI). Ampalavanar, a Malaysian citizen, has the served Nestle Group 3 times as CEO (Nestle Indonesia, Nestle Vietnam, Nestle SL). He was trained at the IMD, the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, created by Nestlé (see Random Notes).

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‘This was not a decision that could be taken by the Finance Ministry

and as a result they had held a meeting with the IMF concerning this situation.’

– see ee Economy,IMF likely to lift VAT conditions on Tourism

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• This week celebrating ‘Independence’ also saw the Finance Ministry tell the Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) to speak to the IMF to obtain redress. At least they’re honest. But why do we even have a Finance Ministry, if Washington is de boss? Indeed, a perhaps frustrated CIA professor and advisor to the Sri Lankan government argues we have not had a proper Finance Minister in 35 years. He should know why… Meanwhile, the tax-avoiding Bill Gates Foundation, famed for their ‘Agribusiness’ & ‘Big Pharma’ initiatives, has set up shop right in the President’s Office – an office, one minister claimed, he would be afraid to accept a drink of water from!

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• The removal of popularly elected President Gotabaya Rajapakse came soon after Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan in April 2022 was toppled, and before Peru’s President Pedro Castillo was jailed in December 2022. Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021. The murder took place while Julie Chung – now-US Envoy to SL – was Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, 2021 Jan20 –Aug3. She had met Haiti’s President Moise on June 26, setting the groundwork for his murder 3 weeks later. The US-led Core Group (Sri Lanka is given one too), of which Canada is a member, appointed Moise’s successor by tweet, which was dutifully echoed by BINUH, the UN office in Haiti. Very soon after, Chung was nominated to become US envoy in SL, a seeming demotion, meant to remove her from one crime scene, but actually to set up another murder which she has failed to accomplish so far?

     Last year also saw the fixing of elections to install pro-US leaders in Malaysia & Thailand, as well as escalation of war on Myanmar, whose war against England during WW2 was a major reason to ‘grant’ Sri Lanka a fake independence.

     Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who set Chung & gang rolling in Sri Lanka, was in Kiev this week, her plans staring at utter defeat, yet bravely promises some nasty little (nuclear?) ‘nice surprises’ for Russia. Welcome to the free world…

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Contents:

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A1. Reader Comments –

• Waduge on Haiti Rice Scandal • ee Pearls • Online Anti-social Games • Why only Keheliya, why not Hemas? • Secret Free-Trade Deals • Never Taught Such History • Sydney & SWRD Assassins

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A2. Quotes of the Week –

• US Slavery Still Legal • Slaves of Defunct Economists • JR Destroyed Local Boatyards • Foreign-Policy Hedging • Singapore’s JR Fantasies • Wages of White Periya Dorai • Car Imported without Restraint • Tax Breaks & Vote Bankers • Comparing China & South Korea • China & Vietnam • Boeing Wage Wars • Lavrov on 500-year Delusions • Arab Betrayal of Palestine • US Pirates Not Somali • Toni Morrison Beloved Fantasies

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A3. Random Notes –

• US Jails Imran • Hollering Hollen & Banana Lu • India Pressures Sri Lanka to withdraw Mobitel Lawsuit • Domestic Debt Restructure Misused EPF & ETF • Nestle Milks Milco • EFC Bosses Screw Workers for Dollars

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B. ee Focus –

• B1. D’Oyly’s Ghouls – The English Department & its National Erasures

• B2. Housing & Urban Planning & The Way Forward: Alternative Program of the Communist Party (CPSL), Pt 17

• B3. China’s High-quality Development through New Industrialization – Huang Qunhui

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C. Building Blocks –

• Guaranteed Rice Price for Industrialization • Creation of a Home Market for Industry • Japan’s Limits on Industrial Exports • Smallholding & Science • Extraordinary Culture of Machine Tools • Making Central Banks Independent of the People? • On State-owned Enterprises & Privatization

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D. News Index

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A1. Reader Comments

ee thanks Readers who send articles of interest. Please excerpt or summarize what is important about any news sent, or your comments, and place any e-link at the end. Email: econenews@gmail.com

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• ‘Thanks for this. Especially on the Haiti-SriLanka article on food security by Shenali Waduge. Walking into a death trap with both eyes wide open!’’

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• ‘Loved this week’s collection and comments. Thank you for throwing pearls before me.’

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• ‘Having allowed the US’ anti-social media propaganda organs to run riot – play the wild ass, as former President CBK once called the media – the government has decided to shut a few of its doors (after the cows have fled, letting the fox among the chickens, & opening Pandora’s box – to mix a few metaphors) to enable the US’ tampered IMF medicine.’

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• ‘Why only the former Minister of Health arrested? Why not Hemas, Pfizers, Smith-Klein MNC CEOs too? And who hurried that Indian Credit Line?’

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• ‘The so-called Free Trade Agreement about to be signed by the Sri Lankan government with Thailand on so-called Independence Day is illegal, at least according to the World Trade Organization’s own much-lauded rules on trade transparency. None of the details have been published either in the media or in parliament. Sri Lanka is still not a dictatorship, so why the secrecy? We have hallowed (Theravada) relations with Thailand, and perhaps the government is taking advantage of that, even though their PM Srettha Thavisin, a ‘real-estate tycoon’, is seen as a front for earlier disgraced PM Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecom billionaire, himself a puppet of Singapore & the US, which is waging war in the region.’

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• ‘Re: Rajasinghe II & Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta’s Very Personal Ingrisi History of the World, I learnt more about the Dutch in Sri Lanka from this little snippet than I’d ever been taught in school!’

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• Re: The Real Assassins of SWRD (ee 12 Oct 2019), Sydney de Zoyza’s role was very much in the grapevine at the time, but did not feature in the case.’

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A2. Quotes of the Week_

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• ‘The 13^th Amendment to the US Constitution reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the US”.’ – ee Workers, Abolishing Prison Slavery in the USA

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• ‘Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.’ – John Maynard Keynes

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• ‘As the GA at Matara I established the Matara Mechanized Boatyard that made seagoing fishery boats – some 40 a year. That was a great industry. My giants, the Divisional Secretary Ran Ariyadasa and his Development Assistant did that task within 2 months, and our youths made 40 seaworthy boats a year, a feather in the DDCP cap. The boats were sold to fishery cooperatives, and ran on the high seas bringing a catch of fish. Ran is no more but his work stands out as something that can be done fast. However, President JR Jayewardena, to please the IMF, closed that boatyard in 1978. Imagine what the trained youths thought when they were thrown into the heap of the unemployed. Mind you, they were fully trained entrepreneurs.’ – Garvin Karunaratne, ee Economists, Get Cracking on Creating Employment & Alleviating Poverty

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• ‘Could a remark by the Sri Lanka President at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment in New York last year, give a clue to the thinking? The question put to him, in the context of US-China rivalry, was whether Sri Lanka was “hedging back and forth to extract as much as possible”?

     In the course of his reply he said, “We have to deal with all powers that come in. We may have played one against the other, but that’s for our survival.” Can such an approach, if that is the case, be justified with the crisis in Gaza, with its deeply moral dimension, and a genocide case before the ICJ? One can only hope the government’s seemingly principled stance in Kampala will translate into course-correction, even now, on the matter of sending a Sri Lanka Navy ship to the Red Sea.’ – Lasanda Kurukulasuriya, ee Sovereignty, Red Sea, Gaza & SL foreign policy

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• ‘Sweeping economic controls, including price controls, led to black markets, and shortages were ended by then President JR Jayewardana as part of what was called the ‘open economy’. “It brought to an end to shortages, queues, black markets with their corrosive effect on personal integrity,” Singapore’s economic architect & deputy PM Goh Keng Swee said in a report in 1980 to President Jayewardana, as the country ran into forex shortages & an IMF program.’ – Fred McMahon, Fraser Institute (see ee Economists, Canada thinktank says SL trade barriers, denied economic freedoms seen driving corruption)

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• ‘Morgan-Davies writes practically nothing about planting per se but writes briefly about his movement up the ladder professionally. Two things that drew my attention were that within 3 months of employment he was able to buy a BSA350 motorbike and about 3 years later a Morris Minor Tourer. That was how salaries, particularly of mercantile executives, matched the costs of goods.

     Today, or even earlier, an assistant superintendent in an estate, I guess, will have to save for almost a lifetime to buy a 1,500cc Japanese car, assuming that prices and salaries move as they do now. Shows how things have changed for the worse over the last 60 years.’ – ee Agriculture, Tea Planter Turned Naturalist

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• ‘Motorcars continued to be imported without restraint well into the dawn of the decade of the ’60s, when our custodians of national reserves suddenly realised that imports could no longer go on without tighter controls. In 1961 car imports on a commercial basis were prohibited and that policy continues to this day 60 odd years later. Exemptions to the rule were always there and loopholes to rules always found! The national fleet keeps on growing!

     Prior to the imposition of the import ban on automobiles in 1961, there was a splurge of imports of motorcars. It was during the time of the 3 Sri series, and many of the well-loaded young bucks of the day owned an MGA. They included Ranjit Wijewardene of Lake House, Killy Maharajah, Jayantha Fernando, David Silva, Feisal Abdeen, Tuti Rahim, most of whom are no longer with us.’ – ee Industry, Government made no attempt to consolidate foreign exchange reserves & imports continued merrily

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• ‘When President Gotabaya reduced the VAT rate, he expected the high-income earners to increase investments. It did not happen. The speculation is that RW spared the rich, expecting their contributions of funds for the forthcoming elections. Gota paid for his mistake. Will RW suffer the same fate?’ – Sugath Kulatunga, ee Economists, The VAT & the DAT

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• ‘After over 30 years of working & living between China & South Korea and witnessing the historical changes in both countries, he saw that in South Korea’s ‘democratic’ society, the endless fight between different conglomerates, political parties, and politicians, can’t provide any absolute fairness or freedom. Moreover, national interests were continually being compromised and exported to foreign entities.

     As a young man, he also believed that mainstream media in democratic societies was entirely independent and free. Yet, he observed for international political events even unrelated to China or South Korea, how South Korean mainstream media selectively ignored or reported, often in ways completely opposite to Chinese mainstream media, subtly influencing the public to align with Western-centric perspectives rather than uncovering the full truth of events. He said that the longer he experienced life in both countries, the more he abandoned his illusions about the so-called ‘democratic’ system. – Julia Cui on X

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• ‘Cheaper labour costs at first made Vietnam attractive, but it turns out relocating factories, hiring locals and reorganising supply chains away from China can eat into whatever savings are made. Many Vietnamese contractors still go to China for supplies, so Western clients end up, as the Economist recently reported, inviting in more middlemen.

     The story may be better for India and Indonesia, as both are competing with even cheaper labour, so long as they stick to low value-added production. But they may fare worse if they aim higher, as Vietnam can boast good infrastructure with modern ports, newly built highways and power supply. In any case, China doesn’t want those jobs any more, as it is moving up the hi-tech value chains.’ – Alex Lo (see ee Economists, US’ China containment becomes a lose-lose strategy for everyone)

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• ‘For 20 years, Boeing has prosecuted a scorched-earth fight against its unions, in the name of cost-cutting. It has outsourced work all over the globe. It has built a whole new campus in union-hostile South Carolina, primarily to escape the ‘hostage’ situation it faced before, with all of BCA’s deliveries at the mercy of one unionized labor force.’ – ee Workers, Culture change needed at Boeing; labor contract talks begin in March & could lead the way

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• ‘They believe that for 500 years they have ruled the world as they wish, living at the expense of others, and they think this should continue. This logic completely ignores the objective reality, in particular the fact that the vast majority of former colonies have gained independence, become aware of their national interests, want to strengthen their national, cultural & religious identity and are growing so fast that they have left the West behind – at least the BRICS members are.’ – Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (ee Sovereignty, China ignores US entreaties of mediation, Bhadrakumar)

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• ‘We will strongly advocate for countries from the region, primarily the Arab League member states, to take ownership of the initiative to establish a mediation mechanism… every effort must be made to restore Palestinian unity so that all the existing factions and those working with them from abroad come together and declare that the Palestinian people have reunited to create a solid foundation for the future state. Otherwise, all the possible approaches floated during informal conversations would not be viable. All they seek is to give the impression that something is changing in Gaza without reuniting it with the West Bank as part of a single state, while keeping Palestine divided and lacking unity in order to buy more time… Netanyahu’s statement that the creation of the Palestinian state is not on the agenda is a cause for concern for us…

     The first step… the restoration of Palestinian unity. They themselves must decide on the principles that will restore their unity. Without the unity of the Palestinian people there will be no foundation for a Palestinian state but only pretexts for keeping Gaza as a separate entity with a special status, where somebody will ensure a security belt and buffer zones, and with the West Bank as another separate entity, where more illegal settlements will be established, thereby casting doubt on the concept of a united Palestinian state. These details must be given close attention.’ – Russian FM Sergei Lavrov, ee Sovereignty, International Court of Justice ruling on Gaza on the way

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• The Real Pirates are White Not Somali – ‘Since September 2001, the USA has been fighting its ‘war on terror’ – what’s now referred to as this country’s ‘Forever Wars’. It’s been involved in Somalia almost that entire time. US Special Operations forces were first dispatched there in 2002, followed over the years by more security assistance, troops, contractors, helicopters, and drones. US airstrikes in Somalia, which began under President George W Bush in 2007, have continued under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump & Joe Biden as part of a conflict that has smoldered and flared for more than 2 decades. In that time the US has launched 282 attacks, including 31 declared strikes under Biden. The US admits it has killed 5 civilians in its attacks. The UK-based air-strike monitoring group Airwars says the number is as much as 3,100% higher.’ – Nick Turse (see ee Security, Remote Warfare & Expendable People – Forever War Means Never Having to Say Sorry)

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• ‘I look at a woman like Toni Morrison who is considered by the white press and white publishers as the leading Black writer. Her work is very much that of the symbolist. I find that where she is most authentic to the Black experience, she is the least recognized. That when she takes us down paths of fantasy then the white literary critics are pleased. That is not the reality of our lives, however. And that is not what I think we ought to be about. I look at other Black writers, I wouldn’t say they’re different camps, they’re just various individuals. There are many young women and men on the horizon and I’m sure that they are going to be heard because they have something to say. But how much they will influence and affect the masses of Black people remains to be seen.’ – see ee Media, The Black Nation interviews Margaret Walker, 1982

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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’)_

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• The US has former Pakistan PM Imran Khan jailed for 10-years – ee Sept 2023, Pt 1 recorded US Senator Chris Van Hollen’s visit to Sri Lanka and his role in the ouster of Imran Khan. Hollen was welcomed to Colombo by US Envoy J Chung. She called him a ‘longtime friend of Sri Lanka’. Who is she to welcome him and call him our long-term friend? ‘Hollen is from an incestuous beltway cul-de-sac, born in Pakistan to foreign-service salarymen, mommy in the CIA, daddy working in Colombo 1970-76 to destabilize the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.’ Van Hollen is also behind the US Somaliland Partnership Act, which seeks to divide Somaliland from Somalia. Hollen was recently accused of rank hypocrisy for writing a letter to US President Biden to ensure the weapons and bombs provided by the US to Israel would be ‘used in keeping with international law’.

     Hollen met a selected group of journalists in Colombo Sept 2023. He was asked (at the very end), ‘So will you be happy with the idea of Sri Lanka, that it will work out a standard operating procedure, that is to set a common set of rules for all the countries?’ Hollen replied: ‘Sri Lanka has to make its own decisions. We respect their sovereignty in making their decisions. As I said, we want to make sure that everybody is treated equally.’ No journalist dared ask, how this squared with the US toppling of Pakistan’s Imran Khan.

     Hollen was also asked: ‘One question on the Indo-Pacific. The US always calls for the free & open Indo-Pacific. Does this mean that the countries concerned should adhere to UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or else it is a different set of rules?’ Hollen: ‘We want one set of rules for everybody. We want freedom of navigation. We want the sovereignty of every country including Sri Lanka to be respected. We want their EEZs or territorial waters to be respected and part of the support we provided to the SL Navy & others is to make sure that they can do everything they need to do to protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. So our view is very clear. The same rules should apply to everybody. Whether it comes to a free & open Indo-Pacific or debt restructuring.’

     The US attacks on Yemen’s right to protect its own seas, shows what the US really means. (see ee Economists, US companies want a one-stop shop in SL – US Senator Hollen)

     As for Khan, as Pakistan PM, he had visited Russia on that day in February 2022 when Russia announced its confrontation with NATO’s aggression in the Ukraine, presumably upsetting both the US & EU. Khan merely stated Pakistan wished to connect closer with Central Asia & Russia, as well as buy Russian oil just as India does.

     Khan had then addressed a rally and responded directly to European calls that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine by asking, ‘Are we your slaves?’ Hollen, at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was reported as ‘indignant’ at officials like Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau of South & Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu for being allegedly ‘not in communication with Khan’ in (mafia-plainspeak: threatening him with jail or death) regarding US displeasure at Pakistan’s decision to abstain from a UN resolution condemning Russia. 2 days later, Lu told Pakistan ambassador they wanted Khan removed:  A cipher (or diplomatic cable) sent by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US to Islamabad details a March 2022 meeting between diplomat Asad Majeed Khan & US State Dept officials, during which Khan’s stance on the war in Ukraine was discussed.

     ‘People here & in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine)… I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the PM,’ Assistant US Secretary of State Lu is quoted as saying.

     Imran Khan alleges that the cipher was addressed by Lu to former military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa ‘as he had the power to topple the government’. Khan was indeed toppled & jailed soon after. In August 2023, a special court was formed under the Official Secrets Act to hear the cipher case. Khan was already in prison for another case. In October, Khan was indicted by ‘special court’ proceedings in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

     Khan refutes reports that he had waved a copy of the cipher in his hand during a party rally and has stated he was not in possession of the actual cipher. In his statement submitted to the court, Khan stated the cipher was in the PM’s Office and was the only document that had ‘gone missing’ from the Office, adding, the security of the PMO lay with the military secretary. He rejects the proceedings as a ‘sham trial’ & ‘complete mockery & disregard of law’. His legal team had been ‘ousted from the proceedings… not given the right to cross-examine and to defend their clients, this is unconstitutional… the legal team had been denied permission to enter Adiala jail on Tuesday morning.’

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• India pressures SL to withdraw Mobitel Lawsuit – ‘A visibly annoyed President Ranil Wickremesinghe on 24 Jan summoned the SLT’s Non-Executive Chair Reyaz Mihular & CEO Janaka R Abeysinghe and requested Mobitel withdraw their legal action against Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) and Dialog, Airtel, among others. Mobitel believes the proposed merger and action combines spectrum allocations and/or permits the combination of spectrum of Dialog & Airtel without surrendering the spectrum enabling TRC to reallocate it among the existing operators according to law. Mobitel is of the view that failure by TRC would be illegal, wrongful, unlawful, arbitrary, unreasonable and capricious etc. Soon after the meeting, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake provided the Treasury Secretary with the names to be appointed as Directors of SLT.

     Telecom industry analysts & engineers concerns – Dialog & Airtel altogether have 215MHz total spectrum ownership which amounts to 52% of spectrum allocated in the mobile industry, whereas Mobitel has only 105MHz, 26%. Dialog & Airtel also have a combined revenue share of 67%.

     Telecom industry analysts said the spectrum determines the product superiority which directly determines the competitiveness in the market. They argued that proposed merger will grant Dialog an overnight subscriber growth, and due to the amalgamation of the technology, effective utilisation of assets of the 2 entities, subsequent to the merger, Dialog will be able to provide predatory pricing in the market, thereby, resulting in a situation of driving the other operators out of market. This will put an end to the market competitiveness, and the end result would seriously affect the general public, driving the market prices to an exorbitant level. Further, in time to come service quality will deteriorate due to lack of competitive products.

     SLT’s Telecommunication Engineers Union (TEU) has alleged the unethical behaviour of Dialog complimented by the lack of fair play of TRCSL is one of the main hindrances to the progress of Sri Lanka’s Telecommunication industry and this has severely affected the economic growth of the country.

     TEU strongly believes TRCSL should carry out its responsibilities as the true regulator to make sure: any supplier dominance will be avoided so that a single supplier would not restrain and marginalise other operators, creating a monopoly by Dialog. If this merger happens, TEU flagged off the dominant spectrum, customer and revenue share of the merged entity and in a 3 mobile operator market, this would be clearly discriminatingly disadvantageous to other two: Mobitel & Hutch. TEU also stressed that resources in the industry will be shared effectively so that the communication cost will be minimised to boost the Sri Lankan economy. TEU expects the TRCSL to understand its responsibilities to effectively balance these 2 factors, so that cost of communication will be favourable for the economic growth of the country.

     TEU is of the view that without going for any settlement to the litigation matter regarding the merger of Dialog and Airtel, the Government and TRC must first ensure Radio Access Network sharing be approved, other disadvantageous agreements during the settlement of litigation in 2020 should be studied, and corrective measures should be taken to compliment the progression of the industry.’ – ee Sovereignty, India pressures SL to withdraw Mobitel lawsuit against merger of its Airtel & Dialog

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• Domestic Debt Restructure Misused EPF & ETF – CP’s DEW Gunasekara: President Ranil Wickremesinghe should have invited political party leaders in Parliament to discuss the implementation of the IMF agreement with the fund’s Managing Director before signing the agreement, says Chair of the Communist Party of SL Gunasekara.

     ‘The purported objective of the signed agreement is to help the country restructure its debt. IMF staff & SL authorities have reached a staff-level agreement to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies in Sept 2022. So, almost 18 months have passed. We have only restructured domestic debt so far. That too was done by misusing the EPF & ETF.’ Gunasekara said, by the time the 2015 bond scam happened, 16 companies had bought Treasury bonds & bills issued by the government. 4 were owned by the state: EPF, Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, National Savings Bank.’

     ‘So, 12 private companies also own a significant amount of debt. These were not subject to restructuring. If we look at the external debt, we have borrowed about 40% from the international capital markets. China, Japan and India are our main bilateral lenders.’

     After assuming duties, Wickremesinghe had been to Japan, France, England & India, Gunasekara said. In each of these visits, he has tried to persuade the leaders of those nations to persuade the Paris Club to give concessions to Sri Lanka: ‘This has not worked out at all. We are still trying to negotiate an agreement, and the government keeps postponing the expected date of finalising external debt restructuring.’ – ee Economists, Prez should have invited party leaders to consultation with IMF MD before finalization of agreement

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• Milco Employees Petition against Privatization – The government is fully handing over Milco to Cargills Ceylon, National Dairy Development Board India (NDDB) and Amul – Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation. Employees & trade unions of Milco Ltd have filed a petition before the Court of Appeal against the privatization. The management agreement for the immediate handover ‘is inconsistent with the Government’s restructuring guidelines’. Employees wish the court to also secure the future of the company, assure their job security and protect the brand name.

     On 10 July 2023 the Cabinet decided to lease out all 32 NLDB farms & Milco factories to the proposed joint venture company. ‘The properties earmarked for sale/lease include all Milco & NLDB sales centres and 97 milk chilling centres owned by Milco. The operational Colombo milk factory in Narahenpita will be demolished, and the land repurposed for an upcoming ‘Government project’, the details of which remain undisclosed.’ It is believed that John Keells Co will grab the land.

     Milco is self-sufficient and does not impose a financial burden on the Government or its treasury, operating without incurring losses. They highlighted in the petition that dairy farmers have derived benefits from the organization, along with approximately 1,300 employees and their 3,500 direct dependents. ‘However, approximately 800 are over 40 years old, and would encounter significant challenges and difficulties in securing alternative employment if they lose their jobs at Milco. Further, the livelihoods of around 16,000 dairy farmers & their families will be adversely impacted, along with their social security fund, assets exceeding Rs113.7million.’

     An asset valuation is underway and they will be immediately handed over on a lease basis at a nominal value to the private entities until the formal valuation is completed. The management agreement between Govt of SL & the joint venture, for the immediate handover of management of Milco Ltd & NLDB, is inconsistent with Government restructuring guidelines that are supposed to be adhered to.

     There is an absence of assurances from any of the parties that no dairy product or raw/processed milk will be imported into the country from India through the newly formed company. This poses a threat to the future of local dairy farmers, and jeopardizes the employment prospects of all the workers associated with Milco & NLDB.

     Neither trade unions nor any of the employees of the company are being provided any sort of true information or assurances regarding their job security, which if lost will directly make a huge impact on their livelihoods. They are also questioning future plans about the management structure of the company, their job security, salary and benefits, VRS if applicable, functioning & continuation of farmer-managed societies & security fund, continuation of brand name as well as the assurance of the quality of the products that the new company is planning to carry out. They have sought Court intervention to ensure that the divestiture of Milco follows the due and proper procedure, adheres to the Government restructuring guidelines and goes ahead with the privatization by following the proper procedure and a competitive bidding process to ensure that the best outcome could be obtained by the said restructuring.

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• ‘The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) Director General Vajira Ellepola on Wednesday told Business Times that the authorities had shared a 2^nd draft of the proposed new Employment Act, with them. He believes ‘The process is before the Legal Draftsman’ and ‘may go before the Cabinet in the first quarter of this year but everything depends on whether the government will go ahead with such legislation during an election year’.

     Ellepola said such legislation should not be stymied by political considerations and should be for the benefit of the people & the country’s development. He said many countries including India, Nepal & Bangladesh are changing labour laws to bring them in line with international practices and to woo investors.

     The Industrial Dispute Act, Termination Act, Shop & Office Act and Employment of Women & Children Act are likely to be abolished, trade unions say. There will be no limit on night work while there are suggestions to resort to a 5-day week (currently 5½ in some sectors). The proposed laws seek to control the trade unions by ensuring that a union should have a membership of at least 100 in order to be recognized. EFC says the 3 main pillars of laws relate to the termination of employment, conditions of employment, and laws relating to industrial/labour relations.

     According to ministry sources, the key points in the proposed Employment Act include: To introduce legal provisions to prevent discrimination in employment or in the workplace; Removal of existing restrictions on the payment of gratuity; and mandating an employer to provide a letter of appointment in writing to all employees containing terms & conditions of employment at the time of recruitment except for casual employment.

     It also includes introducing a 5-day week and flexible working hours according to the needs of the employees: Relaxation of legal provisions in existing laws for night work of women employees subject to certain conditions; To introduce legal provisions on the rights & duties of employees who work from home; Inclusion of Domestic Work under the purview of the Labour Law; Introduce provisions that unfair labour practices by trade unions should also be prohibited by law in the same way that unfair labour practices by employers are currently prohibited by law; Increasing the minimum number of members required to form a trade union from 7 to a higher number; and Revision of the retirement age…

     A key element here is the Colombo Port City and its efforts to rival Singapore & Hong Kong as a regional investment centre where an investor-friendly labour regime is a prerequisite for investment.’ – ee Workers, Labour reforms in an election year

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B. Special Focus____________________________________________

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• B1. D’Oylys Ghouls – The English Department & its National Erasures

Sivamohan Sumathy, a professor of English at University of Peradeniya, writes English thus in The Island recently: ‘200 years ago, in 1823, land was allocated for the first large scale coffee plantation in the hill country’. Aiyo! Here (or there) we go again. That famous English passive voice: ‘Land was allocated’.

     Were the highlands a ‘terra nullus’ like the white settlers in Australia & Canada & the USA etc, like to claim? Weren’t there people living in montane Sinhale as it was once called? And if not, had there been people living there before, and did something happen to them? By whom was it allocated, who claimed the power to do so, and whose land was it to allocate? 1823 after all was 5 years after the English genocide in 1818, which itself was 3 years after that early ‘regime change’ operation in 1815. What would Sivamohan in 2027 say about Palestine in 2022?

     This is actually playing an old game – on the one hand, purporting to uphold the lot of what she & the imperialist NGO Left calls ‘the upcountry plantation people, today, widely named & self-named as Malaiyaha Tamils’. A primarily English-speaking Anglican from Jaffna who uses a lot of Leftist & Marxist-sounding postmodern rhetoric, she’s spent much of her life teaching in hilly Peradeniya, so she too could qualify as ‘Malaiyaha Tamil’? On the other hand, she is separating further the highlands’ Sinhala people – particularly the peasantry – away from any resolution through restitution and reparations.

     In truth, England & India should pay – either by providing passports & funds to them to go to England or Tamilnadu, or by encouraging their integration with Sinhala society. Instead, these imperialists & their minions rather promote continued alienation, and use them as a 5^th column in the highlands. At the same time, she claims she wishes to ‘forge a shared vision of social & political emancipation’. Shared with whom?

     In truth, as SBD de Silva (quoted extensively in this essay, as the muse for this ee blog) noted: ‘The living standards of the labourers (estate coolies!) are not markedly different from those of peasants.’ It has been a standard tactic to play peasants against workers, especially by those who advance their careers by claiming to lament ‘human rights’, ‘minority rights’ etc.

     Here’s more English Department English: ‘As we broke ties with Britain, and its imperiality, we struggled to find our feet under the postcolonial sun’. Broke ties? Really? Britain? Where’s that, Ireland? Imperiality? What’s that! You mean we got Brexit before Brexit? We didn’t break ties – our clowns & mimic monkeys of color started wearing more ‘ties’. Post-colonial? Ha!

     The English in fact reinforced their control in more pernicious way, and the so-called peaceful transition in 1948 would see bloody terror escalated (1971 hence), after assassination (1959) then an attempted coup (1962), and bribery (1964) failed to halt the momentum towards true independence.

     The English (and their yankee successors) after 1948 were allowed to retain control over the economy here, including the judiciary & the military; we were bound hand & foot, with a few fingers free to wave a cloth (flag), sing a song (anthem), etc. English capitalists were allowed to retain control of their agency houses (using brown masques) even as they were allowed to repatriate their capital to England!

     Sivamohan laments the relatively low educational development which she blames on ‘successive Sinhala governments’, not even hinting as to why this has been made possible. Let alone that there were leading Tamil politicians quite complicit, including those worried that universal suffrage would mean sharing polling booths with so-called lower castes.

     She forgets to note that the first University entrants among the ‘Malaiyaham’ were made possible by the standardization laws under the much-Kolombot-media-maligned United Front Sirimavo Bandaranaike government of 1970-77, which aimed to correct a process whereby students from Colombo & Jaffna monopolized many of the seats at universities. Those same laws were then blamed for igniting the separatist terrorism of the 1980s.

     She decries ‘the celebration of tea as a sign of capitalist development’, but does not explain at all that these plantations are by no means ‘capitalist’ or ‘modern’.

     She points to ‘competing demands made on educational practices; on the one hand, the demands of the market place and injunctions guided by World Bank directives for instance and, on the other, the need for a transformative pedagogy’. Yet she does not expose that this ‘marketplace’ is in fact cover for monopolistic banks & their multinational corporations (MNCs). Also, she provides no discussion on what this ‘transformative pedagogy’ might amount to. Could it be that the reliance on easy profits from continued labor-intensive plucking of tea by hand, as has been done for over 150 years, has thwarted long-term investment & modern industrialization of the plantations? Would this ‘transformative pedagogy’ encourage & uphold a class dedicated to capital accumulation, investing in skills, developing the appropriate technology, rather than being ever subject to the designs of Unilever in England?

     Sivamohan’s screed is part of a series of essays in The Island under the rubric of ‘Kuppi-  a politics & pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies’.

     Now what the #*%^&! (insert suitable expletive) is that? It reminds of the opera on the French Revolution, Marat/Sade:

‘Speaking in language that no one understand,

of the rights that we grabbed with our own bleeding hands

When we wiped out the bosses & stormed through the walls

of the prison you told us would outlast us all’

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Indeed, no rights were really grabbed from the English, nor were the bosses wiped out, despite the excellent opportunity provided by their 2^nd World War, instead in 1948 we gave them special seats in Parliament, after guaranteeing rights for the ‘minorities’ (meaning principally the whites & their blacks). And we now use their language as a fashion kaduva to cut each other down to size – the English language used in our Universities is not like the real English used to spark their industrial revolution in motion, that enabled England to emerge as the top dog over other fellow imperialist dogs.

     And we must remember SBD’s main point: A plantation is neither modern nor capitalist, and they indeed will allow no innovation that may reskill such workers. A plantation, compared to a concentration camp, is what the Sri Lanka economy is imprisoned in.

     So we come to: ‘200 years ago, in 1823, land was allocated for the first large scale coffee plantation in the hill country’. Imagine if Sivamohan is talking of Gaza 2027? What would 2022 recall for her? The sentence before Sivamohan’s lines on allocation, makes note, ‘The year 2023 saw another milestone, going far back into our colonial history.’ So at least she allows it was the colonials who allocated this real-estate.

     But going ‘far back’ in colonial history may approximate 1505. Or even 15^th century Vijayanagar, or 10^th century Chola (if such can be labelled ‘colonial’ as loosely defined by our NATO Leftists). But whose land was it for the English to allocate in 1823? This colonial history, Madam Sivamohan studiously fails to tell us. Or appears not to give a damn about. An erasure. Ironically, this is what the entire essay purports to describe, with the word ‘erasure’ repeated again and again, along with disenfranchisement.

     And yet apparently one erasure deserves another. We are not told who the land was stolen from. It’s the old ‘Terra Nullus’ story. The Englishman sails in, sees land apparently vacant (the natives rightly taking cover, perhaps, or are too Black to see in the night), and lays claim to it! And here’s another by Sivamohan: ‘The trickle of workers in the early years expanded to 100,000s over decades’. Again, the magical passive voice. Who expanded it and why didn’t the local people work on these plantations? The usual (English!) explanation is that the work was too hard and the Sinhalas too lazy! Even as the Tamils also considered lazy in South India, were suddenly transformed just by crossing the Palk Strait from Thoothukudi to Mannar.

     As SBD de Silva recorded, ‘In Sri Lanka an alien workforce was foisted amidst a wholly Sinhalese population – yet removed from the latter and living aloof.’ He then quoted EFC Ludowyk’s The Modern History of Ceylon:

‘Here besides a land-owning or rice-growing peasantry, Sinhalese Buddhist, enjoying a comparatively fair standard of living, was planted a large group of badly paid wage slaves, Tamils, Hindu, completely isolated from the peasant and his life, maintaining within the confines of the estate a hard life reminiscent of conditions in South India in everything but the mode of making a living and its terrain.’

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But let us look at the 1823 she wishes to alternatively celebrate & commemorate. This was 5 years after what’s recorded as genocide in 1818:

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‘Kill every man, woman & child including the babes suckling at their mother’s breast. Destroy all dwelling houses. Burn all crops. Cut down all fruit trees. Slaughter all cattle; take what meat is necessary to feed the troops and burn the rest. Destroy all reservoirs, canals and channels. Poison the wells. Lay waste utterly the countryside denying any relief whatsoever to the rebels.’

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The English invaded across the montane and the Vellassa, using Indian & Malay & African troops. They almost wiped out the Veddah community (who they now adore as ‘indigenous’), and murdered and exiled the leadership of the last highland redoubt of Sinhale, while co-opting some of those who survived.

     Here is the Englishman John Davy’s An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, published in 1821: ‘When a district rose in rebellion, one or more military posts were established in it; martial law was proclaimed; the dwellings of resisting inhabitants were burnt; their fruit trees were often cut down, and the country was scoured in all directions by small detachments, who were authorized to put to death all who made opposition, or were found with arms in their hands… When one considers this [1818] rebellion and its consequences, one almost regrets that we ever entered the Kandyan country.’

     Yet while Davy was ‘almost’ regretting, Edward Barnes, the new colonial governor in Ceylon, 1820-22, was having roads built to ‘destroy the confidence of the people’ from the protection afforded by natural terrain. Rather than wasting money on forts, military roads were seen as more efficient.

     Barnes set up a ‘terroristic’ Pioneer Force (10 Divisions, each 200 strong) for the construction of military roads, with military officers in charge: with a Captain & Assistants ranked as Lieutenants, with such ranks as Sergeant Major, Sergeant, Corporal, Artificer, Pioneer, etc. The ‘Pioneers’ were expected to be a regular and organized labor corps of skilled workers – South Indian, Malay & African – above the ‘coolie labor.’

     The Colombo-Kegalle-Kandy Road, Colombo-Kandy Rd via Kurunegala, Puttalam-Kurunegala Rd, the Galle-Matara & Colombo-Chilaw roads were all built by enslaved labor. In Colombo alone, 300 workers were employed daily under Rajakariya (corvee) duty each year.

     Yet, an English official whined: ‘The insuperable aversion of the Sinhala to personal exertion renders it impractical to procure labor for Public Service other than by compulsion.’ And another adds: ‘There are no people in the world so much its slaves, except the Cingalese as not to toil for base subsistence.’ Yet more: ‘For such is the listless idleness of the Cingalese that as long as he possesses a couple of coconut trees whose shade protects him while its fruits support his half-finished existence, no hope of gain, no prospect of independence can allure him to more active pursuits’; ‘The Cingalese are a mistrustful as well as indolent people.’

     Yes, this is what the English called all indigenous people around the world who refused to submit to the transfer of their enslaving ‘human resource’ practices from their principal colony in the Americas, the USA: Lazy!

     SBD de Silva: ‘A belief of employers and of the colonial state in the peasants’ supposed aversion to wage labour and to physical toil was part of a supporting ideology which, having served as a moral basis for the commercialization of slavery in the New World, was made use of to justify the low-wage economy & the coercive labour practices of European investors. In the final analysis, these beliefs and policies were linked with a ‘North-South’ division on colour lines and the domination of the ‘coloured’ races by ‘white’ capital.’

     So then, just when you think it’s only white people who repeat their foolishness, up jumps brave GAD Sirimal who exhibits what 76 years of independent ‘free’ education has taught him, in a response to Sivamohan. Sirimal, a familiar correspondent in The Island ‘letters’ section, claiming to be a retired civil servant, usually concentrates his main attacks on China. Such journalese is part of the active troll armies rewarded handsomely by Miss Julie, Korean-Yankee collaborator. But here’s Sirimal, down on his knees, repeating the English gospel in ‘Western’ comic-book style:

     ‘The first ardent adventurers pioneered the way through pathless woods and lived for months in log huts, whilst felling the forest [mark those words] and making preliminary nurseries, preparatory to planting; but within a few years the tracks by which they came were converted into highways, and their cabins replaced by bungalows, which though rough were picturesque…’

     Whoa! That’s a mouthful of fictitious vomit. For it was actually Sinhala workers who were paid to do the clearing for the early plantations and even worked on them, and on rubber plantations too, to this day, but they refused to be robbed by the white planters. Here’s SBD de Silva:

‘The Sinhalese were not averse to wage labour as such but to their being absorbed into the plantation system where labour was held virtually under duress, and where for several decades the planters defaulted on wage payments, the labourers were subjected to the fraudulent practices of the kanganies or labour contractors, and, finally, the wage level itself was usually lower than the rate of earnings in the peasant sector.

‘The Superintendent of Police in Kandy, Colepepper, denied that the Sinhalese were work-shy but admitted they were reluctant to work on plantations. This, he said, was not without a reason:

I have been informed even this season [in 1847] some Estates have applied to them [native villagers] with success. The villagers demand only to be paid at the end of the day and not once a week. The villagers do this from experience, most of them having been employed at the opening of Estates and having suffered the same treatment and disappointment to which the Malabar labourers have been reduced.’

Planter-labourer relations in Sri Lanka, observed Ludowyk, were ‘weighed against the unfortunate wage slave in the open market. He now had the full force of the law invoked against him by the planter who could, in rare cases, even be both accuser and judge…’ Indeed, ‘the planters had almost sovereign power in their districts.’

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And yes, the prison system we need to break out of has always been this import-export plantation system. As for education, SBD de Silva noted, ‘For the labourers’ children, education is a means of emancipation, but to the planter it is a potential threat to the labour supply. There was even a conviction among planters that education incapacitates people for work.’ These practices & pronouncements have been continued in the plantations & in the media for these last 76 years.

     Such evidence will not deter the off-brown Sirimals of this world: He claims: ‘The wealth which the colony derived from the establishment & maintenance of this important industry was largely spent for the benefit of the indigenous population of the country.’ Again, not true. It was used to extend the plantation system to the detriment of the peasantry.

     He ends by claiming: ‘how dedicated, devoted the colonial rulers were to developing this country for the benefit of its inhabitants unlike our present-day local rulers who acquire wealth and power at the expense of taxpayers’!

     But let’s return to Prof Sivamohan: If this English lady was in Canada, giving a speech on this matter, there would be a glorious minute ‘allocated’ – as if remembering the dead & gone, hoping they would never to come back! – where a ‘land acknowledgement’ is made. Acknowledgment that claims to remember they are on stolen land. Then a minute later, they are all back to business, never to acknowledge again, until the next seminar of ‘almost regrets’… As SBD recommended, if would have been far better to give cultivators free fertilizer than giving the privileged, free education [For online links, see ee Workers, Two leaves and a bud: the history of Malaiyaham as pedagogy – Sivamohan, and response by Sirimal]

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• B2. Housing & Urban Planning & The Way Forward: Alternative Program of the Communist Party (CPSL), Pt 17

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Introduction – Since Independence, various policies & projects have been implemented to fulfil the public need for housing. Earlier governments focused on providing housing for urban middle- & working-class families. Former governments also took steps to establish institutions to investigate housing concerns. In 1953, a Ministry for Housing was established as per the recommendation of the Parliament Subcommittee on Housing. In 1954, the National Housing Development Authority was established. In 1961, the government appointed a committee to look into rural & urban housing requirements. Based upon the recommendations of the Housing Subcommittee, a number of legislations were introduced, and multiple housing development programs were also implemented.

     However, a streamlined program to address urban housing needs and concerns was implemented only in 1970 following the election of the United Front government. Led by Housing Minister Pieter Keuneman, the Ministry of Housing’s programs focused on communities living in poverty. Afterwards, a similar but more comprehensive program was implemented under the guidance of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, targeting low-income communities in urban & rural areas. Subsequent governments focused on moving communities living in slums to government-constructed flats. A lot of these programs were implemented with the aim of acquiring the land occupied by slums, so that they could be redirected into various investment opportunities.

     The Urban Development Authority was established via Act no. 14 of 1978 to plan and implement programs to ensure the economic, social and physical betterment of communities living in urban areas. The UDA became the lead agency that implemented programs relating to urban development. The establishment of the Western Province Development Ministry and Municipal Councils were carried out to fulfil the needs of urban communities. Although the governance history of the housing portfolio runs back to at least 7 decades, we have still not created a stable or streamlined system to identify and address housing concerns of urban populations.

     Sri Lanka faces a catastrophic situation regarding shelter, with a chronic shortage of housing: of 6 million families, some 800,000 have no homes at all. A further 500,000 or so need upgraded housing, while about 200,000 middle-class houses are also required. Meanwhile, a plan for a ‘Western Province Megapolis’ of 6-9 million people seeks to create a privileged inner-city, middle-class suburb, and high-rise slums and outer-city dormitory settlements for the poor, evicting up to 500,000 poor people from underserved urban settlements; exacerbating the dichotomy between town & country, and adding to the rich-poor divide.

     Little popular control remains of the urban planning process. Bureaucratic planning structures tend to favour business, upper- or upper-middle-class interests, to the exclusion of other concerns. Stakeholders (especially residents in the affected areas) cannot intervene in urban development schemes. This manifests itself in the much poorer levels of maintenance of public facilities, such as roads and drains, and disappearance of others, such as public toilets.

     The National Physical Planning Department (NPPD) produces broad ‘national plans’, but most of its responsibilities have been taken over by the UDA (Urban Development Authority), and it is reduced to drawing up plans for sacred areas. The UDA is widely regarded as corrupt and, whereas it intervenes in the planning process in democratically elected local government institutions (MCs, UCs, PSs), no reciprocity exists in this arrangement. The bureaucratic planning structure, due to vested interests, often violate national policy, to the detriment of popular needs, eg, in illegal planning permissions, or shops impinging on the pavements & covered arcades, to the detriment of pedestrians; non-provision of bicycle paths.

     The Colombo municipal area, the country’s economic, commercial and educational centre, is overcrowded, attracting an excess population of 1.5-3 million daily, of workers, consumers and students. This causes enormous problems, difficult to solve because of vested interests. The commercial interests of Colombo want to increase its population, both settled and daily, as a means of increasing their customer base. Parents want to send their children to ‘Colombo Schools’ because of the prestige, educational attainments and networking possibilities.

     Studies have shown that we are healthier, both mentally and physically, and happier when surrounded by trees, and grass. However, Sri Lanka’s urban planners have robbed the urban environments steadily of green public open space. Galle Face Green has shrunk and been turned into an outlet for commerce, while the many small parks that dotted Colombo and its suburbs have shrunk or disappeared, as any public open space attracts developers of concrete jungles and is taken from the public to the private domain or commercialized. Often urban children and young adults have no space in which to play, and the adults have no urban ‘lungs’. At the same time, both planners and architects ignore the need to suit plans and buildings to the tropical climate.

     The poor are slowly being squeezed out of their former settlements in the urban areas. As rents and land prices skyrocket, many workers who come into the Colombo Central Business District (CBD) find it difficult to locate cheap tea shops or eating houses. Private sector developments of housing for the middle and upper classes have soared in cost, so the middle class, along with the working class, have been forced to move out of Colombo to the suburbs. Entire underserved settlements became gentrified. Transport becomes hierarchical, with the longest routes available to the class least able to afford it, the shortest to the richest.

     Meanwhile, government housing policies attempt to accommodate the former residents of underserved urban settlements in high-rise buildings, in flats of 40sq.m, breaking cohesive neighbourhoods & relationships, and leave little public open space for leisure and relaxation, for which the residents must travel elsewhere.

     Planners create prestige projects, such as picturesque ‘walking paths’ amidst pleasant parkways, often with public gyms, so that the aspiring urban petty bourgeoisie may exercise in comfort; while the actual needs of the broad population, such as pavements, pedestrian footpaths & bicycle paths are ignored. Much of the expenditure on such prestige projects, as well as the machinery and plants used, could be diverted to more practical needs – eg, to repairing the many thousands of village tanks.

     The biggest drawback to rural living is the paucity of infrastructure facilities & services, such as transport, health services, schools, and so on. This has resulted in urban crowding, traffic jams, etc. 2 policies have bucked this trend: providing utility infrastructure to rural areas, in the form of electrification, water supply schemes & rural roads; and the rural garment factory program, which increased the number of jobs available in rural areas.

     In the context of the New Cold War, Sri Lanka must be wary of attacks from the imperialist states. Almost all state & economic functions are concentrated in Colombo. Even the new Defence Ministry complex, the ‘Rectagon’, seeks to concentrate all military command & administration in one place, whereas safety lies in dispersal. No real civil defence measures have been taken to protect the population from conventional or nuclear attack.

     One of the greatest obstacles to national integration is the lack of interaction between communities, except in competitive or adversarial situations. Minorities tend to live in ghettos.

     In consideration of the above-mentioned facts, the key aims of the housing and urban development policy is as below: • Equal opportunity for comfort, contentment, and well-being of all, facilitated by public-centred democratic planning. • Introduction of housing schemes and a formal urban & rural planning scheme. • Introduction of climate- change adaptive planning. • Redesigning the city of Colombo • Building new cities and townships • Dispersing administrative, economic, and political zones • Rural development.

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The Way Forward

1. Housing – Immediate plans should be made for fulfilling housing requirements within 10 year – about 200,000 houses per year. This should be funded partially by a 5% tax on luxury building projects, and should incorporate the ideas of residents and stakeholders through consultation. Urban housing should be built to a maximum of 5 storeys, with ethnic and social mixes of residents to improve integration. Public housing should provide adequate public and semi-public spaces for living, eating, learning and leisure.

     Planners should copy the Soviet Khrushchevka concept, mass-produced, prefabricated 3-5 storey blocks of flats, which are still (30 years after Soviet Union’s collapse) still very popular, or the similar Japanese Danchi government social and middle-class housing/neighbourhoods. Planners could also take as an example Yugoslavia’s IMS Žeželj technology housing program, based on standardized, prefabricated, prestressed post & lintel elements and slabs, assembled vertically & horizontally to produce a modular structure, holding up the building’s weight, and giving open plans which enabled architects to change interior configurations & exterior façades, combining low-cost with flexibility to suit each household, and giving luxury-apartment levels of spaciousness, views, and spatial flexibility.

     Planners should also emulate the environmental and community standards of these housing models. Rather than stand-alone complexes, each set of buildings had areas for social living, schooling and greenery; complete with daycare centres, community centres, shops and recreation/play areas; often connected to ‘greenways’ – pedestrian footpaths combined with bikeways.

2. Planning – Town and country planning should be transparent and democratic, with village- and neighbourhood- level participation and public scrutiny. This could be achieved at least partially by: a) including members of local authorities, in the planning process and on the boards of the various institutions, and b) creating an impact- assessment process analogous to the EIA process, enabling stakeholders to participate. As in most advanced countries, requests for planning permission should be made public, so that the stakeholders may comment and intervene in the process.

     Planning must make adequate provision for public needs – pavements, pedestrian walkways, bikeways, public parks – and should aim to prevent gentrification. To this end, the broad policy options for physical planning should be laid down by a special committee of Parliament, and a mechanism should be created to give impartial advice on all viable options to decision-makers at every level, from Parliament down.

     The NPPD’s responsibilities should be enhanced, to include greater control over the physical planning process, and over lower planning and implementation institutions, such as the UDA, RDA, CCD (Coast Conservation Department), LRDC (Land Reclamation & Development Corporation), NWSDB (National Water Supply & Drainage Board), and CEB (Ceylon Electricity Board).

3. Designing for the Climate – We should legislate to control the design of buildings to make them appropriate. Buildings must suit the climate, an important factor, often ignored by planners & architects: houses, flats, offices & shops are often copied from foreign designs, unsuited to the tropics, and require expensive air-conditioning to be habitable. Free access pedestrian arcades to provide shelter from sun or rain, should be compulsory for commercial street-side facades. Planning legislation also needs to include such factors as provision for rainwater harvesting, and solar/wind electricity generation.

4. Redesigning Colombo City – Colombo is, schematically, an asymmetric quadrilateral with access from only 2 sides. Traffic, water pipes and electricity must all enter through these 2 sides and proceed to the centre of gravity, in the CBD. The consequent geographical problems of Colombo should be reduced by:

     a) Relocating workplaces and shops in the CBD to the more accessible periphery or elsewhere;

     b) Redeveloping the underserved settlements both inside and outside the CBD, and providing dwellings for the existing residents in situ; and

     c) Creating new population centres outside the conurbation to attract rural migrants who would otherwise settle in Colombo.

     To create a balanced city, residents of each income group must live side by side. This means limiting gentrification of underserved urban settlements, and building liveable neighbourhoods for the working class in proximity to upmarket housing. With this in mind, the Panchikawatte Triangle Project, which envisaged re-developing the slum areas by building a mixed commercial development, housing most of the shops dealing with the motor trade, and rehousing the residents close to their original homes. Similar developments along the Kelani and beside Baseline Road, the main north-south artery of Colombo, could provide easily accessible commercial office & shopping areas, as well as decent housing and employment for residents of the underserved settlements in the area.

     As much as possible, residential, recreational and tourism areas should be concentrated on the seaward side of the city, along the Galle Road and in Kotahena, Modera and Mutwal, to catch the morning and evening breezes; while commercial & industrial areas should be confined to Colombo’s eastern, easily accessible sides. Underserved settlement redevelopment should, as much as possible, follow the Sahaspura concept, recreating on each floor the neighbourhood from which the residents came. Where the old public water taps or public wells had been the locus of neighbourly social intercourse, Sahaspura provided large areas of balcony which could serve the same purpose.

     One problem is speculation in housing, which can lead to houses being left empty, or sublet to richer non-residents. Measures could include strict monitoring of leases, to prevent their sale to third parties.

5. Planned Dispersal – The security of the country, the economy and the populace require the dispersal of administrative, economic and political functions. Government offices and defence establishments should not be concentrated in ‘complexes’ but dispersed, and economic sectors too require dispersal. Industries should be dispersed throughout the island, with strategic industries, eg, weapons factories, located in the mountainous interior. Spreading urban development in the hinterland, away from existing centres of population, also aids this process.

     The process of national integration should be pursued, by dispersing the various ethnic communities among each other, instead of being concentrated in exclusive areas. The dispersal of urban projects throughout the rural areas, together with an effort to locate all ethnic groups in reasonable numbers in them, might therefore be desirable. Much of the flow of migration to established urban areas might be diverted, by providing urban dwellings, facilities and employment in dispersed urban projects in the rural areas.

     a) New Towns – Planners should emulate the English concept of the New Town, which arose to provide the working class with access to green neighbourhoods. The classic New Town was envisaged as about 2km in diameter, enabling every part of it to be accessible on foot, surrounded by a 1.5km ‘green belt’, from which property development was excluded. The population was envisaged at about 35,000, at a population density of 3,000 per sq.km. Each town would have a city centre, including railway station, main shops and services, plus neighbourhoods of about 5,000-7,000 residents each grouped around it, each containing a school and neighbourhood shops and services. Each town would have an industrial zone, in which the residents could find employment.

     This concept could be extended to Sri Lanka. However, a note of caution is necessary here: without a locus of activity for the population, in the absence of geographical advantages, new urban areas cannot succeed. For instance, Girandurukotte new town failed because the natural focus of the area lay in Mahiyangana, less than 20 km distant, to which Girandurukotte did not present an alternative. Each new town should, therefore, be focused on core industries, also with links to the agriculture, mining or fishing in the area. Each town would have a hospital, training college or other vocational training centre, bus station/railway station, and perhaps a central school. They would be built on or close to the main transport arteries, especially the railways. Housing would be in single or semi-detached town housing or in low-rise flats.

     Water supply could be designed to flow from higher up to lower down across each town, with sewage collected at the lower end, processed and mixed with municipal solid waste to provide biogas and fertilizer. Most would have to be built in sparsely-populated dry zone areas, or in remoter wet zone areas. 100 new towns could channel away from the main cities some 3.5 million migrants. The railways from Chilaw to Aruvakalu, Maho to Kilinochchi, Medawachchiya to Mannar, Maho to Tampalakamam, Gal Oya to Punani, and Matara to Kataragama; as well as that from Hatton to Badulla, provide natural axes for new towns.

7. Gammeddas – During the design of the new city of Dambulla, the UDA unveiled the concept of the gammedda: a village square, intended for social gatherings and economic activity, surrounded by a community hall equipped with audiovisual facilities, to keep the villagers up-to-date; an economic centre, providing market reports and other information; a store for surplus produce and fertilizer; an Ayurvedic centre; preschool; and shops. The UDA based the concept on the need to provide urban facilities to rural areas. The gammedda concept should be expanded, adding government offices, post office, rural bank, clinic, primary school, internet connectivity, etc, to provide nuclei for small rural towns, easily accessible to both agricultural lands and to transport networks.

8. Green Belts &Urban Forests – A systematic effort needs to be made to create more public open space where residents of urban areas can interact with nature. In Colombo only Vihara Maha Devi Park and (to a limited extent) Galle Face Green function as such.

     Areas, not necessarily very large, should be allocated for urban garden plots, parks and for urban forests. Defined urban areas must be separated from others by ‘green belts’, devoted to gardens, farms, and urban forests. As far as possible, existing agricultural land should be left intact, forming natural barriers to property development.

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• B3. Promoting High-quality Development throughout the Process of New Industrialization – Huang Qunhui

Industrialization is the fundamental prerequisite, the driving force, and the core essence of modernization. It is a necessary journey all countries & nations must take to achieve prosperity & strength. Committed to a path of new industrialization with Chinese characteristics, we must speed up efforts to boost China’s strength in manufacturing, in order to better facilitate the creation of a new development dynamic, promote high-quality development, and ultimately advance the course of Chinese modernization.

     I. Strategic significance of new industrialization in the new era & new journey – Industrialization refers to the economic development process of a country or region, typically characterized by technological advancements and industrial structure upgrades, which leads to continual increases in per capita national income. In the mere decades following the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and particularly after the initiation of reform and opening-up which began in 1978, China completed the process of industrialization that took developed countries several centuries. In doing so, it has created the miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability and laid robust material and technological foundations for modernization.

     As a development path, new industrialization is characterized by its mutual reinforcement with informatization, a high level of science & technology, strong economic returns, minimal resource consumption, limited pollution, and the full utilization of human resource advantages. Being a latecomer that is playing catchup, China cannot simply replicate wholesale the traditional industrialization path of ‘mechanization, then informatization’ and ‘pollute first, clean up later’. Instead, it must follow a green & sustainable path that is well-integrated with the informatization process.

     New industrialization was put forward based on a profound understanding of the laws governing global industrialization, the trends of the times, as well as China’s basic national conditions and characteristics. When advancing industrialization in a large developing country like China, home to over 1.4 billion people, it is essential to adhere to the general laws governing global industrialization. But it is perhaps more important to pursue a new type of industrialization that takes account of the national conditions and characteristics of China.

     Since the 18^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, President Xi Jinping has put forward a series of important conclusions on a range of major theoretical and practical issues regarding new industrialization and has advanced a number of new ideas, viewpoints, and statements. He has noted:

      ‘Chinese modernization is very different from the modernization of Western developed countries. Those countries followed a phased process of development, with industrialization, urbanization, agricultural modernization, and informatization each following the other in succession, to reach their current level after more than 200 years. We are latecomers seeking to make up for those ‘lost 200 years’. This determines that China must follow a simultaneous process of development in which industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization overlap… As China is a large country, we must develop the real economy, continuously promote industrial modernization, and upgrade the manufacturing sector… On the industrial front, the Chinese dream is specifically about accelerating new industrialization… In pursuing economic growth, we must continue to focus on the real economy and advance new industrialization.’

     President Xi has also put forward certain requirements: ‘Digital technology and the digital economy represent not only a decisive opportunity in the scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation, but also a major field of international competition. We must grasp the opportunities on offer and seize the initiative for future development… We must continue to promote integration between informatization & industrialization and accelerate the digital, network-based, and intelligent development of manufacturing.’

     On a new journey in the new era which started in 2012, new industrialization has acquired new implications and features. On the one hand, we find ourselves in a period marked by accelerating changes unseen in a century in the world. The new round of scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation is in full swing, with profound adjustments unfolding in the global industrial, supply, and value chains. Major countries are engaged in intensifying competition to determine the layout of manufacturing and develop advanced manufacturing technology. Developed countries are proactively making plans for forward-looking technologies and industrial sectors, and profound shifts are sweeping the global industrial landscape and its technological foundations. To advance new industrialization, it is imperative to proactively adapt to and steer the trends of digitalization and green development in order to retain the initiative in development. On the other hand, the core task of the CPC is to realize national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. The process of new industrialization thus needs to be advanced in line with the theoretical and practical requirements of Chinese modernization – which are the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.

     In the present context, the feature ‘new’ in China’s industrialization will be manifested in the following ways: seizing the initiative by relying on innovation-driven development to more quickly move to the middle and high end of the global value chain; strategically coordinating the processes of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization; promoting industrial modernization based on full integration of the digital and real economies and accelerated green and low-carbon development; pursuing opening up that gives full play to the strengths of China’s vast domestic market and utilizes both domestic and international markets and resources; and realizing inclusiveness by accelerating the construction of a modernized industrial system to promote common prosperity. On a fundamental level, the new industrialization we are pursuing on a new journey in the new era satisfies the new requirement for high-quality development.

     Without a solid material & technological foundation, it will be impossible to build a great modern socialist country. Chinese modernization must ensure common prosperity for almost 20% of the global population. To achieve this, we must continually enhance the material and technological conditions for improving people’s lives, keep our focus on the real economy when pursuing economic growth, and accelerate the process of new industrialization.

     China aims to basically achieve new industrialization by 2035. The next 10 years or so will essentially serve as a sprint for China as it strives to build a modern industrial system, create a new development dynamic, and basically achieve modernization. This will also be a critical window for breakthroughs & innovations in science, technology, and industry. The next decade will thus present both unique opportunities and formidable challenges for new industrialization. Our ability to effectively accomplish new industrialization and lay a strong material and technological foundation for Chinese modernization will have a great bearing on whether we can gain the strategic initiative in future development and international competition and realize national rejuvenation.

     II. Advancing new industrialization based on the requirement for high-quality development – High-quality development is an essential element of Chinese modernization and the primary task in building a modern socialist country. To advance new industrialization in the new era and promote high-quality development throughout the new industrialization process, we must do the following: adhere to a people-centered philosophy of development; fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts; ensure both development and security; and follow a path of new industrialization with Chinese characteristics.

     Innovative development as the primary driver – With a strong grasp of the trajectory of the new round of scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation, which is characterized by digitalization & green development, we must achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science & technology. We should fully leverage the advantages of the new system for pooling resources nationwide under the conditions of the socialist market economy and strengthen the supply of domestically developed advanced technological factors. We should push forward core technology research projects in key fields such as new-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy, and new materials, ensure the full integration of digital technology with the real economy, advance green and low-carbon industrial development, and promote integrated, high-end, digital, and green manufacturing…

     Coordinated development as an inherent requirement – The processes of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization & agricultural modernization must go hand in hand, with efforts being made to resolve development imbalances and inadequacies in industrialization. The development of the real economy should be well-coordinated with scientific & technological innovation, modern finance, and human resources, so as to generate a virtuous cycle between the spheres of science & technology, industry, and finance…

     Green development as the universal form – Focusing on the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, we must work to build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly industrial system. We need to accelerate the transition toward green development, taking coordinated steps to reduce carbon emissions, limit pollution, expand green development, and promote economic growth. We should prioritize ecological protection, conserve resources and use them efficiently, and pursue green & low-carbon development. With a keen focus on making breakthroughs in green & low-carbon technology, we need to develop a green & low-carbon industry. We should seize the energy revolution and green manufacturing as key opportunities to build a modern green and low-carbon energy system centered on new energy and a modern industrial system centered on green manufacturing. Improvements should be made to the system for market-based allocation of resources and environmental factors to encourage green consumption, spur the transition to green production and consumption on all fronts, and promote green and low-carbon modes of production and lifestyles.

     Open development as the essential approach – We should build a fully open industrial system that creates mutual benefits and is diverse, well-balanced, secure, and efficient. Playing an extensive role in the global industrial division of labor and industrial cooperation, we should keep working to develop new strengths for international economic cooperation and competition. We should strengthen the links between domestic and international markets and resources, enabling our domestic economy to generate a strong gravitational pull for global production factors and resources, a greater competitive edge for intense international competition, and powerful momentum for the allocation of global resources. We also need to enhance institutional opening up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards. We should strengthen connectivity with countries under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) with regard to markets, rules, and standards, deepen the BRICS partnership on the new industrial revolution…

     Shared development as the fundamental goal – To see the gains of new industrialization benefit all our people fairly, we should ensure seamless integration between new industrialization and the long-term endeavor of achieving common prosperity. In the course of advancing new industrialization, we must take care to avoid polarization in income distribution. When pursuing technological innovation and advanced manufacturing, we need to take account of both environmental & social effects. We should promote full integration of the digital and real economies and use the digital economy as a means to bridge the growing digital divide with Western developed countries. We should reduce the income gap by promoting high-quality employment, and ensure that new industrialization is innovation-driven, sustainable, and inclusive. In the process of advancing new industrialization, we must work toward realizing modernization that will deliver common prosperity for all.

     As our world undergoes changes unseen in a century, unilateralism & protectionism are clearly on the rise and the world has entered a new period of turbulence & change. For its part, China has entered a period of development in which strategic opportunities, risks & challenges are concurrent and uncertainties & unforeseen factors are rising. To promote new industrialization, we must ensure both development and security, enhance our awareness of risks, and keep in mind worst-case scenarios. These also constitute the requirements for high-quality development. We need to coordinate industrial development and security and promote both open development and economic security. While advancing new industrialization, we should actively explore effective paths for enhancing national industrial security under the conditions of an open economy. Keeping in mind worst-case and extreme scenarios, we should accelerate research & development for core technologies in key fields, advance efforts to upgrade our industrial foundations and modernize industrial chains, and effectively strengthen industrial chains to shore up weaknesses and maintain stable operation. We should carry out industrial competitiveness surveys and industrial security assessments in key sectors to improve the industrial security management system. It is particularly important to establish a management system for ensuring the security of industrial and supply chains that features clearly defined powers & responsibilities & close interdepartmental collaboration. We must see that industrial security policies play a stronger guiding and coordinating role in the formulation and implementation of microeconomic policies, such as manufacturing development planning, major science & technology programs, and anti-monopoly measures.

     III. Accelerating new industrialization with a focus on building China’s manufacturing strength – The development of modern manufacturing is both the driving force and an important symbol of industrialization. As the world’s largest manufacturing nation, China is the only country in the world to possess all industrial sectors listed in the United Nations’ International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC). Yet, when compared with the world’s industrial powerhouses, China needs to strengthen its scientific and technological innovative capacity and foundational manufacturing capabilities. It still depends on others for some core technologies, and the overall technological level and the security of its industrial sector need to be elevated. For China to realize new industrialization, it is crucial that we promote the high-quality development of manufacturing and see China moving from a manufacturer of quantity to one of quality.

     Regarding industrial & supply chains as the foundation of manufacturing strength and building autonomous, controllable, safe & reliable industrial & supply chains – Global economic competition today involves not only enterprises and industries but also industrial and supply chains. Threats to a country’s industrial security primarily stem from disruptions and bottlenecks in global industrial and supply chains. Against a backdrop of accelerating changes unseen in a century in the world, a new round of scientific & technological revolution and industrial transformation is unfolding at pace. To advance new industrialization and move faster in strengthening manufacturing, China must bolster the resilience and security of its industrial and supply chains…We should focus on developing a new generation of information technology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI), and strive to pioneer breakthroughs in high-end chips, operating systems, new materials, and major equipment.

     Enhancing innovative capacities in manufacturing & continuing to upgrade the industrial structure – We should reinforce the primary role of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, champion the spirit of outstanding entrepreneurs, and encourage enterprises to invest more in innovation. We need to cultivate more world-class enterprises featuring excellent products, outstanding brands, cutting-edge innovations, and modern management practices, and continue to expand the ranks of firms that use sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products. To enhance China’s scientific and technological capabilities, we should step up basic research, fully leverage the advantages of the new system for pooling resources nationwide, and intensify applied basic research. Fully integrating the innovation, industrial, capital, and human-resource chains, we need to adopt a more demand- and scenario-driven approach and develop a number of national manufacturing innovation centers, pilot-scale experiment platforms, and validation platforms for technological applications, and open, coordinated & highly efficient research platforms for generic technologies.

     We should move faster in developing advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries and make a strong push to develop the modern producer services sector. We must see that the modern services sector is fully integrated with advanced manufacturing and modern agriculture, promote the integration and clustering of strategic emerging industries, and create a number of advanced manufacturing clusters with international competitiveness. Steps should be taken to speed up the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, promote the intelligent and digital transformation of traditional manufacturing, and consolidate and upgrade industries where we excel. We must continue to improve the quality of Chinese products and cultivate world-famous brands.

     Concentrating on intelligent & green manufacturing, advancing the digital & green transition in industry – To advance digitalization, we must push toward the full integration of digital technology with the real economy, harness digital technology to empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and promote the digitalization of the industrial economy, with a focus on intelligent manufacturing. Use digital technologies to spur the formation of new industries and new forms and modes of business, encourage the sound development of the platform economy and the sharing economy, and promote the industrialization of the digital economy. We should continue to implement intelligent manufacturing projects and special initiatives to digitally empower small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting the innovative application of AI. To accelerate the development of a modern infrastructure system, we should promote new forms of infrastructure through effective investment and continue to build cyber, computing, and other new-type information infrastructure moderately ahead of time. Moves should also be made to accelerate the scaled application of the Industrial Internet and enhance cybersecurity capabilities.

     To promote green development, we should advance the all-around green industry, putting in place a green manufacturing system with a core focus on developing green products, building green factories, establishing green industrial parks, creating green supply chains. Strides should also be made in enhancing environmental supervision…We must see that environment-friendly designs, technologies, processes, production, management practices, supply chains, and employment practices are used throughout the product lifecycle. To promote carbon peaking in key industries, we should accelerate the R&D and application of energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies, encourage the consumption of green and low-carbon energy, and promote the efficient recycling of resources. We must vigorously develop the resource reutilization and remanufacturing industries and properly manage the recycling and utilization of waste resources such as used batteries from electric vehicles.

     Ensuring smooth economic flows & spurring a transformation in quality, efficiency & growth drivers – We must put the focus on the domestic economy with a view to fostering a complete domestic demand system. We must address the bottlenecks and difficulties hindering the development of a unified national market and promote the free circulation of production factors and resources for manufacturing. We should take steps to resolve key issues affecting the supply of high-level technologies and institutional supply, create and steer new demand through the development of a complete domestic demand system, and increase the supply of high-quality products and services to boost the efficiency with which production factors are allocated in manufacturing. We should promote coordinated development between urban and rural areas and between regions to expand the coverage of economic flows. We should guide the rational layout of industries through the functional zoning strategy and the new urbanization strategy…

     We must also work to promote interplay between the domestic & international economies. Making good use of both domestic and international markets and resources, we should create more development opportunities for manufacturing through high-standard opening up and strongly support enterprises in expanding into international markets. We should encourage more investment of foreign capital in advanced manufacturing and new and high technology sectors, continue to provide good services and support to foreign-funded enterprises, and gradually create an open environment for technological innovation. We should give more importance to the role of pilot free-trade zones in promoting the high-quality development of manufacturing and work to develop these zones into high-level bases for independent innovation, hubs for the convergence of high-quality production factors, and testing grounds for high-standard rules.

(Huang Qunhui: Director & Research Fellow at Institute of Economics, Research Fellow at Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; from Qiushi Journal 20, Chinese edition, 2023)

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C. Building Blocks

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Every ee carries these extracts below to counter: 1) The constant harangue about exports, when they must at all times serve to advance or recapture and control of our home markets to develop modern industry. 2) We need to learn about machine industry versus handicraft, assembly and manufacture 3) The rules of the Sangha require constant interaction between people.

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• ‘The biggest handicap to industrial development is not the lack of capital but the absence of external economics, such as cheap power, cheap transport, technical and managerial ability, and above all the lack of a home market. The home market in an agricultural country is essentially the rural market. It is only a prosperous peasantry that can provide the home market for our industry. This is the connection between a guaranteed price for paddy and the industrialization of our country’ – Philip Gunawardena

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• ‘The Creation of a Home Market for our Industry is the pivot on which the future industrialisation of our country rests. In Ceylon’s context The Home Market essentially means The Peasant Market. To create the home market therefore we must substantially raise the living standards of the mass of the peasants so that they will be able to buy the goods produced by our industry. This demonstrates clearly the necessary connection between Industrialization & Agrarian Reform.’ – Policy Statement of the Ministry of Industries, 1956

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• ‘Their field of production, the smallholding, admits of no division of labor in its cultivation, no application of science and, therefore, no diversity of development, no variety of talent, no wealth of social relationships. Each individual peasant family is almost self-sufficient; it itself directly produces the major part of its consumption and thus acquires its means of life more through exchange with nature than in intercourse with society.’ – Karl Marx, The 18^th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, p124

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• ‘Japan will retain and encourage the branches of the machine industry that yield high added value, but production facilities that involve a low degree of processing and generate low added value should be moved to developing countries… so that Japan can concentrate on high technology & knowledge-intensive industry.’– Japan’s Council on Industrial Structure, 1977 (in SBD de Silva, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment)

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• Economics Not Taught – The Machines Nobody Knows – The Extraordinary Culture of Machine Tools – If we were a truly ‘developing’ country, here are the questions a national media would need to ask: A plan requires a political, economic & military strategy, which will first assess peasant & worker power, land (including natural resources), & capital, that the nation possesses, and the time needed to transform these powers into material reality:

     Here’s ee’s Index of a Real Economy or, at least, how a real economy would be measured:

1. The index of a strong economy is modern industry.

2. The index of modern industry is the production of machines.

3. Machine tools (MT) are the most important of all machines.

4. MT is needed for huge diversified metal fabricating industries (auto, electrical, etc.)

5. MT is essential for production of machines for all other industries.

6. Full data on machinery production is needed:

7. What portion of our machinery needs are supplied by machines built in Sri Lanka?

8. What is the trend? Are we producing more or less machines than we did before?

9. Data on imports & exports of machinery is needed (esp shipments of MTs & other Industrial Machinery)

10. MT production vs imports, must include: Mining & Metallurgical Machinery, Pulp & Paper Machinery, Textile Machinery, Woodworking Machinery, Logging Machinery, Sawmill Machinery, Office & Business Machines (adapted from: ee 20-26 Sept 2020).

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• Making Central Banks Independent of the People?

– anchor.fm/shiran-illanperuma/episodes

– youtube.com/watch?v=_AWg6VvTj9g

– eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/imf-independence-the-central-bank/

– eesrilanka.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/make-the-central-bank-independent-of-capitalism/

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• On State-Owned Enterprises and Privatization

– anchor.fm/shiran-illanperuma/episodes/On-State-Owned-Enterprises-and-the-Privatization-Debate-w-Vinod-Moonesinghe-e1vric4

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D. News Index______________________________________________

• ee News Index provides headlines & links to make sense of the weekly focus of published English ‘business news’ to expose the backwardness of multinational, corporate controlled ‘local media’:

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D1. Sovereignty

(ee is pro-politics, pro-politician, pro-nation-state, anti-corporatist, anti-expert, anti-NGO)

ee Sovereignty news emphasizes sovereignty as economic sovereignty – a strong nation is built on modern (machine-making) industrialization fueled by a producer culture.

• Operations Secretariat to provide freehold land titles set up

‘to address long-standing concerns regarding land rights in rural Sri Lanka’

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Operations-Secretariat-to-provide-freehold-land-titles-set-up/2-1144904

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96959

– https://island.lk/urumaya-national-operations-secretariat-launched-by-presidents-secretary/

• Sri Lanka Speaker endorses international settlement and notaries bills

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-speaker-endorses-international-settlement-and-notaries-bills-149352/

• Sri Lanka a US Military Vassal State

‘Mission Colombo (Integrated Country Strategy) of USA Towards Sri Lanka April 6, 2022’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/sri-lanka-a-us-military-vassal-state-mission-colombo-integrated-country-strategy-of-usa-towards-sri-lanka-april-6-2022/

– https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ICS_SCA_Sri-Lanka_02MAY2023_PUBLIC.pdf

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Achieving accountability or betrayal of military

– https://island.lk/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-achieving-accountability-or-betrayal-of-military/

• Pakistan’s PNS SAIF departs island concluding formal visit

– https://island.lk/pns-saif-departs-island-concluding-formal-visit/

• Indian Submarine INS ‘Karanj’ arrives in Colombo

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Indian-submarine-Karanj-arrives-in-Colombo/108-276279

– https://island.lk/submarine-ins-karanj-arrives-in-colombo/

• Navy arrests 23 Indian fishermen in two poaching trawlers in Sri Lankan waters

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Navy-arrests-23-Indian-fishermen-in-two-poaching-trawlers-in-Sri-Lankan-waters/108-276296

• Sri Lanka’s India-funded Unique ID project to have new consultant: Indian HC

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-india-funded-unique-id-project-to-have-new-consultant-indian-hc-149671/

• Indian firm to manage Sri Lanka’s three key airports: Minister

– https://economynext.com/indian-firm-to-manage-sri-lankas-three-key-airports-minister-149364/

• Sri Lanka to call investors for Jaffna airport PPP

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-call-investors-for-jaffna-airport-ppp-149759/

• Independent in the Indian Ocean? – Samitha Hettige

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/independent-in-the-indian-ocean/

• The damage uncle and nephew have done to this country – Nalin de Silva

– http://www1.kalaya.org/2024/01/blog-post_31.html

• Maldives enters into deals with China and Sri Lanka to counter India

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/maldives-enters-into-deals-with-china-and-sri-lanka-to-counter-india/

• Uncertain sovereignty: Ceylon as a Dominion 1948–1972

– https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/17/4/1258/5710838?

• Vaiko alleges SLN killed over 800 Indian fishers

– https://island.lk/vaiko-alleges-sln-killed-over-800-indian-fishers/

• India pressures Sri Lanka to withdraw Mobitel lawsuit against merger of its Airtel & Dialog

– https://www.ft.lk/top-story/Govt-answers-Dialog-Airtel-merger-call-disconnecting-SLT-Mobitel/26-757886

• Devananda warns of bid to deceive Tamil electorate once again

‘repeated assurances given by Tamil politicians that Sri Lanka would be hauled up before International Criminal Court (ICC).’

– https://island.lk/devananda-warns-of-bid-to-deceive-tamil-electorate-once-again/

• New ITAK leader Shritharan to push for federal state

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/new-itak-leader-shritharan-to-push-for-federal-state-546764.html

• Tamil political party repeals constitution, elects officers

– https://island.lk/tamil-political-party-repeals-constitution-elects-officers/

• Canadian Tamil Congress office broken into and torched

‘CTC has been engaging with Sri Lankan leaders, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’

– https://island.lk/canadian-tamil-congress-office-broken-into-and-torched/

• Eelam lobby urges Canada to probe Peel Police Chief’s Sri Lanka visit

– https://island.lk/eelam-lobby-urges-canadas-office-of-independent-police-review-director-to-probe-peel-police-chiefs-sri-lanka-visit/

• Mihindu Thera’s System Change – Nalin de Silva

– http://www1.kalaya.org/2024/01/blog-post_29.html

• Connecting North & East Sri Lanka – Parts 1&2

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/connecting-north-east-sri-lanka-part-1/

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/connecting-north-east-sri-lanka-part-2/

• Buddhist Viharas & Eelam Part 13A1 &A2

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/buddhist-viharas-and-eelam-part-13a1/

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/buddhist-viharas-and-eelam-part-13a2/

• Will our estranged Tamil brothers & sisters only help all of us to become a vassal state of India

– https://island.lk/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-achieving-accountability-or-betrayal-of-military/

• Proto-separatist federalism, populism, socialism, economics and elections

‘Specters of the politics of past decades are assembling to campaign for the abolition of the executive presidency precisely at the wrong time’

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Proto-separatist-federalism-populism-socialism-economics-and-elections/4-758024

• Tamil Political Leaders Plead for Indian Intervention

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/plea-for-intervention/

• National Joint Committee (NJC) decries Himalayan Declaration as a move to go beyond 13A

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/dasa-bala-sena-was-nishanthas-final-contribution-to-slpp-546781.html

• Changing Tamil perspectives in the struggle for independence – Jeyaraj

‘“Kavana Eerppu Poaraattangal” (Attention drawing demonstrations) would be held in the five districts of the north and three districts of the east.’

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Changing-Tamil-perspectives-in-the-struggle-for-independence/4-758068

• Election ’24: Hopes for Constitutional Reforms are still alive

– https://island.lk/election-24-hopes-for-constitutional-reforms-are-still-alive/

• Rising & Falling Nationalisms In North And South – USAID NPC Perera

– https://island.lk/rising-and-falling-nationalisms-in-north-and-south/

• Jha highlights growing Indian power, reiterates commitment to strengthening ties with SL

‘boost our shared interest in developing Trincomalee as an economic hub’

– https://island.lk/jha-highlights-growing-indian-power-reiterates-commitment-to-strengthening-ties-with-sl/

• Online Safety Law: ‘Russian Ambassador says external interference “unacceptable”.’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/dasa-bala-sena-was-nishanthas-final-contribution-to-slpp-546781.html

• State Minister Tennakoon visits English Spyship ‘HMS Spey’

‘Spey is currently operating in South East Asia and the Indian Ocean supporting regional partners with anti-smuggling, fishery protection, border patrol and counter terrorism operations.”

– https://economynext.com/british-ship-hms-spey-arrives-in-sri-lanka-148956/

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/state-minister-tennakoon-visits-royal-navy-ship-hms-spey/

– https://island.lk/hms-spey-arrives-in-colombo/

• SL-England Chamber of Commerce business roundtable with Foreign Minister Ali Sabry

– https://www.ft.lk/business/SL-UK-Chamber-of-Commerce-holds-business-roundtable-with-Foreign-Minister-Ali-Sabry/34-758013

• Pakistan Naval Ship (PNS) SAIF arrives at port of Colombo

– https://island.lk/pns-saif-arrives-at-port-of-colombo/

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96866

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide policy support to President’s Office

‘President’s Office maintains coordination with IMF’s Comprehensive Funding Facility, World Bank’s Development Policy Operational Program, Asian Development Bank’s Policy Assistance Programs’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/bill-melinda-gates-foundation-to-provide-policy-support-to-presidents-office/

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96855

– https://economynext.com/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation-to-partner-with-sri-lanka-presidents-office-149110/

• Julie Chung Opposes Online Safety Bill: Clean Up Your Own Backyard in Alabama, Before You Try to Clean Up Sri Lanka’s Backyard! – Thoradeniya

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/26/julie-chung-opposes-online-safety-bill-clean-up-your-own-backyard-at-alabama-before-you-try-to-clean-up-sri-lankas-backyard/

• 76 years on, is Sri Lanka Independent or In Dependence? What are we celebrating?

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/76-years-on-is-sri-lanka-independent-or-in-dependence-what-are-we-celebrating/

• Contribution of Siam and Burma to Buddhism in Sri Lanka – Balachandran

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/contribution-of-siam-and-burma-to-buddhism-in-sri-lanka/

• FTA with Thailand to be signed on Feb 3; Thai PM guest of honour at Freedom Day event

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/fta-with-thailand-to-be-signed-on-feb-3-thai-pm-guest-of-honour-at-freedom-day-event-546804.html

– https://economynext.com/thai-pm-to-witness-signing-of-fta-with-sri-lanka-148913/

• Red Sea, Gaza and Sri Lanka’s foreign policy – Lasanda Kurukulasuriya

– https://island.lk/red-sea-gaza-and-sri-lankas-foreign-policy

• Sri Lanka donates Ceylon Tea consignment to Palestinians in Gaza Strip

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96865

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-sends-tea-to-palestine-149164/

• 25 Korean Youth Midterm Volunteer Programme in Sri Lanka

– https://island.lk/esg-koica-youth-midterm-volunteer-programme-in-sri-lanka/

• Foreign Minister Sabry meets English Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister Tariq Ahmad

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/foreign-minister-sabry-meets-lord-tariq-546815.html

• Diplomatic grandeur follows Non- Aligned Summit in Uganda

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Diplomatic-grandeur-follows-Non-Aligned-Summit-in-Uganda/108-276289

• India releases pigeon accused of spying for China

‘it was revealed that the pigeon was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan’

– https://www.themorning.lk/articles/kr8c6VW5w86Vu0aiKBeN

• Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan gets 10-year jail term for leaking state secrets

. – https://www.adaderana.lk/news/96851/ex-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-gets-10-year-jail-term-for-leaking-state-secrets

– https://www.newsclick.in/former-pakistani-prime-minister-imran-khan-sentenced-10-years-prison

• Imran Khan and wife Bushra Bibi jailed for illegal marriage

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Imran-Khan-and-wife-Bushra-Bibi-jailed-for-illegal-marriage/108-276291

• Ahead of election, Pakistan seals plan to sell national airline

‘Three senior airline officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said a fast sale could devalue the airline’s worth, and that it would not be a transparent transaction without due diligence.’

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news/96954/ahead-of-election-pakistan-seals-plan-to-sell-national-airline

• China ignores US entreaties of mediation – Bhadrakumar

– https://www.indianpunchline.com/china-ignores-us-entreaties-of-mediation/

• Why China is reluctant to wade into the Red Sea crisis and join US-led attacks on Houthis

– https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/great-power-lite-why-china-is-reluctant-to-wade-into-the-red-sea-crisis-and-join-us-led-attacks-on-houthis/ar-BB1hmYbY

• North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles – Reuters

– https://www.themorning.lk/articles/VOzJwIrtwf8OJ1On85e9

• The Collapse Within Collapse Within Collapse

– indi.ca

• Yemen strikes English merchant ship in support of Gaza

‘”Passage of 4,874 ships through the Red Sea without any objection confirms that US and English claims are false,”’

– https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/346161-yemen-strikes-british-merchant-ship-in-support-of-gaza

• Iran distances itself from attack on US troops

– https://www.ft.com/content/1e24b6c9-d32e-4721-9552-5ccaaab7c397

• War on the Middle East – The Time of Monsters

‘The U.S. has also used Al Tanf base and the Rukban camp to house and train ISIS splinter groups so they are able to attack perceived U.S. enemies. Were any of those folks around?’

– https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/01/war-on-the-middle-east-the-time-of-monsters.html#more

• The Tower-22 Strike in Jordan Triggers US, Israel into All-Front War – The Arabs and Iran are Ready, The Russians Too

– https://johnhelmer.net/the-tower-22-strike-in-jordan-triggers-us-israel-into-all-front-war-the-arabs-and-iran-are-ready-the-russians-too/

• US Approves Plan to Bomb Iraq and Syria

– https://www.newsclick.in/us-approves-plan-bomb-iraq-and-syria

• US launches strikes on 85 targets in Syria and Iraq

– https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/346187-us-launches-strikes-on-85-targets-in-syria-and-iraq-in-response-to-attack-that-killed-troops-in-jordan

• Historic provisional ruling: ICJ orders protection of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from ‘acts of genocide’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/historic-provisional-ruling-icj-orders-protection-of-palestinians-in-the-gaza-strip-from-acts-of-genocide/

• UN secretary-general says decisions of International Court of Justice at The Hague are binding

‘9 Western countries, including the United States, have stopped their funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),’

– https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/346067-un-secretary-general-says-decisions-of-international-court-of-justice-at-the-hague-are-binding

• U.S. Ramps Up War Crimes After ICJ Rules Against Israel

– https://blackagendareport.com/us-ramps-war-crimes-after-icj-rules-against-israel

• Fund cuts for UNRWA point to a clash of civilisations

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Fund-cuts-for-UNRWA-point-to-a-clash-of-civilisations/172-276174

• Gaza war: Why did Arab states not join South Africa’s case against Israel in the ICJ?

‘Egyptian and Saudi position is the fear of potential consequences from the US’

– https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-did-arab-states-not-join-south-africas-case-against-israel-icj

• Tragedy of Gaza as it stands: A reflection of deepening divisions in the Muslim ummah

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/tragedy-of-gaza-as-it-stands-a-reflection-of-deepening-divisions-in-the-muslim-ummah/

• Why Don’t We Call Sieges ‘Sieges’?

– Indi.ca

• The end of the Anglosphere age in the Middle East

– https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4417836-the-end-of-the-anglosphere-age-in-the-middle-east/

• Israel & US Military Operations in the Middle East Going Wobbly Under Multi-Front Pressure

– https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/01/israel-and-us-military-operations-in-the-middle-east-going-wobbly-under-multi-front-pressure.html

• International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on Gaza on the way

– https://www.indianpunchline.com/icj-ruling-on-gaza-is-on-the-way/

• ICJ & the usual selective rules-based order

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/editorial/the-need-for-judicial-review-of-laws-passed-546754.html

• Israel caught in a bind by ICJ judgment although no specific order for ceasefire

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/israel-caught-in-a-bind-by-icj-judgment-although-no-specific-order-for-ceasefire-546623.html

• War On UN – West Retaliates Against ICJ Order by Defunding Humanitarian Mission for Palestine

– https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/01/war-on-un-west-retaliates-against-icj-order-by-defunding-humanitarian-mission-for-palestine

• International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s ICJ Order

– https://blackagendareport.com/international-coalition-stop-genocide-palestine-welcomes-todays-icj-order-demands-its

• Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions

‘Israel is far from achieving its goal of ethnic cleansing Gaza. It also has not even dared yet to attack Hizbullah in south Lebanon.’

– https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/02/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions.html#comments

• US Black Pastors Pressure Biden to Call for a Cease-Fire in Gaza

– https://blackagendareport.com/black-pastors-pressure-biden-call-cease-fire-gaza

• CIA’s Ray McGovern Analyzes U.S. Policy in the Middle East

– https://blackagendareport.com/ray-mcgovern-analyzes-us-policy-middle-east

• Direct Action Shuts Down Israeli-Owned Weapons Factory

– https://socialistproject.ca/2024/01/direct-action-shutsdown-israeli-owned-weapons-factory/

• Kenyans Protest Their Government’s Participation in the Latest Haiti Occupation

– https://blackagendareport.com/kenyans-protest-their-governments-participation-latest-haiti-occupation

• Russia’s Breakthrough on All Fronts Ahead of Schedule

– https://johnhelmer.net/breakthrough-on-all-fronts-ahead-of-schedule/

• ‘Foreign-made longer-range weapons Ukrainian authorities used to strike peaceful cities

– https://johnhelmer.net/gorilla-radio-takes-aim-at-the-big-picture-and-bang/#more-89298

• Putin will get ‘nice surprises on battlefield’, Ukraine will make ‘strong success’: Nuland’s predictions for 2024

– https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-will-get-nice-surprises-on-battlefield-ukraine-will-make-strong-success-nuland-s-predictions-for-2024/ar-BB1hzCKn

• Ukraine: No Chance to Win – Zero Democracy – Power Scuffle

– https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/01/ukraine-sitrep-no-chance-to-win-zero-democracy-power-scuffle

• Ukraine – The Power Scuffle Continues

– https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/02/ukraine-the-power-scuffle-continues

• Pentagon’s Own Map of U.S. Bases in Africa Contradicts its Claim of “Light” Footprint

‘Planning documents provide locations for 29 bases located in 15 different countries or territories, with the highest concentrations in the Sahelian states on the west side of the continent, as well as the Horn of Africa in the east.’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/pentagons-own-map-of-u-s-bases-in-africa-contradicts-its-claim-of-light-footprint/

• Amid Accusations of Debt Colonialism, The New Cold War Hots Up as The War for Africa Continues with Explosions in Nairobi, Kenya

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/amid-accusations-of-debt-colonialism-the-new-cold-war-hots-up-as-the-war-for-africa-continues-with-explosions-in-nairobi-kenya/

• Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger withdraw from ECOWAS

– https://blackagendareport.com/mali-burkina-faso-and-niger-withdraw-ecowas

• Communist Party of Kenya Applauds High Court Ruling Against Kenyan Police in Haiti

‘Haiti requires no foreign intervention; this crisis is orchestrated by the core group of the US, Canada, and France, aiming to maintain hegemony and settle scores with Haiti for its historic slave revolution’

– https://blackagendareport.com/cpk-applauds-high-court-ruling-against-kenyan-police-deployment-haiti

• Dominican Republic Continues to Illegally Separate Haitian Children from Their Families

– https://blackagendareport.com/dominican-republic-continues-illegally-separate-haitian-children-their-families

• Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire

– https://blackagendareport.com/index.php/corporate-coup-venezuela-and-end-us-empire

• USA is at War and in Denial

– indi.ca

• Why Civil War Is Too Good for the USA

– indi.ca

*

________________________________________________________________

D2. Security (the state beyond ‘a pair of handcuffs’, monopolies of legitimate violence)

ee Security section focuses on the state (a pair of handcuffs, which sposedly has the monopoly of legitimate violence), and how the ‘national security’ doctrine is undermined by private interests, with no interest in divulging or fighting the real enemy, whose chief aim is to prevent an industrial renaissance as the basis of a truly independent nation.

• Sri Lanka’s India-funded Unique ID project to have new consultant: Indian HC

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-india-funded-unique-id-project-to-have-new-consultant-indian-hc-149671/

• Paying of salary and allowances to the dependents of deceased Tri-Forces personnel,

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/paying-of-salary-and-allowances-to-the-dependents-of-deceased-tri-forces-personnel/

• Special announcement on salaries, allowances paid to retired disabled soldiers and dependents

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news/96958/special-announcement-on-salaries-allowances-paid-to-retired-disabled-soldiers-and-dependents

• Army promotes 211 officers, 1,239 other ranks on Independence Day

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Army-promotes-211-officers-1-239-other-ranks-on-Independence-Day/108-276298

• Over 700 prisoners to be released on Independence Day: Prisons spokesman

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Over-700-prisoners-to-be-released-on-Independence-Day-Prisons-spokesman/108-276285

• The need for judicial review of laws passed

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/editorial/the-need-for-judicial-review-of-laws-passed-546754.html

• Former Army Chief Daya Ratnayake Joins SJB

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/29/former-army-chief-daya-ratnayake-joins-sjb

• Not The Archbishop’s Call To Challenge The Anti-Terrorism Bill.

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/27/not-the-archbishops-call-to-challenge-the-anti-terrorism-bill/

• Hans Wijesuriya, Dialog CEO, established my location through phone towers – Noyahr

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Birthday-tribute-to-Krishantha/4-758030

• STF busts major narcotics haul worth Rs. 100 million in Wattala

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/STF-busts-major-narcotics-haul-worth-Rs-100-million-in-Wattala/108-276273

• Police Arrest Two Women in Connection with Beliatte Quintuple Murder

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/30/police-arrest-two-women-in-connection-with-beliatte-quintuple-murder

• One of the gunmen responsible for multiple killings at Beliatte has escaped to Dubai

– https://island.lk/one-of-the-gunmen-responsible-for-multiple-killings-at-beliatte-has-escaped-to-dubai/

• The Duminda Silva Pardon

– https://island.lk/the-duminda-silva-pardon/

• Military Skydivers Injured in Parachute Mishap

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/30/military-skydivers-injured-in-parachute-mishap

– https://island.lk/four-paratroopers-injured-in-mishaps/

• Two foreigners killed in bus-motorcycle collision

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96864

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Two-drivers-arrested-over-fatal-accident-of-foreigners/2-1144873

• Fifteen men sentenced to death in Kerala for murder of BJP leader

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news/96863/fifteen-men-sentenced-to-death-in-kerala-for-murder-of-bjp-leader

• Arms Exports to Israel Violate Canadian and International Law

– https://socialistproject.ca/2024/01/arms-exports-to-israel-violate-canadian-and-international-law/

• 77% of US youth unqualified for military service

– https://asiatimes.com/2023/09/77-of-us-youth-unqualified-for-military-service/

• Remote Warfare & Expendable People – Forever War Means Never Having to Say Sorry

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/remote-warfare-and-expendable-people-forever-war-means-never-having-to-say-youre-sorry/

*

_____________________________________________________________

D3. Economists (Study the Economists before you study the Economics)

ee Economists shows how paid capitalist/academic ‘professionals’ confuse (misdefinitions, etc) and divert (with false indices, etc) from the steps needed to achieve a modern industrial country.

• Prez should’ve had party leaders consult IMF MD before finalization of agreement

– https://island.lk/prez-should-have-invited-party-leaders-to-consultation-with-imf-md-before-finalization-of-agreement/

• We need to build a national manufacturing economy – Nalin de Silva

– http://www1.kalaya.org/2024/01/blog-post_30.html

• Electoral prospects spark optimism for Sri Lanka’s underprivileged – Charith Gunawardene

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Electoral-prospects-spark-optimism-for-Sri-Lanka-s-underprivileged/4-758067

• Get Cracking on Creating Employment and Alleviating Poverty – Karunaratne.

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/get-cracking-on-creating-employment-and-alleviating-poverty/

• The VAT and the DAT – Sugath Kulatunga

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/the-vat-and-the-dat/

• How Sri Lanka can benefit from emerging multipolar world and its policy options – Shenal Senevirathna

– https://island.lk/how-sri-lanka-can-benefit-from-emerging-multipolar-world-and-its-policy-options/

• CTC RIUNIT webinar: IMF, geopolitics, and Sri Lanka’s economic sovereignty on 7 Feb.

‘Professor Yanis Varoufakis, Professor Dr. Howard Nicholas, Heidi Chow, and Tania Abeysundara, with Professor Kanchana N. Ruwanpura and Roshan Madawela moderating.’

– https://www.ft.lk/news/RIUNIT-webinar-IMF-geopolitics-and-Sri-Lanka-s-economic-sovereignty-on-7-Feb/56-758015

• Why Independence Celebrations when Country is Dependent?

– https://island.lk/why-independence-celebrations-when-country-is-dependent/

• A long-term plan, at least of 10 years duration is needed

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Politics-without-substance-or-substance-without-politics-People-have-a-choice/4-757910

• Government should not venture into 1970s style direct investment in, and operation of, factories

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Is-a-production-economy-the-solution/4-757912

• Musing on innovation – Eshan Dias

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Musing-on-innovation/4-757951

• Parliament flays FM, etc., for revenue shortfalls: Siyambalapitya says situ not properly assessed

– https://island.lk/parliament-flays-fm-etc-for-revenue-shortfalls-siyambalapitya-says-situation-not-properly-assessed/

• State Minister defends President’s foreign trips

– https://island.lk/state-minister-defends-presidents-foreign-trips/

• SL no more financially bankrupt: President

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/SL-no-more-financially-bankrupt-President/44-758117

• Economic crisis: Treasury Chief frowns on home-grown remedy tried by GR regime

– https://island.lk/economic-crisis-treasury-chief-frowns-on-home-grown-remedy-tried-by-gr-regime/

• US seeks more transparency in SL for economic growth

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/US-seeks-more-transparency-in-SL-for-economic-growth/2-1144900

• Sri Lankans deserve transparency, accountability during hard reforms: US envoy

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankans-deserve-transparency-accountability-during-hard-reforms-us-envoy-149528/

• Chung stresses need to stabilise business environment here ahead of national election

– https://island.lk/chung-stresses-need-to-stabilise-business-environment-here-ahead-of-national-election/

• Govt. must aim for 50% hair cut in external debt restructuring: SJB

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-not-representing-needs-of-people-claims-SJB/44-758007

• Sri Lanka private creditors said to be frustrated over lack of progress

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-private-creditors-said-to-be-frustrated-over-lack-of-progress-149662/

• Delays in governance and transparency reforms in Lanka’s IMF bailout programme: US Verité Research tracker

‘Sri Lanka and the IMF have added 75 new commitments to the programme.’

– https://island.lk/delays-in-governance-and-transparency-reforms-in-lankas-imf-bailout-programme-says-verite-research-tracker/

• Canada thinktank says SL trade barriers, denied economic freedoms seen driving corruption

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-trade-barriers-denied-economic-freedoms-seen-driving-corruption-149058/

• US companies want a one-stop shop in Sri Lanka – US Senator Hollen (2023)

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/China-as-Sri-Lankas-largest-creditor-should-not-try-to-use-its-leverage-U-S-Senator/231-266513

• Govt. misleading international community re: anti-corruption action? – C. Jayaratne

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Govt-misleading-international-community-re-anti-corruption-action/4-758031

• President invites party leaders for ‘collective dialogue’ with IMF

– https://island.lk/president-invites-party-leaders-for-collective-dialogue-with-imf/

– https://island.lk/president-willing-to-convene-an-all-party-dialogue-with-imf-managing-director/

• Govt. must aim for 50% hair cut in external debt restructuring: SJB

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-not-representing-needs-of-people-claims-SJB/44-758007

• SJB MP Harsha says the IMF views his party as a responsible opposition

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-not-representing-needs-of-people-claims-SJB/44-758007

• Elections cast a shadow of uncertainty over Sri Lanka’s economic recovery – Dushni Weerakoon

– https://island.lk/elections-cast-a-shadow-of-uncertainty-over-sri-lankas-economic-recovery/

• Reforms to stay course with bets on elections: First Capital Research

– https://island.lk/reforms-to-stay-course-with-bets-on-elections-first-capital-research/

• Two-pronged strategy for fiscal consolidation: Up the revenue and bring down Govt. expenditure – Sanderatne

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/two-pronged-strategy-for-fiscal-consolidation-up-the-revenue-and-bring-down-govt-expenditure-546677.html

• Chips are everywhere: But can Sri Lanka ride the wave?

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Chips-are-everywhere-But-can-Sri-Lanka-ride-the-wave/4-757848

• 19th South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM 2024) in Colombo – Abeyratne

“Building Resilient Economies: South Asia’s Green Transition to a Sustainable Tomorrow”

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/greening-in-an-uncertain-world-546171.html

• German Foundation and Delhi Centre for Civil Society on Blue Economy for us

– https://economynext.com/introducing-a-blue-curriculum-across-bimstec-148883/

• Dual roles of researchers in objectivism and subjectivism – Saliya

– https://island.lk/dual-roles-of-researchers-in-objectivism-and-subjectivism/

• Wanted: An Authentic Minister of Finance Sri Lanka Has Not Had One, For Three and A Half Decades – CIA Mick Moore

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Wanted-An-Authentic-Minister-of-Finance-Sri-Lanka-Has-Not-Had-One-For-Three-And-A-Half-Decades/172-276078

• UNDP and UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka renew strategic collaboration

– https://island.lk/undp-and-un-global-compact-network-sri-lanka-renew-strategic-collaboration/

• The Calamity of Zero Growth in Indian Employment Over Past 5 Years – Prabhat Patnaik

– https://www.newsclick.in/calamity-zero-growth-employment-over-past-5-years

• Gandhi’s Economic Non-Violence in era of Change Without Progress

– https://www.newsclick.in/gandhis-economic-non-violence-era-change-without-progress

• USA’s China containment becomes a lose-lose strategy for everyone

– https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3249632/china-containment-becomes-lose-lose-strategy-everyone

• China versus the US – Roberts

‘Western economists continue to argue that the Chinese economy is heading down the drain. I have rejected this familiar refrain…’

– https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/china-versus-the-us/

• MAGA & Marxism in America

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvx6ggsrE9o&t=33s

• Why did the US avoid a recession in 2023? – Roberts

‘It is profits that lead investment that then leads to employment, incomes and consumption – not the other way round, as the Keynesians argue. So slowing or falling profits will reduce incentive to invest’

– https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2024/01/30/why-did-the-us-avoid-a-recession-in-2023/

*

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D4. Economy (Usually reported in monetary terms)

ee Economy section shows how media usually measures economy by false indices like GDP, etc., in monetary terms, confusing money and capital, constantly calling for privatization, deregulation, moaning about debt & balance of payments, without stating the need for modern industrial production.

• Operations Secretariat to provide freehold land titles set up

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Operations-Secretariat-to-provide-freehold-land-titles-set-up/2-1144904

• Sri Lanka Speaker endorses international settlement and notaries bills

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-speaker-endorses-international-settlement-and-notaries-bills-149352/

• Two-day adjournment debate on govt.’s policy statement

– https://island.lk/two-day-adjournment-debate-on-govt-s-policy-statement/

• Sri Lanka central bank appoints six Assistant Governors (several linked to IMF)

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-central-bank-appoints-six-assistant-governers-149660/

• Ex-BASL Secy now on CBSL Governing Board

– https://island.lk/ex-basl-secy-now-on-cbsl-governing-board/

• Sri Lanka to borrow $150mn from World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)

– https://www.themorning.lk/articles/WoYh1KtqnCsoM7ZRXrIy

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/World-Bank-provides-150-mln-to-strengthen-Sri-Lankas-financial-sector/2-1144909

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/usd-150-million-financial-assistance-from-the-international-development-association-of-the-world-bank-for-the-financial-sector-safety-net-strengthening-project/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-WB-sign-agreement-for-150-m-financing-to-strengthen-financial-sector/44-758111

– https://island.lk/government-and-world-bank-sign-agreement-for-financing-of-150-million-to-strengthen-sri-lankas-financial-sector/

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Local-financial-sector-to-get-fresh-boost-with-World-Banks-US-150mn-support/273-276248

• Amendments to Banking Act No. 30 of 1988 to be gazetted

‘Provisions to strengthen the existing regulatory standards in Issuance of bank licenses, bank ownership, joint supervision, capital and liquidity framework, maximum credit facilities available…’

– https://island.lk/amendments-to-banking-act-no-30-of-1988-to-be-gazetted/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/AG-approves-Bill-for-new-Banking-Act/44-757973

• IMF reveals ‘First Term’ Evaluation of Sri Lanka

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/IMF-reveals-First-Term-Evaluation-of-Sri-Lanka/131-275855

• IMF likely to lift VAT conditions on tourism

‘This was not a decision that could be taken by the Finance Ministry and as a result they had held a meeting with the IMF concerning this situation.’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/imf-likely-to-lift-vat-conditions-on-tourism-546195.html

• IMF deal does not bar Sri Lanka from transparent investment incentives: ex-BOI chief

‘He told a forum on economic freedom organised by Advocata Institute, a US-funded think tank and Canada’s Fraser Institute which compiles a global economic freedom index.’

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-not-barred-from-transparent-investment-incentives-by-imf-deal-ex-boi-chief-149017/

• No more indirect taxes on the cards in Sri Lanka: state minister

– https://economynext.com/no-more-indirect-taxes-on-the-cards-in-sri-lanka-state-minister-148975/

• Inland Revenue Department (IRD) cracks down on business entities charging illegal VAT

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/ird-cracks-down-on-business-entities-charging-illegal-vat-546807.html

• Government Agencies Must Submit Annual Financials Before Feb 28.

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/30/government-agencies-must-submit-annual-financials-before-feb-28

• Sri Lanka Trade Minister opts for drastic Consumers Affairs Authority (CAA) restructuring

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-trade-minister-opts-for-drastic-caa-restructuring-149410/

• Colombo Consumer Price Index tops 6% in January

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Colombo-Consumer-Price-Index-tops-6-in-January/44-758000

• Sri Lanka food prices increase 33.72 pct y-o-y in December: US Advocata

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-food-prices-increase-33-72-pct-y-o-y-in-december-advocata-149316/

• Sri Lanka inflation rises to 6.5-pct in Jan 2024, above 5.0-pct target

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-inflation-rises-to-6-5-pct-in-jan-2024-above-5-0-pct-target-149413/

• Sri Lanka budget tax revenues up 56-pct, deficit up on interest in Nov 23

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-budget-tax-revenues-up-56-pct-deficit-up-on-interest-in-nov-23-148891/

• Sri Lanka regains 3-month import cover of foreign reserves after 20 months

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Sri-Lanka-regains-3-month-import-cover-of-foreign-reserves-after-20-months/273-276246

• Sri Lanka’s total exports reach USD 14.49 bn in 2023

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/sri-lankas-total-exports-reach-usd-14-49-bn-in-2023/

• Sri Lanka’s export earnings decline slightly in 2023

– https://island.lk/sri-lankas-export-earnings-decline-slightly-in-2023/

• Sri Lanka services exports rise to US$3.0bn in 2023: EDB

‘made up of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport and logistics.’

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-services-exports-rise-to-us3-0bn-in-2023-edb-149108/

• Sri Lanka exports down 9.54-pct in 2023, rupee appreciates

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-exports-down-9-54-pct-in-2023-rupee-appreciates-148979/

• Sri Lanka delegation in China discuss investment opportunities, export of water

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-delegation-in-china-discuss-investment-opportunities-export-of-water-148968/

• China and India Drive Upward Revision in IMF’s Asia-Pacific Growth Projection

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/31/china-and-india-drive-upward-revision-in-imf-s-asia-pacific-growth-projection

• Global growth projected at 3.1% in 2024 – IMF

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/31/global-growth-projected-at-3-1-in-2024-imf

• India gearing up Central Bank Digital Currency for cross-border payments

– https://island.lk/india-gearing-up-central-bank-digital-currency-for-cross-border-payments/

• Malaysia’s former Finance Minister charged with corruption after Pandora Papers probe

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/29/malaysia-s-former-finance-minister-charged-with-corruption-after-pandora-papers-probe

• Thai central bank chief says current policy rate neutral, economy not in crisis

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Thai-central-bank-chief-says-current-policy-rate-neutral-economy-not-in-crisis/34-758064

• Mexico overtook China as USA’s top global trade buddy

‘A US plant typically produces an intermediate good that is then exported to Mexico where it becomes part of the assembly process before a final product is then imported back into the US.’

– https://www.businessinsider.com/us-trade-imports-july-china-mexico-vietnam-census-supply-chain-2023-9

• US Federal Reserve keeps rates unchanged, amid recession concerns

– https://economynext.com/us-federal-reserve-keeps-rates-unchanged-amid-recession-concerns-149427/

*

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D5. Workers (Inadequate Stats, Wasteful Transport, Unmodern Plantations, Services)

ee Workers attempts to correct the massive gaps and disinformation about workers, urban and rural and their representatives (trade unions, etc), and to highlight the need for organized worker power

• Sri Lankan workers exploited, poorly paid, with the lowest wages in Asia-Oceania

‘About 60 % of Japanese companies invested in Sri Lanka because it has the lowest salary’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/sri-lankan-workers-exploited-poorly-paid-with-the-lowest-wages-in-asia-oceania/

• Labour reforms in an election year

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/labour-reforms-in-an-election-year-546176.html

• Govt’s tax plans can leave career journeys of youth derailed

‘Youth constitute 33 percent of Sri Lanka’s total population’

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/Govts-tax-plans-can-leave-career-journeys-of-youth-derailed/131-275931

• Health unions issue ultimatum to govt. to resolve salary anomaly by end of month

– https://island.lk/health-unions-issue-ultimatum-to-govt-to-resolve-salary-anomaly-by-end-of-month/

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Health-workers-to-strike-tomorrow-doctors-vow-to-maintain-services/2-1144879

• Hospital activities severely disrupted due to strike action

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/02/02/hospital-activities-severely-disrupted-due-to-strike-action

• Health trade unions’ strike enters second day

‘The Doctors Union and All-Ceylon Nurses’ Union chose not to participate in the planned strike action’

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Health-trade-unions-strike-enters-second-day/2-1144903

• Strike paralyses state run healthcare system

– https://island.lk/strike-paralyses-state-run-healthcare-system/

• Health trade unions temporarily call off strike action

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news/96953/health-trade-unions-temporarily-call-off-strike-action

• Health strike suspended until 07 Feb following President’s intervention

– https://island.lk/health-strike-suspended-until-07-feb-following-presidents-intervention/

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Ongoing-health-strike-to-be-called-off/108-276222

• Keheliya Go-Gama’ campaign foiled, five arrested

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Keheliya-Go-Gama-campaign-foiled-five-arrested/2-1144882

• Five persons arrested during ‘Satyagraha’ in front of CID

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/five-persons-arrested-during-satyagraha-in-front-of-cid/

• King Kekille’s descendants

– https://island.lk/king-kekilles-descendants/

• Some thoughts on Karapitiya fiasco

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/plus/letters-to-the-editor-5-546245.html

• Three Parliament employees arrested over sexual abuse charges

– https://island.lk/three-parliament-employees-arrested-over-sexual-abuse-charges/

• High Time The Labour Dept. Looked into Low Wages of Private Security Guards

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/plus/letters-to-the-editor-5-546245.html

• Trade union workers at Board of Investment (BOI) Free Trade Zones to protest for wage hike

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/boi-workers-to-protest-for-a-wage-hike-546186.html

• Kelaniya University Students Hold Ground After Tense Night

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/30/kelaniya-university-students-hold-ground-after-tense-night

• Kelaniya Uni tense as protesting undergrads occupy main administrative building

– https://island.lk/kelaniya-uni-tense-as-protesting-undergrads-occupy-main-administrative-building/

• Kandy Hospital team transplants woman’s hand severed by cleaning coir grinding machine

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Kandy-Hospital-team-transplants-womans-severed-hand/108-276297

• SJB brought together Sri Lanka’s working class to protest the burgeoning cost of living

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-not-representing-needs-of-people-claims-SJB/44-758007

• CIPM – leader in human resource management – MOU with University of Peradeniya

– https://island.lk/cipm-signs-landmark-mou-with-university-of-peradeniya/

• ILO to assist introduction of dispute resolution mechanisms to public service

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/ilo-to-assist-introduction-of-dispute-resolution-mechanisms-to-public-service/

• ILO help sought to address disputes in public service

– https://island.lk/ilo-help-sought-to-address-disputes-in-public-service/

• Sri Lankans to get chip-enabled e-passports by end 2024

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/sri-lankans-to-get-chip-enabled-e-passports-by-end-2024-546183.html

• Spiraling costs of school closures in Sri Lanka

– https://island.lk/spiraling-costs-of-school-closures-in-sri-lanka/

• Free lunch program for Primary School Children starting March 2024

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/free-lunch-program-for-primary-school-children-starting-march-2024/

• Sri Lanka launches fortified rice lunch programme to address malnutrition

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-launches-fortified-rice-lunch-programme-to-address-malnutrition-149747/

• Sri Lanka Police to take street children into custody

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-police-to-take-street-children-into-custody-148838/

• President’s fund increases allowance for 2021/2022 scholarship recipients

– https://island.lk/presidents-fund-increases-allowance-for-2021-2022-scholarship-recipients/

• Sri Lanka Red Cross Society inaugurates first computer lab and IT training centre for marginalised children and youth

– https://island.lk/sri-lanka-red-cross-society-inaugurates-first-computer-lab-and-it-training-centre-for-marginalised-children-and-youth/

• Fully-funded Indian scholarships for Lankan nationals

– https://island.lk/fully-funded-indian-scholarships-for-lankan-nationals/

• Two leaves and a bud: the history of Malaiyaham as pedagogy – Sivamohan Sumathy

– https://island.lk/two-leaves-and-a-bud-the-history-of-malaiyaham-as-pedagogy/

• Two leaves and a bud: History of Malaiyaham as pedagogy’ – A response by GAD Sirimal

– https://island.lk/two-leaves-and-a-bud-history-of-malaiyaham-as-pedagogy-a-response/

• Sri Lankan Youth Trapped in Myanmar Cyberhell Cry for Rescue

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/29/sri-lankan-youth-trapped-in-myanmar-cyberhell-cry-for-rescue

• No help for ‘cyber prisoners’; freedom to let out steam; hollow celebration

– https://island.lk/no-help-for-cyber-prisoners-freedom-to-let-out-steam-hollow-celebration/

• ‘No one to help’: Sri Lankan migrant workers in Hong Kong lack support, face exploitation and abuse, NGOs say

‘Hong Kong was home to about 356,000 foreign domestic helpers as of the end of last year, with 1,126 Sri Lankans making up less than 1% of the total….also, 200,000 Filipinos…148,000 Indonesians’

– https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3250023/no-one-help-sri-lankan-migrant-workers-hong-kong-lack-support-face-exploitation-and-abuse-ngos-say

• SLN seeks intl. help to secure release of Lankan fishermen abducted by Somali pirates

– https://island.lk/sln-seeks-intl-help-to-secure-release-of-lankan-fishermen-abducted-by-somali-pirates/

• India rushes to aid SL in rescue of fisherman abducted by Somali pirates

‘The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is a US-led multinational maritime partnership in Bahrain, the base for the US Navy Fifth Fleet. It has 39 members, including NATO and European states’

– https://www.ft.lk/news/India-rushes-to-aid-SL-in-rescue-of-fisherman-abducted-by-Somali-pirates/56-757869

• Sri Lankan fishermen captured by Somali pirates rescued

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/sri-lankan-fishermen-captured-by-somali-pirates-rescued/

• Sri Lankan Fishermen Freed from Armed Group

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/29/breaking-sri-lankan-fishermen-freed-from-armed-group

• Seychelles Coast Guard rescues Lankan vessel from pirates

– https://island.lk/seychelles-coast-guard-rescues-lankan-vessel-from-pirates/

• Seychelles rescues crew abducted by Somali pirates after Sri Lanka Joins US War Games

– https://island.lk/seychelles-rescues-sri-lankan-crew-abducted-by-somali-pirates/

• New Details on Trawler Hijacking as Somali Pirates and Crew Arrive in Seychelles

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/new-details-on-trawler-hijacking-as-somali-pirates-and-crew-arrive-in-seychelles/

• Indian Navy in joint operation thwarts hijacking of Sri Lankan fishing vessel

– https://island.lk/indian-navy-in-joint-operation-thwarts-hijacking-of-sri-lankan-fishing-vessel/

• Sri Lankan vessel ‘Lorenzo Putha IV’ Heroic rescue in a sea troubled by Somalian pirates

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/Sri-Lankan-vessel-Lorenzo-Putha-IV-Heroic-rescue-in-a-sea-troubled-by-Somalian-pirates/131-2761

• Australian pension must be granted for eligible Lankans living back here

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/plus/letters-to-the-editor-5-546245.html

• From Ceylon to Australia: Migrant Journeys, 1860s-to-2010s-by Earlson Forbes

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/27/from-ceylon-to-australia-migrant-journeys-1860s-to-2010s-by-earlson-forbes/

• Measures afoot to send 10,000 Sri Lankan workers to Japan – State Minister

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96861

• Top academics develop tool to enhance inclusive workplace culture in corporate world

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Top-academics-develop-tool-to-enhance-inclusive-workplace-culture-in-corporate-world/273-276239

• 56% of College Students Have Used AI on Assignments or Exams

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/56-of-college-students-have-used-ai-on-assignments-or-exams/

• Rat Hole Mining: Tragic Accident Exposes Dark Side of Nagaland’s Coal Sector

– https://www.newsclick.in/rat-hole-mining-tragic-accident-exposes-dark-side-nagalands-coal-sector

• ‘Better to Die In War Than Out of Hunger In India’, Desperate Applicants Make Beeline For Construction Jobs In Israel

‘There is a dearth of jobs, and government sectors are being systematically sold off to private corporations. This is a huge blow to youth of the country, who are suffering massive unemployment’

– https://www.newsclick.in/lucknow-better-die-war-out-hunger-india-desperate-applicants-make-beeline-construction-jobs-israel

• Mexico’s one big advantage over the US right now could stall the ‘Made in America’ push

;Where a lack of skilled workers is the problem, investments in training programs could help fill some of the gaps. And where there simply aren’t enough workers available, increasing immigration levels could be part of the solution.’

– https://www.businessinsider.com/mexico-manufacturing-jobs-trade-china-biden-immigration-labor-america-businesses-2024-1

• Palestine is in Asia: An Asian American Argument for Solidarity

– https://www.thenation.com/article/world/palestine-asia-orientalism-expansive-solidarity/

• Prof. John Beaty and the True Origin of the Jews

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/prof-john-beaty-and-the-true-origin-of-the-jews/

• Tens of thousands striking airport security staff ground flights across Germany

– https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/346050-tens-of-thousands-striking-airport-security-staff-ground-flights-across-germany

• Protesting Finnish workers set to paralyze country

– https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/346051-protesting-finnish-workers-set-to-paralyze-country

• Abolishing Prison Slavery in the U.S.

– https://blackagendareport.com/abolishing-prison-slavery-us

• An Upcoming US Supreme Court Case Threatens to Criminalize Homelessness

‘While much of the national focus on homelessness has centered around the growing drug and overdose crisis, data shows, especially for Black unhoused people, it is an issue of affordability .’

– https://blackagendareport.com/upcoming-supreme-court-case-threatens-criminalize-homelessness

• Culture change needed at Boeing; labor contract talks begin in March and could lead the way

– https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/29/culture-change-needed-at-boeing-labor-contract-talks-begin-in-march-and-could-lead-the-way/

• US Pay raises just caught up with inflation for the first time in 2 years

– https://www.businessinsider.com/wage-growth-faster-than-inflation-first-time-2-years-2023-6

• Gig labor could have challenged FedEx and UPS. Now it’s making them stronger.

‘Gig workers offer a lot of upside. Driving their own vehicles, wearing their own clothes, paid as they go and mostly without benefits — they’re often much cheaper than salaried employees.’

– https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-fedex-gig-labor-stay-competitive-ecommerce-delivery-2022-11

*

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D6. Agriculture (Robbery of rural home market; Machines, if used, mainly imported)

ee Agriculture emphasizes the failure to industrialize an agriculture that keeps the cultivator impoverished under moneylender and merchant, and the need to develop the rural home market, monetization and commercialization, to produce, rather than import, agricultural machinery.

• Operations Secretariat to provide freehold land titles set up

‘to address long-standing concerns regarding land rights in rural Sri Lanka’

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Operations-Secretariat-to-provide-freehold-land-titles-set-up/2-1144904

• How our excellent agricultural extension system of the 1960s was sacrificed – Karunaratne

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/31/how-our-excellent-agricultural-extension-system-of-the-sixties-was-sacrificed-2/

• Preparation of 10,000 land deeds finalized for “Urumaya” program’s initial stage

– https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96867

• Government doesn’t possess buffer stock of rice or paddy now – Minister of Agriculture

– https://island.lk/government-does-not-posses-a-buffer-stock-of-rice-or-paddy-at-the-moment-minister-of-agriculture/

• Cabinet approves paddy purchase program for 2023/24 Maha season

– https://island.lk/cabinet-approves-paddy-purchase-program-for-2023-24-maha-season/

• Pledge loans for Sri Lanka’s SME paddy businesses at concessional interest

– https://economynext.com/pledge-loans-for-sri-lankas-sme-paddy-businesses-at-concessional-interest-149559/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Concessionary-pledge-loan-scheme-to-disburse-Rs-9-b-for-SME-paddy-industry/44-758114

• Sri Lanka expects rice harvest of 2.61mn tonnes in main season

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-expects-rice-harvest-of-2-61mn-tonnes-in-main-season-149270/

• No plan for agricultural stability; farmers will lose out: SJB

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-not-representing-needs-of-people-claims-SJB/44-758007

• Sri Lanka launches fortified rice lunch programme to address malnutrition

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-launches-fortified-rice-lunch-programme-to-address-malnutrition-149747/

• UN FAO conference kicks off in Colombo to guide reforms of agrifood systems in Asia-Pacific

– https://www.ft.lk/business/High-level-UN-FAO-conference-kicks-off-in-Colombo-to-guide-recovery-reforms-of-agrifood-systems-in-Asia-Pacific/34-758018

– https://economynext.com/un-faos-two-part-37th-regional-conference-commences-in-sri-lanka-149513/

• Milco employees file petition against privatisation

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Milco-employees-file-petition-against-privatisation/44-757884

• Sri Lanka food prices increase 33.72 pct y-o-y in December: Advocata

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-food-prices-increase-33-72-pct-y-o-y-in-december-advocata-149316/

• Gazette issued making it mandatory to display weight and price of bread

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/02/02/gazette-issued-making-it-mandatory-to-display-weight-and-price-of-bread

– https://island.lk/of-that-paan/

• Uber’s 2023 Cravings Report: Sri Lankans like to keep it spicy

– https://island.lk/ubers-2023-cravings-report-sri-lankans-like-to-keep-it-spicy/

• Lohan Ratwatte appointed Minister of Plantation, Mahaweli

– https://economynext.com/lohan-ratwatte-appointed-minister-of-plantation-mahaweli-148938/

• Sashindra R as State Minister of Water Resources Management

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Sashindra-as-State-Minister-of-Water-Resources-Management/2-1144874

– https://economynext.com/shasheendra-rajapaksa-sri-lankas-new-state-min-for-irrigation-and-water-resources-149337/

• Rainwater harvesting: Better alternative to seawater desalination for Jaffna Peninsula

– https://island.lk/rainwater-harvesting-better-alternative-to-seawater-desalination-for-jaffna-peninsula/

• Auditor General unearths irregularities in Milco after takeover by India’s Amul Dairy Co.

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/auditor-general-unearths-irregularities-in-milco-pvt-ltd-546189.html

• Harin A. de Silva Wijeyeratne joins CTC Board

‘DFCC Bank & Trans Asia Hotels PLC Director, MAS Holdings Audit Committee Chairman & Gamini Corea Trust Director, Trustee SLINTEC Endowment Trust Fund and Avastha Financial’

–  https://www.ft.lk/business/Harin-joins-CTC-Board/34-758053

• Import of 102 container loads of rotten fish: Role played by Customs, etc., raised at COPE

– https://island.lk/import-of-102-container-loads-of-rotten-fish-role-played-by-customs-etc-raised-at-cope/

• Navigating challenges of escalating vegetable prices in Sri Lanka:

– https://island.lk/navigating-challenges-of-escalating-vegetable-prices-in-sri-lanka/

• Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation Rs. 195million profit – Minister of State for Indigenous Medicine

– https://island.lk/sri-lanka-ayurvedic-drugs-corporation-records-rs-195-million-profit-minister-of-state-for-indigenous-medicine/

• Govt. kicks off program to cultivate 1 m indigenous herbs across GN Divisions

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-kicks-off-program-to-cultivate-1-m-indigenous-herbs-across-GN-Divisions/44-758112

• Abundant carrot harvest expected in Nuwara Eliya

– https://island.lk/abundant-carrot-harvest-expected-in-nuwara-eliya/

• Ceylex Engineering with Israeli technology invests in agriculture to beat food security

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/ceylex-engineering-invests-in-agriculture-to-beat-food-security-546192.html

• USAID–funded initiative prevents 4,600 MT of plastic from entering Sri Lanka ocean

– https://economynext.com/us-funded-initiative-prevents-4600-mt-of-plastic-from-entering-sri-lanka-ocean-149319/

• Tea Planter Turned Naturalist

– https://island.lk/tea-planter-turned-naturalist/

• Urban wetlands and the built environment: how Colombo’s green spaces enhance city life

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/urban-wetlands-and-the-built-environment-how-colombos-green-spaces-enhance-city-life/

• First-ever international wetland festival today and tomorrow

– https://island.lk/first-ever-international-wetland-festival-today-and-tomorrow/

• Wetlands: Nature’s Sponges, Vital For Our Well-Being

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Wetlands-Natures-Sponges-Vital-For-Our-Well-Being/172-276077

• The lungs of the city

‘The unfortunate identification of forests as lungs needs to be rectified. Forests are not lungs in any sense of that word.’

– https://island.lk/the-lungs-of-the-city/

• Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Continues Without Repair or Justice

– https://blackagendareport.com/flint-michigan-water-crisis-continues-without-repair-or-justice

*

______________________________________________________________

D7. Industry (False definitions, anti-industrial sermons, rentier/entrepreneur, etc)

ee Industry notes the ignorance about industrialization (versus handicraft and manufacture), the dependence on importing foreign machinery, the need to make machines that make machines, build a producer culture. False definitions of industry, entrepreneur, etc, abound, and the need for a holistic political, economic and military strategy to overcome domination by merchants and moneylenders.

• India pressures Sri Lanka to withdraw Mobitel lawsuit against merger between Airtel & Dialog

– https://www.ft.lk/top-story/Govt-answers-Dialog-Airtel-merger-call-disconnecting-SLT-Mobitel/26-757886

• SLT announces second leadership transition in seven months

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/SLT-announces-second-leadership-transition-in-seven-months/273-276181

• Sri Lanka Telecom, chairman, directors resign over lawsuit

‘President asked Mihular to withdraw a case filed by Mobitel, against a merger of Airtel and Dialog,’

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-telecom-chairman-directors-resign-149223/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Six-Govt-directors-including-Chairman-resign-from-SLT-Board/44-757976z

• Govt. members in SLT Board hadn’t briefed President: Officials

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-members-in-SLT-Board-hadn-t-briefed-President-Officials/44-757925

• SLT announces appointment of new Chairman

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/SLT-announces-appointment-of-new-Chairman/44-758041

• Govt. shortlists Jio and Chinese fund for SLT; Aliraja’s Lyca out

‘The International Finance Corporation (IFC) acts as the Transaction Advisor for the sale’

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-shortlists-Jio-and-Chinese-fund-for-SLT-Lyca-out/44-758004

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Ambanis-Jio-Platforms-and-Chinas-Gotune-Intl-prequalified-to-bid-for-SLT-Aliraja-out/2-1144884

• Sri Lanka hopes to issue first divestment RFP within a week

‘Lanka Hospitals, Hotel Developers and Canwill Holdings RFP issuance process is in advanced stages’

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-hopes-to-issue-first-divestment-rfp-within-a-week-148879/

• Fuel prices revised

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Fuel-prices-revised-from-midnight/2-1144883

• Sri Lanka’s CPC hikes standard petrol, diesel, Sinopec Rs3 lower

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-cpc-hikes-standard-petrol-diesel-sinopec-rs3-lower-149422/

• Sri Lanka resumes talks with India’s Petronet LNG to supply fuel

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-resumes-talks-with-indias-petronet-lng-to-supply-fuel-149584/

• Government didn’t try to consolidate foreign exchange reserves & imports continued merrily

– https://island.lk/the-convertible-craze-of-the-1950s/

• USAID, CCC with SLEDB equip officers to boost regional SME exports

– https://island.lk/usaid-ccc-with-sledb-equip-officers-to-boost-regional-sme-exports/

– https://www.ft.lk/business/USAID-CCC-with-SLEDB-equip-officers-to-boost-regional-SME-exports/34-757916

• Minutes missing from files taken into custody from Rambukwella

– https://island.lk/minutes-missing-from-files-taken-into-custody-from-rambukwella/

• Fresh drug scandal: Both NMRA and company concerned complain to CID

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/fresh-drug-scandal-both-nmra-and-company-concerned-complain-to-cid-546800.html

• Procurement of fake immunoglobulin: Court impounds Keheliya’s passport, orders him to CID

– https://island.lk/procurement-of-fake-human-immunoglobulin-court-impounds-keheliyas-passport-orders-him-to-report-to-cid/

• Minister of Environment Keheliya arrested by CID over immunoglobulin scandal

– https://island.lk/keheliya-rambukwella-produced-before-maligakanda-magistrates-court/

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/02/02/breaking-keheliya-arrested-by-cid-over-immunoglobulin-scandal

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/02/03/keheliya-to-be-produced-before-court-on-saturday-03

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Immunoglobulin-Scam-Keheliya-arrested/44-758116

s– https://island.lk/keheliya-arrested/

– https://island.lk/former-health-minister-keheliya-rambukwella-arrested-by-cid/

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/Keheliya-Rambukwella-remanded-until-February-15/155-276281

• Keheliya Rambukwella admitted to prison hospital

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/Keheliya-Rambukwella-admitted-to-prison-hospital/155-276290

• Fraud, corruption rampant at SPC : GMOF

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Fraud-corruption-rampant-at-SPC-GMOF/108-276243

• Rotary Clubs of Japan’s Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU) project at National Hospital

‘250,000 in-patients and 2 million outpatients annually. The current 8-bed ETU, spanning a mere 400 square feet, struggles to provide emergency care to approximately 100 critically ill patients daily.’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/sunday-times-2/rotary-clubs-of-japan-and-sri-lanka-join-for-etu-project-at-national-hospital-546657.html

– https://island.lk/rotary-donates-critical-care-equipment-to-etu/

• One turbine of Uma Oya hydro project connected to national grid – Kanchana

– https://island.lk/one-turbine-of-uma-oya-hydro-project-connected-to-national-grid-kanchana/

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-uma-oya-hydro-plant-first-60mw-phase-in-operation-148887/

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-120mw-uma-oya-hydro-plant-to-start-on-feb-15-148877/

• Sri Lanka’s ACE Embilipitiya, ACE Matara power contracts to expire in Feb 24

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-ace-embilipitiya-ace-matara-power-contracts-to-expire-in-feb-24-148759/

• Adani Power’s Q3 FY24 financials driven by ‘improved power demand’

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Adani-Power-achieves-higher-standards-of-excellence-in-3Q-FY24/34-757965

– https://island.lk/adani-powers-q3-fy24-financials-driven-by-improved-power-demand/

• Indian envoy hopes for timely progress in Adani’s wind power deal 

– https://economynext.com/indian-envoy-hopes-for-timely-progress-in-adanis-wind-power-deal-149664/

• Sri Lanka eyes 3,007MW of floating solar power

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-eyes-3007mw-of-floating-solar-power-148831/

• Sri Lanka electricity provider to introduce payment plans

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-electricity-provider-to-introduce-payment-plans-149349/

• Corruption and red tape keep out substantial foreign investment into mining industry

‘tho Sri Lanka has several world-class deposits, the country has only got a few mining investments’

– https://island.lk/corruption-and-red-tape-keep-out-substantial-foreign-investment-into-mining-industry/

• Cabinet nod to export granite excavated from the Hambanthota Magampura port

– https://island.lk/cabinet-nod-to-export-granite-excavated-from-the-hambanthota-magampura-port/

• Litro contributes Rs. 3 billion to Treasury; growth trajectory expected to continue in 23/24

– https://island.lk/litro-contributes-rs-3-billion-to-treasury-growth-trajectory-expected-to-continue-in-23-24/

• Litro won’t revise prices

– https://island.lk/litro-wont-revise-prices/

• Indo-Lanka virtual LNG pipeline could bring down electricity costs: New Indian HC

‘a power grid connectivity project to enable Sri Lanka to export power to India and a joint initiative to develop Trincomalee as an economic hub’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/indo-lanka-virtual-lng-pipeline-could-bring-down-electricity-costs-new-indian-hc-546776.html

• Land acquisition begins for Adani wind power project; hi-tech system to protect birdlife

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/land-acquisition-begins-for-adani-wind-power-project-hi-tech-system-to-protect-birdlife-546772.html

• Cabinet gives green light to establish a wind power station on Mannar island

– https://island.lk/cabinet-gives-green-light-to-establish-a-wind-power-station-on-mannar-island/

• Sri Lanka to seek private investor for Mannar Island wind plant

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-seek-private-investor-for-mannar-island-wind-plant-149123/

• State Minister for Technology meets Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA)

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Sri-Lanka-gears-up-for-digital-transformation-with-knowledge-exchange-from-Australia/44-757931

• Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) cites irregularities at Lanka Customs in recent times

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/customs-to-collect-rs1-5-trillion-this-year-546180.html

• Cabinet approves establishment of Investment Infrastructure Facilities Corporation

‘centralising the responsibility for roads, electricity, and water within the new statutory body,’

– https://island.lk/cabinet-approves-establishment-of-investment-infrastructure-facilities-corporation/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-to-establish-Investment-Infrastructure-Facilities-Corporation/44-757977

• Special Commission will be established to expedite development of Galle – President

– https://island.lk/special-commission-will-be-established-to-expedite-development-of-galle-president/

• Thieves who stole 3000 tonnes of iron from KKS cement factory not arrested

– https://island.lk/thieves-who-stole-3000-tonnes-of-iron-from-kks-cement-factory-not-arrested/

• Downside outlook for construction in next three months

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Downside-outlook-for-construction-in-next-three-months/44-758115

• Dubai-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group’s AMW Epic Tyres

– https://island.lk/amw-epic-tyres-unveils-strategic-distributor-agreement/

• Dark highways: Motorists slam RDA; authorities blame drug addicts

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/dark-highways-motorists-slam-rda-authorities-blame-drug-addicts-546749.html

• Caltex Havoline embarks on a strategic partnership with Mahela Jayawardena

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/features/Caltex-Havoline-achieves-10-000km-extended-drain-interval-in-Sri-Lanka-from-single-oil-drain/185-276163

• Colombo Port gets first batch of Gantry cranes from China for East Container Terminal

– https://island.lk/colombo-port-takes-delivery-of-first-batch-of-gantry-cranes-for-its-east-container-terminal/

• Colombo Plan receives US$15Mn for three-year project meant to improve SLPA

– https://island.lk/colombo-plan-receives-us-funding-for-three-year-project-meant-to-improve-slpa/

– https://island.lk/usd-15-mn-boost-for-port-sector/

• Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port builds expertise to be key hub backed by US

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-colombo-port-builds-expertise-to-be-key-hub-backed-by-us-149687/

• US backs expansion of Sri Lanka’s ports sector

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/US-backs-expansion-of-Sri-Lanka-s-ports-sector/44-758042

• Red Sea crisis boosts Colombo port business to record high

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Red-Sea-crisis-boosts-Colombo-port-business-to-record-high/44-757885

• Sri Lanka’s China-run Hambantota Port sees higher oil and gas ship calls

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-china-run-hambantota-port-sees-higher-oil-and-gas-ship-calls-149290/

• Hambantota Port goes from strength to strength despite world turmoil

– https://island.lk/hambantota-port-goes-from-strength-to-strength-despite-world-turmoil/

• Sri Lanka mulls exporting Hambantota port rocks

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-mulls-exporting-hambantota-port-rocks-149141/

• Sri Lanka explores granite export amidst low domestic demand

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Sri-Lanka-explores-granite-export-amidst-low-domestic-demand/44-757975

• Colombo Port sees surge in ship arrivals due to Red Sea crisis

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/colombo-port-sees-surge-in-ship-arrivals-due-to-red-sea-crisis/

• Minister Silva urges enhanced efficiency in Colombo Port operations amidst surge in ship arrivals due to Red Sea crisis

– https://island.lk/minister-silva-urges-enhanced-efficiency-in-colombo-port-operations-amidst-surge-in-ship-arrivals-due-to-red-sea-crisis/

• Indian firm to manage Sri Lanka’s three key airports: Minister

– https://economynext.com/indian-firm-to-manage-sri-lankas-three-key-airports-minister-149364/

• Sri Lanka to call investors for Jaffna airport PPP

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-call-investors-for-jaffna-airport-ppp-149759/

• SriLankan Airlines flying through Turbulence – CEO Richard Nuttall

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/SriLankan-Airlines-flying-through-Turbulence-CEO-Richard-Nuttall/231-276172

• Air ambulance service between Maldives-Sri Lanka to begin on March 01

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/air-ambulance-service-between-maldives-sri-lanka-to-begin-on-march-01/

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Air-ambulance-service-between-Maldives-and-Sri-Lanka-from-March/44-757974

• Garments exports revenue fell to US$4.5 million in 2023 from $5.6 million in 2022.

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/business-times/challenging-times-for-garments-546198.html

• Teejay records positive Q3 despite market challenges

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Teejay-records-positive-Q3-despite-market-challenges/34-758054

• Book industry makes clarion call for VAT exemption

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/book-industry-makes-clarion-call-for-vat-exemption/

– https://www.ft.lk/top-story/Book-industry-makes-clarion-call-for-VAT-exemption/26-758119

• Social Media Influencers: Transforming the fashion industry – Dharshana Jayasinghe

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Social-Media-Influencers-Transforming-the-fashion-industry/4-757950

• St. Anthony’s Hardware’ Imports Cutting-edge European technology: Hydromax water pump

– https://island.lk/st-anthonys-hardware-launches-hydromax-high-quality-water-pumps/

• Dr Roland Silva Memorial Lecture on Thrones and Crowns of Sinhale Royalty

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/plus/dr-roland-silva-memorial-lecture-on-thrones-and-crowns-of-sinhale-royalty-546218.html

• The Military-Industrial Mafia

– indi.ca

• India PM Modi says won’t be long before Boeing makes aircraft in India

‘Boeing has an alliance with India’s Tata Group to produce AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and 737 aircraft vertical fin structures.’

– https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/india-pm-modi-says-wont-be-long-before-boeing-makes-aircraft-india-2024-01-19/

• Promoting High-Quality Development Throughout the Process of New Industrialization

‘Industrialization is the fundamental prerequisite, the driving force, and the core essence of modernization.’

– http://en.qstheory.cn/2024-01/05/c_953153.htm

• The Chinese government and private sector have bet big on battery production

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/sunday-times-2/are-electric-cars-a-dead-end-546672.html

• The US just imported its smallest share of Chinese goods in 17 years — and the big winners are Mexico and Vietnam

– https://www.businessinsider.com/us-trade-imports-july-china-mexico-vietnam-census-supply-chain-2023-9

• Citing audit, Boeing quality inspectors question job cuts (2019)

– https://www.heraldnet.com/business/citing-audit-boeing-quality-inspectors-question-job-cuts/

• Culture key to latest Boeing MAX crisis: Aviation Week suppliers

‘While the executive culture may be thoroughly compromised since we were bought by McDonnell Douglas, there are many other people who still push for a quality product with cutting edge design.’

– https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/24/culture-key-to-latest-boeing-max-crisis-panelists/

*

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D8. Finance (Making money from money, banks, lack of investment in modernity)

ee Finance tracks the effects of financialization, the curious role of ratings agencies, false indices, etc., and the rule of moneylenders, preventing investment in modern production.

• Microfinance and Credit Regulatory Authority Bill: TISL files petition in SC

– https://island.lk/microfinance-and-credit-regulatory-authority-bill-tisl-files-petition-in-sc/

• Institute of National Credit Insurance to commence operations with ADB Loan

– https://island.lk/institute-of-national-credit-insurance-to-commence-operations/

• Asia Capital Gets New MD

‘Malaysia’s Vijayeswaran S Vijayaratnam controls over 80% stake in Asia Capital’

– https://island.lk/asia-capital-gets-new-md

• NDB Bank new CEO Kelum Edirisinghe from HSBC

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/NDB-Bank-new-CEO-Kelum-Edirisinghe-assumes-office-today/44-758002

• HNB Finance appoints Anura Pathirage to board of directors

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/HNB-FINANCE-appoints-Anura-Pathirage-to-board-of-directors/273-276242

• Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank eyes 20bn debenture sale

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-commercial-bank-eyes-20bn-debenture-sale-149306/

• Sri Lanka’s Regnis and Singer Industries shares cease trading

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-regnis-and-singer-industries-shares-cease-trading-148764/

• Actress, teacher arrested for five-billion-rupee pyramid scheme fraud

– https://island.lk/actress-teacher-arrested-for-five-billion-rupee-pyramid-scheme-fraud/

• Thieves enter leasing Company and remove Rs 7.1 million

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Thieves-enter-leasing-Company-and-remove-Rs-7-1-million/2-1144881

• CFA Society Sri Lanka commends new corporate governance structure for listed entities

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/CFA-Society-Sri-Lanka-commends-new-corporate-governance-structure-for-listed-entities/44-757923

• Room to Read and Colombo Stock Exchange ring the bell on behalf of Education

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/room-to-read-and-colombo-stock-exchange-ring-the-bell-on-behalf-of-education/

• Debt restructuring issues continue to hamper share trading (J29)

– https://island.lk/debt-restructuring-issues-continue-to-hamper-share-trading/

• Sri Lanka rupee closes at 317.75/90 to the US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-closes-at-317-75-90-to-the-us-dollar-149018/

• Sri Lanka stocks close down, Dialog sees some interest

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-close-down-dialog-sees-some-interest-148982/

• Sri Lanka rupee opens at 317.50/70 to the US dollar (J30)

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-opens-at-317-50-70-to-the-us-dollar-149077/

• Buying interest notable in blue chip counters; CSE turnover hits Rs. 1 billion

– https://island.lk/buying-interest-notable-in-blue-chip-counters-cse-turnover-hits-rs-1-billion/

• Sri Lanka rupee closes at 316.90/317.05 to the US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-closes-at-316-90-317-05-to-the-us-dollar-149216/

• Sri Lanka rupee opens at 316.80/90 to the US dollar (J31)

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-opens-at-316-80-90-to-the-us-dollar-149282/

• Dismal first month for CSE

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Dismal-first-month-for-CSE/44-758005

• Sri Lanka stocks close up, selling pressure in banks continues

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-close-up-selling-pressure-in-banks-continues-149363/

• Sri Lanka rupee appreciates further at 315.50/70 to the US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-appreciates-further-at-315-50-70-to-the-us-dollar-149385/

• Sri Lanka Treasuries yields plunge across maturities

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-treasuries-yields-plunge-across-maturities-149416/

• Dismal first month for CSE

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Dismal-first-month-for-CSE/44-758005

(F01)

• Sri Lanka rupee appreciates to 313.60/314.00 to US dollar after opening

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-appreciates-to-313-60-314-00-to-us-dollar-after-opening-149442/

• Sri Lanka bond yields down

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-bond-yields-down-149486/

• Sri Lanka stocks close up, 1bn turnover

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-close-up-1bn-turnover-149646/

• Sri Lanka rupee closes stronger at 313.25/50 to the US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-closes-stronger-at-313-25-50-to-the-us-dollar-149651

• Bourse begins February with welcome rebound

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Bourse-begins-February-with-welcome-rebound/44-758047

(F02)

• Sri Lanka rupee opens stronger at 311.00/311.50 to US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-opens-stronger-at-311-00-311-50-to-us-dollar-149712/

• Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.5-pct

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-close-up-0-5-pct-149745/

• Sri Lanka rupee closes stronger at 312.75 to the US dollar

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-rupee-closes-stronger-at-312-75-to-the-us-dollar-149750/

• CSE sustains new-found optimism to close week on the up

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/CSE-sustains-new-found-optimism-to-close-week-on-the-up/44-758113

• Bargain-hunting peps-up share market; indices move up

– https://island.lk/bargain-hunting-peps-up-share-market-indices-move-up/

• Sharp decline in Treasury Bill rates stimulates bourse; turnover exceeds Rs. 1 billion

– https://island.lk/sharp-decline-in-treasury-bill-rates-stimulates-bourse-turnover-exceeds-rs-1-billion/

• US Bank Fraud Enters a New Era: Bank-to-Bank Wire Transfers Loot Customers

– https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/02/bank-fraud-enters-a-new-era-bank-to-bank-wire-transfers-loot-customers/

• The US Fed Has a Dirty Little Secret: It’s Been Allowing the Wall Street Mega Banks to Calculate their Own Capital Requirements

– https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/01/the-fed-has-a-dirty-little-secret-its-been-allowing-the-wall-street-mega-banks-to-calculate-their-own-capital-requirements/

• JPMorgan Chase has Used the Same Auditor for 58 Years, Despite Giant Frauds at the Bank in the Last Nine Years

– https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/01/jpmorgan-chase-has-used-the-same-auditor-for-58-years-despite-giant-frauds-at-the-bank-in-the-last-nine-years/

• US Fed’s Support of Wealth Stripping the Middle Class

– https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/01/senator-sherrod-brown-takes-on-the-feds-support-of-wealth-stripping-the-middle-class/

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D9. Business (Rentierism: money via imports, real-estate, tourism, insurance, fear, privatization)

ee Business focuses on the rentier diversions of the oligarchy, the domination by a merchant mafia, making money from unproductive land sales, tourism, insurance, advertising, etc. – the charade of corporate press releases disguised as ‘news’

• Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation embarks on Legal Segregation

– https://island.lk/slic-embarks-on-a-new-era-legal-segregation-marks-a-historic-milestone/

• Sri Lanka insurers to be hit by directive to remit all riot, terrorism income to state re-insurer

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-insurers-to-be-hit-by-directive-to-remit-all-riot-terrorism-income-to-state-re-insurer-149368/

• Sri Lanka Insurance Brokers Association (SLIBA) held its 36th Annual General Meeting

– https://island.lk/sliba-holds-36th-agm-marks-milestone-in-advancing-professionalism/

• USAISri Lanka Insurance Brokers Association (SLIBA) recently held its 36th Annual General Meeting  and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA)’s Sustainable Niche Tourism Learning Expo in Pasikudah

‘USAID launched tourism activity under the Indo Pacific Opportunity Project (IPOP ) in July 2022’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/sunday-times-2/small-businesses-tourism-stakeholders-attend-learning-expo-in-pasikudah-546660.html

• Sri Lanka Port City duty free shopping complex in legal quagmire

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-port-city-duty-free-shopping-complex-in-legal-quagmire-149438/

• Taking Alternative Dispute Resolution Forward in Sri Lanka

– https://island.lk/taking-adr-forward-in-sri-lanka/

• Sri Lanka, Singapore officials discuss trade cooperation, supermarkets

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-singapore-officials-discuss-trade-cooperation-supermarkets-149342/

• Historic Agreements strengthen ties between Sri Lanka and Thailand

– https://island.lk/historic-agreements-strengthen-ties-between-sri-lanka-and-thailand/

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/FTA-signed-between-Thailand-and-Sri-Lanka/108-276286

• Sri Lanka trade minister seeks to increase South Korea FDI, exports

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-trade-minister-seeks-to-increase-south-korea-fdi-exports-149644/

• Foreign Minister Sabry meets Belgium entrepreneurs connected to Sri Lanka

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Foreign-Minister-Sabry-meets-Belgium-entrepreneurs-connectedto-Sri-sLanka/34-758097

• Dubai’s Galadari (SL) to sign agreements with Mashreq Bank, UAE

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-galadari-to-sign-agreements-with-mashreq-bank-uae-149567/

• Sri Lanka defence sector to join tourism initiatives

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-defence-sector-to-join-tourism-initiatives-148870/

• Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar turns brand ambassador for tourism in Sri Lanka

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Dr-Jaishankar-turns-brand-ambassador-for-tourism-in-Sri-Lanka/44-758006

• Pekoe Trail, Sri Lanka makes National Geographic’s coveted ‘Best of the World’ List for 2024

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/The-Pekoe-Trail-Sri-Lanka-makes-National-Geographic-s-coveted-Best-of-the-World-List-for-2024/44-758001

• Dudley’s latest $ 8.9 m tourism venture receives BOI approval

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Dudley-s-latest-8-9-m-tourism-venture-receives-BOI-approval/34-758012

• JKH posts stellar 3Q performance

– https://www.ft.lk/top-story/JKH-posts-stellar-3Q-performance/26-757999

• Japan’s Expolanka Holdings navigates challenging macroeconomic conditions

– https://island.lk/expolanka-holdings-demonstrates-resilience-in-q3-fy24-navigates-challenging-macroeconomic-conditions/

– https://island.lk/expolanka-holdings-demonstrates-resilience-in-q1-fy24-2/

• Singapore High Commissioner visits BOI

– https://www.ft.lk/business/Singapore-High-Commissioner-visits-BOI/34-758011

• Compass for Global Compact Network Sri Lanka

– https://island.lk/compass-for-more-human-business/

• Sri Lanka Cricket’s ICC suspension lifted with immediate effect

– https://island.lk/sri-lanka-crickets-icc-suspension-lifted-with-immediate-effect/

• Failure to recover swindled TV rights fees irks cricket clubs

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/expose/Failure-to-recover-swindled-TV-rights-fees-irks-cricket-clubs/333-276018

• Controversy surrounds Semasinghe’s hotel under construction in Nuwara Wewa reserve

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/expose/Controversy-surrounds-Semasinghes-hotel-under-construction-in-Nuwara-Wewa-reserve/333-276075

• Crisis-hit Sri Lankan hotelier buys restaurant next to Australia’s Gabba Stadium

– https://island.lk/crisis-hit-sri-lankan-hotelier-buys-restaurant-next-to-australias-gabba-stadium/

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D10. Politics (Anti-parliament discourse, unelected constitution)

ee Politics points to the constant diversions and spectacles and the mercantile and financial forces funding the political actors, of policy hijacked by private interests minus public oversight.

• The Strange Tale of the NPP (Malimawa) & JVP (Seenuwa): Vulgar Representation Of Marxist United Front Politics – Thoradeniya

‘When the NPP men and women come to the streets after the election, US and Indian forces will land here to bring normalcy” and install a puppet government’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/the-strange-tale-of-npp-malimawa-and-jvp-seenuwa-vulgar-representation-of-marxist-united-front-politics/

• Sri Lanka’s NPP on 39% of all adults, ahead of SJB, SLPP in December: US poll

– https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-npp-on-39-pct-of-all-adults-ahead-of-sjb-slpp-in-december-poll-148978/

– https://www.ft.lk/news/NPP-JVP-on-39-of-all-adults-ahead-of-SJB-SLPP/56-757833

• Sri Lanka former presidents CBK, Sirisena to back incumbent, claims AKD

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-former-presidents-cbk-sirisena-to-back-incumbent-claims-akd-149008/

• Uyangoda, others promote Parliament of 200 members and Senate of 50

– https://island.lk/uyangoda-others-promote-parliament-of-200-members-and-senate-of-50/

• 76 Years of Independence – Looking Back in Retrospect – Daily Mirror Editorial

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/76-Years-of-Independence-Looking-Back-in-Retrospect-EDITORIAL/172-276017

• GL reiterates CC not part of Executive

– https://island.lk/gl-reiterates-cc-not-part-of-executive/

• Constitutional Wrangling & the Presidential Elections – Nalin de Silva

– http://www1.kalaya.org/2024/02/blog-post_2.html

• Performance of the Constitutional Duties of the President and the Constitutional Council

– https://island.lk/performance-of-the-constitutional-duties-of-the-president-and-the-constitutional-council/

• CBK back in the fray to lead SLFP-led People’s Alliance

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/CBK-back-in-the-fray-to-lead-SLFP-LED-Peoples-Alliance/108-276270

• Identity issues intensify as polls fever grips South Asia

– https://island.lk/identity-issues-intensify-as-polls-fever-grips-south-asia/

• SLPP demands resolution of issues

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/SLPP-demands-resolution-of-issues/108-276271

• Let us know candidates and policies

– https://island.lk/let-us-know-candidates-and-policies/

– https://island.lk/its-franchise-stupid/

• USAID delegation assesses progress of projects involving Parliament

‘USAID Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Governance delegation led by Shannon Green, Assistant to the Administrator of the USAID Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Governance.’

– https://island.lk/us-delegation-assesses-progress-of-projects-involving-parliament/

• Sri Lanka political parties do ad-hoc nominations to fill 25 pct female quota

– https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-political-parties-do-ad-hoc-nominations-to-fill-25-pct-female-quota-149320/

• Dasa Bala Sena was Nishantha’s final contribution to SLPP

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/dasa-bala-sena-was-nishanthas-final-contribution-to-slpp-546781.html

• Sanath’s death leaves Rajapaksas bereft of their stoutest lieutenant

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/sanaths-death-leaves-rajapaksas-bereft-of-their-stoutest-lieutenant-546645.html

• “Thugs, death and decency” in a society with a feudal mindset – Kusal Perera

‘Their purpose of using the vote was always extremely selfish. Either to find employment, a promotion in service or for a foreign liquor or sand mining permit, a building construction contract, appointment to a director board or chairmanship in a state corporation or a diplomatic posting.’

– https://www.ft.lk/columns/Thugs-death-and-decency-in-a-society-with-a-feudal-mindset/4-757943

• Sanath Nishantha and the Cheapness of Politics in Our Times

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Sanath-Nishantha-and-the-Cheapness-of-Politics-in-Our-Times/172-276016

• Sirisena floats broader coalition under UPFA umbrella

– https://island.lk/sirisena-floats-broader-coalition-under-upfa-umbrella/

• Will defy all laws and begin another Aragalaya tomorrow: SJB

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/29/will-defy-all-laws-and-begin-another-aragalaya-tomorrow-sjb/

• Hyde Park, Panchikawatte are Starting Points for SJB’s Big Colombo Protest

– https://english.newsfirst.lk/2024/01/30/hyde-park-panchikawatte-are-starting-points-for-sjb-s-big-colombo-protest

• SJB vows to defy Govt. blockades to hold massive demonstration in Colombo today

– https://www.ft.lk/front-page/SJB-vows-to-defy-Govt-blockades-to-hold-massive-demonstration-in-Colombo-today/44-757920

• Water cannons, tear gas fired to disperse SJB protestors

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/water-cannons-tear-gas-fired-to-disperse-sjb-protestors/

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/01/30/police-fire-tear-gas-at-sjbs-protest-march/

• Mujibur hospitalised due to police attack demands Parliament intervention

– https://island.lk/mujibur-hospitalised-due-to-police-attack-demands-parliament-intervention/

• Sajith Premadasa accuses Govt. of cowardice amidst crackdown on SJB protest

– https://www.ft.lk/news/Sajith-Premadasa-accuses-Govt-of-cowardice-amidst-crackdown-on-SJB-protest/56-757968

• SJB Protest Turns Out A Damp Squib

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/SJB-Protest-Turns-Out-A-Damp-Squib/172-276236

• ‘New Alliance’ formed to work for upcoming polls

‘Ministers Susil Premajayantha and Nalin Fernando, along with parliamentarians Nimal Lanza and Anura Priyadharshana Yapa.’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/news/new-political-front-formed-to-work-for-upcoming-polls-546802.html

• Stale toddy in new pots

– https://island.lk/stale-toddy-in-new-pots/

• Govt. bringing in new laws to suppress democratic dissent – SJB

– https://island.lk/govt-bringing-in-new-laws-to-suppress-democratic-dissent-sjb/

• Gen. Daya Ratnayake pledges support for SJB

– https://island.lk/gen-ratnayake-pledges-support-for-sjb/

• “Now you can take Gotabaya too”, Fonseka slams Sajith

– https://www.newswire.lk/2024/01/31/now-you-can-take-gotabaya-too-fonseka-slams-sajith/

– https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/Former-Army-Commanders-entry-to-SJB-sparks-fresh-dispute/2-1144880

• Bribing voters

– https://island.lk/bribing-voters/

• Supreme Court allows petition against removal by President Sirisena of Ranil as PM in 2018

– https://island.lk/kings-the-prince-and-justitia/

• Prez warned of consequences of attacks on SJB

– https://island.lk/prez-warned-of-consequences-of-attacks-on-sjb/

• Black Politics and Pennsylvania in the 2024 Election Cycle – Parts 1&2

– https://blackagendareport.com/black-politics-and-pennsylvania-2024-election-cycle-part-1

– https://blackagendareport.com/black-politics-and-pennsylvania-2024-election-cycle-part-2

• Scapegoating Politics: How Fascism Deploys Race, and How Antiracism Takes the Bait

– https://socialistproject.ca/2024/01/scapegoating-politics/

• Dialectics – Hegel, 1812

– https://redsails.org/dialectics/

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D11. Media (Mis/Coverage of economics, technology, science and art)

ee Media shows how corporate media monopoly determines what is news, art, culture, etc. The media is part of the public relations (corporate propaganda) industry. The failure to highlight our priorities, the need to read between the lines. To set new perspectives and priorities.

• HLD Mahindapala no more

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/hld-mahindapala-no-more/

– https://island.lk/mahindapalas-funeral-on-friday/

• Remembering Upali Wijewardene, Founder of Upali Group of Companies

– https://island.lk/remembering-upali-wijewardene-founder-of-upali-group-of-companies/

• India rules cricket today – Nalin de Silva

– http://www1.kalaya.org/2024/02/blog-post.html

• Malwatte prelate welcomes Online Bill to check abuses by social media

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/malwathu-mahanayake-thero-comments-on-new-social-media-laws/

– https://island.lk/malwatte-prelate-welcomes-online-bill-to-check-abuses-by-social-media/

• Online Safety Law: Russian Ambassador says external interference unacceptable”.’

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/dasa-bala-sena-was-nishanthas-final-contribution-to-slpp-546781.html

• Court orders damages in historic ruling over defamatory SM post

– https://www.ft.lk/news/Court-orders-damages-in-historic-ruling-over-defamatory-SM-post/56-757966

• USAID CPA critique of On Line Safety Bill

– https://island.lk/cpa-critique-of-on-line-safety-bill/

• New amendments did not comply with Supreme Court’s determination on new online bill

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/dasa-bala-sena-was-nishanthas-final-contribution-to-slpp-546781.html

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/online-safety-bill-hacked-opposition-says-committee-stage-amendments-contravene-sc-recommendations-546734.html

– https://island.lk/ruckus-in-parliament-over-online-safety-bill/

• Controversial and frightening provisions in Online Safety Law

– https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240128/columns/new-itak-leader-shritharan-to-push-for-federal-state-546764.html

• Online bill sends negative signal on Sri Lanka reforms and recovery: US envoy

– https://economynext.com/online-bill-sends-negative-signal-on-sri-lanka-reforms-and-recovery-us-envoy-149376/

• Withdraw Online Safety Act: Chandrika urges government

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Withdraw-Online-Safety-Act-Chandrika-urges-government/108-276284

• Speaker endorses Sri Lanka online safety bill

– https://economynext.com/speaker-endorses-sri-lanka-online-safety-bill-149505/

• Online Safety Act, No. 9 of 2024 gazetted

– https://island.lk/online-safety-act-no-9-of-2024-gazetted/

• March 12 Movement slams Online Safety law

– https://island.lk/march-12-movement-slams-online-safety-law/

• Parliament Secretary General says SC recommendations included in OSB

– https://island.lk/parliament-secretary-general-says-sc-recommendations-included-in-osb/

• Google Doodle celebrates Sri Lanka’s Independence Day 2024

– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Google-Doodle-celebrates-Sri-Lankas-Independence-Day-2024/108-276293

• Remarkable improvement in media scrutiny; future corruptors beware

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/remarkable-improvement-in-media-scrutiny-future-corruptors-beware/

• Pathfinder Foundation publishes another culturally significant book

– https://island.lk/pathfinder-foundation-publishes-another-culturally-significant-book/

• Revival of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre

– https://island.lk/revival-of-the-mahatma-gandhi-centre/

• Young Journalist of the Year off on Indian scholarship

– https://island.lk/young-journalist-of-the-year-off-on-indian-scholarship/

• HSBC Ceylon Literary & Art Festival

‘Mastercard, British Council, Galle Face Hotel, Hotel Suisse Kandy, Dilmah Ceylon, Innovate Books, Goethe Institut, Wijeya Newspapers, Emerging Media, Curado, Hardtalk, Sarasavi, Zelus and Acorn’

– https://island.lk/hsbc-ceylon-literary-art-festival-unveils-enriching-childrens-program-and-future-literary-creative-platform/

• The Rise Of Cringe Propaganda

– indi.ca

• GL urges Speaker not to certify Online Safety Bill over its shady passage

– https://island.lk/gl-urges-speaker-not-to-certify-online-safety-bill-over-its-shady-passage/

• R. E. de Alwis was friendly with Wilfrid Woods, Colonial Treasurer & later Financial Secretary

– https://island.lk/r-e-de-alwis-1891-1945-lake-houses-scoop-getter-in-the-dr-wijewardene-era/

• Sir Waitialingam Duraiswamy

‘‘The distinction conferred on Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan was the precursor of his secession from the Ceylon National Congress’

– https://island.lk/sir-waitialingam-duraiswamy/

• Buddhists in Ancient Egypt?

– https://island.lk/buddhists-in-ancient-egypt/

• HSBC Ceylon Literary & Arts Festival (CLF)

– https://island.lk/44-authors-23-sessions-across-2-cities-the-1st-edition-of-hsbc-ceylon-literary-arts-festival/

• Five of Lenin’s insights that are more pertinent than ever

– https://mronline.org/2024/01/29/five-of-lenins-insights-that-are-more-pertinent-than-ever/?

• A monument to Lenin: Sourcing a well-known poem by Bertolt Brecht

– https://peoplesworld.org/article/a-monument-to-lenin-sourcing-a-well-known-poem-by-bertolt-brecht/?

• EU imposes sanctions on Russian internet censorship agency

– https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/01/30/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-russian-internet-censorship-agency/

• Israeli Official Wants Sky Host To Be Sacked

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/02/israeli-official-wants-sky-host-to-be-sacked

• The Military Occupation of the US Entertainment Industry: Hollywood, Remote Warfare, Expendable People

‘the worlds of toy-making and war-making, of toy companies, video-game outfits, movie studios, and the Pentagon have meshed”’

– https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/02/01/the-military-occupation-of-the-entertainment-industry-hollywood-remote-warfare-expendable-people/

• Bayard Rustin, A Menace Not a Messiah

‘The recent Obama-produced retelling of the life and work of Bayard Rustin is better judged by what it leaves out – his legacy of counterrevolutionary action designed to defang radical movements.’

– https://blackagendareport.com/bayard-rustin-menace-not-messiah

• The Black Nation interviews Margaret Walker, 1982

– https://blackagendareport.com/interview-black-nation-interviews-margaret-walker-1982

• Former CIA hacker sentenced to 40 years in prison
– https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Former-CIA-hacker-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison/108-276225

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email: econenews@gmail.com

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

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