Crowds storm into the Sri Lankan president’s official residence in Colombo in early July, leading to his resignation.
Whirlwind of Crisis Engulfs South Asia Since this article was written, mass revolt has erupted again in Sri Lanka in response to intolerable social conditions created by the energy, food, and debt crisis and the bankrupt regime’s only response: repression, appeals to the IMF, and more austerity. Hundreds of thousands of people descended onto the capital Colombo on July 9, culminating with the mass storming of the hated President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s palace, forcing the latter to flee. The recently appointed Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is also resigning after his residence was set on fire. The burning question now is the need for working class leadership to point a way out of the crisis by canceling the debt, overturning capitalism, and appealing to the masses of the region for support. Read our ongoing coverage on InternationalSocialist.net.
Serge Jordan
U
p until 2019, South Asia enjoyed the tag of the “fastest growing region in the world.” Neo-liberal institutions praised the region for its strong growth, increased capital inflows, and stable governments. The consecutive global blows of the Covid pandemic and of the war in Ukraine, the intensifying power struggle between the U.S. and China, and the ev-
er-worsening climate crisis are all exposing the hollow foundations underneath this narrative, and dragging the region into a perfect storm of crises. According to the UN, four out of five people in Sri Lanka have started skipping meals because they cannot afford to eat, as the country is in the throes of the worst economic crisis in its post-independence existence. The mountain of debt that had been built up over the previous decade to help the Sri Lankan ruling elite buy political support, weather a widening trade deficit, and track its way out of an expensive war of attrition against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has collapsed like a house of cards. The global shockwaves of the last two years have considerably swollen the country’s import bills, dried out its tourist and remittances revenues, and limited its export outlets. In May, Sri Lanka became the first country in the world to default on its sovereign debt since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Nepal and Pakistan, both facing a crippling debt crisis, a collapsing currency, and depleted foreign reserves, are now teetering on the edge of similar scenarios. In India, the government’s assertion of a “full economic recovery” after the Covid-triggered slump clashes against the reality experienced by hundreds of millions of people. While India’s ultra-rich have handsomely profited off the pandemic —the country’s 100 top billionaires have accumulated $178
