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Sri Lankan SEP holds a public meeting to defend WikiLeaks and Julian Assange

As part of the international campaign launched by the World Socialist Web Site in defence of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE) in Sri Lanka held a public meeting in Colombo on December 21.

The meeting was attended by a cross section of people from different parts of the island, including students, industrial and plantation workers, and professionals. As part of the campaign for the meeting SEP and ISSE members distributed thousands of copies of the WSWS statement “Free Julian Assange! Hands off WikiLeaks!”

Held at the Jayawardene Centre near Colombo Town Hall, the meeting was chaired by SEP political committee member Vilani Peiris and addressed by K. Ratnayake, a member of the WSWS International Editorial Board and ISSE convener Kapila Fernando.

Vilani Peiris opened the meeting by explaining the political significance of the provocations against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, and the recent claims by Democrat and Republicans politicians and the corporate media that Assange was a “terrorist”. She said the American and international ruling classes had repudiated the most basic conceptions of democratic rights.

“The ruling elites turn these conceptions upside down,” Peiris said. “They describe the war crimes, violations of human rights and conspiracies that they have carried out in the interests of a tiny financial oligarchy as ‘democracy’ whilst labelling the exposure of these imperialist intrigues by WikiLeaks as ‘criminal’ and ‘illegal’.”

Peiris said that WikiLeaks had exposed the US government’s hypocritical “concerns” about the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government during of its communal war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in early 2009.

“WikiLeaks has released a secret cable sent from the US embassy in Colombo,” Peiris said, “which confirms that the Obama administration was well aware of the war crimes committed by President Mahinda Rajapakse and his associates during the final stages of the war against the LTTE. The US was complicit in these crimes and helped cover up for those responsible.”

ISSE convenor Kapila Fernando explained that the WikiLeaks exposures were occurring in the midst of the greatest crisis facing world capitalism since 1930s. Governments all around the world, he said, were now in the process of imposing the burdens of that crisis onto the backs of the working class, students and the oppressed.

In country after country, rulers have begun attacking public education and repressing youth who oppose these measures, he said. Students fighting for free education in Sri Lanka and Britain had been confronted and attacked by state authorities using police-military methods.

Fernando explained that there was an essential interrelationship between the defence of WikiLeaks’s freedom of expression and the struggle by students to defend the right to education. Students everywhere, he said, should recognise that the hysterical campaign against WikiLeaks is an attack on fundamental rights. Students all over the world should support the campaign by the WSWS to defend WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

K. Ratnayake

SEP political committee member K. Ratnayake told the meeting that the so-called rape allegations made by two Swedish women against Julian Assange were bogus and formed part of the international campaign to silence WikiLeaks and its founder.

“The only so-called ‘crime’ committed by Julian Assange was to release documents exposing the secret diplomacy and war crimes committed by US governments, including the Obama administration and their allies,” the speaker said.

Ratnayake pointed out that the only precedent for the WikiLeaks revelations was the release of the secret diplomatic agreements between the imperialist powers following the Russian Revolution in October 1917. Leon Trotsky explained at the time: “The Russian people, and the peoples of Europe and the whole world, should learn the documentary truth about the plans forged in secret by the financiers and industrialists together with their parliamentary and diplomatic agents. … The abolition of secret diplomacy is the primary condition for an honest, popular, truly democratic foreign policy. The Soviet Government regards it as its duty to carry out such a policy in practice.”

The speaker pointed to the historic parallels. “Today capitalism is reeling under another breakdown and a new period has opened up. Tensions are deepening between major powers, mainly provoked by the US, while ruthless attacks are being carried out against the democratic rights and living conditions of working people. Washington’s drive to assert its strategic and economic interests is producing increasing conflicts that can only lead to disastrous wars.”

Ratnayake said the cables not only revealed ongoing US provocations against Iran but Washington’s cover-up of systematic torture being carried out by the Indian government in Kashmir. “President Obama—and prior to him, President Bush—know what is going on in Kashmir but has covered it up. This is because the US is trying to court India as a strategic partner against China,” he said.

Ratnayake noted that there had been no comment about the increasing attacks on WikiLeaks from Sri Lanka’s pseudo-radicals, such as the United Socialist Party and the Nava Sama Samaja Party, who often resort to anti-imperialist rhetoric.

The speaker explained that the WikiLeaks provided working people with essential information about how the capitalist diplomacy actually operated. “The US and other imperialist powers are fearful of WikiLeaks’ revelations,” he said, “because it has the potential to strengthen the working class and masses of ordinary people coming into struggle against them.”

Ratnayake emphasised that these struggles could only be advanced through the development of a revolutionary, socialist and internationally unified movement of the working class, and urged the audience to join and build the Socialist Equality Party, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth international.

The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote for a resolution defending of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. The resolution denounced the campaign against Assange as “a political witch-hunt by US imperialism and its allies” and noted that detention of US Army private Bradley Manning on suspicion of being the source of secret material exposing war crimes to WikiLeaks was part of that anti-democratic campaign.

“The repression against WikiLeaks, including the arrest of Assange, is a serious attack on democratic rights. It aims to not just prevent the revelation of crimes carried out by imperialist powers, including US, but to terrorise and silence anyone who dares to expose the secret deals and crimes of those governments.” The resolution concluded by explaining that the development of an international campaign to defend WikiLeaks was “a life and death issue for working class in every country.”

* * *

Several of those in attendance spoke with WSWS reporters after the meeting. Ratnavale, a leading human rights lawyer in Sri Lanka, said: “The speakers have revealed many important things about WikiLeaks and arrest of Assange. The WSWS and the SEP are the only ones that have held this sort of meeting in Sri Lanka, no other organisation or party is interested in bringing the truth of these events to the people. This information is very important.”

A Ports Authority trainee said: “After listening to the speakers I now understand the importance of the meeting. Now I know why the US-led imperialists and the so-called media are afraid of Assange and his web site. WikiLeaks has exposed the real nature of the rulers, their atrocities and conspiracies and through this information we’re able to understand the developing tensions between the countries. The imperialist rulers are bringing us towards a third world war. In my opinion we have to broaden and intensify the campaign to defend WikiLeaks.

Gihan de Chickera, a cartoonist with Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror, said: “I think WikiLeaks has revealed what’s happening at the higher levels of government all over the world. There are things called freedom of speech and freedom of expression which must be practiced and I think people everywhere must enjoy these rights not as a privilege but to have the right to know what is being discussed at the top. Given that the mainstream media has failed in its duties, Assange has provided a very valuable service.

“WikiLeaks is a simple and brilliantly effective concept and so it’s not surprising the way he has been prosecuted. All those who believe in freedom and democracy should fight against the attack on WikiLeaks. You can’t persecute a man for exposing the truth.

“The bottom line is leaders are afraid of the truth. I respect your campaign in this regard and although I am not a member of any political party, I frequently follow WSWS. You can’t make any compromise. It’s very clear that the capitalist system cannot solve the problems of people. When you work only for profit you cannot take decisions on behalf of the people. I think that the capitalist system has come to an end.” (WSWS)

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Sri Lankan government moves to evict more Colombo shanty residents

Socialist Equality Party supporters recently visited many slum areas in Colombo, where the government has intensified its plans to evict more than 70,000 residents in order to clear land for commercial development. With the political assistance of the SEP, residents from some districts have formed the Action Committee to Defend the Right to Housing (ACDRH) to fight the eviction scheme.

During the past few weeks, Urban Development Authority (UDA) officials have notified families that they will have to leave settlements such as Slave Island, Narahenpita, Barnes place, Borella, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Wanathamulla and Maligawatta. Earlier, the UDA made similar notifications in north Colombo.

In the Wanathamulla area, officials pasted red labels with UDA seals on the front walls of houses that must be vacated. On November 17, officials went from house to house in the Church Road area of Slave Island gathering information and taking photographs. About 40 families in the Waththa area of Narahenpita Court near the rail line received eviction letters from the railway department.

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is planning the mass evictions as part of a plans to try to transform Colombo city into a South Asian business hub. In order to suppress opposition, Rajapakse placed the UDA and the Land Reclamation and Development Board (LRD)—two civilian bodies—under the authority of the defence ministry, which also commands the military.

Despite its promises, the government has no concrete plans to provide houses for evicted families. Rajapakse did not allocate a cent to build new housing for shanty families in the 2011 budget, announced on November 22. While he claimed that the government’s “next priority is to develop 70,000 housing facilities for shanty dwellers,” Rajapakse said an “Urban Development Fund” would be established to meet relocation costs.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s brother, elaborated on the government’s plans on November 28. “The government is faced with the challenge of relocating 75,000 families who are mainly occupying the most valuable land and strategically vital canals in Colombo,” he declared. “We need to develop the city to attract global investors and to make it a beautiful capital.”

Evicted people would be given “space in condominiums which will be built shortly,” the defence secretary claimed. However, he did not say how and where these plans would be implemented. In May, the government evicted 45 families in Slave Island, using the police and army to suppress protests. Some evictees were sent to temporary wooden houses in Colombo suburbs, but these will also be removed. Some families were given 100,000 rupees ($US895) to rent a house for one year.

The government has no plans to build houses for low-income people in Colombo city. UDA director-general Nihal Fernando told the Sunday Timesthat the slum dwellers must leave Colombo city. Fernando said the demarcated areas for them were Homagama, Gampaha and Kalutara, more than 30 kilometres away. He added: “We cannot allow them to live in the city any longer.”

Most people who spoke to the SEP campaigners opposed the government’s scheme. Wanathamulla resident, Seevalie Waththa, 76, explained: “We have lived here for more than 50 years. When I got married, my husband did not have a house or job. We built this house and started a small shop to earn an income. We cannot leave Colombo. Our children go to nearby schools.”

One official told Wanathamulla residents that the government planned to build flats to sell for 2.5 million rupees ($US22,500). The government would contribute 1.5 million rupees, leaving residents to raise 1 million rupees ($US9,000) to buy a flat. Swarna, another resident, asked: “How could we pay such an amount?”

Baby Nona, another woman, explained how the government institutions had cheated them. People in the area had received letters from the National Housing Development Authority a few months ago, asking them to make payments to obtain legal titles for their houses. Baby Nona paid 30,000 rupees. “I live with my daughter,” she said. “She sold her jewellery to pay the money. But they did not give us a deed. Now they have pasted this notice on our wall and asked us to vacate the place. The Housing Authority has cheated us.”

Forty families live in Slave Island’s Java lane. All use one tap and there are only four toilets. The lanes between houses are only a metre wide. A resident said: “We can’t live here in the rainy periods. We can’t go to the toilets—there are rats. Is this our fault? The cleaning is meant to be done by the government authorities or the Colombo Municipal Council.”

At Slave Island Church Road, where UDA officials recently gathered extensive data, one woman said: “Last May, the police and armed forces demolished houses while people were unprepared. This time we have to prepare.”

Another woman said she had a 60-year-old legal title. “We pay tax, light bills and water bills. My husband and I worked in the Middle East to earn money and build this house. We want houses in Colombo city. We have no trust in this government or any other political party. We will have to protest on the streets to protect our houses. If your organisation is ready to fight honestly for housing rights, we are ready to support you.”

Over the past two decades, successive governments have attempted to evict Colombo slum dwellers. Evictions began in Wanathamulla in 1997, under a plan to clear 30 hectares of land. Because of residents’ resistance, however, the government could only clear one small area. By placing the UDA under military control, the Rajapakse government is preparing to use police-state methods to break any such opposition.

Karunaratne, a Wanathamulla resident, said that in 1997 a “Committee to Protect Houses” opposed the evictions by the United Peoples Alliance government of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga. He said the committee would be reorganised and would seek meetings with Disaster Management Minister A.H.M. Fowzie and other MPs. But some leaders of this committee are supporters and members of Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) who support evicting the poor.

Karunaratne said that after evictions in 2002, people received Sahasapura (Millennium city) flats in Colombo. The Sahasapura units were meant to be a model housing project, but they were allocated to those who could pay 25,000 rupees. That money was supposed to be for maintenance, yet there has been no maintenance. Residents must pay for water and electricity, as well as 150 rupees in quarterly taxes to the municipal council. The condition of these flats has deteriorated because of the lack of repairs and garbage facilities.

SEP campaigners explained to residents that it was dangerous to collaborate with such groups, which support the government’s broad plan to benefit big business, which was bound up with implementing the International Monetary Fund’s austerity measures. Defeating these attacks required a political fight against the government and for a workers’ and farmers’ government based on socialist policies. The SEP team insisted that all people had a right to decent housing, jobs and other welfare facilities. Hundreds of billions of rupees had to be provided for such projects, and that would never happen under the private profit system. (WSWS)

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Sri Lanka - Ambassador reports Sri Lankan President responsible for "alleged war crimes"

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family are responsible for alleged war crimes against the Tamil, according to a cable sent by US ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis.

Butenis said complicity in alleged war crimes by the president and leader of the opposition was stalling progress in launching investigations into the country’s civil war.

The long running conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, was ended in May 2009 after the Sri Lankan army defeated LTTE leaders in an area known as the “no fire zone”.

The cable, dated 15 January 2010, updated the Secretary of State on war crimes accountability following the end of the country’s long and bloody conflict.

Ambassador Butenis noted there had been some limited progress in investigating potential war crimes, but noted:

“There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power.

“In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.”

With regard to alleged LTTE war crimes, Butenis noted:

“Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards.”

The revelations coincide with a visit by President Rajapaksa to the United Kingdom. Rajapaksa, who has been in the UK since Monday, is due to meet with UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

Rajapaksa was also scheduled to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday until the university issued a statement cancelling the event on Wednesday afternoon. The statement cited “security concerns” due to the large number of protestors expected to picket the event. (Wikileaks)

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