OUr REASONS

Sri Lanka defaulted on its international debt obligations for the first time in its post-independence history in 2022. There is growing awareness amongst Sri Lankan people that last year’s debt crisis resulted from systemic political and policy failures over decades, amidst persistent problems of underdevelopment in the post-colonial era. The aragalaya (people’s struggle) in Sri Lanka was symptomatic, though not always self-conscious, of these deeper problems of Sri Lanka’s peripheral and dependant location in a global world economy. Sri Lanka’s national conditions are also linked to multi-scalar inequities and predatory lending by international financiers. Given that 53 other countries are facing a severe debt crisis according to the UN, with that number projected to increase to as many as 74 countries, there is a need to bring to the spotlight the interconnections between global and local inequalities, including of the collusion of global and local finance and merchant capital. The genesis of our collective efforts stems from the backdrop of the aragalaya and our initial calls for debt justice – where we join other countries making claims for a fairer global order.