By Raju Prabath Lankaloka
The repression launched by the Ranil Rajapaksa regime is now being targeted at the leadership of the working class. The arrest of Cmd. Joseph Stalin, the secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, who played a very active role in the ‘Collective of Trade Unions and Mass Organizations’, was the decisive turning point. Within hours of his arrest, two Bank Employee’s Union activists were also arrested. They were also connected with the ‘Collective of Trade Unions and Mass Organizations.
The way, the police have arrested Cmd. Joseph Stalin was totally illegal. A team of about fifty policemen from four police stations was deployed to arrest a single person. According to the video footage, he is not told about the charges he is being arrested for. It seems that their aim was to intimidate other union activists by arresting a very popular trade union leader, who played a prominent role in the struggle with such excessive force.
We condemn the disgusting acts of arresting Sri Lanka Teachers’ Union Secretary Cmd. Joseph Stalin and other union activists and activists of the struggle. We express our fullest support for any action taken by the class movement against this repression.
Earlier, we quoted from a statement of ‘Fitch Ratings’, a leading credit rating agency for the global capital markets, published on 28 July 2022, in Sri Lanka. Among the points stated in it, the following was also included. “We expect any reform package agreed with the IMF by the government to include elements such as higher taxes, expenditure rationalisation and a commitment to a greater degree of exchange-rate flexibility. There is a significant risk that such reforms could cause public opposition that might impede their implementation.”
Thus, the institutions that advise the capitalist class are afraid of possible public opposition to the implementation of IMF conditions in Sri Lanka in the coming period. In such a movement, the working class will certainly play a leading role in it. This is why the Ranil Rajapaksa regime is launching the repression of the class movement today.
At least at this point, we must work to defeat the repressive agenda of the Ranil Rajapaksa regime with a united class action. The most appropriate step to be taken in that direction is to call an island-wide general strike immediately.
Ranil is not accountable to the people. He is a person who was completely rejected by the people. A person whose existence depends on the votes of MPs of ‘SLPP’ of the Rajapaksa. In other words, he is, a puppet ruler. When Gotabaya declared emergency law against the struggle, he said that emergency law should not be used to suppress the struggle. But as soon as he became the acting president, he declared the emergency law. When he became Prime Minister, he said that the struggle should continue. But less than 24 hours after he was sworn in as president, he launched a bloody attack on the protesters. When Joseph Stalin was arrested using quarantine laws during Gotabaya’s presidency, Ranil spoke in Parliament and protested against it. But the police arrested Joseph Stalin within a few hours of his first parliament opening speech as the president. Nothing more is needed to explain Ranil’s lies, fraud and deception.
Although Gotabhaya was ousted by the people on July 9, Rajapaksa’s puppet Ranil continues the rule Rajapaksa. We must stop Ranil, who was completely rejected by the people. The repression of Ranil Rajapaksa’s regime must be ended and a people’s power must be established. This is the ultimate challenge we have to win by mobilizing the class movement.
