The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka are holding three public meetings entitled “Stop Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza!” The first meeting is in Jaffna on November 15, the second in Galle on November 19, and the third in Colombo on November 21.
It is one month since Israel’s right-wing Zionist government launched its genocidal war on unarmed Palestinians in Gaza. Over 10,000 civilians have been killed and at least 70,000 have been seriously injured by Israeli attacks. More than a quarter of those killed and injured were children. The Netanyahu regime is imposing its “final solution”—to drive all the Palestinians out of Gaza.
The US and other NATO powers are fully backing this war of extermination, readying for wider war in the Middle East, targeting Iran in particular. These powers are currently engaged in another horrific war in Ukraine against Russia, aimed at inflicting a defeat upon it and plundering its resources.
US imperialism is in a desperate war drive to assert its global hegemony by means of military force. The ultimate aim is subjugating China, its main economic rival. This is part of the global breakdown of capitalism and resurgence of imperialist militarism, confronting humanity with the danger of a nuclear third world war.
Throughout the globe, including in the US, UK, Germany and other Western European countries, millions of workers and young people, across all ethnic and religious lines, have come onto the streets to demonstrate their outrage over the Zionist regime’s barbaric attacks speaking in one voice: “Stop the genocide!”
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was among the first leaders who condemned the October 7 Palestinian uprising against Israel’s 75-year repression and sided with the Netanyahu regime. The opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Samagi Jana Balawegaya cynically claim that they cannot choose between Hamas and the Zionist regime, effectively taking the side of Israel. The Tamil nationalist parties have taken the same position.
The Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka and its sister parties internationally welcome the millions of people taking to the streets daily to oppose Israel’s war. The World Socialist Web Site (wsws.org), the Marxist organ of the International Committee of the Fourth International, provides crucial daily cover of this mass movement.
Above all, we are advancing a socialist and internationalist program, which is the only viable perspective for the working class and youth to end the war.
We urge workers, youth and students to attend our meetings and join the discussion on the political program and perspective of international socialism which is essential for building the anti-war movement.
Meeting venues:
Jaffna
Millennium Guest House and Restaurants Hall
Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan Road (Campus Road), Kaladdy
Date and time: November 15 at 3.30 p.m.
Galle
Hall De Galle Auditorium (near the old entrance VOC gate on the Baladaksha Mawatha)
Date and time: November 19 at 3.00 p.m.
Colombo
Public Library Auditorium
Date and time: November 21 at 4.00 p.m.