Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka have found strong support among workers, students and youth for its upcoming public meetings against the imperialist US-Israel war on Iran.
Two public meetings titled “Oppose US-Israel war on Iran!” will be held: A Zoom meeting on Sunday, July 6 at 7 p.m., and an in-person meeting at Veerasingham Hall in Jaffna on July 8 at 3 p.m.
SEP and the IYSSE members have campaigned at universities, workplaces including Free Trade Zones, and in neighborhoods, distributing tens of thousands of meeting notices in Sinhala and Tamil, along with World Socialist Web Site articles.
Sri Lankans, like people across the globe, watched in shock on June 23 at US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, broadcast widely on television and social media. The illegal assault, a blatant violation of Iranian sovereignty, has pushed the Middle East to the brink of full-scale war.
US President Donald Trump, pursuing an increasingly fascistic agenda, has reaffirmed Washington’s aim of regime change in Tehran to establish a pro-American client state. As the US continues to arm and support Israel’s brutal war on Gaza and attempts to enforce its dominance across the region, what is developing is a catastrophic global conflict.
The urgent need to build an international anti-war movement of the working class grounded in a socialist perspective has become undeniable.
SEP/IYSSE campaigners found widespread concern over the escalating war. Virtually every individual expressed strong hostility toward the US-Israeli onslaught in the Middle East. However, the discussions also revealed significant confusion and illusions, largely sown by the capitalist media and pseudo-left parties, leading in a number of cases to extensive and productive political exchanges.
In the Katunayake Free Trade Zone, a female worker from the Noratel factory, which produces transformers, power supplies, and inductors for the export market, spoke out against the dangers of global war. She sharply condemned the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip, saying: “Israel is trying to completely eliminate the Palestinian people and take over Gaza. America is the one who is helping them,” she said.
She also criticized the establishment media, commenting: “It does not give anyone enough knowledge to explain. It does not give such a description. We have to find out about this ourselves. Even if we do, we cannot find out through the media.”
She pointed to Washington’s strategic interests, saying: “America is the most powerful country in the world and wants to maintain dominance in the Palestinian territory through Israel.”
The Noratel worker added: “America makes a lot of war material. I think they are trying to destroy countries like that to increase their sales.” As campaigners explained that while arms manufacturers make huge profits, US imperialism is waging war to shore up its world dominance.
Seneviratne, a victimised Michelin worker, spoke out against the US-Israeli aggression, saying: “I think that if this [global] war breaks out, it will affect us a lot. That is why it is very important to work to stop the war.”
He was dismissed for participating in the struggle by workers for job security as the Michelin Tyre Factory in Midigama, southern Sri Lanka is sold to the Indian company CEAT. He expressed agreement with the SEP’s analysis of the war on Iran, praised its role in the Michelin workers’ struggle and pledged to attend Sunday’s meeting.
Janaka, a worker from the railway workshop in Ratmalana, condemned the bombing of Iran by Israel and the US, saying: “The US is waging these attacks to establish its hegemony as the world super power and to scare its main rivals China and Russia. It’s clear that these powers do not care about the human lives when it comes to their economic and other goals. “It is really scary and I sense that this could go forward to a third world war.”
Janaka also had a question: “Even though this government came to power as a people-friendly government, they are also no different from other governments. But then again what do we do: vote for another government with some other new face? Can any government go forward without the IMF?”
Campaigners explained the working class strategy against the IMF had to be based on mobilising its independent revolutionary strength not only on the island but internationally, overthrow capitalist rule and stop the imperialist war and genocide. After the discussion, Janaka said he would take part in Sunday’s Zoom meeting.
Kapila Kumara, another railway worker, joined the discussion: “The war is a real trouble for the world and underdeveloped countries like us. These powers are killing people in the Middle East without any mercy. I think the US is attacking like this as they are desperate to control oil. These powers do not care about other countries and toppling economies so that we become victims.”
Suranga, an electrical worker from the Ratmalana railway factory, expressed strong agreement with the SEP’s call for an international anti-war movement based on a socialist program.
Suranga condemned US and Israeli aggression: “According to my reading Iran has no nuclear weapons, but world powers are using Iran’s so-called nuclear threat to cover-up their real war aims. Real culprits are these powers who are brandishing nuclear weapons. We know how they used these on Japanese cities.”
He also condemned the Sri Lankan government’s refusal to oppose the US-Israeli attack on Iran, calling it a “farce.”
He agreed that Iran and its oppressed people had to be defended from imperialist attack despite the reactionary religious character of the regime in Tehran.