Sri Lanka's crisis: The long shadow of colonialism

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/sri-lankas-crisis-the-long-shadow-of-colonialism

In July, photos and videos of immense crowds of people storming Sri Lanka’s presidential palace went viral. In spite of global interest in this spectacle of political upheaval, Sri Lanka’s crisis and history remain poorly understood by most people in the outside world. From the lingering effects of a 30-year civil war marked by vicious ethnic violence, to the destabilization of the island’s economy by the IMF, Sri Lanka today is caught in a maelstrom generations in the making. Acclaimed scholar Dr. Nira Wickramasinghe explains the past century of Sri Lanka’s history, examining how the transition from colonial to neocolonial rule laid the foundations for the country’s current crisis. This story is the first in a special TRNN two-part series on Sri Lanka’s history.

Dr. Nira Wickramasinghe is a chair professor of Modern South Asian Studies at Leiden University. She is the author of numerous books, including: Metallic Modern: Everyday Machines in Colonial Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History; and Slave in a Palanquin: Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka.

Post-Production: Cameron Granadino


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