The following are the key issues that have to be dealt with, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s parliamentary election:

* Restoration of the national economy in line with the IMF programme agreed by the previous government. None of the political parties, represented in the last Parliament, including the JVP, voted against the much discussed Economic Transformation Bill approved in terms of the agreement with the IMF

* Foreign policy challenges as China and the US sought to influence the government of the day.

* Accountability investigation led by Geneva-based UNHRC at the behest of the US-UK combine

* A new Constitution that reflected the post-war developments.

*Effective measures to rein in political parties.

* And, finally, consensus on response to terrorism. Those who had been found guilty by courts for acts of terrorism should never be referred to as ‘political prisoners. President AKD caused himself and the country much harm when he declared in the north that ‘political prisoners’ would be released.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), having raised expectations about National People’s Power (NPP) in the eyes of the public as never before by coming to power claiming to be holier than all previous administrations dubbed by them to have been corrupt to the core, now faces the daunting task of securing a simple majority in Parliament at the General Election tomorrow (14), with feet of clay as shown by some of their recent decisions.

In spite of repeated vows, since the Presidential Election, to fill the next Parliament with members of the National People’s Power (NPP), the ruling party won’t find that objective easy to achieve as already reflected in the recent Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha poll held after the Presidential Election that it secured. It clearly showed that there is no groundswell of support for NPP despite it emerging the winner at the important Presidential Election as is the usual case with Lankan voters in the past.

Such NPP rhetoric won’t change the situation on the ground as AKD polled 5,634,915 (42.31 %) votes at the Presidential Election, very much less than the combined Opposition. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa (SP), independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Namal Rajapaksa (NR) polled 4,363,035, 2,299,767 and 342,781, votes respectively.

The bottom line is that together they had polled 7,005,583 votes – in other words 1,370,668 votes more than AKD. That is the ground reality. The above figures do not include preferences received by AKD and SP at the presidential poll.

The issue at hand is whether AKD, the leader of the NPP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), can now attract a substantial number of those who hadn’t exercised their franchise for him at the presidential poll. Of 17,140,354 eligible to vote, only 13,619,916 (79.46%) exercised their franchise whereas a staggering 3,820,738 didn’t turn up to vote.

Contesting political parties shouldn’t also ignore the fact that the total valid votes polled was 13,319,616 (97.8 %), therefore the rejected number of votes was 300,300 (2.2 %).

AKD should be wary of the unprecedented challenge, particularly because his government hadn’t been able to impress the electorate, especially those who didn’t exercise their franchise at the Sept. 21 election.

The possibility of the NPP falling just short of a simple majority (113 out of 225 seats), too, cannot be ruled out in spite of the party putting on a brave face with countrywide political rallies with hardly any such mass gatherings by the Opposition rivals.

NPP’s much touted stand that it wouldn’t, under any circumstances, accommodate the SJB, the New Democratic Front (NDF) comprising a group of ex-rebel SLPP lawmakers, and the UNP, as well as the SLPP, may compel AKD to reach a consensus with those elected from the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader and Sarvajana Balaya Colombo District candidate Udaya Gammanpila’s declaration that Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi’s (ITAK) M.A. Sumanthiran, PC, would be the NPP’s Foreign Minister cannot be dismissed. Former Minister Gammanpila also claimed that the NPP and ITAK reached an agreement on a federal structure for the Northern and Eastern provinces in line with their overall arrangement. Jaffna district ITAK’s Sumanthiran flatly denied Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila’s allegation when the writer sought his response.

Against the backdrop of the breaking up of the once ITAK-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA), despite all the bravado about its impending successful electoral outcome, the ITAK may not be able to even secure 10 seats that the grouping garnered at the last parliamentary election. ITAK shouldn’t underestimate the challenge posed by Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) consisting of fractured TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF. Previously known as Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA), DTNA knows the danger of a sharp split in the Tamil vote. (Let me correct the wrong declaration that the DTNA had been formed in the late ’80s in last week’s midweek piece ‘The General election: The Northern vote’. A former Tamil speaking colleague of mine pointed out the writer’s fault.).

In fact, TELO and PLOTE had no option but to resurrect TDNA last year after ITAK decided to terminate the partnership put together by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The EPRLF and some other interested groups joined the DTNA. ITAK is taking a huge risk at the General Election with its elitist face as the bulk of the population in the North and East are said to be those belonging to so-called lower castes (non Vellala). The former Federal Party may end up losing its predominant position in the Northern and Eastern regions since the 2004 General Election when the ITAK-led TNA secured 22 seats with the backing of the LTTE, which included Tigers stuffing ballot boxes on their behalf as was witnessed by none other than EU election monitors. Since then at every general election, the TNA obtained the highest number of seats in the N&E. At the 2010 parliamentary election the TNA won 14 seats, followed by 16 in 2015 and 10 in 2020. The ITAK’s gamble may not pay off.

Both ITAK and DTNA realize that the Tamils may fail to secure at least one seat in the strategically important Trincomalee district. Even the Roman Catholic clergy intervened to pave the way for ITAK and DTNA to submit a joint nomination list for the Trincomalee district where a sharp division of Tamil votes could prevent the community from securing one of the four seats available.

Sumanthiran backs partnership with NPP

During the AKD-led parliamentary election campaign, the NPP repeatedly declared its intention to work with Tamil lawmakers. In spite of Sumanthiran’s categorical denial, the former lawmaker declared his readiness to accept a ministerial position during a meeting with Jaffna-based journalists. The senior lawyer didn’t mince his words when he emphasized the responsibility on the part of his party to consider partnership with the NPP.

This is how Sumanthiran responded to a query regarding future NPP-ITAK partnership raised at the Jaffna Press Club recently. Sumanthiran was asked what they would do if he or members of his party were invited to take up ministerial positions under a government of NPP.

Sumanthiran (verbatim): “That was the expectation of the people at most of the meetings I attended. There was an opinion in recent times that ministerial positions must not be taken. There was also an opinion that we must not join the central government until a permanent political solution is given. But that is not the policy of the party. In 1965 members of our party held ministerial positions. The situation changes with time. Therefore, my opinion is that if we get such an offer, it must be considered. There are photographs of us marching in Jaffna with Anura Kumara Dissanayake, while wearing red sashes on a May Day six years ago. However, we do not take photographs with him targeting ministerial positions. When an effective programme is presented we must move forward together. Our party will not engage in such actions for the sake of positions. We can discuss with them and seek solutions to fulfil fundamental needs of our people, including a political solution. At the same time, we hope to work together to combat fraud and corruption. Even today I am appearing as his counsel in cases filed by that party against fraud and corruption. Therefore, we do not hold different opinions on these matters.”

Among the DTNA candidates are several ex-LTTE combatants though the ITAK-led TNA never accommodated any former fighters. In fact, ITAK wouldn’t have a truck with even TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF, one-time India-sponsored terrorist groups if not for the LTTE’s directive that they contest under one symbol in line with its overall political-military strategy.

Although two prominent ex-eastern LTTE cadres, who fell out with it, namely Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilleyan of Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), served as lawmakers the duo never received the respect they sought. Both are in the fray in the eastern Batticaloa district from different political parties.

EPDP Douglas Devananda, who has served several governments as a Minister, has already declared his support for the future NPP government. Having met AKD, Devananda assured the public that he would be delighted to accept a ministerial portfolio. However, the NPP declared in Jaffna that Devananda wouldn’t be accommodated in their Cabinet.

Several readers, including my colleague, found fault with me for asserting that all contesting political parties, without exception, are careful not to condemn the LTTE in any way. They pointed out that Devananda, who had been high on the LTTE hit list and was fortunate to survive a spate of assassination attempts, remained a strong critic of the group until the successful conclusion of the war.

My colleague also queried the assertion that the ITAK may perform better sans nominees of former terrorist groups. He raised the following issues:

* Are you suggesting PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddarthan, who is contesting the Jaffna district on the DTNA ticket, should be considered as a former ‘terrorist’?

* Such an assertion could be ironic as some Tamil ‘nationalist’ elements/ITAK/TNPF, etc., have accused the PLOTE of collaborating with the military during the war.

* In fact, Siddarthan, a son of ex-Jaffna district MP Visvanather Dharmalingam, killed by TELO in 1985, is widely believed to have backed Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2005 Presidential Election campaign.

The writer is in touch with Siddarthan since 1990 and never considered him a terrorist though his role in a terrorist group cannot be denied. Siddarthan had been with the PLOTE at the time the group made an abortive bid to assassinate Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in Nov. 1988.

In the last Parliament, five Tamil political parties altogether had 16 seats. Would Tamil parties be able to do better at the 2024 General Election? Twenty-nine MPs are elected from Jaffna (07), Vanni (06), Batticaloa (05), Digamadulla (07) and Trincomalee (04). Obtaining the same number of seats would be a huge challenge. In spite of the NPP leader being the President of the country, his party may not do well in the Northern and Eastern regions.

It would be pertinent to mention that Ariyanethiran Pakkiyaselvam, who contested the recently concluded Presidential Election, is backing ITAK candidates. The former TNA MP (2004-2015) polled 226,343 votes (1.70%) as he couldn’t secure the backing of ITAK. Sajith Premadasa, however, secured Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla and Trincomalee electoral districts with ITAK’s backing.

In spite of the belief that Pakkiyaselvam had the backing of the LTTE rump, and the Tamil Diaspora, he couldn’t win at least the Jaffna electoral district, whereas SP emerged victorious with a slight margin. The votes received by AKD in the N&E electorates were negligible, except Digamadulla where he polled 100,000. However, AKD’s party stands to do better at the General Election now as the President.

A controversial appointment

Perhaps, the decision on the part of the government not to reduce the price of Octane 92 (current price Rest 311), auto diesel (Rest 283) and kerosene (Rs 183) when the latest revision was effected on Oct 31 may have dismayed those who voted for AKD at the Presidential Plection.

Having accused successive governments of unfairly taxing fuel imports, thereby robbing the people, in addition to corruption, the NPP struggled to explain why Octane 92, auto diesel and kerosene couldn’t be substantially reduced.

The Opposition questioned the rationale in reducing the price of a high end litre of Octane 95 and super diesel by Rs 6 each when those struggling to make ends meet couldn’t be provided any such relief.

The JVP-led NPP shouldn’t forget that 5.7 mn voters who exercised their franchise in support of AKD, less than two months ago, are not card carrying members of the ruling party or its leading partner. Therefore, the government cannot, under any circumstances, antagonize the electorate ahead of the General Election. If the Octane 92 and auto diesel cannot be reduced, under the present circumstances, all those who had accused successive governments of unfair taxation owed the public an explanation.

Having campaigned relentlessly on an anti-corruption platform, the NPP shouldn’t take unnecessary risk by making controversial appointments. The appointment of a JVP trade union activist D.A. Rajakaruna as the Chairperson of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC/CEYPETCO) attracted media attention in the wake of the latest fuel price revision. That wouldn’t have happened if Rajakaruna, who had served as the Manager of the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited’s Muthurajawela Terminal years ago, didn’t appear before the media to defend the government decision not to reduce Octane 92 and auto diesel prices.

Convener of United Trade Union Alliance (UTUA) Ananda Pallitha recently questioned the appointment of a person whose integrity had been questioned as Chairman of a vital state enterprise after being accused of corruption. Rajakaruna’s media briefing was nothing but a fiasco. The JVPer simply couldn’t handle the media as journalists fired a spate of questions as the man was caught lying. As a longstanding employee of the CPC, Rajakaruna couldn’t have side-stepped the issues raised, after having been so critical of previous administrations.

The NPP cannot afford to make appointments to appease long standing party men. Previous governments have paid a huge price for accommodating alleged wrongdoers in key positions. This issue can cause friction among the NPPers.

The government has pathetically failed to explain why prices of Octane 92 and auto diesel couldn’t be reduced against the backdrop of its repeated allegations regarding the entire pricing process being corrupt.

The electorate will give its verdict tomorrow. Make no mistake, no political party can take things for granted, especially in the backdrop of Aragalaya two years ago that caused so much mayhem and that helped NPP stock to go up as never before by playing a Mr. Clean image. The NPP seems to have caused itself irreparable damage ahead of the General Election.

The sudden disclosure of the NPP government plan to shut down the state-owned Thriposha Company can also have a detrimental impact on the government. Such a course of action will lead to further deterioration of the nutritional intake of many already malnourished Lankan children.

FSP Education Secretary and Colombo District Jana Aragala Sandhanaya candidate Pubudu Jayagoda declared the closure would benefit private sector cereal manufacturers, an extremely serious accusation. The government remained silent as it couldn’t have explained the issuance of the Gazette Notification No. 2403/53 dated 27 September 2024 that dealt with the proposed abolition of the Thriposha Company.

The handling of fuel price revision and the proposed closure of the Thriposha Company that met 100% of the demand (free supply to the needy), since 2016, and also catered to the private market, dominated the media over the past few days. The two issues will have far more impact on the electorate than the arrest of former State Minister Lohan Ratwatte and his wife Shashi Prabha remanded till Nov. 18 on a charge of using an illegally assembled vehicle, investigation into former State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe using an illegally assembled super luxury vehicle, the much-touted investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage and depriving former Presidents and an ex-President’s widow of various privileges.

Having overwhelmed SP, RW and NR at the Presidential Election just weeks ago, the NPP seems to be on a tricky wicket. Contrary to perception among some, the General Election is not going to be a cakewalk for the government.

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya

Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s victory at the presidential election of 21 Sept. was greeted with enthusiasm by a large segment of Sri Lanka’s people, owing to its promise of ‘change,’ that would see things done differently in a troubled state. People from all walks of life, including the poor, the middle class and the wealthy welcomed the new leader with an expectation that he would introduce a new political culture, and introduce parliamentary representatives with a more enlightened outlook.

Assessing the interim period between the elections, people are likely to go by AKD’s speeches on the campaign trail, to ascertain what kind of government may be expected under his leadership if the National People’s Power alliance led by him wins a majority of seats in the 225-member House, or leads a coalition government. The pattern of campaign rhetoric has not been altogether consistent. The anti-corruption platform still holds, with emphasis on ‘cleaning up’ Parliament, meaning, bringing an end to the corrupt political culture of past decades. But where policies are concerned, some doubts arise within the space created by appeals to ‘wait for a strong mandate’ from the parliamentary poll, before the government can deliver on its promises.

At the conclusion of a television talk show last week, AKD listed six of his priorities, which include some grey areas. As the sole panelist being interviewed on Sirasa TV’s Satana programme of 06.11.24, he summarized them as follows:

1/ Eliminating rural poverty

2/ Swiftly developing the tourism industry

3/ Digitising services, with emphasis on the Digital ID card (UDI)

4/ Minimise fraud and corruption

5/ Education to go hand in hand with poverty elimination

6/ Agricultural reforms

Questions arise regarding the goals envisaged under 3/ (Digitising services) and 6/ (Agricultural reforms). Unlike the other four which are general, and cannot be faulted, reforms in these two areas would lead to far reaching and possibly irreversible changes. They have not been spelt out in detail, and they therefore have not received public scrutiny. Going by AKD’s brief comments on the show, they will be problematic, not only because they could run counter to the popular perception of the NPP as a potentially ‘people friendly’ government, but also because they appear to head into neo-liberal territory, serving the interests of foreign capital and posing a possible threat to sovereignty. Fears have already been expressed that the government will go all the way with the IMF agreement entered into by the previous government, and there is no more talk of ‘re-negotiating’ it. The ‘relief’ measures are yet to materialize.

Digitisation

Where the Digitising project is concerned, the President on Satana emphasized the importance of the ‘digital ID,’ and mentioned ‘UDI,’ which refers to the Indian-funded ‘Unique Digital Identity’ project, for which India has already advanced some money. AKD himself cautioned the then government on this project, as a former Opposition MP in August last year. Expressing concerns over “personal data of millions of Sri Lankan citizens potentially falling into the hands of another country,” he noted that the company winning the contract would have access to all biographic and biometric data of citizens registered within the digital platform. There were local companies ready to do the job but they ‘can’t complete it in one and a half years,’ The Sunday Times reported him as saying. Following his allegation that the tender process had been manipulated, two companies were disqualified, and the project appeared to have gone into limbo.

There has been little public awareness or informed debate in Sri Lanka on the digitising project. AKD told Sirasa it would make the delivery of services quicker and more efficient. This is how it was marketed in India, too, where petitions from civil liberties groups led to several Supreme Court rulings. He mentioned ‘Aswesuma’ benefits and job applications, as examples of processes that could be caried out ‘from home,’ with a digitized system. He didn’t clarify whether the UDI would be mandatory in order to draw state benefits, or whether biometric and other sensitive personal data would be collected only with the subject’s consent. The European Parliament in October 2021 voted to back a total ban on biometric surveillance, in accordance with a report from a parliamentary committee on civil liberties. The Sri Lankan public would need to be concerned about ANY government having access to their biometric data in a centralized database controlled by the state. AKD’s naming of a prominent IT industry professional as his choice to head the project (ready to work for free), does not make these concerns disappear.

Agricultural reform

Agricultural reform is the other subject mentioned by AKD in his concluding remarks on Satana, where red flags pop up owing to the lack of information as to what is envisaged. He mentioned that the average extent of land under paddy cultivation is 1.3 million hectares. He asked, “Is this a good thing?” and said there is a need to rethink this, adding that “we are a small country.”

Attempts at reforming land ownership and usage patterns in Sri Lanka have a long history. There have been World Bank reports of 1996 and 2015 saying that laws must be changed to introduce commercial agriculture.

Analysts have long argued that releasing land to private investors for large scale commercial agriculture would harm the interests of Sri Lanka’s farmers, who are mainly smallholders. Eighty percent of Sri Lanka’s land is owned by the state. The goal of the US government grant-supported Millennium Challenge Compact, that the Yahapalana government was compelled to suspend owing to public protest some years ago, was said to be to ‘increase land market activity’ and the ‘tradability of land’ through ‘policy and legal reforms.’ Analysts have warned of the danger of mass dispossession of smallholders that could result from such policies.

Has AKD’s ‘project’ undergone subtle transformation since the time of the presidential election? Has there been encroachment by vested interests and capital, especially foreign capital, that was not there, or not noticed, earlier? Is it the case that ‘Everything has to change so that everything stays the same?”

An architect of Southern Order

by Amali Wedagedara

“My main message is: by all means follow the logic and the imperatives of a flexible resilient, and open economy. But adapt and modify such logic to reflect the imperatives of our own society, the level of development it has come to, and the way it can evolve then or 20 years from now. What is needed today should not be jettisoned, in the name of some textbook argument, that comes from institutions in the outside world. I would say to people: take a closer look at classical economic theory, rather than the so called laissez-faire economic theory that is put before us today. Classical economic theory did have a place for protection; it did have a place for intervention in the commodity markets; it did find a role for the state in combating private monopolies, particularly in the field of infrastructure. In all these and other areas classical economic theory provided exceptions to the rule of the operation of free markets. We should not jettison all these, but rather look to these arguments and use and adapt them to our own needs.”

Gamani Corea, 1998

A fresh encounter with Gamani Corea’s work late in life has provided me with an opportune moment to reflect on the “politics of jettisoning” in the teaching and policy making of economics in Sri Lanka. Not only that, the undergraduate economics degree curriculums have ignored the intellectual legacies of the ideas and thinking of Sri Lankan economists like Gamani Corea, S B D Silva, G V S de Silva, Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, H.A. de S. Gunasekera, I. D. S. Weerawardena, Jayantha Kelegama, Ian Vanden Driesen, and Victor Gunasekara, the political-economy approaches that these 1st and 2nd generation of economists embraced in their  teaching and research on economics have also been abandoned. Lack of critical reflection on homegrown economic ideas to generate policy responses to development challenges has left us dependent on dump downs of the World Bank and the IMF and incompetent in “exercising the degree of pragmatism” that Corea instructed. In the absence of a political-economic understanding, Sri Lankan policymakers in the Treasury and the Central Bank have tended to ignore the urgency of correcting the asymmetric power relations inherent in the international order and distorted market conditions. As a result, Sri Lanka is a marooned nation – deep in debt, at the risk of recurrent defaults and entangled in neoliberal geopolitics, as a destination for cheap labour, cheap resources and a satellite.

This article is a preliminary attempt to examine the key ideas of Gamani Corea that contributed to consolidating the structural power of developing countries, such as commodity price controls, the New International Economic Order, and UNCTAD. While commemorating the 99th year of his birth anniversary and 11th death anniversary, the article proposes to revisit the works of Sri Lankan economists like Gamani Corea to formulate a Sri Lankan school of economic thought to inform policymaking that promotes Sri Lanka’s interests towards development.

Southern Order

Gamani Corea was the third Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) between 1974 and 1984. His career at UNCTAD began as an expert engaged in the preparatory work for the 1st session of UNCTAD in 1964. Rubens Ricuperoa, a former Secretary General of UNCTAD, captures the significance of Corea to UNCTAD when he said that Corea contributed to the preservation of UNCTAD as “the moral and intellectual conscience of development” (Corea, Khor, and South Centre 2014). Corea’s involvement in developing institutions and platforms that further the collective power of the Third World transcends UNCTAD to the South Commission and later to the South Centre.

Through years of engaging developing countries and promoting North-South dialogues, Corea had realised that “problems of the newly de-colonised countries in the third world were not in the front ranks of [developed countries’] concerns” (Corea, 1998). Hence, he advocated collective actions of the South to highlight “unity among nations of the South and their position in multilateral negotiations” (Corea, Khor, and South Centre 2014). The period in which Corea joined UNCTAD marked a jubilant period for developing countries. With the Peak Oil, OPEC countries, along with G77 countries, had come together with demands for a more responsive international order – the New International Economic Order (NIEO) that was founded in 1974. To use Corea’s own words, NIEO consisted of “two strands – the insistence on […] structural change as a necessary ingredient of the evolution of international economic relations and […] the concept of collective self-reliance” (Corea 2014). The developing countries were calling for fundamentally transforming the mechanisms and relationships that constituted global economic relations while advancing their shared strength to mobilise collective bargaining power. It also meant that the domestic economic structures of developing countries, such as plantations and mining, reflecting a character of the colonial era, should change.

Corea Plan – the Integrated Programme for Commodities and the Common Fund

On the eve of their independence, the postcolonial countries discovered they lacked the political influence to maintain commodity agreements that ensured stable prices, unlike the colonial powers. The changed relationship with consumer states, which used to be the colonial powers, eliminated the newly independent nation’s ability to maintain stable prices. Except in some cases where the consumer states like the UK and the US believed offering stable prices was essential to the political stability of a few favoured regimes in Africa and Latin America, the consumer states, too, were not willing to offer stable prices. With falling prices, developing countries heavily dependent on primary commodities like tea, natural rubber, sugar, cocoa, tin, copper, iron ore and jute for national income were at the brink of economic collapse and facing Balance of Payment crises.

The instability of commodity prices was a major point of deliberation at the Havana Conference in 1946. The agreement to form an International Trade Organisation as an outcome of the Havana Conference shows the urgency of attaining price stability from the developing country’s perspective. Discussions lasted until the UNCTAD IV meeting in Nairobi in 1976, which assembled “a new constellation of forces”, as Corea called it, to capture the rise of OPEC countries and the configuration of global south forces along the New International Economic Order (Henrikson and Corea 1986). The UNCTAD secretariat proposed the Integrated Programme for Commodities to create a framework to strengthen and stabilise international commodity markets. Instead of an ad hoc approach to negotiation, the new programme proposed an overall framework of principles which look at commodities as a whole. It also entailed the establishment of the Common Fund, an international institution with a greater voice and representation of developing countries, to raise finance to facilitate buffer stocks in developing countries, enabling them to stabilise prices and promote research and development to improve structural conditions in commodity markets. The Common Fund was also expected to provide “compensatory financing to provide loans for shortfalls of export earnings from the expected levels” (Henrikson and Corea 1986). In subsequent meetings at UNCTAD V in Manila in 1979 and UNCTAD VI in Belgrade in 1983, more resolutions were adopted to progress the programme for commodity stabilisation. As the history of reforms in international trade, finance and development reveals, the non-committal and agnostic behaviour of the developed countries has been an impediment to the progress of both the integrated framework and the Common Fund. In his writings, Corea also exposes “old and familiar demons” that composed the attitude of the developed consumer countries and transnational companies, ranging from the idea of the free market, producer cartels, consequences of rising commodity prices, and intervening in the private grain and minerals trade markets (Henrikson and Corea 1986). Devoid of comparative facilities available to the OECD and European Economic Commission, the developing countries also demonstrated a sense of unpreparedness and lack of confidence that they had any influence on international negotiations on commodities.

The challenges that Corea recognised as affecting developing countries, particularly the prices of agricultural commodities and minerals, continue to this day. His vision for stabilising prices also lives in the dissent and contention of developing countries and peasant movements in the WTO processes.

Sri Lankan School of Economic Thought

Gamani Corea, even though hailing from the planning era, was not a Marxist or a leftist economist who advocated for Import Substitution policies and State control of the economy. Neither was he a neoliberal economist who blindly believed that the market cures all ills, the private sector is sacrosanct, and the IMF and the World Bank are God sent. Resurrecting the intellectual legacies of people like Corea, who are globally reputed for their work towards strengthening the positionality of developing countries by alleviating negative terms of trade through rules and systems of the global South, is important as there is a call for greater cooperation between developing countries. These ideas amount to the soft power of Sri Lanka that we should project to the rest of the developing world by integrating them into our diplomacy and taking the leadership in lobbying and building consensus on debt relief, stabilising commodity prices, and attaining overall development aspirations.

Corea’s work was grounded in the everyday problems of developing countries. He drew connections to developing countries’ experiences, from Sri Lanka to El Salvador to the Soloman Islands. His praxis was closely aligned with the rise of Dependency School and the influence of Raúl Prebisch. Unfortunately, thinking of underdevelopment is almost non-existent in Sri Lankan departments of economics, which also explains the sense of paralysis in economics teaching, failing to connect to the everyday experiences of people. Sri Lankan economics teaching also contrasts with the new waves in Europe – rethinking and new economics thinking, emerging to encounter challenges posed by the 2008 global financial crisis. Corea also had the advantage of the interdisciplinary eco-system that economics departments offered in the early years before being compartmentalised into different disciplines. The intellectual tradition and historical approach afforded by interdisciplinary thinking made Corea what he was.

My generation of economics undergraduates, even younger generations now employed either as school teachers, university lecturers, researchers, civil servants, private sector professionals or Central Bankers, would have certainly felt the limitations in our training when attempting to address the current challenges. Our training in neoconservative economic theory decapitates our skills to bring about the “structural change” that a developing country like Sri Lanka needs. Nurturing a renaissance in economics teaching in Sri Lanka by incorporating the ideas and thinking of people like Gamani Corea into the curriculum could be a first step in the right direction.

References:

Corea, Gamani. 2014. Need for Change: Towards the New International Economic Order. 1. Aufl. s.l.: Elsevier Reference Monographs.

Corea, Gamani, Martin Khor, and South Centre, eds. 2014. A Tribute to Gamani Corea: His Life, Work and Legacy. Geneva: South Centre.

Henrikson, Alan K., and Gamani Corea, eds. 1986. Negotiating World Order: The Artisanship and Architecture of Global Diplomacy. Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources.

Corea, Gamani. 1998. 50 Years of Economic Development in Sri Lanka. Occasional Papers No. 27. Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Amali Wedagedara (PhD, Hawaii) is a feminist political economist. She works as a senior researcher at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS).

The BCIS is organising a Gamani Corea Retrospective on November 22 between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm at the Kolamba Kamatha

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