More than 75 percent of the Sri Lankan population of 21 million lives in the countryside. The majority of these rural toilers are subsistence farmers or farm workers. Tea, rubber, and coconuts are the country’s main exports, while apparel and textiles are a growing industry.

One-third of the country’s exports go to the United States, and 12.5 percent to Britain. Sri Lanka is heavily in debt to imperialist banks and lending institutions, owing $9.6 billion, according to the latest World Bank figures.

According to UNICEF, the country’s per capita income is $930 annually. Twenty-two percent of infants are born with low birth weight and 14 percent of children under 5 have stunted growth. Twenty-eight percent of the rural population lacks a reliable, clean source of drinking water. There is one telephone for every 10 people, and one doctor for every 2,500 people.

Sri Lanka, previously known as Ceylon, was colonized by Portugal in the 1500s and then by the Dutch in 1658. Britain wrested control of the island from the Netherlands in 1798 and in 1815 established Ceylon as a crown colony. The British rulers set up huge tea and rubber plantations and crushed rebellions against their rule in 1817, 1843, and 1848.

The British used divide-and-rule tactics to maintain their control. They introduced large numbers of Tamils into the colonial administration, although Tamils constitute only about 12 percent of the population, the majority being Sinhalese. Tamils from southern India were at the same time brought in to work as virtual slaves on tea plantations.

In 1948 Ceylon became an independent member of the British Commonwealth. In 1972 its name was changed to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government sought to keep Tamil and Sinhalese working people divided. Repression against the Tamil minority sharpened in 1960, when a law was adopted making Sinhalese the only official language. In response to mass protests by Tamils, the government declared a state of emergency, outlawed the Tamil Federal Party, and made it illegal to strike.

In 1983, war broke out between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed group calling for an independent state for Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government called in Indian troops in 1987 to enforce a peace settlement. Since then, attacks on the Tamil minority have persisted, with tens of thousands slain by government-backed death squads.

A truce in the war was only established in 2002. About 64,000 people have died in the conflict. An estimated 105,000 Tamils were forced into exile in India. More than 200,000 Tamils have fled to the United States, Canada, and other countries.

Coverage of the tsunami in the Tamil media has included reports of the Sri Lankan Army assaulting Tamil refugees and delaying aid shipments. The website Tamilnet reported that 200 thugs organized by the Sri Lankan Army attacked 67 Tamil families who had taken refuge in a school. They reportedly beat the male refugees and set fire to the families’ possessions. The refugees were then forced to move to a new shelter.

The LTTE website reports that the Liberation Tigers have organized almost all emergency aid and evacuation in the Tamil regions.

Meanwhile, 1,000 troops from India, as well as U.S. Marines and the British frigate HMS Chatham have arrived as part of the relief efforts.
 
 
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