Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

This audio recording features a public lecture delivered at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) in Colombo on 10 December 2025, following Cyclone Ditwah. The main objective of the presentation was not to approach the event as an isolated national tragedy but as part of a broader global and South Asian pattern influenced by climate breakdown, economic inequality, and debt-driven development. The lecture situates Cyclone Ditwah within the framework of the Capitalocene—an idea suggesting that contemporary climate disasters are not caused by “humanity” as a whole, but rather by a global capitalist system centred on fossil fuels, extraction and uneven development.

The talk explores the concept of “disaster capitalism,” highlighting how moments of collective trauma are often exploited to promote privatisation, land confiscation, austerity, and debt-financed reconstruction. The speaker draws on comparative examples from South Asia and beyond and carefully contextualises Sri Lanka within a shared regional and global landscape—the lecture examines how disasters are socially and politically mediated, how vulnerability is structurally produced, and why post-disaster recovery becomes a critical area of struggle. The speaker is careful about not offering prescriptive solutions but encouraging reflection on alternative recovery pathways rooted in social justice, ecological restoration, democratic participation, and resistance to debt-driven and market-orientated responses to climate catastrophe.