Kathmandu | Online Peoples News
Political leaders, trade unionists, scholars, diplomats, and representatives of people’s movements from across Asia and beyond have gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for the three-day “Hands Off Asia: A People’s Call for Sovereignty and Solidarity” conference, aimed at strengthening regional unity against imperialist intervention and advancing a common agenda for sovereignty, peace, and social justice.
The conference, held from July 16–18, is organized by the International Peoples Assembly (IPA) in collaboration with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Participants represent progressive political parties, mass organizations, and trade unions from Nepal, China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Australia, Cuba, Brazil, and several other countries.
The opening session featured prominent speakers including Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, former Prime Minister of Nepal and Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre); Dr. Dammika Patabendi, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Environment; Vijay Prashad, historian and Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research; and Patricia Lazara Pego Guerra, Cuba’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka.
According to the organizers, the conference comes at a time of escalating military confrontations, economic coercion, sanctions, debt dependency, and political interference across Asia. Ongoing conflicts in Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon, expanding military deployments in the Asia-Pacific, and growing external influence in the internal affairs of countries including Nepal and Bangladesh were identified as manifestations of a broader imperialist strategy.
Participants argued that these developments are not isolated national crises but interconnected expressions of a global system of imperial domination employing military, economic, political, and ideological instruments to maintain control over developing nations.
The conference seeks to provide a platform for progressive movements across Asia to formulate a shared strategy in defense of national sovereignty, people’s rights, and regional solidarity. Discussions have focused on the continued dominance of the Bretton Woods institutions, the burden of unjust external debt, rising militarization, foreign political intervention, and the growing alliance between far-right forces and imperialist powers.
Delegates also emphasized that although Asia is home to nearly 60 percent of the world’s population and has become a major center of global economic growth and manufacturing, many countries remain trapped under unequal financial arrangements and external economic pressure.
Among the key demands emerging from the conference are the closure of foreign military bases, cancellation of unjust debt, rejection of IMF-imposed conditionalities, recognition of every nation’s right to pursue independent industrial and trade policies, an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine, an end to the genocide in Gaza, and the cessation of military aggression against Iran.
Historian Vijay Prashad stated that the gathering aims to strengthen the momentum for ending the United States’ expanding military presence and what participants describe as hyper-imperialist intervention across Asia. He stressed that stronger cooperation among people’s movements is essential to defending sovereignty and building a multipolar world based on justice and equality.
In its remaining sessions, delegates are expected to develop a common program of action extending beyond the demand for the closure of U.S. military bases to include economic sovereignty, fair trade, cancellation of unfair debt, and the fundamental right of peoples to determine their own political and economic future.
The conference is expected to conclude with a joint declaration reaffirming solidarity among Asian people’s movements and calling for intensified collective resistance against imperialism while promoting peace, sovereignty, and social justice across the region.