On solidarity with the Philippine mass movement
Article originally submitted to Alliance Voices (Socialist Alliance publicly available internal discussion bulletin). To date, it has not been published in that source. I have since resigned from Socialist Alliance.
Why does the socialist left in Australia continue to place in high esteem parts of the Philippine left that are mostly invisible there? For example, Socialist Alliance has a relationship with Partido Lakas ng Masa and at Marxism 2014 (Socialist Alternative’s national conference) I heard from Partido ng Manggagawa and the Fourth International group Revolutionary Worker’s Party-Mindanao. All of these groups are relatively small there, despite their often grand proclamations to Australian audiences.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), on the other hand, has a huge social weight and the various groups in their multi-sectoral coalition are covered daily in the Philippine mainstream media. They involve millions of people in their various mass organisations of workers (both in-country and international), peasants, youth, students, urban poor, environmentalists, religious communities and indigenous peoples. These are organisations that actively ‘serve the people’ through both initiating and/or promoting socio-economic relief and rehabilitation projects as well as building militant protest movements against the status quo among other activities.
Bayan have also been a key player in forcing the incoming government of Rodrigo Duterte to negotiate with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front and to accept three leftists into his cabinet: Social Work Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Liza Maza.
They are not taking this “change” for granted, of course. The movement has already put forward a bold list of demands gathered from sectoral organisations from across the archipelago for the first 100 days of the new government. This 15-point People’s Agenda will be supplemented with mobilisations to force change from the populist leader.
This will only add to the pressure coming from the coalition of progressive partylists KOALISYONG MAKABAYAN, which has seven members of the incoming Philippine congress (after being so-far cheated out of an extra seat for Bangsomoro activist leader and Gabriela Women’s Party candidate Bai Ali Indayla). The represented party lists include 2 seats each for Gabriela Women’s Party and ACT Teachers’ and one seat each for Kabataan (Youth), Bayan Muna (People First) and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses).
To put it simply, the difference between the mass movement I note above and groups like the PLM is not simply “relative” as Green Left Weekly co-editor Stuart Munckton has said. Neither is the Philippine mass movement reducible to “SAlt [Australian Cliffite group Socialist Alternative] x 100 with guns” as he has also stated.
Is it not time that we more openly assess these relationships? More importantly, can we do this without denouncing the submission of articles to GLW and Links at a National Council meeting where I wasn’t even able to defend myself? Or without just writing off this important issue because I am a member of the 21st Century Socialism Tendency, which has no position on the Philippines?
For these reasons, I have recently begun to forge links with activists from these movements to promote solidarity and cross-border exchange of ideas. I have already learned a lot from comrades organising across huge range of sectors. Some of them, for example, are involved in struggles fighting against Australian multinational companies, as shown in the ongoing struggle against Canadian-Australian mining company Oceana Gold in Nueva Vizcaya.
Learning about these movements and talking to people of varying political opinions in the Philippines, and diaspora communities around the globe, made me question why Socialist Alliance even have this exclusive link with the PLM? Even apolitical people in the Philippines know groups like Gabriela. But a quick Google search of Partido Lakas ng Masa mainly brings up articles from our own publications. In a country as internet mad as the Philippines this is strange to say the least.
Looking at the foundation of the policy, it is clear it goes back to the Democratic Socialist Party days well before I joined the party and extended links have lead to certain friendships. But try as I might, I can find no Socialist Alliance policy dictating what group overseas we should form links with. Instead, it appears some people in the party have instead acted to unilaterally impose a international solidarity “line” on our members. Why else would Links submissions be sent to PLM members in Manila to “check over”, as Federico Fuentes explained to me via email? This is not to personally attack any comrade but to highlight decisions that have come at the expense of a better understanding the Philippine political situation, its movements and how they might affect our work in Australia.
This would seem a great chance for some real international solidarity. I personally believe that the Australian left could learn a lot from their struggles if we were willing to listen and learn from a wider range of activists.
We say Green Left Weekly is a broad left paper and Links is an “international journal of socialist regroupment” but how many of these movements were noted? How many campaigns of solidarity were mounted? How many representatives of these organisations have we invited to our conferences? How many letters of congratulation have we sent to what could surely be our sister organisations?
For example, Kabataan (Youth) Party List recently retained their seat in the Philippine congress. Why doesn’t Resistance Young Socialist Alliance have a link with this organisation? Why didn’t GLW publish the profile of incoming congresswoman Sarah Elago on the RYSA page when this was suggested?
Also, Bayan is represented around the world in migrant Filipino communities. How many of our branches have an active relationship with their local chapters of Migrante, Anakbayan or Gabriela? Or can even claim a connection with the local Filipino community here in Australia?
Put simply, we are robbing ourselves of the opportunity to learn about (and from) the Philippine struggle by having exclusive agreements with relatively small groups and ignoring the larger mass movement. It’s time for the Socialist Alliance and the Australian left as a whole to give our comrades in the Philippines the respect, coverage and solidarity they deserve.
