tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39656068661012727292023-11-16T03:09:41.890-08:00Socialist FeministRenewing Socialism & FeminismReihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-9273200600026533132015-05-07T19:21:00.000-07:002015-05-07T19:23:48.512-07:00Women and the Technological Revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>By Reihana Mohideen</b></span><br />
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6n1wWUgh66rk0X7ZkpefSUdSVy1gXhrHgCQ9JOn0AJXBNy8o6YuF9QTB2Kc3GKhXVyvcp3rNLg-kDLrzBS13k24d-t22449kR6wLcU0TtkuPIyV16DVoigaFWVNWB9H_bnhXtpjkoYQ/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6n1wWUgh66rk0X7ZkpefSUdSVy1gXhrHgCQ9JOn0AJXBNy8o6YuF9QTB2Kc3GKhXVyvcp3rNLg-kDLrzBS13k24d-t22449kR6wLcU0TtkuPIyV16DVoigaFWVNWB9H_bnhXtpjkoYQ/s1600/images.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImQmaCdwR_QlWmldhFFK3QYMYWCXHrviXM-duYkTRlx5oFCEGOTjmnqAX60vWNKp_hOq0qEav3U_NLA9pcQInwruxZZdzxf6DF3LZ-lEuv18o-zW8bVKgndjzLqYVAwbrFD2Pi8aK3s8/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImQmaCdwR_QlWmldhFFK3QYMYWCXHrviXM-duYkTRlx5oFCEGOTjmnqAX60vWNKp_hOq0qEav3U_NLA9pcQInwruxZZdzxf6DF3LZ-lEuv18o-zW8bVKgndjzLqYVAwbrFD2Pi8aK3s8/s1600/images-1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We are told that women may soon bid farewell to existing methods of birth control and welcome a new type of contraception in the form of microchip implants. An MIT start-up backed by the Bill Gates Foundation plans to start pre-clinical testing for the birth control chip this year and pave the way for a possible market debut in 2018.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The fingernail-size microchip implant -- measuring 20 x 20 x 7 millimetres -- holds enough 30-microgram daily doses of levonorgestrel—a hormone already used in several contraceptives—to last for 16 years. Women who receive the implant under the skin of their buttocks, upper arm or abdomen would also get a remote (wireless) control that allows them to halt or restart the implant whenever they like. The technology includes secure encryption to prevent outsiders from blocking or reprogramming the implants wirelessly. As an added precaution, the remote control can only communicate with the microchip implant across a distance equivalent to skin contact.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Can this new application for microchips potentially revolutionise the level of control women have over their reproductive functions? Or is this another example of intervention and control over women’s bodies, by what has been considered by many feminists to be a “patriarchal”, that is a white male-dominated scientific establishment?</span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Has the optimism among some feminists, influenced by the dawn of the digital age and the development of information and communication technology, with its potential to empower women and transform gender relations, been realised? Thirty years since the publication of Donna Harroway’s <i>Cyborg Manifesto</i>, in 1985, it will be important to assess the gender ramifications of technological development in the last few decades.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>‘Disruptive technologies’</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Do some technologies have the potential to disrupt the status quo and change entirely the way people live and work and even think? An area of study has emerged, which assesses the potential of certain technologies and their development over the next 25 years, to do just that. These technologies are described as “disruptive technologies”.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Computer performance that underpins many of technology system advances has progressed according to Moore’s law</span><span class="s2">[2]</span><span class="s1"> for around 50 years and recent materials technology advances such as graphene pave the way for a further 10-20 years of exponential increase in performance and exponential reduction in size and cost. Integrated circuit technology, relentlessly following Moore’s law, resulted in a high-performance computer in the mid- to late 1960s (occupying many tens of cubic metres volume, drawing many kilowatts of power, and costing several million dollars) being transformed by 1980 to the size of a thimble, drawing just a few watts of power, and costing a few dollars while achieving similar computing performance.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">DNA sequencing is on the path to <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/the-gene-machine-and-me"><span class="s3">becoming an everyday tool</span></a> in life-science research and medicine. Institutions are beginning to sequence patients’ genomes in order to customise care according to their genetics. Instead of costing hundreds of millions of dollars and taking years to sequence a single human genome, a population-scale sequencing platform has been recently created that can sequence more than 18,000 genomes per year at a cost of approximately $1000 per genome. Sequencing is no longer something only big companies and international consortia can afford to do. Now, thousands of bench-top sequencers sit in laboratories and hospitals across the globe.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The technology pioneers describe the potential of 3D printing to create a total self-producing environment, using recycled materials, printing out its own energy sources, linked to food production at one end and system production at the other. Not only the creation of a self-contained production loop, but an entire system that lives off recycling of surplus products, such as plastics and other materials.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Renewable energy has been identified as having the potential, at least, to be a “disruptive technology” due to the following general characteristics.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>A rapidly advancing technology: since 2000 the growth in solar photovoltaic and wind generation has grown 19-fold and the price of a solar PV cell has decreased by 85% since 2000;</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The potential scope of the impact is broad: it can change the quality of life, health and environment and if coupled with developing energy storage technologies (also identified as potentially “disruptive”) can provide energy access to millions of poor people;</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Economic impact which could dramatically change the status quo: renewable energy technologies can potentially change the comparative advantage of developing nations, such as the case of China and India with ambitious plans for solar and wind adoption that could further enable rapid economic growth while mitigating negative environmental impacts.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The “convergence” of disruptive technologies have the potential to have profound societal impacts.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>Renewable energy sources + sensing + networking + analytics + extensive distributed energy sources = green power (smart grid)</i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>Extensive sensing + analytics + networking = improved quality of disaster response, enhanced with robotics and drones</i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In the context of Third World countries they can enable them “leap-frog” stages, by using less capital intensive, centralised systems and technology, with important welfare benefits and improvements in the quality of life of women and men. In Nepal, which has one of the lowest per capita consumption of electricity in the world at approximately 119 kWh (compared to OECD averages of over 8000 kWh), micro-hydro-based mini-grid systems are key to providing electricity to households in remote areas (where electrification rates are a staggeringly low 34% of households). In some villages, this has contributed to significant improvements in maternal and infant mortality rates, within a space of a few years.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>Feminist approaches</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A theoretical position in science and technology studies is that technology is not purely technological. It is shaped by the social circumstances within which it takes place. Technology is treated as a sociotechnical product, and not simply a product of rational technical imperatives. Over the last two decades, feminist writing within the field has theorised the relationship between gender and technology as one of mutual shaping -- described as technofeminism – arguing that gender is integral to this sociotechnical process. The materiality of technology affords or inhibits particular gender power relations. Drawing more women into design—the configuration of artefacts—is not only an equal employment opportunity issue, but is also crucially about how the world we live in is shaped, and for whom.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We live in a technological culture and so the politics of technology is integral to the renegotiation of gender relations.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s4">Feminist theories in the 1980s shifted the discourse from asking how women can be equitably treated within and by science, to the question of how science can be used for emancipator ends, given its historical evolution as a distinctly masculine project. </span><span class="s1">Feminist analyses of technology shifted from women’s access to technology to examining the very processes by which technology is developed and used. Feminists who studied the relationship between women and technology, through the prism of the labour process and the technology of production, brought an important historical perspective to bear on the relationship between gender and technology. This literature provided a compelling critique of technological determinism, arguing that, far from being an autonomous force, technology itself is crucially affected by the social relations of production.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Contemporary theories are influenced by the dawn of the digital age, with the development of information and communication technology (ICT). Feminist approaches of the 1990s and today are positive about the possibilities of ICT to empower women and transform gender relations. The optimism of this post-feminist literature is best summed up by Donna Haraway’s (1985, 1997) cyborg metaphor, conveying the idea that technology is an aspect of our identity and fully part of all of us. Conceiving of ourselves as cyborgs provides a tool for challenging traditional notions of gender identity and transforming the gender relations of technoscience and the relationship between women and technology. Terms such as “cyborg” and “cyberspace” found usage in the English language due to the influence of “cybernetics”, a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints and possibilities, pioneered by Norbert Wiener (1950, 1965). The influence of cybernetics is evident in the post-feminist literature on technology by Haraway and others.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I believe that the post-feminist views on the relationship between gender and technology are overly optimistic. The possibility and the fluidity of gender discourse in the virtual world are ultimately constrained by the gender relations actually experienced in the material world.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Others theorise that technology must be considered in an anthropological and historical way, and that its study involves not only material things, but also people. Technology shapes gender and gender shapes technology at every level. Some technologies can be read as codes for gender, such as ovens and cook stoves, for example. But this then begs the question: Are cook stoves “feminine technologies”? Some feminists do argue that feminine technology are those associated with women by virtue of their biology. Therefore kitchen utensils, bras and IUDs are all “feminine technologies”.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A biologically determinist approach that describes certain types of technology as feminine technologies can tend to reinforce traditional sex roles and gender stereotypes.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As in the example of further developments in reproductive technology, which poses the essential and key question of the need for women to control their own bodies, this is posed in a more general sense in the case of technological change and advancement: it requires popular control, community control and for society to understand, plan and determine its overall development, purpose and use.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Technologies have no power of their own. Human beings make these technologies and human beings choose to use them under specific socioeconomic circumstances. While there is no technological fix to the massive environmental-socioeconomic problems we face, existing technologies and trends in future technological developments, within the next three decades for example, do provide actual and potential solutions.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">What is preventing the flourishing of these technological developments from realising their full potential in addressing the critical environmental-socioeconomic and gender issues of our times is that these technologies and the R&D programs that spawn them are controlled by capitalist corporations and institutions.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Even when they are the inventions of individual scientists, they are very quickly subjected to and controlled by capitalist market relations. Marx’s dictum of the underpinning contradiction of capitalism, on the fetters placed by capitalist social relations of production, based on exploitation and oppression, thus preventing the full development of human beings in harmony with the environment and technological development, rings more true than ever. The studies around “disruptive” technologies demonstrate that these contradictions are infinitely large today.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">While the ambiguous nature of technology change needs to be acknowledged, such as trends towards reduced privacy, the impact of robotisation on employment, or the “weaponisation” of technologies, we can also aspire to an alternative future: a child in a slum has her environment transformed by 3D printing, has access to complex medical treatment provided by a low-cost robotic surgical machine, available at the local health clinic, powered by very efficient solar systems. The possibilities are endless and the means do exist to chart a future course towards such ends as these. In this sense, the 21st century is one of a transition towards socialism. Despite what the pessimism of the moment might suggest, we have far more going for us, to believe in the possibility of change for the better.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">[Reihana Mohideen has completed PhD research on renewable energy and it's societal and gender impacts. She is the chairperson of Transform Asia Gender and Labor Institute, Philippines.]</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="s1"><b>Bibliography</b></span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1">Bijker, Wiebe E. and Law, John, eds, 1992. <i>Shaping technology/Building society, Studies in socio-technical change</i>. The MIT Press.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1">Haraway, D. 1985. “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: science, technology, and socialist feminism in the 1980s”, <i>Socialist Review</i>, vol. 80, 65–108</span></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s5">Kinkead, Gwen. 2014. <i>MIT Technology Review</i>. Accessed at: <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/528121/a-contraceptive-implant-with-remote-control/"><span class="s2">http://www.technologyreview.com/news/528121/a-contraceptive-implant-with-remote-control/</span></a></span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1">Lerman and others, eds, 2003. <i>Gender and Technology, A Reader</i>, edited by. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore and London.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">McKinsey Global Institute, 2013. <i>Disruptive Technologies: Advances that will transform life, business and the global economy</i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Rundle, Guy. 2014. <i>A Revolution in the Making</i>. Affirm Press, Melbourne.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Wacjman, Judy, 2010. “Feminist theories of technology”. <i>Cambridge Journal of Economics</i>, 2010, 34, 143-152.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Weiner, Norbert. <i>The human use of human beings – Cybernetics and society</i>. With a new introduction by Steve J. Heims. Free Association Books, London, 1989.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Notes</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s2">[1]</span><span class="s1"> This article is a summary of the introductory chapter to the author’s upcoming book, <i>Gender and the Technological Revolution</i>.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s2">[2]</span><span class="s1"> Moore’s law famously states that computing power doubles in size and halves in price approximately every 18 months and has been a basic business model for the semiconductor industry.</span></div>
</div>
Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-57364956496028152802015-05-02T18:38:00.002-07:002015-05-02T18:38:42.348-07:00The Political Crisis and the Impasse of the Philippine left <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
By Reihana Mohideen</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>No Viable Political Alternative</b></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">While Walden Bello’s resignation as Akbayan congress representative should be welcomed, it has also exposed the crisis and failure of the left and progressive movement to put forward a viable alternative to elite rule. Furthermore, it has exposed the failure of the pragmatic electoral politics of the Philippine left.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">An important question which needs to be posed is, how can the left respond to this latest political crisis and steer it in a progressive direction, so as to benefit the masa and not some faction of the ruling elite? Given that the major elite factions are unable to present a credible alternative, this provides the left with a unique opportunity, to present and win mass support for a left alternative to elite rule.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Another feature of the current crisis, however, is the political crisis of the left itself. For several decades now the left has been facing a crisis of its own, unable to develop the strategy and tactics to win mass support for a progressive alternative to the crisis-ridden system.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The left’s electoral tactics based on a ‘win at any cost’ formula, justifying the brazenly pragmatic deals with traditional politicians, has failed: from Bayan Muna's alliance with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when they were the official party list of the GMA-regime enabling them to win the largest number of seats of any left bloc in congress, to Akbayan's alliance with President Noynoy and the Liberal Party. Bayan Muna and the Makabayan bloc have not been able to surpass their approximately three million voter 'base' and break through to winning a seat in the senate. Akbayan garnered less votes in 2013 and did worse in the senate ratings, when they were part of the governing Liberal Party coalition, than in 2010.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Looming in 2016 is another potential electoral debacle for the left with some sections contemplating electoral alliances with the Binay dynasty, the ultimate <i>trapo </i>and even Duterte, a neo-fascist.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The opportunist electoral tactics of the left have been extremely damaging. It has prevented the left from effectively using the electoral arena to develop a left-progressive and anti-neoliberal political-electoral alternative in the country. It has also contributed to the demobilization of the mass movement, the lifeline of the left. It has weakened the left as an effective political force, incapable of mobilizing to the point of seriously challenging and making a dent in the system of elite politics in the country.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The left is therefore a part of the problem. It mirrors and manifests the political crisis we face today.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"><b>The Inevitable Failure of the Noynoy Regime</b></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The crisis facing the Noynoy regime has been brewing for some time now. The Napoles revelations about the pork barrel scams exposes the entire political establishment as being utterly self-serving and corrupt.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The pro-US foreign policy of the regime is exemplified by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which some have argued concedes more of our national sovereignty, than even the agreements made by the Marcos dictatorship in the establishment of US bases.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The Mamasapano debacle further exposes the extent of US intervention in our national affairs under the guise of the "war on terror", with the compliance of Malacanang, leading to an all out war situation in Mindanao. It may have effectively derailed the passage of the BBL and any possibility of an interim peace in Mindanao.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">While demanding that the President is held accountable, we should also demand that the Akbayan leaders in cabinet be held accountable and speak the truth!</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Adding to this we have the climate crisis and various issues relating to the inadequacy of the government’s disaster response, massive unemployment, especially mass youth unemployment, the infrastructure and the energy crisis and the long-term critical problems facing the run-down public education (now K12) and health systems.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Laments about the Philippines being the “basket case” of Asia meanwhile reflects the desperate poverty, hunger, malnutrition and homelessness that destroy an increasing number of the population.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">When elected, many predicted that there would be a political crisis at some stage during the Aquino presidency. This regime is a typical post-Edsa-type regime: committed to neoliberalism and unable and unwilling to take on the dynasties which control the political system. The underlying problems of the system are simply perpetuated under the Aquino government. From the very beginning the competency of the Presidency, now revealed for its bungling and ineffectuality, was also in doubt. The demobilization of the mass movement, partly due to Akabayan’s coalition with the governing party, could have been a factor that staved off the crisis well into the President’s second term.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Mamasapano is the latest in a string of issues around which this regime has lost mass support. Mamasapano is not only a failure of leadership. It’s also an indication of the depth of the crisis of the entire socio-economic and political system of Philippine capitalism. It once again demonstrates that no pro-elite, pro-capitalist regime in this country is able to provide any long-lasting solutions, or even put in place the first and necessary steps, to address the Bangsamoro quest for self-determination.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The failure of the Noynoy regime in this instance has also created a dangerous situation with the far right now on the offensive. This is a reminder to us that if the left cannot provide an alternative, there are others, such as the far right, who are waiting in the wings to seize the opportunity to do so.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"><b>The Left at an Impasse</b></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The situation facing the left today is grim: a smaller and diminishing organized base; a demobilized mass movement; and no prospects of any significant electoral support in the lead-up to the 2016 elections. The left, in its current position, is unable to advance an alternative in the face of the political crisis facing the Noynoy regime and the elite opposition. The left is at an impasse.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">How can we break through this impasse is the key question. There are no obvious and easy solutions. It will require a tremendous amount of political will and collective effort. It will require a far-reaching renewal, a transformation, of the left. It will require the formation of a new left political centre.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">This will involve ongoing discussion and an honest assessment of the problems we face. It will mean being prepared to get rid of formulaic ways of conducting political work and activity. It will require a completely non-sectarian political outlook. We need to relearn and learn new ways of conducting political activity, new forms of campaigning and being prepared to test things out. We have to be able to reach out to newly radicalizing forces and foster and encourage the growth of new movements. This is a very different approach to raiding them when they emerge and carving them up between various left factions. We have to conduct intensive and sustained awareness raising and educational activities, different types of propaganda activities. We will have to make a big push back to the streets, real mobilizations of those beyond our own base and the NGO funder-driven stunts that pass for “mobilizations" of the left today.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Key elements of an alternative politics have to necessarily:</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">1. Challenge the control of the clans/dynasties/oligarchy over our political system and the dictates of economic neoliberalism,</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">2. Place the revival of mass struggles and the movements at the heart and centre, such that they can pose a serious challenge and become a counterweight to dynasty politics and economic neoliberalism, and</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">3. Actively use the electoral arena to propagate an alternative politics, so as to raise the issues, raise people's awareness and steer the political terrain in a progressive direction.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The broad organizational form of this new political centre could be a political-electoral coalition of the left and progressive forces.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">There are theoretical and even ideological implications, in relation to the socialist aims of our struggle, that we will need to discuss. How do we understand twenty-first century socialism in the Asian and regional context? How do we popularize socialist ideas in the Philippines today and win over a new generation to socialism? What are the transitional demands that orient an alternative politics towards socialism?</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Some of the lessons of the most advanced struggles against neoliberalism and for political alternatives today, such as those in Latin America and Greece, based on new political forces and the renewal of the left, need to continue to inspire and inform our political course.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">April 11, 2015</span></div>
</div>
Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-32225468336749276522015-05-01T15:41:00.002-07:002015-05-01T15:43:13.601-07:00Mary Jane Veloso, the Death Penalty and the "War on Drugs"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Commentary</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>On Mary Jane Veloso, the Death Penalty and the "War on Drugs"</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br />
By Reihana Mohideen</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">Mary Jane Veloso's case has raised some far-reaching questions that need to be discussed by the left and the progressive movement.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Firstly, there's the issue of the death penalty. There are approximately 77 Filipino's on death row internationally and we can be pretty certain that they are not the heads of drug cartels or the corrupt politicians who are in cahoots with them or even the sons and daughters of the elite. As in Mary Jane's case it's the small fry who are the victims -- the mules, poor women and men, desperate enough to be conned and vulnerable to being trafficked.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is not a coincidence. It's integral to the class nature of the capitalist state that serves the interest of the ruling classes, and the 'justice' system is an integral part of this state. Capitalism is also patriarchal, hence poor women, the majority of the world's poor, are victimized even more cruelly by a patriarchal state.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is why the left and progressive movement must demand the abolition of the death penalty. In the Philippines today, and the majority of countries world-wide, the 'justice system' serves the interest of the ruling classes and working people and the poor are the victims of it.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">French revolutionary Anatole France exposed the hypocrisy of the bourgeois justice system more than a hundred years ago, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. "</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Secondly, there's the problem of the global "war on drugs" campaign. After half-a-century of the "war on drugs" there is now an increasing consensus worldwide that this "war" has failed to protect people or reduce the drug trade. Instead it has increased repression and killed millions of people, built massive criminal empires and wasted billions of dollars.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Even according to the UN secretary-generals’ special envoy on HIV/Aids, to think that a drug free world can be achieved through prohibition and repression is an "illusion".</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">According to the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an international committee of human rights, legal and health specialists, and a mixed bag of others ranging from former UN Sec Gen Koffi Annan to billionaire capitalists and former heads of government:</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- The wholesale drugs market is worth more than the entire global market for cereals, wine, beer, coffee, and tobacco combined.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Markup is massive — production worth €11.5bn; wholesale worth €83bn, and customer sales €290bn, in 2005.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Fighting wars — €440m a year for those fighting along the Pakistan- Afghanistan border.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Between 2008 and 2013, users worldwide increased by 18%, to 243m — one in every 20 people.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Illegal opium production has increased from 1,000 metric tons to more than 4,000 since 1980.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Heroin prices have fallen 75% since 1990, even as purity increased.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- The drug control system is unable to cope with the new psychoactive substances being produced daily.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- Money has been diverted from health care and crime fighting.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">- HIV and other infections increased.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">They argue that it's time to prioritize people's health and welfare first.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This has implications for us in the Philippines. We know that the long arms of the drug cartels are intertwined with big-time corruption in the law enforcement agencies, the justice system and other wings of government and the elite political establishment.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">For us the first priority is a war on poverty, the best preventative measure against drugs, not the "war on drugs". A war on poverty entails a war on corruption, synonymous today with elite rule.</span></div>
</div>
Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-44188887607744540892015-04-10T23:56:00.000-07:002015-05-07T19:11:01.472-07:00Capitalism and Sport<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Commentary<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Sports is one of the very few avenues through which a handful of working class women and men can overcome the class divisions under capitalism. Mohammed Ali, to Pacquiao and Mayweather, the Williams sisters and so many other world class athletes are testimony to this. In many of these examples class, race and gender are closely intertwined.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is because sports is very big business and, especially during the past decades of neoliberal capitalism, has undergone a massive transformation through privatization. Football in Australia, for example, was a community sport, organized through local clubs until the 1980s when, due to its popularity, it also became a profitable commodity to be bought and sold by big capital. Now all the national teams are owned and run by big capitalists and every aspect of the sport is commodified. A similar transformation has taken place in cricket, in India, for example. </span>All the major basket ball teams in the Philippines are dependent on big-business backers. This is also the message in the Pacquiao and Mayweather fight: boxing, certainly at this level, is no longer a sport, but big business with lots of money at stake. </div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And as with every other commodity, women's bodies are used to promote the product. Even women's sports, like women's tennis, with the emphasis on the costumes and the camera shots focusing on women's legs and behinds, is an example of this.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The key issues in all this are the privatization ( and therefore commodification) of all sports and how to bring sports back into the control of communities, to be played for the game itself and not for profit. This also means that society -- people -- should decide how to develop sports, within a pro-people, non-sexist, non-racist culture and which sport should be encouraged and which ones phased out. And these issues will have to be discussed and debated extensively, through a process of popular participation. In the transition to an anti-capitalist, socialist and feminist society, how to redress the various aspects of bourgeois and patriarchal culture that we inherit, including in sports, will be one of the biggest challenges any movement for social transformation will face.</span></div>
</div>
Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-73871164433473133002012-05-04T06:29:00.000-07:002012-05-04T06:29:05.424-07:00Can Asia Save Global Capitalism?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Reihana Mohideen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ADB has just held its annual board meeting in Manila
accompanied by much publicity and fanfare about ‘sustainable and socially
inclusive development’. A key framework document presented is entitled <i>How Can Asia Respond to Global Economic
Crisis and Transformation</i>. The paper was prepared by a team of ADB
technocrats and other leading gurus of neoliberal economic dogma such as
Jeffrey Sachs. There are some key underlying themes that ran through the
document, reflected in the major conference sessions: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(i)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->How can Asia continue to buffer itself from the
economic crisis in the Eurozone and the US, the impact of which it has (admittedly)
weathered to-date, but whose future prospects are extremely unpredictable?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(ii)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The decline of the European and US economies
also provide ‘opportunities’ for Asia to take advantage of, i.e. to save global
capitalism and become the leading force in ‘a global economic architecture that
has been dramatically altered by the global financial crisis of 2008’. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iii)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The need to ‘mitigate’ political ‘instability’, due
to rising inequality, i.e. to have the bulk of Asia’s population, the working
class and poor, ‘buy in’ to this Asian-capitalist renaissance, through socially
‘inclusive’ and environmentally sustainable development.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The essential proposition is that there is an opportunity
for Asia to lead a newly reconstructed system of global capitalism, with some
provisos: <i>if</i> Asia doesn’t also go
down with the US and Europe in what the document describes as a “‘perfect storm
collapse”, <i>if</i> the environmental
crisis doesn’t upset the grand plan and <i>if</i>
the struggle of the masses suffering under the exploitation of neoliberalism’s
‘deepened and accelerated’ structural reforms (that the document calls for) is
held in check. And how do they get the ‘buy in’ of the masses for this new
capitalist world led by Asia? Through some vague notion of ‘social inclusion’ that
has now become the latest fad in the neoliberal capitalist development agenda.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The paper presents three possible scenarios for 2012:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(i)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--> a
recession confined to the eurozone, with the economy contracting<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
3.9% for 2012, with US economic growth slowing to 1.6% in 2012,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(ii)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->a deep recession in the eurozone that drags the
US economy into<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
technical recession, contracting 0.1% in 2012,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iii)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->a renewed global crisis where output in both the
eurozone and US fall<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
to
2009 troughs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the document in any of the three scenarios Asia’s
economic growth will fall, ranging from a drop of 0.2 to 3.7 percentage points.
The contributors admit that the impact could be far worse, as the past four
episodes of US and Eurozone recessions show an increasing impact on Asia,
including on China’s growth where GDP declined to 8.9% in the fourth quarter of
2011. And they also admit that they haven’t looked at the possibility of the
‘worst case’ scenario, to which their model simulations don’t apply – the
collapse of global financial institutions much worse than the case of the
Lehman Brothers collapse, a tumble of the Euro, a rise in Japan’s yen borrowing
rates, a big drop in China’s GDP and a ‘dramatic credit squeeze’. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how should Asia respond and prepare itself? The prescriptions
include ‘crisis prevention mechanisms’, to complement the IMF’s ‘liquidity
support facilities’. These are the IMF bail-out schemes that are wreaking havoc
in Europe and which are being used as monstrous weapons of neoliberalism to
cudgel the working classes in Greece, Spain, Portugal and the UK (to name but a
few examples) and to strip them and the welfare state bare of the last remnants
of protective cover. Is this an example of the ‘inclusive growth’ that these Asian
leaders of global capitalism envisage for us? A mechanism for ‘accelerated and
deepened structural adjustment’ is not a recipe for inclusive growth, on the
contrary it’s a menacing plan for the ‘accelerated and deepened’ exploitation
of the Asian masses. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the prescriptions for going beyond economic risk
mitigation and in pursuit of the renaissance of a global capitalism led by Asia
is what the document describes as ‘rebalancing and changing trade patterns’.
The big push is to massively increase Asian investments in Africa. Africa, we
are told (in box highlights), is the new frontier, ‘a main source of global
growth in the future’, with a ‘huge potential in minerals, agriculture, and
hydrocarbon development’ and potential for investment in infrastructure, with a
population of around 1 billion people. According to Jeffrey Sachs Africa could
absorb around $100 billion annually in
infrastructure investments and Asian investments to date (around $29 billion in
2010, according to ADB figures) should be ratcheted up in the coming years to around
$50 billion. What is essentially being proposed here, it seems, is a renewed
colonisation of poor Africa, this time, by Asian capitalism. To become a global capitalist power, after
all, cannot be achieved without the economic exploitation of the ‘peripheries’ based
on that age-old formula of exploitation of natural resources and cheap
labor – in this instance that of Africa’s.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And what are the prescriptions for socially ‘inclusive
growth’? Apart from vague formulations for developing ‘human capital’,
‘financial inclusiveness’ , and the need to ‘comprehensively reassess the
entire development paradigm’, there’s nothing especially prescriptive in the
recommendations on how to lift hundreds of millions of poor Asians out of
poverty. Even more scant are the proposals on achieving environmentally sustainable
development, although ‘natural’ disasters are identified as a significant risk
in the risk and vulnerabilities analysis of the Asian region. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately these Asian leaders of global capitalism and
their ‘experts’ continue to peddle more of the same medicine of neoliberalism,
‘accelerated and deepened’ in the years to come. The paucity of ideas is
astonishing. This great Asian-led
capitalist renaissance will be built on the blood, sweat and tears of the Asian
masses as it has been to-date, who continue to be some of the poorest and most
brutally exploited and oppressed women and men in the world today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marx predicted over 150 years ago that the bourgeoisie was
no longer revolutionary. This is the
greatest challenge faced by those attempting to renew capitalism today, Asian
style, with a socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable ‘face’. There
is no revolutionary or even reforming bourgeoisie whose interests coincide with
‘socially inclusive and sustainable development’ or which can ‘comprehensively reassess’
let alone implement, an alternative ‘development paradigm’. The bourgeoisie in
Asia is thoroughly subservient to the existing global capitalist order. In many
Asian countries its interests are completely tied to the most backward and even
semi-feudal vestiges of under-developed capitalism with its most exploitative
and oppressive features, such as the tenancy-system linked to land ownership,
and usury. It’s intent on clawing its way to the top, to some rarefied space
where the imperialist rulers reside, at the expense of destroying its own
society. To paraphrase Arundathi Roy, like a tiger that has begun to eat its
own limbs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In any case not all Asian countries are in the same boat.
There’s no Asian ‘level playing field’. The prospect of an Asian-led global
capitalism clearly entices sections in China and India, and possibly the
stronger economies in ASEAN, who might be able to better protect themselves
from the economic storms coming in from the West. But the bourgeoisie in
countries such as the Philippines are completely tied to the interests of the
US and are terrified by this new ‘global economic architecture’. Their response
has been to cling even more frantically to the coat tails of their ‘big
brother’ the US, as seen by the tensions between the Philippines and China
around the disputed Spratly Islands. While China and India may have arrived at
that stage of exporting capital to the African continent, there is little or no
possibility of capitalists from the Philippines investing in African
infrastructure any time in the foreseeable future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A fleeting look at Asian society shows how far removed we
are from this ‘socially inclusive’ capitalist <i>nirvana</i>. Young Asians today are beggared by mass unemployment.
According to latest ILO figures one in five young people in the labour force
are unemployed in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and around one in six in the
Philippines. Young women tend to be particularly disadvantaged. The gender gap
in youth unemployment was 1.1 percentage points higher for females than males
in Pakistan, 1.8 percentage points in Indonesia, 2.8 percentage points in the
Philippines and an alarming 11.7 percentage points in Sri Lanka. And youth
unemployment could continue to rise in 2012. As for those working, an estimated
666 million workers in Asia and the Pacific (or two in five of the region’s
workers) are estimated to be living on less than US$2 per day. The highest
working poverty rates were in South Asia at more than 67 per cent. The
situation could continue to deteriorate in 2012. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only agency that is capable of ‘comprehensively
reassessing’ the existing capitalist economic ‘architecture’ and re-imagining and
reconstructing a new ‘socially inclusive and sustainable’ alternative system
are the working and poor masses of Asia, who struggle to rise up to this
challenge as they continue to fight in their millions, every day, against the
neoliberal destruction of their lives and communities. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-28172236074629437282011-11-11T16:09:00.000-08:002011-11-11T16:12:41.681-08:00Revolution as a Process: Learning the Lessons of Our Rich History<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-PH</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:enableopentypekerning/> <w:dontflipmirrorindents/> <w:overridetablestylehps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"">I was reminded by the great leader of the Cuban revolution Comrade Fidel Castro in his recent reflections that the other day, “marked the 94th anniversary of the glorious Soviet Socialist Revolution. Unforgettable pages in history were written by Russian workers, peasants and soldiers and the name of Lenin shall always be shining among men and women who dream of a just future for humankind”. Under the slogan of “all power to the Soviets” Lenin and the Bolsheviks paved the way for the first successful workers revolution in human history, when on November 7, 1917 they declared the triumph of the revolution. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif""> In making the distinction between political revolution and social revolution, Lenin described revolution as a process. Lenin wrote that “political revolution can under no circumstances whatsoever either obscure or weaken the slogan of a socialist revolution … which should not be regarded as a single act, but as a period of turbulent political and economic upheavals, the most intense class struggle, civil war, revolutions and counter-revolutions.” (Lenin, “On the Slogan for a United States of Europe”)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif""> The “revolution as a process” is what we see unfolding in Latin America today as the revolutionary governments of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia rebuild their societies for socialism of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. In Venezuela “all power to the soviets” takes the form of the struggle of the communal councils to establish themselves as centres of the class power of those who have been exploited and oppressed – the class power of the ‘wretched of the earth’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif""> The Russian Revolution was a daring attempt by the working class to win and wield power. Against all odds, Lenin and the Bolsheviks dared to put forward a revolutionary socialist alternative, which won them the support of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">masa</i> and the transfer of all power to the ‘soviets’ – the working class and the rural poor.</span></p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-PH</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:enableopentypekerning/> <w:dontflipmirrorindents/> <w:overridetablestylehps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-PH</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:enableopentypekerning/> <w:dontflipmirrorindents/> <w:overridetablestylehps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-PH;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Today we see an intensification of the class struggle on an international scale, from the Arab uprisings to the working class </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"">in the bastions of imperialist power – Europe and the United States. Today we must dare to put forward and campaign for bold alternatives, as Die Linke in Germany, the land of Marx and Rosa Luxemburg are attempting to do, when they put forward demands counterposing public property in the hands of the people against capitalist private property. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-PH;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> W</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"">e have the responsibility in educating the new forces and new generations that are now in the forefront of the class struggle in the lessons of the Russian Revolution, and as Comrade Fidel points out, “such efforts will never suffice”. The Partido Lakas ng Masa will do exactly this at the Manila Socialism Conference. </span></p>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-21401473575545737582011-06-10T22:25:00.001-07:002011-06-10T22:33:56.287-07:00European Socialist Renewal Tour, May 2011<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">NOTES</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Discussion with Hans Modrow, Honorary Chairperson of Die Linke <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place> and the last premier of the former German Democratic Republic</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Why socialism of the last century could not be sustained?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">This is also our question, which is linked to the left political project in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">In Europe we faced a divided Europe and a divided <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> the situation was the confrontation of two societies: The confrontation of two military blocs. The situation today, however, is that of one left party. The PDS was the renewed left party created by the former SED of East Germany. In 2005, the two main left movement in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">West Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the social justice movement and the electoral initiatives, merged with the PDS, to form Die Linke. The German Communist Party, the DPK, still exists in the West and did not join the merger.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">The merger initiative was primarily to create an electoral alternative. This was successful with our first run in the elections in 2005 gaining us 8.5% of the vote and in the 2009 national elections we received 11.7% of the vote. The focus was not on our convictions, but on our electoral success. This has been a problem for the European left, where many questions have not been discussed, until ‘the end’. It was not only the disappearance of the Soviet Union, but also of the strong left parties in <st1:place st="on">Europe</st1:place>. The CPs in <st1:country-region st="on">France</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">Italy</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region> are all much weaker now.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Three electoral periods since unification: 1989 onwards there we two major electoral parties – the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats -- and one smaller party, the Liberal Party which participated in various coalition governments. The second period, in the 1990s, saw the creation of the Green Party, resulting in four parties in parliament, and coalition governments between the Christian Democrats and the Liberals on one hand, and the Social Democrats and the Greens on the other. We have had both these combinations govern the country. Since 2005, neither the Christian Democrats nor the Social Democrats were able to govern this way, so we had an alliance between these two parties. Meanwhile our vote has increased from 8.7% in 2005 to 11.7% in 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">There will be new national elections in 2013 and we could see the Social Democrats in Coalition with the Greens then. The Green Party is willing to be in coalition with all of the other parties, but this is not the position of Die Linke. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">What is the role of Die Linke today? This is a big question for us. In the Eastern part of the country the party is still big, based on an understanding of socialism of the last century. These members grew up in the former GDR and were even formerly members of the SED. But we need younger people to join the party today. The average age of members in the Eastern part is 68-70. The ‘direction’ of new members, however, is between 35 to 50 years of age. This is also a problem for other West European parties, where the socialist movement is not supported by the youth. In <st1:place st="on">Western Europe</st1:place> the average age of members is 50. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">The Western part of the party is mainly created by unionists and left social democrats. In 2005 we had a membership of 75,000, with only 10% of them from the Western part. Today, we still have a membership of 75,000, but around 35% of them are those recruited from the West. Before unification the population of the GDR was 16.3 million. Today its 14 million, i.e. 2 million have left. Because of de-industrialisation of the former GDR the youth, who had no jobs, simply left. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">There was reunification in 1990, but we are still divided in 2011. Workers earn 15% to 20% less in the East than in the West. The pensions are also lower. Also the long history of anti-communism is still strong and alive in the West. In the East the failure brought out people who lived and understood socialism, from their own experience and who now understand it better. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">So how do we define common traditions? How do we define common political platforms? This is a debate for socialism of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Here we are also looking at <st1:place st="on">Latin America</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">The developments in Latin America are different to what we see in the <st1:place st="on">Middle East</st1:place> today. In <st1:place st="on">Latin America</st1:place> we have leaders, personalities, such as Hugo Chvez and Evo Morales, who are promoting socialism. There is also a strong anti-imperialist character to these struggles, unlike the uprisings in the Middle East and <st1:place st="on">North Africa</st1:place>. These uprisings have no socialist character. This is a marked difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">On the failure of socialism of the last century: It’s related to how the system and structures were created. Marx did not have the idea of ‘socialism in one country’. Socialism was to start on the basis of developed capitalist countries. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, on the other hand, was one of the least developed countries and was surrounded by capitalism after WWII. It faced many contradictions. The low efficiency in the economy, the need to develop agriculture, a single party to manage this all – the system of Stalin – today known as Stalinism. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">The <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> was the main force to fight German militarism and fascism, but after WWII it had a reduced military capacity and faced the ‘cold war’. But we also need to look at the internal factors in analysing the failure: the contradictions between democracy and socialism. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Externally imperialism succeeded with the arms race ….<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Gorbachev today declares openly that his aim was to destroy socialism and the <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>. It’s unimportant whether he new this then. The result is that he succeeded in doing this. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Socialism of the 21<sup>st</sup> century is not a model for the whole world. We need to analyse processes and draw lessons. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">The development of the GDR<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">There were two main periods of development. The first was related to the concept of the anti-fascist democratic order. The aim was to build a broadest possible alliance. The lessons for my generation was: ‘no more war’ and ‘no more fascism’. This was the basic idea, that would not be opposed in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">West Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>. When the GDR was formed the anti-fascist democratic order was the basis of the constitution, not a socialist order. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Only in 1962 did the SED decide to start the construction of socialism: a new economic system of planning and governance, greater efficiency in science and technology, modern economic planning. There was an opening up of the GDR in this period. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">We studies modern management models, not linked to the development of the <st1:place st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>. The emphasis was on economic management, even at the expense of social welfare. The slogan was for the ‘unity of the economy and the social and politics’. This was the slogan under Eric Honecker. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">We had a rate of accumulation of 21% to 22%. But the government wanted to distribute more than it was capable of doing… The economy declined and the rate of accumulation dropped to 10%.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So we went into joint ventures with overseas capital and raised loans, but we raised loans not for the economy, but for consumption. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">In the 1970s we also had a huge housing program to build new houses and solve the housing problem. We needed to make quality housing. The products were subsidised but the state had no money to do this. These inner contradictions led to the collapse in 1989-1990.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">West Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> there wasn’t a better social system, but they had more consumer products. Also, the west German currency was convertible. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">There were two main motives for the 1989 uprising: the right to travel and movement and the currency. Initially the movement put forward the idea “we are the people”. Then in January 1990 this changed to “we are one people” and the call for reunification. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">On March 18, 1990, the Christian Democrats won the elections. The people of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">East Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> had the illusion that they would keep their social standards and get new priviledges from the West. For example, in the GDR only 8% to 10% of the income went towards rent. Now its 30% and for pensioners its sometime 50%. Housing was the social responsibility of the state in the GDR. Now its given to the markets. Health was free.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">There was no collapse of the government of the GDR. The economy then was stronger than the economy in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">east Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place> today. The real collapse came with the unified currency. Overnight we were forced into a different set up. There was no period of transition. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Until the elections in March 1990, it was unclear which way things would go. Even the big powers – US, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> and France – were unclear which way it would go. When we prepared for the elections we had round table discussions with the new movements. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">NATO also existed with<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>nuclear weapons and there was a possibility of civil war. Also we had to negotiate with the countries of the ‘<st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Warsaw</st1:place></st1:city> treaty’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; ">The situation today has completely changed. The <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> is the only strong military force today, however, it does not have the same strength as it did in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. The <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> needs to look for alliances as it also feels that it’s not able to hold down a ten-year war without allies. The EU also wants to develop more and more as a military force. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s power is decreasing and it has no decisive global role to play any more. What could be emerging as a new force is the Organisation of Shanghai with <st1:country-region st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region> and <st1:place st="on">Central Asia</st1:place>. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> is also approaching this group …. <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region> is the <st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region> biggest creditor and could push the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> to bankruptcy. <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region>’s influence in Latin America and Africa is increasing, while that of the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> is decreasing. But I believe that <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s role is a defensive one. It doesn’t declare itself a superpower. I truly believe that <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region> does not want a war, so the most aggressive powers today are still the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, EU and NATO.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial">Berlin, May 20, 2011</span></p>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-24565988579292793272011-06-10T22:00:00.000-07:002011-06-10T22:15:45.616-07:00Renewing Socialist Feminism European TourThis presentation was made during a tour of Europe hosted by the Left International Forum, Sweden, in May 2011.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/57570197/Renewing-Socialist-Feminism-Today-Feminist-Forum-LATEST">Renewing Socialist Feminism May 2011.ppt</a></div>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-26326720505694965332010-10-14T19:25:00.000-07:002010-10-14T19:30:04.811-07:00China's poverty reduction gains<!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults ext="edit" spidmax="1090"> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout ext="edit"> <o:idmap ext="edit" data="1"> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">The left cannot ignore China’s poverty reduction achievements</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">By Reihana Mohideen</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">China</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">’s achievements in reducing poverty have been outstanding. From 1978 – when the restructuring of the Chinese economy began -- to 2007 the incidence of rural poverty dropped from 30.7 percent in 1978 to 1.6 percent in 2007. The biggest drop took place between 1978 and 1984 when the number of rural poor almost halved, from 250 million in 1978 to 125 million in 1985. During this period the per capita net income of farmers grew at an annual rate 16.5 percent. Urban poverty, measured by an international standard poverty line of US$1 per day, reduced from 31.5% in 1990 to 10.4% in 2005. No other third world country has achieved so much and made such a significant contribution to reducing global poverty, as China has, over this period.</span></p> <b style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Between 1978 and 2007 per capita income has increased significantly. Inflation adjusted per-capita disposable income of urban residents grew at the average annual rate of 7.2% for urban residents and at 7.1% for rural residents. While the gap between the rural and urban areas still continues (and has even increased across some development indicators), the fact remains that virtually the entire population has been able to greatly increase consumption of food, clothing and shelter. According to the United Nations “China now has largely eliminated absolute poverty and is meeting the food and clothing needs of its 1.3 billion people”. </span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">And despite the significant gaps between rural and urban areas, between richer and poor regions, migrant and other workers and the increasing class divisions, there is a degree of equalisation of income growth which even has many capitalist commentators bewildered. Higher household incomes has allowed for improvements in nutrition, clothing and housing. Examples include a significant reduction in undernourishment: in 1981 some 30% of China’s population was undernourished and this dropped to 12% by 1997; between 1990 and 2005 the prevalence of underweight children fell from 19.1% to 6.9% and stunting in children under the age of five fell from 33.4% to 10.5%. The greatest reduction in child malnutrition took place in rural China. The country’s under-five child mortality rates dropped steadily from 40 per 1000 live births in 2000 to 18.1 in 2007 – far lower than third world averages.<span style=""> </span>Maternal mortality (that directly impacts on child mortality) dropped from 53 per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 36.6 in 2007 – well below third world averages of 440 per 100,000 live births. China’s average life expectancy was 71.4 years in 2000, higher than averages for third world countries.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">These are significant gains for third world countries today and especially so given the sheer numbers of women and children that it involves given the size of China’s population. This is partly related to a massive increase in healthcare spending – total per capita spending on healthcare from all sources – government, private households social -- increased by 1300 per cent from 1978 to 2006. While the effective privatization of healthcare resulted in a massive shift in the responsibility of healthcare spending on to private households, nevertheless, even government spending increased by nearly 700%, to 7.9 times the 1978 levels, an average annual increase of 7.7%. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">There are major inequalities that continue to widen in China as a result of the<span style=""> </span>restructuring of the economy along capitalist lines. The state which was previously responsible for almost 100% of health expenditure now only contributes around 18% of total expenditure (compared to over 70% in Western Europe) and large sections of the population especially in rural areas could not afford healthcare. In an attempt to address these inequalities in 2009 the government announced major healthcare reforms, including the provision of basic health insurance cover for 90% of the population.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Class differences are widening along with income gaps. In 2006 the per capita disposable income of the richest 10 percent of families was 9 times more than the poorest 10%. The urban-rural income gap continues to widen – 2.8 to 1 in 2000 to 3.3 to 1 in 2007. The per capital GDP in Shanghai was 65,347 Yuan in 2007 compared to Guizhou at 6,835 Yuan in the west. While Shanghai and Beijing have attained levels of development closer to the industrialized countries such as Portugal, poorer provinces like Guizhou are comparable to Botswana and Namibia. Gender gaps are widening in sex ratio at birth, with the number of new born male children and numbers of female children widening over time, with no sign of declining (these trends will be analysed in future articles). Nevertheless, the fact remains that the country has made major strides in reducing poverty, on a human scale that no other third world country has achieved, and which is perhaps historically unprecedented. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Despite the restructuring of the education sector which resulted in individuals taking primary responsibility for education costs, China has made remarkable progress in its education indicators, partly due to subsequent measures to partially reverse the earlier restructuring policy. Between 1994 and 2001 less than 2% of resources came from national government, with town and township governments responsible for nearly four fifth of China’s compulsory education costs. Because local government revenues barely covered staff salaries the financial burden fell on the people who had to start paying fees, resulting in increasing drop-out rates of poor students, especially in the rural areas and poorer provinces. In a partial policy reversal the central government exempted rural students in western China (where dropout rates were high) from tuition and miscellaneous fees, and by 2007 the government had decided to waive fees for rural compulsory education throughout the country, and provide free text books and boarding expenses. In 2008 fees were waived for urban compulsory education as well. In 2005 the annual education budget was 2.5% of a vastly expanded GDP – a 60 fold increase from 7.5 billion Yuan in 1978 (around 2% of the GDP) to 453 billion Yuan in 2005.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""></span>Enrollment rates have increased – 99% at primary school level and 95% at junior middle-school – and adult literacy rates rose to over 90% in 2006, higher than the global average of 78%. The average number of years of schooling received by people 15 years and over rose from 5.3 years in 1982 to 8.5 years in 2005.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">The socialist movement, especially in the Asia region, must study and attempt to understand these developments. Simply placing China in the ‘going capitalist’ basket and ignoring developments in the country is a big mistake. Undoubtedly the gains of the great Chinese revolution of 1949 has laid the basis for these developments, including land reform that broke the back of landlordism and semi-feudal relations in the countryside (unlike in the Philippines or even India today) and which laid the basis for major strides in human development, so that when capitalist restructuring was introduced the levels of health, education and life expectancy, for example, were better than for a majority of third world countries at the time. And even today there are several third world countries who are yet to achieve the levels of development achieved by China in 1980. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><br /> </span>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-14093252707673179232010-09-14T17:48:00.000-07:002010-09-14T17:56:28.653-07:00What's wrong with the conditional cash transfer program?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="">Or three reasons to do it differently</span></b></p><b><span style=""></span></b> <span style="">The Asian Development Bank is loaning the Philippine government $400,000 million to implement it’s conditional cash transfer program, known as the </span><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program </span></i><span lang="EN-US">(4Ps). The</span><span style=""> conditional health and education cash grants will be provided to poor households by the DSWD,<span style=""> </span></span><span style="">to mothers and/orpregnant women of eligible households, who will receive the cash grants for up to 5 years subject to the eligibility criteria and compliance. Transfers are paid quarterly, directly into women beneficiaries' accounts established in the Land Bank of the Philippines. The 4Ps includes two types of transfers: one related to health and one to education.</span> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="">Poor households with children 0–14 years old and/or pregnant women are eligible for a health grant currently set at P500 per household per month (for 12 months per year). The conditionalities are: (i) all children 0–5 years old attend the health center to obtain services established by the Department of Health (DOH) according to their age, including immunizations; (ii) pregnant women attend the health center according to DOH protocol, including delivery by skilled personnel and postnatal care; (iii) children 6–14 years old comply with deworming protocol at schools; and (iv) the household grantee (mother) and/or spouse attend family development sessions at least once a month.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="">Poor households with children 6–14 years old are eligible for the education grant. The education transfer is P300 ($7) per child per month (for 10 months per year), for up to a maximum of three children. Beneficiary households will receive the education transfer for each child from 6 to 14 years of age as long as they are enrolled in primary or secondary school and maintain a class attendance rate of at least 85% every month. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Eligible households can receive both the health and education grants. The average transfer per household is estimated at 23% of the average annual household income. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">So far it sounds so good. But let’s analyze the package and the conditional cash transfer instrument further.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Firstly, this is a loan being borrowed by the government to be repaid over a twenty five year period, i.e. a debt that burdens future generations. Furthermore, this is a high interest ADB loan, a part of the ordinary capital resources loans, which charges near market interest rates. The ADB also provides Asian development fund loans, on concessional rates and grants (as opposed to loans) to developing countries. The government and it’s negotiating team should not borrow loans at market rates for such a program, but demand that the ADB provides the government with grant funding instead. If the ADB wants to assist us with our social programs and wants to strengthen the country’s social protection system, let it provide us grant funding – ‘free’ money – instead of loans, especially<span style=""> </span>non-concessional loans, that only serve to increase this country’s debt burden. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The government negotiators should stand firm on this. If the Philippines does not qualify for grants, then insist on changing the terms with the ADB and other international finance institutions.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The country’s historic national debt and the automatic debt appropriation law that sacrifices the budget to loan repayments, should make the government more circumspect. The government should apply the utmost caution in negotiating more burdensome loans.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Secondly, even the ADB admits that the “ </span><span lang="EN-US">Key causes of poverty in the Philippines include high inequality and chronic underinvestment in physical and human capital, especially health and education. As a result, the Philippines is lagging on progress in non-income MDG targets for universal primary education, maternal mortality, and access to reproductive health services.” International donor agencies are in a mild panic as they face the prospect of countries not being able to achieve the less-than-minimum millennium development goals or MDGs. They will pressure us to recklessly get into debt to borrow to try and meet these targets. But this also provides us with an opportunity – to be firm and negotiate conditions that benefit the country in the short and long run. Also, if the new President and government has political capital in the eyes of the international community, why not use this<span style=""> </span>to extract grants, rather than loans.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thirdly, these conditional cash transfers are short-term measures – essentially anti-crisis measures – to mitigate risks and negative impacts. Therefore borrowing and getting into debt for short-term impacts is short-sighted and even reckless. We need long-term solutions. This means we must increase investments, starting with the national budget, on health and education. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The government should immediately double the national budget on health and education.<span style=""> </span>The Philippines spends only around 6.4% on health as a percentage of total government expenditure, compared to our neighbour Thailand, for example, that spends 11.3%, or China with 9.9%. (UNDP 2009)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A longer-term measure is to provide universal health care and education. The problem with the poverty targeting instruments of the ADB and other IFIs is that in the name of targeting the ‘poorest of the poor’ it effectively excludes large sections of the poor (also referred to as ‘low-income’) thus depriving them of their fundamental and inalienable human right to a decent education and healthcare. Several countries in our region provide universal healthcare, such as Vietnam, which is already ahead of several of its MDG targets, Malaysia, Thailand and the two countries with the largest populations in the world, India and China. So why not us? Let us once again place this issue on the agenda – universal health care for all. <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Finally, we need to once again raise the issue of repealing the automatic debt appropriation law. This is fundamental to increasing social investments and addressing structural inequalities that prevent the poor from accessing affordable and quality health care and education. </span></p>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-65224586750255859752010-09-08T23:20:00.000-07:002010-09-08T23:25:21.864-07:00Disaster Management<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;">The Case of New Zealand, Haiti and the ‘Cuban way’</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">By Reihana Mohideen</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">Comparisons must be made between the impact of the earthquake in New Zealand and the quake that hit Haiti in January and the nature of a global system that harbors these inequalities should be exposed over and over again. Haiti – a population of around 9 million -- some 250,000 people died in the earthquake and (according to government figures) 200,000 were injured and one million were made homeless. Some eight months later disaster still grips peoples lives. Fortunately, but in a staggering contrast, no lives were lost in New Zealand, although the earthquake was of a similar magnitude (7 on the Richter scale).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">New Zealand</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">’s building codes set a world standard in seismic building regulations and are incorporated into the building codes of several countries, including the Caribbean Uniform Building Code. Haiti, on the other hand, had no known building regulations. According to a report provided to the Global Task Force on Building Codes by a member of a disaster risk management team that visited Haiti prior to the earthquake in 2009, Ha<span style="color:black;">iti</span><span style="color:black;"> reportedly has some building regulations, but they were not focused on building safety and were rarely implemented. Haitian civil engineers and architects said that any codes used for professionally designed and constructed private buildings would not be Haitian - but would depend on where that person studied (USA being most common). Donor funded buildings are usually built to a standard stipulated by the donor or by the professional in charge. The State University’s engineering curriculum did not have any substantive elements on building codes.<span style=""> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:black;" lang="EN-US">The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to earthquakes and studies have found that the country’s school children are especially vulnerable due to sub-standard building construction. Tens of thousands of people could die, in Manila alone, from an earthquake of the magnitude that hit Haiti and New Zealand. The building industry is riddled with corruption, undermining the implementation of building industry safety standards and regulations. The urban poor, who are a significant proportion of the urban population, live in hovel-like structures that are assembled with flimsy pieces of card board, wood and discarded roofing materials, easily washed away by rains and typhoons. Typhoon Ondoy that hit the country in October last year, killing thousands and displacing tens of thousands of people, gives us a terrifying preview of what an earthquake could unleash.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:black;" lang="EN-US">But the problems faced by those of us living in Third World countries in coping with disasters goes beyond the inadequacy of building regulations. The basic problem is poverty. A glance at the UN’s ranking of countries based on its Human Development Index (a measurement of education, life expectancy and income) is an indicator of the problem. Haiti’s ranking is 149 to New Zealand’s ranking of 20 (out of 182 countries). Philippines ranking is 105.<span style=""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">The massive numbers of lives lost in disasters is a direct result of poverty. The poor in the Third World are more vulnerable, including to climate-change induced disasters, than those in the industrialized countries. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">However, even a poor country can take effective measures to mitigate the loss of lives and injuries if there is political will in government to prioritize protecting the lives of its’ people. If New Zealand sets the world standard with its seismically safe buildings, then Cuba sets the world standard on how a poor country can save lives during disasters. And the Cuban example has been acknowledged and praised even by those not partial to the Cuban revolution, such as the United Nations, which identifies Cuba as a case study in disaster risk management. </span><span style="font-family:Arial;">Between 1996 and 2002, six major hurricanes hit Cuba killing 16 people out of the total 665 deaths in the affected countries. Hurricane Charlie killed four people in Cuba and 30 people in Florida. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">When Hurricane Ivan threatened Cuba, the country evacuated 1.9 million people, 17% of the population, over 15 days. All shelters were staffed with nurses, and doctors were sent to the high risk areas. Then President Fidel Castro went to the highest risk region to assist the effort. <i style="">No one was seriously injured or killed as a result of the hurricane.</i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">According to the International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the United Nations body that focuses on disaster reduction, “the Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does”. The ISDR says that Cuba is an example that the vulnerability of people can effectively be reduced with low-cost measures and strong determination. According to the ISDR the Cuban authorities are determined to implement disaster reduction policies in Cuba. “It is part of their development planning and their culture, which play a key role in saving lives and livelihoods. This illustrates the importance of a strong political will … Leaders of countries around the world have at their disposal the knowledge needed to reduce risk and vulnerability to hazards. Even poor countries are not entirely without options to mitigate or prevent the consequences of hazards. What is often lacking are concrete programs of action and the political will to implement policies and measures.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">This Cuban “political will”, however, does not emanate from particular individuals or even governments. The “Cuban way” is the logic of a society – an entire social, economic and cultural system – that places human beings and their needs as its central and fundamental priority. Cuba’s economy and society are based on socialist principles prioritizing people before imperialist <span style=""> </span>profits resulting in the highest levels of human solidarity and culture. <span style=""> </span>Haiti, in contrast to Cuba, tragically and despite it’s heroic and historic struggles against colonial slavery, has been exploited for decades by imperialism, which has intervened in it’s political affairs with impunity, supporting coups and organizing military interventions to overthrow pro-people governments, a history that we in the Philippines are familiar with as a result of our own semi-colonial relationship with and dependence on the United States.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;">The Cuban government is unique in that it has paid an equal amount of attention to the structural and physical aspects of disaster preparedness, but has also created a “culture of safety” through successful education and awareness campaigns. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;">The ISDR points to education as one of the main reasons for the low level of hurricane mortality rate in Cuba compared to its neighbors. Disaster preparedness, prevention and response are part of the general education curriculum. People in schools, universities and workplaces are continuously informed and trained to cope with natural hazards. From their early age, all Cubans are taught how to behave as hurricanes approach the island. They also have, every year, a two-day training session in risk reduction for hurricanes, complete with simulation exercises and concrete preparation actions. This facilitates the mobilization of their communities at the local level when a hurricane hits Cuba. Cuba’s </span><span style="font-family:Arial;">entire adult population is literate and therefore can access educational materials about disasters. The Cuban Red Cross, which provides teaching material, is reinforced by training courses and disaster drills for parents in the workplace, as well as by radio and television broadcasts.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;">There is an adequate road system in the country that facilitates speedy evacuation and building codes are enforced, which reduce the element of highly vulnerable substandard construction. Approximately 95 per cent of the households in the country have electricity and therefore can access information about disasters through radio and television. Most importantly the Cuban population is mobilized through a range of social, professional and political organizations in the country that provide structures that can quickly mobilize the entire population in disaster. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;">All these features of Cubas’ disaster management program are direct results of the gains of the Cuban revolution, which has created one of the most socially conscious, educated and politically organized and mobilized people in the world. We, in the Philippines, have much to learn from the “Cuban way”.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-75069943231135914742010-08-25T22:02:00.000-07:002010-08-25T22:37:33.704-07:00The Hostage Killings: When Life is Cheap<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CReihana%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Most Filipinos are shocked and angry at the outcome of the hostage taking and believe that the authorities bungled up the operations thus costing the lives of the seven tourists from Hongkong. But then most Filipinos are a compassionate people who also feel a sense of responsibility and even duty towards their fellow human beings. Unfortunately, such humane values are not emblematic of the state institutions in this country – the law enforcement agencies and other government institutions, legislative and executive.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the contrary, the experience of ordinary people is the systematic violation of their rights by these very same institutions that have a reputation for being corrupt, inefficient, anti-people and inhumane with respect to the treatment that they mete out to their ordinary citizens. Members of the law enforcement agencies, for example, are known to break the very laws that they are meant to enforce. Instead of protecting the rights and even lives of the <i style="">masa </i>they violate these rights, including peoples lives (witness the recent torture of a petty thief at the hands of the police).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Life, especially those of the poor, is ‘cheap’ in this country. Governments/institutions have abrogated their responsibility to protect poor peoples lives, as seen by the preventable loss of lives due to ‘accidents’, floods and landslides, the regular capsizing of overcrowded boats and the drowning of hundreds, the continuing extra-judicial killing of activists and journalists and the millions of lives wasted by poverty.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This cheapening and degradation of human life in this country has once again been dramatically exposed, and this time in the international arena, with the loss of lives of overseas nationals. The problem is not merely one of better training and equipment for the PNP. It's deeper and more fundamental, tied to the very nature and culture of these institutions, whose structures, internal culture and practice is not geared towards fulfilling their social and human obligations. Their internal functions and culture are in fact the very anti-thesis of anything social -- they are anti-social.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> Some governments still carry out their responsibility of protecting their citizens with a certain degree of commitment and efficiency and hence the<span style=""> </span>reaction of the Hongkong authorities to the killings of their nationals on Philippine soil. If the loss of lives were those of Filipino nationals, one cannot help but wonder if the Philippine authorities would respond in the same way – with indignation and anger at the loss of Filipino lives and doing everything in their power to protect the needs and interests of their citizens. Successive governments indifference to protecting the lives of Filipino citizens inside and outside the country -- such as that of overseas Filipino workers -- indicates that this will not be the case.
<br /></span></p> Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-64401541413775029472010-05-09T04:48:00.000-07:002010-05-09T04:51:43.662-07:00Philippines Facing Election Failure<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CReihana%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >The country faces a possible failure of elections on May 10 due to the inability of the Filipino elite to ensure a resolution to the political crisis through elections and the general incompetence of a corruption ridden, elite-controlled, weak state to conduct credible elections, above all one based on a fully automated voting system.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Only five days before the elections the major test run of the equipment has failed. In several precincts around the country, for example, votes cast for the opposition Liberal Party candidate Noynoy Aquino, were counted as votes for the candidate backed by the government party Lakas Kampi CMD’s (Christian Muslim Democrats), Gilbert Teodoro. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >In one important aspect, i.e. the public trust in the electoral commission to conduct credible elections, the elections have already failed. People are extremely distrustful of the electoral commission and its credibility is virtually in tatters. The commission is suspected of being manipulated by the president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (known as GMA in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region>) to serve her personal political interests and several commissioners are known to be in the pay of GMA. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >The prospect of a failure of elections has unnerved the elite, including the elite opposition. Various elite factions have come up with a chaotic plethora of alternatives to save the system, ranging from the postponement of elections, to a full manual count of the votes. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Arroyo, one of the most unpopular presidents in Philippine history, has faced several impeachment attempts, the wrath of a mass movement that has persistently called for her ouster and several military mutinies by junior officer opposed to her government. She has survived this all, partly due to her ability to buy-off a majority in congress through her plunder of presidential resources, while the sullen anger of the masses against the government has grown. If she no longer controls government, she will face a number of corruption and plunder charges that will see her convicted and jailed, as was the case with the former president Estrada. Therefore there’s a very strong possibility that she will manipulate the election results to hold onto power indefinitely. This could include changing the constitution to install her as a Prime Minister, thereby extending her control of government and protecting the interests of the Arroyo political dynasty.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >The failure of the May 10 elections could lead to the explosion of another political crisis. While Noynoy Aquino leading the ‘yellow forces’ has indicated his support for ‘peoples power’, there is also a question mark about the capacity of Noynoy Aquino and the Liberal Party to be able to mobilize peoples power. While Noynoy has substantial middle class support, Estrada who is the runner-up in the polls, continues to command significant support amongst the urban poor. Is there a possibility of a Noynoy-Estrada alliance? The political situation is chaotic and unpredictable. Anything seems to be a possibility at this stage.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Meanwhile election related violence continues with killings reported in various localities around the country. Many of the culprits of the Maguindanao massacre – the worst case of recent election related violence in the country in which 57 people including 32 journalists were massacred – were initially acquitted by the Justice Secretary of the Arroyo government, while one of the murderers continues to vacation in ‘jail’.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Mutinous groupings continue to exist in the military, several of them also supporting various factions of the elite. A right-wing option is also a real danger: a right-wing ‘Generals coup’, orchestrated by the ruthlessly Machiavellian Secretary of National Defense Norberto Gonzales.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US" >Ultimately it’s the deep divisions amongst the elite that drive the political crisis. The left and the mass movement are still on the sidelines, monitoring the developments, but in reactive mode. If an election failure results in triggering the masses into action, this could break open the situation for the left. A major challenge for the left continues to be its ability to force open the divisions amongst the elite. Key to this is mobilising the masses for an anti-elite resolution to the crisis i.e. sustained, nationwide, mass protests drawing the urban poor, laboring masses and the middle-classes onto the streets. This needs to be based on calls that expose the true nature of the problem – the system of elite rule – and for a transitional government based on an alliance of the most consistent anti-Arroyo forces, which has as its main responsibility the clean up of the electoral and political system through fundamental reforms, before conducting credible elections. <o:p></o:p></span></p> Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-70512732487316943002010-05-06T02:49:00.000-07:002010-05-06T02:56:15.243-07:00Military Rebels in the Philippine Elections<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >The Philippine Left and the 2010 Elections (Comment piece No. 4)</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><br />Based on an interview with well-known Marxist Francisco Nemenzo.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">An important political development in recent years as a result of the widespread opposition to the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is the radicalisation of junior officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which has drawn a new generation into progressive politics. Several military rebel groups have recently emerged. These include the Magdalo, led by Lt. Col. Antonio Trillanes, currently imprisoned by the Arroyo government and Para sa Bayan, whose key leaders are also in jail. Trillanes contested the 2007 senate elections while imprisoned, with little or no resources or publicity, and still managed to garner around 11 million votes to win a senate seat (which is the official count, so the actual vote is very likely to be higher than this). General Daniel Lim, who was recently acknowledged as the leader of the various military rebel groupings including the Magdalo and Para sa Bayan, is also running for a senate position in the May 10 elections this year, albeit from behind bars. Colonel Ariel Querebin, currently imprisoned by the Arroyo government, is also running for a senate position. Lt. SG. James Layug, recently released Magdalo leader, is running for a congress seat in Taguig (Second District).<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Francisco Nemenzo, well-known Marxist and the former President of the University of the Philippines, is active in the campaign to elect Danny Lim and is featured in television advertisements in support of Lim. In a recent letter to staff and students of the University of the Philippines, entitled ‘How I will vote’, Nemenzo explains his support for Danny Lim: “Of almost 90 contestants for 12 senatorial seats, General Danilo Lim stands out. He is not the soldier we love to hate. He exemplifies a thinking military officer who sees his job as defending the Filipino people, not protecting their oppressors. He is painfully aware of what is wrong with the military and police, but he is not one who merely growls without doing something about it. In February 2006 he made the bold decision to withdraw support from Gloria Maca¬pagal Arroyo, outraged by the revelation in the Garci tapes that soldiers were used to cheat in the 2004 elections. When Arroyo’s minions in the House of Representatives aborted the impeachment process, he realized that defiance was a patriotic act. He reminded himself that he swore allegiance to the republic, not to the incumbent President.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">“Danilo Lim is one of the few respected generals in the armed forces. His military education in West Point heightened his sense of nationalism instead of turning him into a little brown American. He earned exemplary combat record as an officer of the Scout Rangers. He was teaching mathematics in the Philippine Military Academy when he helped organize the Young Officers Union. He is a man of impeccable integrity and was never involved in human rights violation. Danny Lim would have been a strong contender for AFP chief-of-staff had he sold his soul to GMA. When it came to a crunch, he heeded the people’s clamor for the ouster of his commander-in-chief.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">“Now that Danny Lim is pursuing his advocacy for system change in the electoral arena, I shall vote for him and the three other senatorial candidates who stood for the ouster of the illegitimate president in 2006. If elected, they will symbolize our continuing struggle for a just, democratic, modernized and independent nation.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The military rebels, like the left, have been unable to put up a unified ticket. According to Nemenzo “They [the military rebels] had different origins. There seems to be a difference between the Philippine Military Academy 1990 batch and the batches after 1995. They also had different field experiences: the Scout Rangers, the Marines, the SWAG, the Air Force the regular navy, etc.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Nemenzo’s assessment is that the military rebels were “never united organizationally” but unlike the left which “was once united but split, distinct groups [amongst the military rebels] are easier to unify than former comrades.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Nemenzo is also supporting Col. Ariel Querebin, Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan leader running on the senate ticket of the Liberal Party presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino) and JV Bautista (Sanlakas and Partido Lakas ng Masa, running on the senate ticket of the former president Erap Estrada)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In his letter Nemenzo also explains his position on the electoral system: “I do not consider elections as the essence of democracy; in most instances they serve as a façade for oligarchy. I cannot even consider elections in the Philippines a “simula ng pagbabago”. Change will not come as a result of the coming elections, regardless of who wins. The colossal prob¬lems we face today are rooted the system of elite rule. For as long as this system prevails, any change will be superficial and its benefits will not trickle down to the masses.”</span></span>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-68957742715436616692010-04-07T21:28:00.000-07:002010-04-07T21:36:58.167-07:00The Philippine Left and the 2010 Elections (Comment piece Number 3)<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CKASONN%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City" downloadurl="http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText {mso-style-noshow:yes; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.MsoFootnoteReference {mso-style-noshow:yes; vertical-align:super;} /* Page Definitions */ @page {mso-footnote-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/KASONN~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") fs; mso-footnote-continuation-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/KASONN~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") fcs; mso-endnote-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/KASONN~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") es; mso-endnote-continuation-separator:url("file:///C:/DOCUME~1/KASONN~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_header.htm") ecs;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Ric Reyes for Pasig Mayor: A hallmark electoral campaign for the left</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p>Ric Reyes’<span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3965606866101272729&postID=6895774271543661669#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> </span>campaign for Mayor of Pasig was formally launched at a 5000 strong local rally on March 26. The march, the biggest to be held in that city for many years, snaked it’s way on a ‘long march’ through the working class sections of <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Pasig</st1:city></st1:place>. Ric Reyes campaign is a flag mark campaign for the left – an example of how to conduct a united, principled and effective electoral intervention. The campaign unites local mass leaders and activists of Akbayan and the Partido Lakas ng Masa, in a tactical alliance with the local ‘yellow forces’ of the Liberal Party, whose national Presidential candidate is Noynoy Aquino. The local chapter of the Magdalo, one of the political formations formed by military rebels who attempted to lead a military mutiny against Gloria Macapagal Aorroyo, are also supporting the campaign.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pasig</st1:place></st1:city>, Ric’s home town, is one of the four richest cities in Metro Manila, with a city government budget of around P5.2 billion in 2010. The city’s political institutions have been in the clutches of a local political clan, the Eusebios, for some 18 years. The clan has controlled the mayoralty of the city over that period, the position oscillating between the father Eusebio, mother and now the son, who is standing again for re-election. The political clan has controlled the Vice Mayor’s position, the entire City Council and even the heads of the local barangays – the Barangay Captain’s positions – for most of this period. The clan runs homeowners associations, interfere in the elections of the local mass organizations, such as the jeepney and tricycle drivers associations, through a combination of patronage politics and terror tactics.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Barangay Pinagbuhatan, the barangay where Ric’s campaign was launched, is controlled by a henchman of the Eusebio’s who has used terror tactics to quell any local resistance, including the liquidation of a number of local leaders. In 2004, an opposition congressional candidate, who was on his way to winning the congressional seat of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pasig</st1:place></st1:city>, was gunned down and assassinated.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Electoral results are constantly manipulated, using various tricks in the book (standard fare of electoral politics in the country) including buying ‘excess’ ballots from the National Printing Office. On one occasion the certificate of canvass filed by the local electoral commission office had a total number of votes counted, which exceeded the total number of votes cast, by thirty thousand.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">According to Ric Reyes, “The Pasig campaign is a good example of the left uniting together.<span style=""> </span>The local Liberal party also has many progressive members, who used to be with the left. Many former activists, individuals, have also come out to support the campaign.” The campaign has mobilized many new activists, with around 300 people working on the campaign on a daily basis. Even some of the local leaders of the Reaffirmists (Maoists, who reaffirm the CPP strategic line of protracted peoples war) are expressing ‘tactical support’ for the campaign. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Right from the start I made it clear to people that this is a ‘poor man’s’ campaign to oust a dynasty. A dynasty that has taken care of the local roads (which involve lucrative business contracts), but not the people in the area. The state of the hospitals in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Pasig</st1:city></st1:place> are dismal, with people even having to buy their own alcohol (disinfectant) because this is not being provided to them. The public school system is in a mess and there’s a drop-out rate of some 25% at elementary and high school. The city is also a well-known drug den and is one of the main distribution centres for drugs in Metro Manila. The first step to deal with the drug problem in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Pasig</st1:city></st1:place>, is to oust the drug lord controlling the city hall.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“As for the jobs generated by the city government, these are ‘patronage’ jobs – casual and ‘volunteers’ who are on miserable allowances of around P2000/month. In the city hall bureaucracy, there are people who have been working there for 15 to 17 years who are casuals on three month long contracts, without regular jobs.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“The Eusebios don’t only resort to physical harassment, but also demand ‘grease’ money (payment of bribes) from small businesses who need to have their licences renewed every year, for example. Many businesses, including wealthier ones in Ortigas, complain about this type of harassment as well. Stall vendors in the markets, side-walk vendors, can be thrown out and harassed. Tricycle drivers are victimized and have to pay large fines of P500 for minor violations.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The city hall’s budget meetings are held in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> and Hongkong. The Eusebios have also accumulated a massive amount of wealth through local plunder and are said to own mansions in <st1:city st="on">London</st1:city>, <st1:city st="on">San Francisco</st1:city> and <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ric Reyes campaign is called “<st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><i style="">Pasig</i></st1:place></st1:city><i style=""> Libre: Tayo ang Pagbabago</i>” (Free Pasig! We Are for Change!) The campaign will be based on house-to-house campaigning, and mobilizing the people around local issues, such as the threatened demolition of some 15,000 urban poor families living along the flood ways of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Pasig</st1:city></st1:place> river.<span style=""> </span>The campaign is also attempting to minimize the possibilities of cheating, by checking on the voters lists to make sure they are not padded with false voters and with legitimate voters excluded. The campaign committee is attempting to set up a separate organization to ensure that the voters’ lists and the counting of the ballot is secured. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <div style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span> <hr style="height: 3px;font-size:78%;" width="33%" align="left" > <!--[endif]--> <div style="" id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3965606866101272729&postID=6895774271543661669#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=";font-family:";" >[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> </span><span style=";font-size:100%;" lang="EN-AU" >Ric Reyes is a well-known leader of the revolutionary socialist movement in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He was a leader of the Rejectionist movement that left the CPP in the early 1990s, repudiating the CPP’s undemocratic party practices and their line of armed struggle, via protracted peoples war.<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> </div> Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-8517195158250859572010-03-12T05:48:00.000-08:002010-03-12T06:50:00.757-08:00CPP-NPA Permit to Campaign Fees: Fundraising or Opportunism?<div style="text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The Philippine Left and the 2010 Elections<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(A series of commentaries on left electoral tactics in the lead-up to the May 10, 2010 Philippine elections.)</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />The issue of the New Peoples Army collecting ‘permit to campaign fees’ (euphemistically named ‘revolutionary taxes’ by the CPP) from capitalist trapo politicians wanting to campaign in NPA strongholds has once again resurfaced in the lead-up to the May 2010 elections. The fees buy these trapo politicians a ‘permit to campaign’ in NPA areas. According to a February 5 Dateline news report, documents obtained from an NPA leader arrested in January this year, pegs the taxes from P30 million for a presidential candidate to P5000 for a candidate for local council. It’s a well-known ‘secret’ in the left that this practice of tax collection during elections is a lucrative source of fundraising for the CPP-NPA.</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A March 12 statement issued by the CPP (http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/releases.pl?date=100312;refer=ndfev;lang=eng) while denying that the CPP ‘simply accepts bribes to let reactionary politicians win in the election’, at the same time indirectly justifies the practice by claiming that “there are already two governments in the country, two different laws, two different systems of life. If the reactionaries want to campaign in the areas controlled by the revolutionary movement, they must recognize the revolutionary government.” Following the logic of this argument, one can justifiably also ask why a revolutionary government should allow a politician belonging to a reactionary government to campaign in its ‘sovereign territory’? Contrast the NPA practice to that of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an armed liberation movement, struggling for self-determination of the Bangsa Moro people in Mindanao. The MILF doesn’t open up its base for money to reactionary politicians during election campaigns, so why should the NPA?</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The left rhetoric of the CPP-NPA notwithstanding, this is yet another example of the opportunist electoral politics that permeates the left’s electoral tactics in this country. According to some sources several NPA fighters themselves are extremely critical of this practice. Opening up their areas compromises the security of these NPA bases, increases the vulnerability of their cadre who have to collect the money and opens up the organization to military exposure and attacks.</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-84133870081582295872010-03-12T04:08:00.000-08:002010-03-12T06:50:00.758-08:00The electoral debacle of the Philippine left<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CReihana%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-no-proof:yes;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-GB" >(A comment piece: </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">the first in a series of commentaries in the lead-up to the May 10, 2010 elections, in the </span><st1:country-region style="font-style: italic;" st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-style: italic;">.)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">While Latin America has opened up a new socialist front for the 21<sup>st</sup> century and we have the most recent victory of the united left coalition in Uruguay, the Frente Amplio (FA – Broad Front), led by a former leader of the Tupamaros Jose ‘Pepe’ Mujica, winning the Presidency in November 2009, the Philippines left, by contrast, is a tragic and even horrible spectacle going into the May 2010 elections. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">While the left is undeniably present in the electoral arena, the main tactic pursued is to vie for positions in the senate tickets of pro-capitalist <i style="">trapo</i> (<i style="">tra</i>ditional <i style="">po</i>liticians) presidential candidates who are the frontrunners in the polls, i.e. the tickets of Noynoy Aquino the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party (which is carrying an Akbayan senate candidate), Manny Villar, the presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party (which is carrying two senators for the Bayan bloc) and the previously ousted former president Joseph Estrada of<span style=""> </span>the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (which is running a Sanlakas senate candidate). The left candidates on these tickets have unequivocally thrown their support behind these presidential candidates. And the platforms of these presidential candidates have little or no resemblance to the progressive agenda that the mass movements in the Philippines have campaigned for in the last few decades – whether it be the demands of the labor movement, the urban poor, the peasant movement, the women’s movement or any of the anti-neoliberal demands raised by the mass movements throughout the decades of 1990s and 2000. At the local level the situation is even more disgusting with all the left parties without exception involved in unprincipled dealings with capitalist politicians bartering for votes and money – sometimes also known as ‘take the money and run’ tactics.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">The left is badly divided and unable to form an electoral front, to put forward an independent left position in the coming elections, during a period of deep crisis in the elite political establishment and social system. The main reason is the deep sectarianism and mistrust that divides the left. The left would rather deal with capitalist politicians – many of whom are thugs and gangsters – than deal with one another. This deep and long-running sectarian politics prevents the left from forming even a minimal alliance in the electoral arena. The left today is unable to unite effectively to support even one-single progressive candidate – from senator to local councillor. The conduct of the Philippine left in these elections is a testimony to the poisonously divisive impact of left sectarianism. It’s a tragic example of how this sectarianism completely disarms the working class and progressive movement in a period when elite rule in this country is facing the most severe crisis since the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship in the 1980s. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-9342805607736897582010-03-08T21:25:00.000-08:002010-03-08T21:27:53.164-08:00Women Dying from the Asian 'Miracle'<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">System Change a Must to Save Women’s Lives</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Despite the fanfare about Asia’s ‘miracle economies’ the problem of ‘missing women and girls’ is actually growing, according to the UNDP-sponsored 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report. These ‘missing’ girls and women are a result of the abortion of girl fetuses and women dying through sheer neglect – underfed and starved and not receiving adequate health care. The birth gender disparity is the highest in East Asia, home of the Asian ‘miracle’ economies, where 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. China and India, much touted for their economic success, account for 85 million of these 100 million ‘missing’ women. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">South Asia – which includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh – is one of the worst regions in the world (just above impoverished sub-Saharan Africa) in gender equality relating to health, education and employment for women. It has the highest women’s illiteracy levels in the world with almost half of all adult women illiterate. South Asian women are also expected to die five years earlier than men. The region has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world with 500 women dying for every 100,000 live births – these rates are higher only in sub-Saharan Africa.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Nearly half of the countries in South Asia and some 60% of the countries in the Pacific have no laws against domestic violence. In India and Pakistan fewer than 35% of women do paid work. Pay gaps between female and male wages are as high as 54%.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Asian miracle economies were built on the sweat and blood of women’s labour – the ‘nimble fingers’ in the garment and textile, electronics and other light manufacturing industries. This super-exploitation of women continues to mark the ‘economic progress’ of the emerging Asian economic ‘super-powers’, such as India and China. The message is clear: the system must be changed to ensure the basic survival of women and girls. </span></span><br /></div>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-87499182289731463692010-03-06T19:08:00.000-08:002010-03-06T19:12:19.775-08:00Renewing Socialist Feminism Today<a title="View Renewing Socialist Feminism Today on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/27947878/Renewing-Socialist-Feminism-Today" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Renewing Socialist Feminism Today</a> <object id="doc_135031784868075" name="doc_135031784868075" height="500" width="100%" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf" style="outline:none;" > <param name="movie" value="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="FlashVars" value="document_id=27947878&access_key=key-14z8ph3odw1kirt5tona&page=1&viewMode=slideshow"> <embed id="doc_135031784868075" name="doc_135031784868075" src="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=27947878&access_key=key-14z8ph3odw1kirt5tona&page=1&viewMode=slideshow" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="500" width="100%" wmode="opaque" bgcolor="#ffffff"></embed> </object>Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-24981728986826932002010-03-06T06:57:00.001-08:002010-03-06T18:12:58.914-08:00Women and Revolution: Renewing Socialist Feminism Today<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CReihana%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"></o:smarttagtype><b style=""><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:217907992; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:635609568 733376758 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-14.4pt; font-family:Symbol; color:windowtext;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:1019821202; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1847695722 201916431 201916441 201916443 201916431 201916441 201916443 201916431 201916441 201916443;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt;} @list l1:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">(These are notes from a talk delivered at a Socialist Dialogue forum in the Philippines to mark International Women's Day.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">The women’s movement, the leadership, needs to start to talk about revolution and socialism again. The movement is subsumed by ‘advocacies, i.e. negotiating, through a series of compromises, for minor reforms within the existing status quo. Major issues of system-change and anti-capitalist alternatives are hardly addressed today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Has the system delivered? For a minority, yes. For a majority of women, No! We have formal equality (anti-discrimination legislation, etc) but not real social and economic equality. The gap between women in the North and South widening. The class gap amongst women increased and continues increasing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Why does the women’s movement need to start talking about revolution/system change? Because of the conjuncture we face today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">a.<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">The system is in deep crisis.<span style=""> </span>Economic: <st1:country-region st="on">Greece</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Portugal</st1:place></st1:country-region> show the deep cracks, poverty is increasing. Socially: health, education, environment and human survival under threat. It’s not the time to play around the edges of the system. Now’s the time to challenge it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">b.<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Because we are witnessing the renewal of socialism in Latin America -- in <st1:country-region st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">Bolivia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Cuba</st1:place></st1:country-region> continues.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">In the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region> poor children die at three times the rate of the children of the rich, according to latest UN data. Under-five mortality rates are 66 child deaths to every 1000 live births amongst the poor, compared to 21 child deaths to every 1000 births amongst the rich. The largest wealth disparity for under-five mortality rates is in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region>, compared to any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. Child mortality is linked to the health and welfare of the mothers. Maternal mortality rates in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region> show little or no improvement and are unlikely to meet even the ‘less than minimum’ Millennium Development Goals. If there is one single reason that we need a comprehensive, modern reproductive health bill and RH program meeting international best standards and practice, this is it. A reproductive health program, which is free and accessible to poor women, which gives mothers a range of choices and educates them about these choices, saves poor children’s lives.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Also in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philippines</st1:place></st1:country-region>, we have supposedly progressed on gender and governance issues: we elect women presidents and have one of the highest proportions of women in Congress, compared to other countries in the region.<span style=""> </span>And yet this has not translated into concrete gains for a majority of working and poor women. The system of elite rule that exploits and oppresses working and poor women is still in place. Women have entered the ‘masters house’ – Congress and government – but instead of throwing out the master, bringing down his house and building a new home for all, these women represent the master’s interests, i.e. the patriarchal system of elite rule. So the issue is not merely one of women’s participation, but one of genuine representation – in whose political social and economic interests, do these women govern?
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">There is (and never has been) an artificial divide between women’s issues and other issues. Every issue today, big and small, is a women’s issue. Poverty and the economic crisis, job losses and contractualization, health care and reproductive health, education, oil prices, corruption, governance, the illegitimate debt, war, militarism, violence, climate change and the environmental crisis – these are all women’s issues. After all, women are the ones who tend to be the hardest hit by these issues -- from the economic crisis, during which a majority of workers laid off in industries such as electronics are women, to climate-change induced disasters such as flooding, where the casualty rates tend to be higher for women and children.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">So how society is organized and in whose interests? Who controls the political system? Who runs the economy?<span style=""> </span>These are all issues that are extremely important to women. These are, in fact, life and death issues for women.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Socialist feminism in its broadest sense is an inclusive project.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -14.4pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">All socialist feminists would see class as central to women’s lives and women’s oppression. Some of us would see class as fundamental from the point of view of explaining the historical origins of women’s oppression, for example. Others refuse to give primacy to any one factor over the other.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -14.4pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Women’s oppression, however, is not <i>simply</i> <i>reduced</i> to economic exploitation, i.e. the extraction of surplus value. This also applies to national/ethnic or racial oppression.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -14.4pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">All these aspects of society are inextricably linked, i.e. class is always gendered and ‘raced’.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -14.4pt; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">We also need to focus on the inter-relationship between reproductive unpaid labor, paid labor and capital, and not so much on the separation of these categories, as we have done in the past. Capital, wants the lowest possible necessary labor. But, capital would like to expand -- unpaid necessary labor. While capital does not pay for this reproductive labor, it benefits by it. The more work that is done free in the household, the less the wage has to be. As the purchaser of labor power, capital gains from the unpaid labor of women within the household. And the more capital drives down wages and intensifies the workday for wage-laborers, the greater the burden placed on the household to maintain workers.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Women need to make a breach in the system of elite/capitalist rule. We need to link our immediate demands to system change and an end to elite rule. We need to have the perspective of mobilizing masses of women, not just our own base, but hundreds of thousands, to make a breach in the system. </span><st1:place style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" st="on">Latin America</st1:place><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> shows us that this can be done.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-87649926667539369402010-01-30T01:48:00.000-08:002010-01-30T01:53:39.258-08:00Sleeping with the Enemy?<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hillary Clinton, the Taliban and Gender Politics</span><br /></span><br />“You don’t make peace with your friends. You make peace with your enemies.”, declared Hillary Clinton in a CNN interview, as she justified NATO efforts to bribe Taliban fighters into laying down their arms, with a brazenness that would have made Machiavelli blush. Clinton was referring to the $140 million ‘Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund’ announced at the International Conference on Afghanistan hosted by the British government on January 28 this year.<br /><br />The fund is supposedly targeted at buying off ‘mid-level leaders’ of the Taliban. What’s actually on the agenda, however, is negotiations with the top Taliban leadership to draw them back into government in a possible ‘power-sharing arrangement’ with the government of Hamid Karzai. The UN Mission head in Afghanistan, for instance, had meetings with the leadership of the Taliban in the days leading up to the Conference and Hillary Clinton had been briefed about these negotiations beforehand.<br /><br />Attempts by the US and NATO to have negotiations with the Taliban are, of course, not new. The fact that such negotiations have been taking place for several years now, has been an open ‘secret’ in government, NATO and UN circles in Kabul. What should not pass without comment, however, is that Hillary Clinton, who also promotes herself as an advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, is now leading the implementation of this strategy.<br /><br />Lest we forget, the symbol of the ‘liberation’ of Afghanistan by US and NATO troops, were happy images of chador-less Afghan women. The NATO invasion was all about getting rid of these ‘women-hating, Al-Qaeda lovers’, was the propaganda. Gender equity was on the banner headline of the UN agencies, UNIFEM, UNDP and others, who poured in on the coat tails of the occupation forces. Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into thousands of ‘gender and development’ and ‘violence against women’ projects and programs. The NATO occupation was made synonymous with the liberation of Afghan women from the Taliban.<br /><br />So is Hillary Clinton now really sleeping with the ‘enemy’, as she describes the Taliban? Not really. Given that the US government created the Taliban in the first place, it could be a case of merely patching up a rift between former bedfellows. Whether the Taliban sees this as such, however, is an entirely different matter.<br /><br />As feminists, we must reaffirm that women’s rights can only be best guaranteed, in a genuinely sovereign Afghanistan and not under the boots of an imperialist occupation force. Hillary Clinton and the US-NATO governments attempts to draw the Taliban back into government is a case in point. This is why we need to expose the hypocrisy of an ‘establishment feminism’ that falsely speaks in our name.Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-22530288740878185122009-09-03T22:39:00.000-07:002009-09-05T06:07:20.103-07:00Defy DestinyBecoming President is Noynoy’s destiny, we are told and there have been various attempts to describe 'destiny', both in religious and secular terms. When people talk of destiny, I start to get uncomfortable. Women, after all, have been ‘destined’ to be oppressed for several thousand years now – our biology, we have been told for several thousand years, is our 'destiny'. <br /><br />As a young feminist discovering ‘herstory’ and trying to demystify the layers and layers of oppression that surrounded my life, I was quick to learn that ‘destiny’ was a mystification for the underlying patriarchal power relations which controlled my life. By mystifying these power relations, 'destiny' in fact, justified them and kept them in place. The only way to struggle for liberation was and is to challenge our ‘destiny’, which meant challenging the underlying power relations. <br /><br />Anyone born into a powerful political clan in the Philippines is ‘destined’ to rule. That’s the class system of power relations in this country. Why Noynoy and not Mar? That can be put down to what I call the ‘accidental’ factors in life. Mar, however, is still ‘destined’ to be President, by virtue of his belonging to a family with wealth and therefore power and privilege. He could still fulfill his ‘destiny’ in 2016.<br /><br />I will stick to the lessons I learned hard as a socialist-feminist. We, the oppressed and under-privileged, must challenge ‘our destiny’, or more accurately the 'destiny' that the system of elite rule imposes on us and in doing so challenge the privileged ‘destiny’ of the sons and daughters of the elite political clans. <br /><br />I am waiting for a poor, Muslim woman, to challenge and defy her destiny and be a potential winner in a Presidential election. Then we know that change is nigh and that the masa are prepared to challenge and defy their destiny. <br /><br />‘Defy your destiny’, should be our slogan for the day. And in so doing, we make it our own and collectively reshape it.Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-31430287512514564792009-08-14T02:53:00.000-07:002009-08-14T02:57:23.259-07:00The Philippine left and Cory AquinoTHE Philippine left’s reaction to the death of Cory Aquino has been intriguing.<br /> <br /> The CPP did a complete about-turn, literary recanting their previous position of Cory Aquino being a representative of the reactionary classes. The NDF statement laid the blame for the massacre of unarmed peasants at Mendiola under the Aquino administration – one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the left in the Philippines – at the feet of the “military and police [who] caused the termination of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP when they indiscriminately fired on the peasants and their urban supporters marching for land reform on January 22, 1987.”<br /> <br /> Thus a massacre became an “indiscriminate firing” and the Aquino administration was devolved of all responsibility in a stunningly hypocritical rewriting of history.<br /> <br /> As for Cory Aquino’s active support to keep the US bases in the Philippines and against moves by the senate then to remove the bases, the NDF statement has only this to say: “She was openly critical of the long running support of the US for the Marcos dictatorship in exchange for the aggrandizement of US economic interests and the continuance of the US military bases.” Not a word on her pro-US bases stance after she came to power.<br /><br /> Even those of us now well-accustomed to the CPP’s unashamed pragmatism swallowed hard while reading the NDF statement signed by top CPP leaders including Joma Sison. However, this is not the first time that history has been rewritten, especially by the CPP, to suit the various twists and turns in its political line.<br /> <br /> Partido Lakas ng Masa, on the other hand, issued a statement outlining its assessment of the main characteristics of the Cory regime. It read, in part, “Cory Aquino was the icon of the revival of pre-dictatorial ‘elite democracy’ in the country. She was the symbol of a ‘people power revolution’ which deposed the dictator Marcos but failed to institute a people’s power government. The governmental alliance that she established under her ‘revolutionary government’ quickly transformed into a government headed by elite groups previously persecuted by the Marcos dictatorship.”<br /> <br /> Most importantly, the PLM statement issued by Sonny Melencio, its chairperson, implied that what was really posed was the possibility of the left leading the anti-dictatorship movement and taking political power. “While Aquino was seen as leading the downfall of the much-hated Marcos dictatorship, it is classes and not individuals that make history. There were various factors and players at work who made the ouster of Marcos a reality. Edsa 1 itself was a confluence of a military mutiny and a people’s uprising. The build-up to Edsa 1 was a series of protests, sacrifices, and small-scale rebellion led by the Left and other progressive forces. It is unfortunate, however, that the Left which has sacrificed the most during the period of the dictatorship, ended up ‘politically isolated’ due to errors related to its strategy and tactics.”<br /> <br /> It concluded by arguing that the current crisis facing the people under the rotting carcass of the GMA regime is in fact a part of Cory’s legacy: “In a sense, Gloria Macapagal’s rise to power was a product of the limited and distorted character of Cory’s ‘revolution’”.<br /> <br /> Akbayan did not release a formal statement, but some of it’s individual leaders attempted to expose the real record of the Cory administration, such as its active opposition to the removal of US bases and the burdensome legacy of debt left to the future generations to carry, enshrined in what became known as the Cory constitution, which made the annual repayment of the Philippine debt mandatory.<br /> <br /> Some leaders of Akbayan argued that the problem was the bad advisors who surrounded Cory Aquino. Others, such as Emmanuel Hizon, argued that despite this anti-people record, the Cory administration was still seen by the people as a representative of the ideal of freedom and democracy.<br /> <br /> “Who could forget the Aquino government’s pro-US military bases stance? Who could not recall her government’s US-backed low intensity conflict and total war policy against “insurgents” which in truth harmed the masses more than its perceived enemies?”<br /> <br /> The article then went onto explain the mass support for Cory: “[T]his woman despite her regime’s numerous social and economic transgressions is so loved and cherished by a people representing three generation of Edsas. It’s not so much because she is religious, a mother-like figure to many, a glorified widow or simply a martyr; beyond the labels, our ideological flexing and the comfortable branding of pundits, Cory has been duly recognized by the people as an icon in their transition from despotism to rule of law, their struggle from tyranny towards a sense of freedom and democracy. Cory is first and foremost the representation of that ideal, of that difficult journey towards democratization, of that collective national experience.”<br /> <br /> And it continued, “She will also be remembered as a defender of that particular form of democracy, flawed and wanting it may be in so many ways, not measuring up to our Marxist concept of a democratic archetype. From people power 2 which removed an incompetent and corrupt regime up to her participation in the fight to throw out the illegitimate Arroyo regime and its sinister plan to amend the constitution, Cory will be remembered and respected as a person who despite her privileged status joined the people in their most trying and important political junctures.”<br /> <br />No Lessons Reviewed<br /><br /> What struck me most about the left analysis of Cory and the Cory years, however, was the lack of any serious assessment of the lessons that this critical period in history holds for left strategy today. In this sense the analysis has been a-historical. In most cases it hasn’t gone beyond the role of Cory as an individual or the reviewing of some facts of her administration’s record, instead of analysing and attempting to understand the lessons they hold for left strategy today. Does this mean that the left has nothing to learn from the Edsa revolution that overthrew Marcos and stabilised the system of pre-Marcos elite rule? Or is this a form of denial, a refusal to collectively look at the period head on and draw the relevant lessons for today?<br /><br /> After all the Aquino years were a 'traumatic' period for the revolutionary left, having to come to terms with its own failure in losing the leadership of the political revolution, as well as having to suffer ongoing repression with the massacre of farmers in Mendiola, as well as the assassination of leaders of the movement, Rolando Olalia and Lean Alejandro.<br /><br /> The Edsa revolution was a double-edged sword for the revolutionary left: a partial victory in building a mass movement that overthrew the dictatorship, but also a defeat of its strategy. Most importantly, today, we continue to live with the legacy of all this.<br /> <br /> I think that the left has only made a partial assessment of the Edsa revolution and its aftermath. I have always believed that a more comprehensive assessment is necessary, because it is of the utmost importance that we learn the lessons for today.<br /> <br /> As historical materialists our starting point should be that classes make history and not 'great leaders' (and not even political parties, which are the tools used by the working class in the struggle). As the PLM statement correctly points out, “While Aquino was seen as leading the downfall of the much-hated Marcos dictatorship, it is classes and not individuals that make history.” <br /> <br /> We should also internalise that Napoleonic dictum that 'Defeated armies learn well'. This is something that the Cuban revolutionaries managed to do in the aftermath of the defeat of the Moncada rebellion on July 26, 1953 (celebrated a few days ago) and then went on, a few years later, to lead a successful insurrection resulting in the Cuban revolution in 1959.<br /><br /> I think that the Philippine left is still grappling with this and is an army that has not, as yet, learned its lessons well.<br /> <br />Some lessons and more questions<br /> <br /> Admittedly some lessons have been drawn by sections of the left and it’s important that these are summarised. While these positions are differently nuanced amongst the various political parties or blocs, the main lessons can be identified as follows:<br /> (i) The importance of the left intervening in the electoral arena, and<br />(ii) The rejection or questioning of the Maoist strategy of protracted peoples war.<br />Others have also pointed to the important role that the military plays in an insurrection or political revolution. The transitional demand for a Transitional Revolutionary Government put forward by Laban ng Masa during the height of the struggle to oust the GMA regime, was also partially referenced by the government of Cory Aquino which was then referred to as a ‘revolutionary government’.<br /> <br /> A key lesson of the 1986 Edsa revolution is the importance of the electoral tactic in the mobilisation of the masses and the capture of government and political power. The CPP’s ultra-left, electoral boycott tactic was a fatal error leading to the isolation of the left and the victory of the elite over the anti-dictatorship upsurge. If the CPP had fully participated in the election campaign and used the electoral tactic to the fullest extent possible, to mobilise the masses, the outcome of the Edsa revolution would have been different. Cory and the elite forces’ victory in February could have been followed by a revolutionary October, as the CPP Chair Jose Maria Sison, then promised. This never came to pass and instead we experienced a period of decline of the revolutionary movement.<br /> <br /> The left learned this lesson hard and through the 1990s started to run its own candidates and participate in the electoral arena. However, the overall character of the left electoral intervention has been to play the electoral card in an extremely conventional way, within the boundaries set by traditional bourgeois politics, that it has become impossible to differentiate the left’s electoral campaigns from those of the trapo candidates. ‘We have to play the game’ was the justification given. And the left certainly did ‘play the game’. So much so, that the CPP’s electoral organisations were the de facto party list of choice of the GMA regime in the 2001 and 2004 elections (an assessment, quite rightly made, in the Inquirer editorial of July 27). The mobilisation of the masses is not the aim, but the winning of seats is, and by any means necessary.<br /><br /> The revolutionary movement in Latin America has once again placed the electoral tactic on the agenda. In Venezuela and Bolivia the revolutionary movement used the electoral tactic to capture government and then proceeded to extend and consolidate a revolutionary political and state power. This lesson and experience is now being extended to Nicaragua , El Salvador , Uruguay and Ecuador .<br /> <br /> The lesson for us in the Philippines is that the electoral tactic, under certain conditions, such as during an extreme crisis of elite rule and a sharp rise in the class struggle (as was the case in the period leading to the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship) can be used to mobilise the masses on a massive scale to create a major breach in the system of elite/bourgeois rule. This is a key lesson of the Edsa revolution and a lesson from the advances made by the revolutionary movements in Latin America today. However, as long as we use the electoral tactic purely within the boundaries set by trapo politicians, our political gains will be extremely limited and our movement will suffer the problems of opportunism, that so marks the left’s electoral interventions today.<br /><br /> We also need to start by asking ourselves the right questions in the process of trying to draw useful lessons. Why is it that sections of the elite have time and again been able to use populist rhetoric, to mobilise and lead the masa to serve their own interests, including in winning the leadership from the left? For me this is a key question, or maybe eventhe key question, that needs to be posed over and over again, especially during periods of crisis such as the one we face in the Philippines today. #Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-10070721143380890442009-08-02T19:26:00.000-07:002009-08-02T19:30:46.991-07:00The 1986 Edsa Revolution , Latin America Today & the Electoral TacticA key lesson of the 1986 Edsa revolution is the importance of the electoral tactic in the mobilisation of the masses and the capture of government and political power. The CPP’s ultra-left, electoral boycott tactic, was a fatal error leading to the isolation of the left and the victory of the elite over the anti-dictatorship upsurge. If the CPP had fully participated in the election campaign and used the electoral tactic to the fullest extent possible, to mobilise the masses, the outcome of the Edsa revolution would have been different. Cory and the elite forces victory in February could have been followed by a revolutionary October, as the CPP Chair Jose Maria Sison, then promised. This never came to pass and instead we experienced a period of decline of the revolutionary movement.<br /><br />The left learned this lesson hard and through the 1990s started to run its’ own candidates and participate in the electoral arena. However, the overall character of the left electoral intervention has been to play the electoral card in an extremely conventional way, within the boundaries set by traditional bourgeois politics, that it has become impossible to differentiate the left’s electoral campaigns from those of the trapo candidates. ‘We have to play the game’ was the justification given. And the left certainly did ‘play the game’. So much so, that the CPP’s electoral organisations were the defacto party list of choice of the GMA regime in the 2001 and 2004 elections (an assessment, quite rightly made, in the Inquirer editorial of July 27). The mobilisation of the masses is not the aim, but the winning of seats is, and by any means necessary.<br /><br />The revolutionary movement in Latin America has once again placed the electoral tactic on the agenda. In Venezuela and Bolivia the revolutionary movement used the electoral tactic to capture government and then proceeded to extend and consolidate a revolutionary political and state power. This lesson and experience is now being extended to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Uruguay and Ecuador.<br /><br />The lesson for us in the Philippines is that the electoral tactic, under certain conditions, such as during an extreme crisis of elite rule and a sharp rise in the class struggle (as was the case in the period leading to the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship) can be used to mobilise the masses on a massive scale to create a major breach in the system of elite/bourgeois rule. This is a key lesson of the Edsa revolution and a lesson from the advances made by the revolutionary movements in Latin America today. However, as long as we use the electoral tactic purely within the boundaries set by trapo politicians, our political gains will be extremely limited and our movement will suffer the problems of opportunism, that so marks the left’s electoral interventions today.Reihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3965606866101272729.post-64751357456293928902009-07-31T19:35:00.000-07:002009-07-31T19:42:09.468-07:00Cory Aquino's Legacy: Reviewing the LessonsThe death of Cory Aquino is now being mourned. Over the next few days we will be witnessing a media review of her legacy, which will be overwhelmingly favourable to the pro-elite, anti-Marcos opposition, that took political power, sidelining the left and the mass movement. Cory Aquino has been described as the icon of Philippines democracy. We would like to qualify this to state that she was/is an icon of elite democracy and this is an important qualification.<br /><br />It's also important that the left, the Marxist left, re-asserts it's own assessment of the Aquino years and the Aquino legacy.<br /><br />The Aquino years were a 'traumatic' period for the revolutionary left, having to come to terms with it's own failure in losing the leadership of the political revolution, as well as having to suffer ongoing repression with the massacre of farmers in Mendiola, as well as the assassination of leaders of the movement, Rolando Olalia and Lean Alejandro.<br /><br />The Edsa revolution was a double-edged sword for the revolutionary left: a partial victory in building a mass movement that overthrew the dictatorship, but also a defeat of it's strategy. Most importantly, today, we continue to live with the legacy of all this.<br /><br />I think that the left has only made a partial assessment of the Edsa revolution and it's aftermath. I have always believed that a more comprehensive assessment is necessary, because it is of the utmost importance that we learn the lessons for today.<br /><br />As historical materialists our starting point should be that classes make history and not 'great leaders' (and not even political parties, which are the tools used by the working class in the struggle). We should also internalise that Napoleonic dictum that 'Defeated armies learn well'. This is something that the Cuban revolutionaries managed to do in the aftermath of the defeat of the Moncada rebellion on July 26, 1953 (celebrated a few days ago) and then went on, a few years later, to lead a successful insurrection resulting in the Cuban revolution in 1959.<br /><br />I think that the Philippine left is still grappling with this and is an army that has not, as yet, learned it's lessons well.<br /><br />I think the passing away of Cory Aquino reopens this whole discussion and we should roll up our sleeves and get 'stuck into it'.<br /><br />Ka Sonny Melencio is starting to write about it and we will also try and schedule a Socialist Dialogue discussion on the topic.<br />-- <br />ReihanaReihana Mohideenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458075168630822530noreply@blogger.com0