July 26, 2008
20:00 in the Kalabaklabakan Mountain Clinic
So, Aiyanas and I sit down at the computer together already at the end of our third week here in Kalabaklabakan. Martha has already delivered a baby, which is the subject of another blog entry, and was a great way to gain the confidence of the local women – though they are still very shy; if only we could stay here for the duration! We have learned plenty about this community which is a site of intense militarization and human rights abuses by the military due to the history of this area as a stronghold of people’s organization.
Prior to the 1990s this community had a strong organization, and the connection between the legal and underground movement was cohesive; the NPA (New People’s Army) and the armed movement has a policy of 90% community service and only 10% military struggle. This balance has a great impact on communities. Leaders in this community remember the demonstration farm, the agricultural advances, the winning of lands converted from sugar plantations to food production, the vibrant health clinic which functioned as a people’s hospital. When we look outside the window the clinic, we gaze upon fields that were once sugar production, and now feed peasant families with rice, corn, bananas, cassava, and kamote. When the community was strongly organized the community was able to win a reduction in landlord tithe from 1/3rd to 1/5th of production. For families in a sitio where hunger is commonplace, this can mean less hungry bellies.
In discussions with leaders from the peasant organization Kaugmaon, we have gotten a better sense what feudalism actually means for the lives of those who live in the Philippines countryside. One child in the neighbourhood was complaining today that he has been eating kamote (a root crop like a potato) as his only food for 3 meals each day! Even families with land to till often experience hunger because of the landlord tithes and the fast-rising food and fuel prices. Aiyanas has noticed that every week in market the price of rice rises 5 pisos per granta (~2 kg).
Early this week Mamee and Nanay led us on a 6 hour walk through the Barangay to visit a pregnant woman, the home of Imelia (snatched from her home and now a political prisoner – more later), and to cross the bridge that Bayan Muna built. Bayan Muna, a progressive congress party list, responded to the dire need of the people, and built a suspension-bridge that connects two of the sitios. This basic necessity means that children can get to the primary school by simply crossing the river, where previously it was a 3 hour walk to cross by the nearest concrete bridge! In response, Bayan Muna, a legal political agency, is a target of intense military harassment and threats, and basically unable to operate openly in the Barangay Guihulgnan. Party-list organizers have been the victims of political killings in Guihulgnan.
Peppered throughout our community integration is the steady trickle of patients that come by the clinic or that we visit on our house calls. I am having great fun seeing patients in the clinic and at home. I have several pregnant ladies in my care now, hoping that I am actually here for one of their births! There is fair amount of training the clinic CHWs with each visit, which is an excellent chance to build their skills. I am also enjoying the reciprocal challenge of diagnosing, treating, or struggling to help with machete wounds, skin infections, infertility, respiratory infections, tooth abscesses, rashes, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, and a host of troubles and complaints. I am doing a fair amount of risk assessment with the local pregnant women, as the slideshow I am posting attests, advance emergency preparation is a major concern as transportation is severely limited. I even had a chance to talk up the Barangay Capitan about more liberal use of the municipal truck for childbirth emergencies, which hopefully will do some good. See our clinic and transport slide shows.
I am thrilled and quite nervous that next week I am leading a two day basic midwifery training for local hilots and community health workers. How exciting that I have this honour, and I hope I can teach well. I am terribly excited about the chance to really talk to the hilots and learn their experiences. Hopefully, if we return in September for a few weeks, I can attend a delivery with one of the hilots – this is a goal of mine.
I will be posting a whole entry on the people’s health clinic in the days to come, so health folks, stay posted!!
Aiyanas is a hero, spending 3 to 4 hours each day lighting the fire, stoking the fire, and preparing our very simple meals; given the few choices of ingredients, Aiyanas is making the best of a difficult situation! Last night we had the pleasure of eating lechon manok (roasted chicken), freshly shot out of the trees (true fact) with Zari’s rifle and spit-roasted with fresh tanglad (lemongrass) – yum! Most nights we eat rice and a variation on squash, string beans and a weird green veggie. I have lost 12 pounds of midwifery-school flab. See our Life in Guihulgnan slide show.
Thankfully the kids are enjoying their integration at the local primary school. Sophia has 50+ kids in her class, and 1 text book for every two kids, or for some subjects, no books at all. Sophia, as usual, has a huge posse of girlfriends that she plays with at recess and after school. Billy enjoys playing basketball with the B-ball posse, but finds school less exciting. The rote copying is a bit more trying on him. See our school slide show.
An organizer from Karapatan (the human rights organization) shared with us that the militarization is closely linked to economic developments here on Negros. The first is the large number of local and foreign-controlled mining developments; the second the local landowners desire to increase sugar production to meet the new demand for biofuel as a legislated biofuel quota kicks in. Under the prevalent conditions of high-level of people’s organization, especially the strong presence of the NPA, these kinds of anti-people developments can be resisted. Hence, the first actions of the military have been to attack the progressive political organizations, especially the peasant organization, to persecute and harass those thought to be sympathizers with the NPA.
We’ll keep you posted; we hope you keep reading and supporting the struggle!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Negros Island: The Struggle for Land, Wages and Social Benefits
July 3, 2008
Geography, Economy and Social Situation
Negros has a long history of Spanish and then US colonial occupation and plunder. Yet, Negros also has a long and rich history of struggle for land, wages and social benefits.
Negros is the 4th largest island in the Philippine archipelago, with over 1,322,837 hectares of land, majority alienable and disposable agricultural land. 2/3 of the land of Negros is under private control by large landlords and local and national elites; in addition, irrigations systems necessary for productive farming are also under control of local elites.
In 2001, 56% of the land mass was given over to the sugar industry, dominant in Negros Occidental, and controlled largely through the semi-feudal ‘hacienda’ system stemming from Spanish colonialism. Semi-feudal in that most farms and haciendas are not corporate productions, or ‘capitalized farms’, but rather the hacienda system operates on a semi-feudal means of production, whereby workers and their families live on the hacienda, many owning their own tools and carabao, but yet inadequately compensated for their labour in Pesos, as opposed to pure feudalism with a crop-sharing arrangement. There is also a large pool of surplus labour, or the underemployed ‘sacadas’, who move from hacienda to hacienda selling their labour where work is available. During the ‘tiempo muerta’ or ‘dead time’ the majority of hacienda workers are forced to migrate to the urban areas or to eek out meagre livelihoods on small plots of land. The corruption and failure of the IMF/WB enforced, pro-landlord CARP program for land re-distribution is a major issue on Negros (see earlier blog posts for information on CARP).
Other products of Negros, primarily in Negros Oriental, include rice, corn, coconut, bananas, peanuts, vegetables, and fish in the coastal (as opposed to mountainous) regions. Monocrop culture enforced by the IMF/WB SAPs (structural adjustment programs) essentially eliminates a farmer’s ability to sustain their families on what they produce, and contributed to a crisis in displacement to the urban centres. In Bacolod, in Negros Occidental, there are 61 barangays, 41 are urban poor communities, with 15,000 families living in dire poverty and 4335 families living in shanties in “extreme danger zones” such as overhanging unpredictable and typhoon-frequent coastal waters. For fisher folk, environmental damage and off-shore oil exploration have had dire impacts on fishing yields, with yields dropping from 20 kg/5 hours to 3 kg/5 hours.
Mining claims currently cover 47% of the total land mass and 88% of agricultural land. In Negros Occidental Philex, a 90% Canadian owned gold mining corporation has contributed to displacement, environmental destruction, and the rapidly growing gap between the rich and the poor, the owners and the workers and peasants.
Per capita income is dropping, there is an annual 8.89% increase in hunger on Negros, and illiteracy is increasing. Many children stop schooling at grade 3 with a full 70% drop out rate by grade 6, in order to contribute to the family income through formal or informal work. It is estimated that there are 334,900 working children on Negros, 26% of these children working on haciendas.
Human Rights Situation
In these dire economic times of growing hunger, increasing poverty and massive land displacement the people’s struggle for national and social liberation strengthens, even in the face of heightened military repression.
Where in 1999 there were only two active battalions under the control of the Philippine National Police (PNP), in 2008 there are currently 2 full brigades of 4 battalions under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with additional military personnel providing assistance where necessary. The primary target of these military bases is the ‘neutralization’ of the liberation struggle of not only the New People’s Army (NPA), but also the legal struggle, including the workers and the peasants. Although these figures are currently being updated to correct 2008 numbers, since 2001 there have been 31 victims of extrajudicial killings, 4 forced disappearances, 11 political prisoners detained, 4 attempted assassinations, 5 cases of torture, 13 cases of physical assault, and over 2,000 evacuations due to military operations.
Community members report that the attempts of the community to implement co-operative farming operations, initiate health programs, increase community-controlled social programs, and to collectively raise the community from poverty and isolation, are determined by the AFP to be insurgent activities directly related to the armed liberation struggle of the NPA and result in the community having a strong military presence.
The result of this labelling is intense political harassment, death threats, false accusations, red-baiting local leaders, people’s organizations, unions, and mass organizations. But against these odds the people continue to struggle!
…More to come on the health situation and the organized people’s response in a month when we return from the rural area. For tonight, it is late, and we have a full day tomorrow!
PS: Data courtesy of our Negros hosts! Please see new links on this blog site.
Geography, Economy and Social Situation
Negros has a long history of Spanish and then US colonial occupation and plunder. Yet, Negros also has a long and rich history of struggle for land, wages and social benefits.
Negros is the 4th largest island in the Philippine archipelago, with over 1,322,837 hectares of land, majority alienable and disposable agricultural land. 2/3 of the land of Negros is under private control by large landlords and local and national elites; in addition, irrigations systems necessary for productive farming are also under control of local elites.
In 2001, 56% of the land mass was given over to the sugar industry, dominant in Negros Occidental, and controlled largely through the semi-feudal ‘hacienda’ system stemming from Spanish colonialism. Semi-feudal in that most farms and haciendas are not corporate productions, or ‘capitalized farms’, but rather the hacienda system operates on a semi-feudal means of production, whereby workers and their families live on the hacienda, many owning their own tools and carabao, but yet inadequately compensated for their labour in Pesos, as opposed to pure feudalism with a crop-sharing arrangement. There is also a large pool of surplus labour, or the underemployed ‘sacadas’, who move from hacienda to hacienda selling their labour where work is available. During the ‘tiempo muerta’ or ‘dead time’ the majority of hacienda workers are forced to migrate to the urban areas or to eek out meagre livelihoods on small plots of land. The corruption and failure of the IMF/WB enforced, pro-landlord CARP program for land re-distribution is a major issue on Negros (see earlier blog posts for information on CARP).
Other products of Negros, primarily in Negros Oriental, include rice, corn, coconut, bananas, peanuts, vegetables, and fish in the coastal (as opposed to mountainous) regions. Monocrop culture enforced by the IMF/WB SAPs (structural adjustment programs) essentially eliminates a farmer’s ability to sustain their families on what they produce, and contributed to a crisis in displacement to the urban centres. In Bacolod, in Negros Occidental, there are 61 barangays, 41 are urban poor communities, with 15,000 families living in dire poverty and 4335 families living in shanties in “extreme danger zones” such as overhanging unpredictable and typhoon-frequent coastal waters. For fisher folk, environmental damage and off-shore oil exploration have had dire impacts on fishing yields, with yields dropping from 20 kg/5 hours to 3 kg/5 hours.
Mining claims currently cover 47% of the total land mass and 88% of agricultural land. In Negros Occidental Philex, a 90% Canadian owned gold mining corporation has contributed to displacement, environmental destruction, and the rapidly growing gap between the rich and the poor, the owners and the workers and peasants.
Per capita income is dropping, there is an annual 8.89% increase in hunger on Negros, and illiteracy is increasing. Many children stop schooling at grade 3 with a full 70% drop out rate by grade 6, in order to contribute to the family income through formal or informal work. It is estimated that there are 334,900 working children on Negros, 26% of these children working on haciendas.
Human Rights Situation
In these dire economic times of growing hunger, increasing poverty and massive land displacement the people’s struggle for national and social liberation strengthens, even in the face of heightened military repression.
Where in 1999 there were only two active battalions under the control of the Philippine National Police (PNP), in 2008 there are currently 2 full brigades of 4 battalions under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with additional military personnel providing assistance where necessary. The primary target of these military bases is the ‘neutralization’ of the liberation struggle of not only the New People’s Army (NPA), but also the legal struggle, including the workers and the peasants. Although these figures are currently being updated to correct 2008 numbers, since 2001 there have been 31 victims of extrajudicial killings, 4 forced disappearances, 11 political prisoners detained, 4 attempted assassinations, 5 cases of torture, 13 cases of physical assault, and over 2,000 evacuations due to military operations.
Community members report that the attempts of the community to implement co-operative farming operations, initiate health programs, increase community-controlled social programs, and to collectively raise the community from poverty and isolation, are determined by the AFP to be insurgent activities directly related to the armed liberation struggle of the NPA and result in the community having a strong military presence.
The result of this labelling is intense political harassment, death threats, false accusations, red-baiting local leaders, people’s organizations, unions, and mass organizations. But against these odds the people continue to struggle!
…More to come on the health situation and the organized people’s response in a month when we return from the rural area. For tonight, it is late, and we have a full day tomorrow!
PS: Data courtesy of our Negros hosts! Please see new links on this blog site.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Negros Island Integration
We have now hit the two month mark, and still have so much left to accomplish! This afternoon is our formal Negros orientation and situation overview, however, we have already had such a wonderful experience in Bacolod.
For those of you who are following us on our journeys I am posting a map. Our first integration will be in Guihulngan, our second in Toboso, and our third in Sipalay, where Canadian mining firm PhilEx is active (even marked on the Sipalay tourist map, private air strip and all). Then back to Bacolod for one month, then Manila again for our final activities, pulling together our documentation, and reporting to the mass organizations in Manila.
We miss you all! Occasional pangs of homesickness that only mango-cheese icecream can allieviate!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Multisec Mob Ng Sahod, Trabajo, at Karapatan!
June 26, 2008
We participated in a 2,500 strong multisectoral mobilization. The march highlighted the immediate economic crisis: rising food, oil and electricity prices, as well as low wages, hunger and home demolitions. The rallying cry was for the ouster of GMA.
The cultural presentations and props at the rally were effective at re-creating the struggles of the masses.
Pahirap sa Masa! Patalsikin si Gloria!
We participated in a 2,500 strong multisectoral mobilization. The march highlighted the immediate economic crisis: rising food, oil and electricity prices, as well as low wages, hunger and home demolitions. The rallying cry was for the ouster of GMA.
The cultural presentations and props at the rally were effective at re-creating the struggles of the masses.
Pahirap sa Masa! Patalsikin si Gloria!
Ilitaw at Palayain Karen at Sherlyn!
June 25, 2008, the second anniversary of the forced disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn, two University of the Philippines students, accused of no more than standing on the side of the most oppressed sectors of Philippine society. Karen and Sherlyn were snatched in Bulacan, along with peasant Manuel Merino, from a rural farming community. To this day, Karen and Sherlyn have not been resurfaced, and their fate is unknown.
On this day Aiyanas and I attended a forum and protest rally at the UP, to call for the surfacing of Karen and Sherlyn, to educate the students and faculty of UP on the human rights situation in the Philippines, and to demonstrate to UP administrators and the government of the Philippines that political persecution and terrorizing of progressive forces must be stopped!
Context:
It is in the context of the daily human rights violations, of forced displacement due to military counterinsurgency and corporate plunder of natural resources, such as Canadian mining operations, that the struggle for genuine human rights, for land reform, and for national liberation arises.
Recent trends in poverty exacerbate a nation already pushed to the brink by political corruption, IMF/WB structural adjustment conditionality, WTO enforced trade liberalization, deregulation and privatization, and an intensified counter-insurgency program.
Annual average incomes have been dropping, from 145,000 Pesos in 2000 to 125,000 Pesos in 2006; this sum amounts to a National average daily income of Canadian $255 per month. 10%, or a full 1/5th of the workforce is working overseas in order to send home the vital remittances which keep the economy of the Philippines afloat.
It was in the context of the complete abdication of responsibility for the masses of Filipinos by the Gloria Macapagal Regime that UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan decided to dedicate their talents and energies towards serving the people through legal means. Sherlyn, an award-winning athlete, was the Basic Masses Integration Officer of the UP Student Council, responsible for connecting students with the lived conditions and struggles of workers and peasants, joining in pickets and actions, as well as taking students out on exposure trips to the communities and the countryside. Karen was a generous-hearted social sciences student who actively supported the struggles of the workers and peasants, and who participated in a rural exposure trip. It was on such a trip to an impoverished community to integrate with peasants, that these two bright young women were snatched by military forces and ‘disappeared’.
Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took power in 2001 following the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, there have been more than 900 extrajudicial killings, including leaders and activists from the trade-union, peasant, women, health and student sectors as well as from progressive political party lists. As the rate of the killings has decreased (but not stopped) in response to international pressure generated by grassroots and establishment human rights groups, the rate of enforced disappearances has simultaneously increased with 193 victims to date, most of them in 2006 and 2007 when international attention was most focused on the human rights situation in the Philippines. Yet, already this year there have been 13 extrajudicial killings and 1 forced disappearance!
All sectors of progressive Filipinos have felt the impact of the red-baiting, intense harassment, and political terrorism of the GMA regime. Both students and teachers alike have been targeted. On January 10, 2007, Jose Maria Sui, a 53-year-old university professor, was shot dead in his classroom on the University of Eastern Philippines North Samar campus. There have been 9 documented killings of teachers, and one teacher forcibly disappeared, according to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a legal organization of progressive teachers. Two of those victims of extrajudicial killings were members of the ACT National Congress.
There is a direct relationship between the black propaganda of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and those victims of extrajudicial killings. Jose Maria Sui was directly named in a red-baiting flier distributed on campus, and the very next week became a victim of extrajudicial killings. On the website of the AFP, progressive activists and popular organizations will be directly named as a de-facto list of political targets.
After the forum and memorial performances dedicated to Karen and Sherlyn, we piled out of the auditorium and marched to the Student Union building with the rallying cry:
“Karen at Sherlyn! Palayain!”
On this day Aiyanas and I attended a forum and protest rally at the UP, to call for the surfacing of Karen and Sherlyn, to educate the students and faculty of UP on the human rights situation in the Philippines, and to demonstrate to UP administrators and the government of the Philippines that political persecution and terrorizing of progressive forces must be stopped!
Context:
It is in the context of the daily human rights violations, of forced displacement due to military counterinsurgency and corporate plunder of natural resources, such as Canadian mining operations, that the struggle for genuine human rights, for land reform, and for national liberation arises.
Recent trends in poverty exacerbate a nation already pushed to the brink by political corruption, IMF/WB structural adjustment conditionality, WTO enforced trade liberalization, deregulation and privatization, and an intensified counter-insurgency program.
Annual average incomes have been dropping, from 145,000 Pesos in 2000 to 125,000 Pesos in 2006; this sum amounts to a National average daily income of Canadian $255 per month. 10%, or a full 1/5th of the workforce is working overseas in order to send home the vital remittances which keep the economy of the Philippines afloat.
It was in the context of the complete abdication of responsibility for the masses of Filipinos by the Gloria Macapagal Regime that UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan decided to dedicate their talents and energies towards serving the people through legal means. Sherlyn, an award-winning athlete, was the Basic Masses Integration Officer of the UP Student Council, responsible for connecting students with the lived conditions and struggles of workers and peasants, joining in pickets and actions, as well as taking students out on exposure trips to the communities and the countryside. Karen was a generous-hearted social sciences student who actively supported the struggles of the workers and peasants, and who participated in a rural exposure trip. It was on such a trip to an impoverished community to integrate with peasants, that these two bright young women were snatched by military forces and ‘disappeared’.
Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took power in 2001 following the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, there have been more than 900 extrajudicial killings, including leaders and activists from the trade-union, peasant, women, health and student sectors as well as from progressive political party lists. As the rate of the killings has decreased (but not stopped) in response to international pressure generated by grassroots and establishment human rights groups, the rate of enforced disappearances has simultaneously increased with 193 victims to date, most of them in 2006 and 2007 when international attention was most focused on the human rights situation in the Philippines. Yet, already this year there have been 13 extrajudicial killings and 1 forced disappearance!
All sectors of progressive Filipinos have felt the impact of the red-baiting, intense harassment, and political terrorism of the GMA regime. Both students and teachers alike have been targeted. On January 10, 2007, Jose Maria Sui, a 53-year-old university professor, was shot dead in his classroom on the University of Eastern Philippines North Samar campus. There have been 9 documented killings of teachers, and one teacher forcibly disappeared, according to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a legal organization of progressive teachers. Two of those victims of extrajudicial killings were members of the ACT National Congress.
There is a direct relationship between the black propaganda of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and those victims of extrajudicial killings. Jose Maria Sui was directly named in a red-baiting flier distributed on campus, and the very next week became a victim of extrajudicial killings. On the website of the AFP, progressive activists and popular organizations will be directly named as a de-facto list of political targets.
After the forum and memorial performances dedicated to Karen and Sherlyn, we piled out of the auditorium and marched to the Student Union building with the rallying cry:
“Karen at Sherlyn! Palayain!”
Monday, June 23, 2008
ILPS Reflections
Just returned to Manila after a fulfilling Third International Assembly of the International League of People’s Struggles in Hong Kong!
Naturally, it was a pleasure to connect again with comrades such as Wali from Pakistan, Raquel from Brazil, and Lyn and Richard from the USA, to deepen our understanding about their work and strengthen our connections. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to talk in depth with our US comrades about our organizing work, our successes, our challenges, and our vision; after such discussions I felt the lack of mentorship for me and Aiyanas in Vancouver. However, we are resolved to march forward, and to maintain our deepened connections in the USA.
It was lovely to share a cabin with our Indian comrades and to witness some very charming conversations between Billy and Saibaba from the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, a highly respected revolutionary leader and esteemed speaker at the conference. It was heart-warming that even though this man was expected to present at numerous workshops, and has a leadership role nationally and internationally, he is still readily willing and able to connect with a 6 year old. Of course, it left me somewhat saddened at the lack of family culture in the Left in Vancouver, outside the Kalayaan Centre, that is. The Organizing Centre’s focus on building communities of resistance will ultimately address this.
The keynote addresses on Wednesday were invigorating.
Varavara Rao, the leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, denied a travel visa to HK, was the keynote speaker via G.N. Saibaba, who presented his paper. Varavara concretely explained the inter-imperialist rivalries as a major contradiction; rivalries to be found in the breakdown of WTO negotiations, conflicts over oil and gas, the Euro threatening the hegemony of the dollar, and the ascendancy of Chinese and Russian economic and military powers.
To quote Varavara: “While these are bleak days for the world wide imperialist economy singing the songs of its dark times there are definitely songs of possibilities, of revolutionary opportunities, songs of freedom, of revolution for the most oppressed and wretched of the earth in this whirlpool of deepening crisis of imperialism.”
Varavara overviewed the vast and growing economic independent zones in India which are organized by the revolutionary forces.
Varavara concluded: "everlasting peace is only possible with the struggles that establish genuine peace, by removing exploitation of man by man”.
Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and Chairman of the ILPS, labelled as a ‘terrorist’ by the Canadian government, gave the report from the Chair.
A highlight of Professor Sison’s presentation was his clear and concise direction to launch and strengthen mass organizations; to initiate and launch mass campaigns; to take up the major concerns and disseminate the analysis and action as widely as possible. Professor Sison really hyped the practice at this Assembly, calling for forces to arise where they did not exist and strengthen where they did exist.
There was representation from Kenya in Wahu Kaara of the Kenyan Debt Relief Network. To resounding applause, Wahu remarked that “a world with justice, a world with peace, a world with human dignity, and a world where none suffer from want is here with us today!”
The workshops were rewarding. The workshop on the cause of National and Social Liberation was filled with rich learning on global history, geo-politics, and current analysis. With presentations from 8 respected leaders, including Kali Williams form the Malcom X Grassroots Movement from the US, the global overview was rewarding. The workshop on the Health Concern was an excellent opportunity to update with comrades from the health sector, and to carry on the theme of Professor Sison on the launching of new mass organizations; to present the history and progression of the Alliance for People’s Health as a case study. The conference plenary accepted our resolutions to continue the Health Now! Campaign and to promote the Health Workers’ Call for Peace and Justice. A migrant health worker’s conference in 2009 should give additional impetus to this work!
http://vcn.bc.ca/~aph
Aiyanas wants me to add that a highlight was my performance with Sophia at the cultural night. Sophia was brave, and volunteered to sing for us! She did a beautiful job, and garnered great applause, even though she forgot the final verse. The resounding applause came after I announced that this was our children’s third ILPS hosted conference!
The cultural night all around was definitely a highlight. Aiyanas had the opportunity for a deep discussion on Indian politics with Amit from the Committee for Release of Indian Political Prisoners. The rousing performances, messages of solidarity, and warm feelings of camaraderie that permeated the evening were inspirational. Not to mention Wali’s pop-star performance of an Urdu human rights song – we hope at the next ILPS conference he will be able to bring his 4-year-old daughter to co-star with him!
We leave the Third International Assembly with new friends, a renewed commitment to struggle for unity, to build our mass anti-imperialist organizations, reach out to new member organizations, build the AI united front, and further the struggle for social and economic justice.
In memory of Ka Bel…
Tuloy Ang Laban!
Long Live International Solidarity!
Naturally, it was a pleasure to connect again with comrades such as Wali from Pakistan, Raquel from Brazil, and Lyn and Richard from the USA, to deepen our understanding about their work and strengthen our connections. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to talk in depth with our US comrades about our organizing work, our successes, our challenges, and our vision; after such discussions I felt the lack of mentorship for me and Aiyanas in Vancouver. However, we are resolved to march forward, and to maintain our deepened connections in the USA.
It was lovely to share a cabin with our Indian comrades and to witness some very charming conversations between Billy and Saibaba from the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, a highly respected revolutionary leader and esteemed speaker at the conference. It was heart-warming that even though this man was expected to present at numerous workshops, and has a leadership role nationally and internationally, he is still readily willing and able to connect with a 6 year old. Of course, it left me somewhat saddened at the lack of family culture in the Left in Vancouver, outside the Kalayaan Centre, that is. The Organizing Centre’s focus on building communities of resistance will ultimately address this.
The keynote addresses on Wednesday were invigorating.
Varavara Rao, the leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, denied a travel visa to HK, was the keynote speaker via G.N. Saibaba, who presented his paper. Varavara concretely explained the inter-imperialist rivalries as a major contradiction; rivalries to be found in the breakdown of WTO negotiations, conflicts over oil and gas, the Euro threatening the hegemony of the dollar, and the ascendancy of Chinese and Russian economic and military powers.
To quote Varavara: “While these are bleak days for the world wide imperialist economy singing the songs of its dark times there are definitely songs of possibilities, of revolutionary opportunities, songs of freedom, of revolution for the most oppressed and wretched of the earth in this whirlpool of deepening crisis of imperialism.”
Varavara overviewed the vast and growing economic independent zones in India which are organized by the revolutionary forces.
Varavara concluded: "everlasting peace is only possible with the struggles that establish genuine peace, by removing exploitation of man by man”.
Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and Chairman of the ILPS, labelled as a ‘terrorist’ by the Canadian government, gave the report from the Chair.
A highlight of Professor Sison’s presentation was his clear and concise direction to launch and strengthen mass organizations; to initiate and launch mass campaigns; to take up the major concerns and disseminate the analysis and action as widely as possible. Professor Sison really hyped the practice at this Assembly, calling for forces to arise where they did not exist and strengthen where they did exist.
There was representation from Kenya in Wahu Kaara of the Kenyan Debt Relief Network. To resounding applause, Wahu remarked that “a world with justice, a world with peace, a world with human dignity, and a world where none suffer from want is here with us today!”
The workshops were rewarding. The workshop on the cause of National and Social Liberation was filled with rich learning on global history, geo-politics, and current analysis. With presentations from 8 respected leaders, including Kali Williams form the Malcom X Grassroots Movement from the US, the global overview was rewarding. The workshop on the Health Concern was an excellent opportunity to update with comrades from the health sector, and to carry on the theme of Professor Sison on the launching of new mass organizations; to present the history and progression of the Alliance for People’s Health as a case study. The conference plenary accepted our resolutions to continue the Health Now! Campaign and to promote the Health Workers’ Call for Peace and Justice. A migrant health worker’s conference in 2009 should give additional impetus to this work!
http://vcn.bc.ca/~aph
Aiyanas wants me to add that a highlight was my performance with Sophia at the cultural night. Sophia was brave, and volunteered to sing for us! She did a beautiful job, and garnered great applause, even though she forgot the final verse. The resounding applause came after I announced that this was our children’s third ILPS hosted conference!
The cultural night all around was definitely a highlight. Aiyanas had the opportunity for a deep discussion on Indian politics with Amit from the Committee for Release of Indian Political Prisoners. The rousing performances, messages of solidarity, and warm feelings of camaraderie that permeated the evening were inspirational. Not to mention Wali’s pop-star performance of an Urdu human rights song – we hope at the next ILPS conference he will be able to bring his 4-year-old daughter to co-star with him!
We leave the Third International Assembly with new friends, a renewed commitment to struggle for unity, to build our mass anti-imperialist organizations, reach out to new member organizations, build the AI united front, and further the struggle for social and economic justice.
In memory of Ka Bel…
Tuloy Ang Laban!
Long Live International Solidarity!
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