"A farewell to a tyrant and a welcome to another"

"A farewell to a tyrant and a welcome to another"

For six years of pretension and outright oppression, the Filipino people felt how the Duterte regime is as same as that of his predecessors- sworn to upheld the rotten order than breaking the shackles of interest. 

Duterte used Demagoguery tricks to deceive the masses with his phony "war on drugs", "war on terror", "Build Build Build" and even "claiming himself to be a leftist" with his "promise of change" in order to impose his tyrannical rule, terrorize the populace, centralise and monopolise corruption, reward cronies with privileges and lucrative government contracts, cultivate loyalty within the military and police, and amass enormous wealth and power. 

However, the "developments" being bragged proved to be otherwise: that liberalising policies on imports and favouring foreign direct investments with tax exemptions being babbled throughout as "developmental" while the problems of cheap labour and contractualisation are not being addressed. Even the agrarian question continues to aggravate as farmers end displaced by landgrabbers in connivance with authorities, worse, to see community cultivation activities be disrupted such as what happened in Tarlac with participants arrested. Unemployment, and Debt continues to rise no matter how authorities trying to keep people with "job fairs" with unsure job security or justifying the need for exorbitant loans as necessary for a still-developing society.

But regardless of the order's "efforts" this doesn't stop people from questioning or criticising the regime as political scandals, economic crisis, and repression aggravate tensions between Duterte and the folk. To keep the social volcano from bursting, Duterte utilized state terrorism at new levels of intensity and boldness. It is estimated that 30,000 individuals, mainly poor folks were killed by police and state-sponsored vigilantes during Duterte's "war on drugs" campaign to regulate the illegal drug trade. He continues to take pride in disregarding human rights by claiming "he values human lives than human rights" few years ago. This wave of repression also followed through Executive Order 70 (2017), which established the National Task Force (NTF)-ELCAC, along with the passage of the 2020 "Anti-Terrorism Law," making Duterte and his attack dogs targeted the opposition, particularly progressive groups, with a campaign of "red tagging," criminalization and lawfare, arrests and prolonged detention, and extrajudicial killings.

Again, the past administration showed a series of pretension and demagoguery to fool the people with promises of security and development. But from his sham "war on drugs", debt-driven "golden age of infrastructure", to that of  "war on terror" that points against the opposition, these examples showed Duterte's rule, prior to his end of term did benefit interest seekers especially that of himself, his family, and his camarilla now supporting the elected Marcos.

***

As expected, the inauguration of Bongbong Marcos as president is all but "proving" that the disgraced family is seriously geared to return to power.

By the support of its allies in the government and its diehard supporters, as well as that of fraudulent means, the regime has added 6 years of living dangerously, as shown by the regime's promise of continuing the legacy of its outgoing predecessor. Even the inaugural speech has proven that the regime trying to whitewash the dictatorship as it praises its legacy, of its so-called achievements, even telling the folk that Bongbong "shares the same dream as the ordinary Filipino" despite the fact that millions have enough of crushing taxes, low wages, high prices of commodities, and human rights violations; as well as promising that he will "get things done" despite no concrete program of action except that of "unity" and "continuity" of programs from the past administration.  

And, despite his "looking ahead" theme, it is impossible to ignore the fact that people voted for him out of nostalgia, believing he will follow in his father's footsteps in restoring order and stability at the price of democratic rights and civil liberties. Will the people, however, honestly look ahead? Perhaps yes in the sense that they call for "moving on from history," but also no in the sense that they seek a thermidor after decades of a "yellow-tainted past." Those who voted for Marcos saw their memories as the foundation for looking forward in a continuing past. They believe that restoring the pre-1986 past is preferable to seeing a corrupted future, regardless of what "critics" say- or should say they chose orderism for they prefer the "decency" and "discipline" of their youth than that of today's democracy. Ironically, the latter is the misused term as tyrants like Marcos sr. was claiming he's saving democracy to justify martial law. 

However, that same "past" would say continues to remain significant regardless of various efforts in trying to make the country geared towards the present if not the future. That as more infrastructures been built with most soon to be done, this doesn't end the ages-old poverty as those from the countryside still struggle for land and justice against the entrenched interests trying to exploit the land for their profit. Even the workers in the industrial zones, either with limited tenure, low wages, or both while its despotic managers threaten them with dismissals. This may sound contrary to the hopes brought by the new administration just like its predecessor, despite trying to placate people with "paper reforms" and "crumbs" while kowtowing to entrenched interests both local and foreign- and unsurprising if the regime would also babble words like "oligarch", "reform", "revolution", "change", or any other term meant to snare people from the growing opposition against them. 

And, like his father, who swore to uphold the order while professing to be for the people, Marcos will undoubtedly carry on his predecessor's legacy of all-out liberalisation, unrestricted borrowing, and subservience to both United States and Chinese interests. Regardless of the controversies that surround him (especially that of the US court decision involving the Marcoses), both countries recognized the result- while Marcos wants to keep existing agreements with the US particularly regarding defense and internal security, he also wants to allow China to do its brand "developmental work" in the country- which means plundering resources and disregarding sovereignty over the disputed isles in the West Philippine Sea.
It is also not surprising that as he continue to carry on his predecessor's legacy so is the clear threat to people's rights and freedoms. From institutions like the NTF-ELCAC, to that of attempts to revise history in favour of their narrative, another six years of living dangerously has clearly shown making the folk having the urge to resist. 

Whether the regime ignores reality or leaves it out in favor of their narrative with its pronouncements, the masses will have to take it with a grain of salt while continuing to seek truth from facts. Loyalists may continue to blather their comments as gospel truth two and fro through its influencers and their social media trash, but the message of "unity" to be honest may find it "catchy"- but not in their perspective. After all, the concerned folk will never yield. The sugar-coated messages and pretentious hopes, as well as the continuity of exploitation and oppression cannot stop people from carrying actions in various forms all against this scandal-filled regime.

Hold the line whatever it takes!

Hold the line whatever it takes!

By Kat Ulrike

Whether it is out of technicality or whatsoever, the motive to silence is obvious: that of stifle dissent in the name of order. 

Especially after the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered to shut down the alternative news service provider Rappler, the concerned folks find the action more than just a technical matter- but that of political. 

Why is this so? Whether the issue is foreign involvement in media or making "negative-sounding" articles and the like, the order's intervention "on the basis of technicality" cannot simply remain "technical" as the constitution prohibits foreign investors from investing in local media. However, for the administration's apologists, the issuance of a shutdown becomes more of a threat to critical-minded media outlets, as they cry conformity of all media into their distorted view claiming to be "developmental."

And, as a concerned folk would wonder, is the current order truly serious in its thermidor in the name of "unity" and "moving on"? Rappler has been critical in investigating government transactions and policies, making it popular among the critical-minded; however, how about "Bulatlat" or "Pinoy Weekly," which are facing threats to and fro whose basis is "counterinsurgency" especially towards issues like agrarian reform to that of covering protest actions and articles dealing with social action? Both did present truth, complete with information as evidences; however, as good and evil are so tied in to the truth, it makes itself what more that truth is what the order find it a hindrance to their view, a contrary to their narrative! 

But anyway, Rappler, as any other alternative media seriously adhere to seeking truth from facts, reminds of Milan Kundera, as he said: “The struggle of men against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Whether the system use technicality or by outright accusation of “promoting subversion”, the idea of silencing dissent by any means is driven by the intent to consolidate order- especially after being cornered by those who demand justice- if not change. But will the orderist keep that truth that’s historified? No! May as well omit it- and it is not surprising if they’re trying to make Damnatio Memoriae out of Rappler, or any other source orderists finding it was against their narrative. As their proliferation of information provides false sense of hope and unity to the people, a “copium” so to speak as people suddenly longing for a nostalgia as if a blueprint for a future.

"Continue Seeking Truth and Struggle in the face of Living Dangerously"

"Continue Seeking Truth and Struggle in the face of Living Dangerously"

By Kat Ulrike

Some weeks ago, this note said that the coming Marcos regime adds six years of living dangerously. And it is not surprising for the fact that not just same old policies may continue or same old personages to benefit, but also to see same old mechanisms for intensifying attacks against the people. 

By recalling the "Anti-Terrorism Act" of 2020, this gave the order the license to suppress the growing ranks of people in its struggle against oppression. Like the earlier Human Security Act of 1997, or even the Anti-Subversion Law, attacks against the people on the pretext of antiterrorism intensified as concerned folks been redtagged and thus persecuted all because of seeking justice and wanting to improve their lives and their communities. 

And such actions would say way far from the messages of "change", "unity", or any other word or phrase meant to snare people away from the truth that's oppression, exploitation, and injustice. Recently, those who struggled for land and justice in Hacienda Tinang in Tarlac were persecuted, imprisoned and placed trumped-up charges against them. Not surprising indeed- for in the eyes of the order mere participation such as in a land cultivating activity means intimidation against authority. 

So was the arrest of an environmentalist in Laguna who had been campaigning against the construction of a major hydroelectric power plant on a protected mountain range. Authorities accused Daisy Macapanpan of being an armed rebel because she campaigned against the construction of the Ahunan Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Plant on top of a mountain in Pakil, a town in Laguna. The mountain is part of the Sierra Madre range's watershed whose flora and fauna ought to be preserved as well as the range's important role as protector against typhoons. Macapanpan, whom Kiri Dalena described as a "staunch defender of the land, water, and cultural heritage" in Pakil was dragged, handcuffed, and forced inside a police vehicle despite putting up no resistance, according to witnesses. 

Recently, websites that call for radical change or merely criticize the government through their writings have been harassed by having them "shut down" with orders to justify it. They are listed as terrorist fronts or groups without hesitation. The National Security Advisor insisted the National Telecommunications Commission "do its job" in the name of counterinsurgency and antiterrorism, and in the meantime, its apologists have been relentlessly redtagging enough for its attack dogs to harass, arrest, or kill in the name of "order against terrorism." Even western-based websites that deal with human rights are being shut down as those who provide alternative media or simply criticize the regime and demand a radical change are redtagged.

Such bullshitries would say that this may be intensify this coming regime. With existing laws like the Antiterrorism Act and entities like the "National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict" (NTFELCAC) churning hysteria to and fro, then again, this adds another six years of living dangerously the actions brought against the ever-growing concerned folk whose expression of truth and the desire for change is subversion. Be it online or in actual, that seeking truth from facts, of pursuing social justice, of serving the people wholeheartedly in the face of risks, means prison or the grave in the eyes of an oppressive order pretending to be "for freedom and democracy". 

And if one of their basis is to "defend freedom" against "communist tyranny" or whatsoever as in the cold war days, then right was the late Lenin: that "Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners."

“WE STRIKE ON CORPUS CHRISTI - The English Peasant Revolt of 1381”

“WE STRIKE ON CORPUS CHRISTI -

The English Peasant Revolt of 1381”

By the “Red Star Ministry”

After the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe in the 1340's, the English ruling class was faced with a problem.  They wanted to maintain the wealth to which they had grown accustomed, but with everybody dead, the land was only capable of yielding about half of its former productivity. 

 

Downsizing their extravagant lifestyles was absolutely unthinkable, so the aristocrats turned to the peasants to subsidize their grandeur.  They held the serfs to impossible quotas based on a census taken before the plague had wiped out millions.  They brought in hired labor - a fairly new and growing class of travelling yeoman farmers - who, unsurprisingly, demanded to be paid more for all of the extra work that was expected of them.  (The job market was in their favor too, since they were in possession of the bodies, minds, and hands that the ruling class desperately needed to maintain their wealth).

When the yeomen started organizing and negotiating, the aristocracy completely freaked the fuck out.  

"Nobody wants to work anymore".

Parliament enacted its first ever labor law - a maximum wage forbidding laborers from charging more than an amount predetermined by the ruling class.  

While all this is going on, a barely adolescent King Richard II is waging the Hundred Years War with France, (a conflict inherited from his predecessor), and levying huge taxes to fund it.  After decades of intensifying corruption and oppression, the people revolted.  

The yeoman and artisan classes organized through tradesmen's guilds and used their superior knowledge of England's roads to mobilize an assault on London.  They raised an army of peasants galvanized around the liberation theology of a man named John Ball.

He preached what should have been common fucking sense for centuries: that it is ridiculous to believe that God, who had supposedly bequeathed the Earth to Man, wanted an elite few to muscle their way into exclusive ownership and control over it.  He preached an end to feudalism itself - and an egalitarian control over the means of production.

"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?"  Was their rallying cry.

"From the beginning," Ball preached. "All men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty* men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, He would have appointed who should be bond, and who free."

*[Naughty, meaning wicked].

With Wat Tyler's military leadership, and John Ball's words, they mobilized an attack on London.  They chose the Feast of Corpus Christi - a date that was known to all - as the time to strike.  But it wasn't just a memorable day on the calendar.  Corpus Christi is all about the Eucharist - a celebration of Jesus' continued presence on Earth.  The message here was not lost on its medieval audience: that God is with us, here and now - that God sides with the oppressed.  

They stormed London.  They burned records.  They killed public officials   They attacked strategic targets while leaving most of the city unharmed.

This was not about plunder.  This was a disciplined assault - and a successful one (at first).  They seized the Tower of London.  They took out most of their targets.  They cornered Richard, and got him to agree to their demands, including an abolition of the entire feudal system.

Here's where they fucked up:

With all their egalitarian theology - with all their grievances against the aristocracy, and class society itself - the people never stopped to imagine a world without monarchy.  Their plan, from the very beginning, had been to smash the aristocracy, and air their grievances before the king.

So of course, Richard betrayed them the moment that the pressure was off.  Of course, as soon as the siege was over, and the bulk of the peasant army went home, those that remained were slaughtered.

The lessons here seem obvious, but they actually aren't.  It's easy to look at this morally righteous revolt and say, "you should have gone all the way; you were so close!"

But they weren't.  They were never close.

In order to topple a power structure, you need something stronger primed, ready, and capable of taking its place.  

What would it have taken to awaken a true revolutionary consciousness of a people raised under the Divine Right of Kings?  Rallying people around regicide would have been much more difficult.  What kind of cultural revolution would it have taken to create the sort of change in thinking necessary to galvanize behind overthrowing the monarchy?  And even if they had achieved that kind of political will, and actually killed the king, what would it have taken to repel all of the lords and knights of England clamoring for power in the aftermath?  

The peasants would have had to be organized over the long term, and prepared to wage a protracted people's war.

What would it have taken to raise an army capable of repelling France, which would undoubtedly have staged an invasion, and attempted to impose feudalism on the people of England all over again?  What would it have taken to train and arm professional soldiers capable of this kind of victory?  

It's not enough to make gains.  You need to be able to defend them, and you need to do so without duplicating the institutions of your former oppressors.  

In our age, it's easy to look back and say, "Divine Right of Kings is exploitative and the rebellion failed because they were idealistic suckers," and while the Divine Right is a disgustingly exploitative doctrine, the blindspot of the Great Rising of 1381 is understandable when you consider that their lack of hatred of the monarchy was actually rooted in a concrete material need for a force capable of repelling the French, and a lack of understanding of how society could potentially be organized any other way. 

The real lesson here is how easy it is for the true nature of exploitation to hide itself in plain sight.  When there's a boot on the back of your neck, you can't see the face of the person wearing it.  You can burn tax records, and attack tax collectors, but still remain totally blind to the fact that the cause of those taxes was the war waged by the king - the very man whom you have hinged your entire movement on.

How many libertarians today look at the 20% the government takes out of their paychecks, and rally against taxes rather than the bosses' stealing the surplus value of their labor?  In socialist movements, how easily does bourgeoisie ideology bleed into decision making, or worse yet, outright revisionism if we're not careful?  

People are easily mobilized against oppressors that they can actually see.  In 1381, that was tax collectors, and aristocrats who robbed both serf and yeoman alike of the fruits of their labor.  In 2020 America, it was the police.  During the Chinese Revolution, it was landlords.

What made Mao's movement unlike the others, however, was that the anti-landlord violence he incited was geared toward a broader campaign - a prolonged effort that sought to expand public consciousness, and attack not only oppressors, but oppressive systems.

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi.  We should remember the religious awe of a downtrodden people who dared to unite under a noble, (but flawed) vision of what it meant to be free.  Jesus was, in fact, with them, as He is with us right now, and all of the oppressed around the world.

As Christian revolutionaries, we should reflect on that with reverence, but also meditate on it with humility.  That presence carries with it a dire responsibility.  God does not liberate masses of people here on Earth.

He has left that sacred task to us - all of us.

***

"Red Star Ministry" is a radical Christian Community "dedicated to the revolutionary teaching of Jesus Christ"- that of bringing the good news to the poor and oppressed. 

"On the 124th Independence Day: Independence will always born out of people's struggle"

"On the 124th Independence Day:
Independence will always born out of people's struggle"

As the Philippines commemorates its "Independence day", people knows that despite numerous messages "commemorating honour, bravery, heroism, and sacrifice" that the country continues to live in a state of repression. 

Be it because of the recent pandemic to that of the continuity of unjust policies brought by the order, that the folk remain chained to uncertainty, fear and anxiety over their lives. Recently, news about the recent arrest of Agrarian Reform advocates in Tarlac gave rise to the reality that's contrary to the government's promises of handing land to the landless; or those from Ifugao and in Mindanao with displacements due to military operations run counter to "respect" to minorities.

In truth, the Filipino folk felt violence in various forms brought by the order. With its attack dogs "empowered" through the Anti-Terrorism Act as well as agencies like the NTF-ELCAC, it becomes admissible that the folk has to "live dangerously" as bandits in uniform used a renewed "antisubversion" to target those who expressed opposition against the regime- be it those who simply tilled their land for sustenance, providing food through the community pantry, or by simply expressing opposition to the present and coming regime and its policies. 

It is not surprising that by hearing messages about celebrating the valour and heroism of the folk those who assert for land, bread, peace, and justice are the ones being put to jail or in their graves. How heroic those who did assert the way they demand an end to both intrusion from both United States and Chinese interests; of respecting the environment and of the self-determination of Moro, Cordilleran, and other National Minorities. But what the order did is by simply through a continuing past of harassment, arrest, or even death or disappearance while entrenched interests raking profits in exploiting natural resources and the people.  

And now as the coming second Marcos regime has about to begin, expect people treating this with a grain of salt no matter apologists trying their "bests" to convince that "everything is normal" the way they tell how good the Duterte regime is regardless of corruption, repression, and unjust policies and activities. Perhaps, this reminds of former President Aquino who said "you didn't die right?" in facing the families of those killed in Mamasapano some years ago- and again this resonates everyone's minds that apologists telling each and everyone that "everyone didn't die" under Duterte, what more this coming Marcos-Duterte.

Thus, this note, in commemorating Independence Day, would suggest that this event is about more than only honoring the sacrifice and valor of previous heroes, nor is it about "simply looking forward to a future" yet reality is one of reactionary continuity. What the concerned observes is a reaffirmation that the struggle for independence and self-liberation against repression and injustice continues. There will undoubtedly be individuals who ignore such ideas, but freedom is not simply about flying the flag; the struggle continues until the goal of a just, progressive, and peaceful society is realised.

JUSTICE FOR TINANG 11: THE RIGHT TO TILL IS JUST!

 JUSTICE FOR TINANG 11: THE RIGHT TO TILL IS JUST!

This note condemns the police for the recent harassment of farmers and peasant advocates in Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac. Prior to the arrest, agrarian reform advocates visited the hacienda to aid and show solidarity with the agrarian reform beneficiaries still struggling to claim the land that they've been awarded by the Department of Agrarian Reform since 1995.

However, on that sane day they conduct land clearing and cultivation activities, authorities, about 20 fully armed men showed up and put a stop to their action. A scuffle ensued until about 90 are arrested without warrant and without any clear charges nor wrongdoing.

According to Anakpawis, the farmers of Hacienda Tinang have been fighting for their land rights for almost three decades due to the concealment of Certificates of Land Ownership Awards, which classify 236 ARBs as "co-owners" of a 200-hectare plot of land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

However, former Congressman Noel Villanueva with his "Tinang Samahang Nayon Multipurpose Cooperative" opposed the said activity by claiming that the contested hacienda as theirs and not from the intended recipients. The said "cooperative" even resort to rabid anticommunist rhetoric as they condemn peasant groups and beneficiaries as that of "coddling with the enemy." One policeman who participated in the arrest justified his action claiming that the participant as a "member of the New Peoples Army."

The fact that for a long time farmers continue to remain landless, impoverished, and hungry, that the agrarian reform program of the government failed to live it's purpose as it favours that of entrenched interests. That, by seeing Villanueva, along with his "cooperative" and the police trying to disrupt a peaceful activity, such actions shows that entrenched interests- that of the landgrabbers and corrupt bureaucrats whose interests in Hacienda Tinang trumps that of the farmer and its desire to cultivate land in order to relieve escalating hunger as food prices continue to rise- and that's way far from what the Duterte administration claims "having commitment to the implementation of the agrarian reform program." Landgrabbers like Villanueva and his pseudo-cooperative, using antiinsurgency rhetoric, obviously shows the interest they're trying to assert in trying to maneuver claims in favour of theirs. 

Furthermore, the arrests of farmers and agrarian reform advocates, like all others fighting for land, freedom, and justice also shows its obvious proof that the authorities have utter disrespect to civil liberties- that of right to assembly, speech, as well as the right to till their own land, particularly that of the land awarded by the same Department of Agrarian Reform decades ago.