Fighting for the Working Classes
means Nation Building for the opressed masses
By Kat Ulrike
For more than a century, Filipino workers, like all other working classes and toiling masses around the world, have continued to battle for their rights and ambitions in the face of unbearable conditions caused by the unparalleled global crisis and unjust policies imposed by interest-seekers. With its legitimate calls and in the face of various injustices, these labourers' hearts and minds have been strengthened by the desire to wage revolution and create a just society.
Especially in light of this continuing past wherein joblessness, unjust wages, illegal labour conditions, and workplace exploitation, workers have been forced to accept that profit-hungry multinationals and despotic oligarchs are in a "rat race" to accumulate more profits at the expense of the workers.
In addition, the imposition of unfair trade and investment liberalisation agreements to developing and underdeveloped countries allowed multinational exploiters in collusion with local counterparts to aggressively develop and exploit labour power through repression of wages, unjust working conditions, and suppression of rights. Policies like neoliberalism, deregulation, privatisation, and commercialization have been primarily directed against the working masses whose social, economic, and even political rights have been maimed to maximise surplus value from their labour power.
Even though the order's supporters deny this and talk about how workers are "contributors" in "shaping Philippines into a thriving and dynamic society" and how resilient they are, is this really their "support for the working masses" when their unjust policies subject the workers they praise to constant attacks, wages that are well below living standards, attacks on unions and other organisations, and silencing of those who demand the right to organise, speech, and express themselves using "insurgency" as its justification? Even with their generous earnings, they are unable to make ends meet, and unemployment has persisted despite government pledges to create jobs and provide "opportunities" that would help the working class. Even Labour laws being bragged by the authorities for "protecting workers" also been amended to favour the exploiter- subjecting workers to prolonged working hours, unpaid overtime, compressed work weeks, contractualisation, and other worse working conditions.
Bullshitries like those from the order, along with declining living conditions and a dramatic, unabated increase in the cost of goods and services, would suggest that workers cannot continue to be satisfied with the state of affairs. In terms of living conditions, children's education, food and nutrition, health care, and access to public utilities and services, workers and their families suffer from both quantitative and qualitatively lower levels. Filipino laborers and their families are heavily indebted and lack of savings.
And to think that the current order preaches "development" and claims "progress" like its predecessors, it has aggressively pursued policies that benefit foreign economic and military interests. Marcos, like his predecessors, has ignored workers' demands for wage rises in order to maintain his regime's policy of cheap labour as a major component in his anti-national push to curry favour international banksters and investors. What kind of development the current administration is babbling about? Preaching "nationalism" while shunning workers and the masses's demands? Even willing to amend the current constitution to to reinforce its neoliberal policies that will further subject Filipino workers to greater oppression and exploitation! Of course, its supporters claim about neoliberalism can bring "development" and "cheap products", while blaming protectionism for all the woes the country has, but, with all the existing neoliberal policies that exploit and disenfranchise rather than benefit or benefit people, why amend the economic provisions that rather enshrines the same exploitative policies especially in a developing country?
Again, the current order will try best to consolidate interests. Since they strongly opposed the worker's demand for genuine social justice and national emancipation political repression in the name of "counterinsurgency" has been intensified. As in the past, labour leaders and organisers, activists, even concerned folks are subjected to surveillance, harassments, arrests, abductions and extrajudicial killings perpetrated by military and police agents.
However, this domestic repression towards patriots also meant kowtowing to foreign interests as well- whereas the past administration served China whilst allowing agreements with the United States, the current chose to serve the latter as it allows its military forces to increase their presence and strengthen their foothold on the country. The "Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement", like its earlier "Visting Forces Agreement" and other related pacts intensifies saber rattling against China while the latter has its economic and trade agreements. And Marcos, who preaches "defending sovereignty" with American aid is the same Marcos who also signed agreements with Xi Jinping a year ago!
Regardless of the statements brought by the order and its supporters, or even that of its token "opposition", the Filipino, whose majority is that of the working class and toiling masses, have to stand up against the dicates whether from Wall Street, Shanghai Bund, or others wanting to impose unjust policies against the folk. For sure this message would say "this is not about the workers and praising for their hard work" not knowing that the worker who does most of nation building is the same worker who end having low salaries, facing higher costs of living, end unemployed, what more deprived of right to express and organise for national sovereignty and social rights, this event, which originally meant to commemorate the martyrs of those fighting for social rights should reignite the reason why workers in the country and in abroad shouldn't just "celebrate" but also to fight and take back the fruits of hard work, the future that's deprived by those claiming to be "at their side". Why? Should Labour day is all about praising the workers and not supporting just causes even if goes beyond the parameter? It is not surprising that there are those who claim “their protest is all but noise” and “nothing to do with the workers” especially when these toiling folks marched over Manila and facing the police. Of course their calls are as just as opposed to the paper promises of those assuming to be “concerned”, giving pittance to those who demand a wage livable in the face of continuing crisis.
Those “critics” would even cry “subversion”, if not “terrorism” to those clamouring for social rights as that of national sovereignty- is it because Filipino nationalism becomes that of a working class one? Or just because there Filipino nationalists who able to study some “subversive” works like Marx or Lenin? Isabelo De Los Reyes, known for being a Filipino Marxist, sought that in a democratic Philippines, the future of the nation belongs to the peasants and workers, “because they are the most numerous class.” Hence, class character and national character and the demands of classes and nation are inseparable from each other- and since fighting for the working class is also nation building then it is, especially in a country that tries to stand up and say “neither from Wall Street nor Shanghai Bund to dictate what a nation should be”; and that a nation’s patrimony, its sovereignty be strongly defended by its very people, what more making nationalism truly benefits the community and its folk.
For in the face of worsening forms of exploitation and economic conditions, heightened political repression, the current administration's outright subservience to US imperialism, and in the face of threats from China's imperialism, the Filipino working class movement must take a more prominent role in the the struggle for national and social liberation. This continuing past of domestic repression and subservience to interests, whether by force of arms or "debt traps" cannot stop the working class from fighting for rights and taking back future of having a better nation.