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From
Workshop 1: Unilateralism and Sycophancy:
Australian Support for US Global Strategy
Now We The People conference, 23.8.03, University of Technology,
Sydney
Dr. Carolina P. Araullo
Being the only non-Australian on this workshop panel, I guess my contribution
to this afternoon's discussion is to share the perspective and the experiences
of a political activist working in a country with the dubious distinction
of being called by US Pres. Bush as the "second front" in the
so-called "war on terror".
Before coming over I read the recent policy speeches of the Australian
prime minister and his foreign minister. What struck me is that the rhetoric
and the actions of your government and mine are so much alike. Both consistently
parrot the Bush line and kowtow to US unilateral and self-serving actions.
We hear the same hype about the threat of "terrorism" emanating
from a variety of sources -- Islamic fundamentalists, communist revolutionaries,
secessionists, socialist governments and non-aligned independent regimes.
We are persuaded to embrace the imperative of waging a borderless, indeterminate
"war vs terrorism". This then justifies unilateral action against
sovereign states and peoples the US identifies as terrorist to include
preemptive strikes, wars of aggression and intervention, regime change
and military occupation, political repression and attacks on hard-won
civil and political rights.
We are seduced by the call to protect "progress", "equality",
"freedom" and "democracy" in a world where the disparity
between advanced capitalist countries and backward Third World countries
as well as the rich and poor classes within countries have grown tremendously.
For example, the richest 20% of the world grab more than 85% of income.
The majority of humanity subsists on less than US$2 daily and a quarter
or 1.2 billion people on less than US$1 daily.
But in truth and in fact, the difference between Australian and the Philippines
is huge no matter what aspect one looks at. What is sickeningly familiar
and identical is the sycophancy, the utterly shameless subservience to
US geopolitical strategy and neoliberal doctrine.
In the Philippines today, as has been the case since post-war independence,
the single biggest factor in the political, economic and socio-cultural
life of over 70 M Filipinos, is the US; specifically, US monopoly capitalist
or imperialist interests, dominating all spheres of the nation's life.
Why, you may well ask, would the government of a poor, backward, pre-industrial
(some even call it semi-feudal) society such as the Philippines, not quite
out of the clutches of its erstwhile colonizer, the US of A, want to embroil
itself, big time, into the military adventures, the jingoism and the terrorist
goading, being instigated by the only Superpower left? Doesn't the Arroyo
regime have more than enough problems on its hands?
The answer to this question lies in grasping the essential character of
the Arroyo government and the continuing crisis of Philippine society.
True, Mrs. Arroyo was catapulted to power by the second people's uprising
called EDSA 2 that ousted the corrupt and abusive Estrada regime. (EDSA
1 toppled the US-backed Marcos dictatorship.) Arroyo was the prime beneficiary,
being the vice president and constitutional successor to Estrada, despite
the fact that the EDSA 2 was, objectively speaking, an extra-constitutional
exercise in direct democracy. That is, the people voted with their feet
not the ballot.
Soon it became clear that what had happened at EDSA 2 was not, by any
stretch of the imagination, a social revolution, but merely a popular,
unarmed uprising that could do no more than remove a rotten, isolated
president.
A changing of the guards so to speak. No sweeping nor radical socio-economic
reforms. No major shifts in political alliances especially vis a vis the
US and the countyr's elite composed of the big landlords, big trader-capitalists
and entrenched political dynasties especially the generals turned politicians.
In fact, a modus vivendi with major political allies of former Pres. Estrada
like Danding Cojuanco, who has huge investments here in Australia, was
quickly put in place.
Thus the GMA regime lost no time in consolidating her rule. She did not
rely on the democratic impetus and momentum for reforms unleashed by EDSA
2. She turned her back on this and relyied instead on the backing of the
US, the praetorian guards which go by the name Armed Forces of the Philippines,
big business, traditional political parties which quickly pledged allegiance
to the party in power, and the powerful Roman Catholic church.
The problem however that refuses to go away is the unrelenting crisis
on all fronts that manifests itself in grinding poverty, intensifying
misery, social unrest, armed challenges from Muslim separatists and a
communist-led revolutionary movement, a vibrant democratic mass movement
in the cities, internecine factionalism and outbreaks of military rebellions
and attempted coup d' tats.
On the economic front, Mrs. Arroyo simply dished out more of the neoliberal
prescriptions of liberalization, deregulation, privatization, more of
the debt-driven, foreign-investment and non-self reliant policy thrusts.
More of the IMF-World Bank bitter medicine of Structural Adjustment Programs
to keep down an already prostrate economy. Now the politicians are talking
about changing the Constitution, to truly align the country to the demands
of imperialist globalization by removing all barriers to the entry and
exit of foreign monopoly capital, the unbridled exploitation of natural
resources and the take-over of all strategic sectors of the economy. The
latter is the demand of the US and EU chambers of commerce.
On the political front, absolute fealty to the US and complete abandonment
of the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
The Arroyo government's subservience is boundless. It anticipates the
needs, wants and even the propaganda line of the US. For example, Mrs.
Arroyo allowed the use of Philippine airspace and territory for transit
of war materiel and US forces in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq,
without being asked. She sent a "humanitarian mission" to occupied
Iraq to lend credence to the illusion of a "coalition of the willing"
pulling together to rebuild Iraq. She also opened the doors wide open
to the return of US troops and approved an access agreement with the US
called the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) that will pave the
way for turning the entire country into a virtual military base.
Mrs. Arroyo rationalizes and provides the cover for growing armed intervention
in the Philippines through so-called joint military exercises. It is directed
against the CPP-NPA-NDF national liberation forces that have been waging
armed struggle with a succession of US-backed reactionary regimes, from
the time of Marcos, as well as the MILF. The Arroyo government has obviously
not learned the lessons of history and is banking on the US to "stun
and awe" these revolutionary movements to submission.
On the issue of peace negotiations as a means to address the root causes
of armed conflicts, we see a militarist policy of scuttling the talks
by means of unilateral, indefinite recess, intensifying the ruthless and
extrajudicial attacks on perceived sympathizers/supporters, and campaigning
for the terrorist listing of the CPP-NPA and Chief Political Consultant
to the NDF Negotiating Panel, Prof. Jose Ma. Sison by the US, Netherlands,
Australia and the European Union.
And on the socio-cultural front, the Arroyo government prioritizes debt
servicing and military expenditures, especially intelligence expenditures,
while continually cutting back on education, health, housing and other
social services; encourages brain and brawn drain of the nation's women,
youth, professionals and skilled workers and thereby contributes to the
break-up of families, juvenile delinquency and drug abuse.
The good news is that the Filipino people have not stopped resisting and
continue to struggle. Apart from raging armed struggle in the countryside,
the protest movement in the cities is alive, broad-based and effecting
beneficient results, e.g. campaign vs exorbitant power rates. Three seats
in the lower house of Congress were captured by the progressive political
party, Bayan Muna or Country First, thus demonstrating the capability
to translate mass base into an electoral base and to a stunning neophyte
vistory.
In the Philippines, the national democratic organizations and special
interest formations under BAYAN are unwavering in the conviction that
eventually the US imperialist monster will be defeated. We give progressive,
anti-imperialist forces the world over, our commitment to work so that
in our part of the globe, US imperialism will meet its deserved, ignominious
end.
Dr. Carolina P.Araullo is Vice Chairperson, BAYAN-Philippines
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