Walden Bello, Jose Maria Sison and Tensions in the Left
international |
anti-capitalism |
opinion/analysis 
Wednesday March 02, 2005 22:46
by the burningman
Despite efforts by many around the world to rise above sectarianism in the face of the USA's raw imperialism, Walden Bello, a prominent critic of neo-liberalism, has launched an international distancing campaign against the Communist Party of the Philippines and the democratic sectoral movements which draw political inspiration from them. Claiming that the CPP's military wing has targeted him with a “hit list,” which in fact is a mere diagram showing the international linkages of various Phillipino parties and individuals, Bello is playing a dangerous game. Included on the diagram is Bello's Akbayan parlimentary party.
The Trotskyite International Socialists and various social-democrats have lend a hand in this regard. None of these forces, including Tariq Ali, Naomi Klein and other luminaries of the rad-lib left, have made similar demands that the capitalist state stop carrying out judicial proceedings or that leftists cease collaboration with the state that degrades the Philippino people. That Bello and Akbayan rely on the capitalist state for matters of “justice” speaks volumes about the nature of the dispute. Who isn't against thuggery and sectarianism? Considering the fact that Sison and others have plainly stated that there is no pending threat against Bello, the politics behind Bello's campaign become increasingly dubious. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines has released a point-by-point rebuttal.
The revolutionary Philippine left has been going through a process of “re-affirming“ its communist orientation. Since the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship (and state-capitalist Soviet Union) there have been many re-allignments in the Phillipines as in the rest of the world. In the 1980s, a destructive and bloody series of purges were carried out seeking “deep penetration” intelligence agents that led to the deaths of many innocent activists and militants. During this period, some former members of the New People's Army/CPP gave up on the vision of a people's republic and decided to throw their lot in with the existing state. These former revolutionaries rejected basing the movement on the most oppressed, and instead began to use the foundation-funded term “civil society.” Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, currently in political exile in the Netherlands, has recently named Bello's Akbayan comrade and former New People's Army commander Ric Reyes as the mastermind of the most vicious incidents during that time. None of those taking a stand against “violence as a means of resolving contradictions” bother to note who it is exactly they are getting into bed with.
From a distance, it is always difficult to figure out the particulars of “who shot John.” Meaning, rather than focusing on sensational, unsubstantiated and disputed allegations, it is important to deal with the political implications of what parties and groups argue. In this case, Bello takes the money of capitalist foundations to argue for reform of institutions like the WTO while participating in the corrupt and brutal Phillipine government. The Communist Party of the Philippines is engaged in a People's War against that same government and intends to destroy institutions such as the WTO root and branch. For anti-captialists internationally, recognizing these basic dividing lines does not mean we should resolve contradictions violently. It also means we ignore them at our peril.
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For the version of this analysis with embedded links and documents related to the dispute, please see:
Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8there is of course a slightly saner way of looking at it:
http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/Article565.html
Out of deference to the more than 160,000 victims of the tsunami tragedy that engulfed South Asia on 26 December 2004, we in Focus on the Global South (Focus) have refrained until now from pointing to an alarming development bearing on the security and well being of our executive director, Walden Bello.
In the December 2004 issue of the organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Walden was named as part of a list of “counter-revolutionaries”.
Two of the people on the list, Arturo Tabara and Filemon Lagman, have already been assassinated.
Another, Ricardo Reyes, is being hunted down by operatives of the CPP and their paramilitary wing, the New People’s Army, and is in hiding.
For people familiar with the history and practices of these organisations, the message is unmistakable: “You are a ‘class enemy’ to be eliminated.”
The listing of Walden and other Filipino activists as counter-revolutionaries deserving of elimination comes as a shock to us in Focus. Walden’s work speaks for itself — he is acknowledged to be one of the most articulate critics of US military intervention and corporate-driven globalisation.
Focus calls on all civil society organisations and networks globally to condemn the threats in the strongest possible terms. We make a final appeal to the CPP to desist from its destructive course of action and refrain from dividing the movement that is fighting against corporate globalisation at a critical time in the struggle for a better, just and equitable world.
www.focusweb.org
also call to defend bello issued at the WSF:
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=5783
I don't know what Bello's role in the philipines government is and there are question marks over NGOs accepting govt money. however, the stalinist hacks of the NPA sound very like the maoist thugs of Shining Path in Peru. There any leftie, social democrat, or whatever who did not accept that the sun shone out of Guzman's backside were routinely pursued, more than the state forces were pursued by these so called revolutionaries.
I would much rather give Bello the benefit of the doubt than the thugs of the NPA.
The comment above basically says: I don't know what I'm talking about, but if Bello is arguing with communists, then hell -- fuck the commies!
Well, that's one plan.
Another one is drawing a strong line against collaborating with security forces and using knuckle-headed anti-communism to justify it.
If by "thugs" you mean they are armed, then you are correct. Because they lived under a vicious dictatorship for years and had no choice. Once formal democracy was won in the course of the popular struggle, some sections of the communist movement, including Bello's fellow travelers, decided they preferred a place at the table instead of turning it over.
And for the person seeking a "saner" approach: The CPP denies that there is any death threat pending against Bello. The US has declared Maoism "terrorist" and is actively fighting its resurgence throughout Asia.
The attack on the Maoist movement coming from the SWP/IST and ATTAC-style social-democrats is about distancing ineffective "dissent" from revolutionary resistance. Calling radicals "thugs" is just bad form.
This is about the direction of the anti-capitalist movement, not "movement thuggery." Because Bello and Callinicos and their type are more concerned with council seats than effective revolt is their business -- but denouncing opponents to their left as "terrorists" might as well be scripted by the US State Department. Or paid for by the Ford Foundation.
I don't know who this 'buringman' is, but he/she is as mad as a brush! There is a real CCP/NPA 'hit list' and three people that were on it late last year when it was released have been killed already. Their names were: Popoy Lagman, Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara.
On a personal note, I listened to Bello speak at an anarchist-organised anti-corporate meeting during the protests against the World Bank and IMF in Prague in September 2000. Later a pile of us went for a few beers. From listening to him, chatting over a drink and reading his books I can say he is overtly anti-imperialist, he is specifically anti-US-imperialism, he is anti-corporate and also specifically anti-WTO; he also espouses what I would call radical and useful pro-meaningful-participatory-democracy.
Bello is a member of the Focus On The Global South in the Philippines [see: http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/index.php], which are a full-on anti-corporate NGO, he is also a member of the Transnational Institute [see: http://www.tni.org] - based in Holland, they do excellent research on the specifics of how and why the pro-corporate decision making structures of the EU undermines democracy, erodes public services, destroys the global environment and promotes the global arms trade.
In 2003 Bello won the Right Livelihood Award - in the past Vandana Shiva and Trident Ploughshares (UK) have won this award [see: http://www.rightlivelihood.org/recip.htm].
Here follows a round-up of IndyNewsWire articles with all info you need to make up your own mind:...
Walden Bello gets death threat from Communist Party:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68303&search_text=Communist%20Party%20of%20the%20Philippines
Gay Wedding For Philippine Communist Rebels :
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68537&search_text=Philippines
THE PHILIPPINES AND THE U.S. HEGEMONIC THRUST:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=22321&search_text=Philippines
all the best,
- Barry.
The Fourth International has published a strongly worded statement on the situation in the Philippines - follow this link :
http://212.67.202.147/%7Eivnet05/print_article.php3?id_article=583
I'm mad? How many members of the CPP have been killed in the past year?
Look, what you are not mentioning is that there is in fact a civil war happening in the Philippines. Some members of the CPP have left their ranks. Of those, some have actively collaborated with the Philippine security forces -- and they have been killed for that. I'm not sure exactly what you would have them do if not protect themselves from the capitalist state.
Sison, for his part, has clearly stated that Bello is NOT on such a list and has NOT crossed that particular line. Members of Bello's party aren't just attending international conferences on Ford's dime. In negotiations between the Philippine government and the CPP, members of Akbayan have actually served as official representitives of the state. Their goal in those negotiations is to disarm any effectual opposition to the capitalist state. Considering this, it really doesn't matter what Bello said over beers in Prague. If that's how you judge complex political questions, it no doubt goes far in explaining why a handful of posts on Indymedia are "all you need to know."
This is not simply a matter of "disagreements within the movement."
Bello's statements equating communists with "al Qaeda" actually threaten the life of the people he names as the CPP's leadership. That is a plain fact that is obvious to any person who reads it. The message is clear.
I really don't give a crap what line of bullshit Bello runs at some anarcho-babble fest in Prague. I can only wonder if its the same speech he gives to the Ford Foudation's funding bodies. I suspect it is not. I suspect that he, like opportunists of all stripes, knows exactly how to tailor his message to different sectors to ensure his good will all around.
There is a reason he is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by the Ford Foundation and I'm pretty comfortable in assuming it's not the defeat of US imperialism.
All these people appointed by foundations to be our "leaders" are getting real tiresome. They have no plan except earning their own budget requests. They do not base their organizations on the victims of capitalism, but the generosity of the liberal capitalists.
Call a spade a spade.
I/ PEOPLE KILLED
The following data are presented from the most recent to the oldest ones. Names are not always given for security reasons.
* Arturo Tabara, chairman of the RPM-P/RPA-ABB (named AB “diagram”). Killed September 26, 2004 in Metro-Manila. Stephen Ong, student, 19 years-old boyfriend of Tabara’s daughter, was gunned down too.
* Daniel Batoy, senior RPA-ABB Commander, shot in August 22, 2004 in Makato, Aklan. His daughter was also assassinated, together with him.
* Lito Bayudang, local farmer-leader and district officer of Akbayan, killed May 6, 2004 in Nueva Ecija.
* Donie Valencia, 22 years old, unarmed organizer of the MLPP/RHB. Killed in Bataan few days after being abducted June 11, 2003.
* Florente “Boy” Ocmen, section chairperson of Akbayan at the municipal level in Jabonga, Agusan del Norte. Killed May 28, 2003.
* Reymundo “Teteng” Tejeno, peasant leader from Unorka. Killed February 4, 2003 in the Bondoc Peninsula, Quezon Province.
* Romulo “Rolly” Kintanar, former member of the CPP Politburo and head of the NPA. Killed January 23, 2003 in a Quezon City (Manila) restaurant.
* Felimon “Popoy” Lagman (identified in AB “diagram” as PMP-BMP-Sanlakas). Killed in Metro-Manila, February 6, 2001. Some suspect the NPA of this murder but the CPP denies any responsibility.
* RPM-M Party’s Front Secretary: he was the one targeted by the NPA, April 8, 2001. He was later killed, May 9, 2001, in an encounter with the Philippine Military because the NPA set him up (contacting the Military and informing them of the RPA unit’s position).
* Regional Commander of the Revolutionary People’s Army (RPM-M/RPA) killed April 8, 2001 in Lanao (Mindanao). The NPA operatives were targeting the RPM-M Front Secretary who escaped. The NPA instead murdered the Regional Commander who happened to visit his comrade.
* MLPP members in Central Luzon. MLPP members began to be ambushed in February 2000. In December 2000, this organisation has suffered eleven casualties (four wounded and seven dead). Bartolome Quizon, member of the Executive Committee who had been a leading cadre of the CPP for 30 years, was killed in front of his family on December 2, 2000. At that point in time, the MLPP eventually decided to launch “defensive counter-operations”. End of August 2002, a dozen of MLPP members had been killed, about fifteen wounded and some eight NPAs were probably also killed during the 2002 encounters.
* Conrado Balweg, former CPP-NPA in the Cordillera, head of the CPLA. Killed December 31, 1999.
* Eduardo Borromeo, close friend of Leopoldo Mabilangan. Killed in 1997.
* Leopoldo “ka Hector” Mabilangan, former head of the Quezon-based Banahaw Command. Killed April 3, 1994.
II/ PEOPLE HUNTED DOWN
Continuous attempts of assassination on:
Tito dela Cruz, identified as MLPP in AB “diagram”.
Ric Reyes, chair of Akbayan (sentenced to death in 1993, named in AB “diagram”).
Caridad Pascual, identified as MLPP in AB “diagram”.
Ike de los Reyes, identified as RPM-M in AB “diagram” as RPM-M.
Series of attempts of assassination on:
Regional Military Cadre of the Revolutionary People’s Army (RPM-M) in the City of Iligan.
Dioscoro Tejeno, peasant leader from the Bondoc Peninsula.
Attempt murder of a Front Cadre of the RPM-M, end of November 2004. He was only wounded.
Alberto Bitong, farmer leader, survived a failed ambush March 29, 2004 in Bondoc Peninsula.
Felizardo Benitez, farmer-leader, escaped with his family an attack in January 2004 in Bondoc Peninsula. His two month-old baby died from exposure to elements in the evacuation. After escaping the NPA, Felizardo Benitez was assassinated by the local landlords March 20, 2004 (two other peasant-leaders belonging to the same movements have been murdered by the landlords and one by the NPA).
Because of the way they have been associated with Arturo Tabara, one can fear for:
Nilo dela Cruz, associated to Tabara and identified as RPM-P in AB “diagram”.
Manjette Lopez, associated to Tabara in Ibon’s letter, identified as PPD and PMP-merger in AB “diagram”.
III/ ORGANISATIONS AND PEOPLE THREATENED
Persons who have been labelled “counter-revolutionaries”, “agents” or “criminals”, which is to be considered a credible threat in the framework of the CPP overall policy. There are many others threatened without being mentioned in the CPP publications or statements, or who are mentioned only in regional and local publications I had no access to.
Names are given here by alphabetic order. Full names of organisations are given below those of individuals.
A. INDIVIDUALS
The CPP leadership began to denounce as “criminals” and “counter-revolutionaries” many of former members of its party after the 1992 crisis. In 1993, a first set of death sentences were publicly announced. The leaders of all the main oppositions were then condemned: Ricardo Reyes (today hunted down), Romulo Kintanar (killed in 2003) and Benjie de Vera from Mindanao; Arturo Tabara (killed in 2003) from the Visayas; Popoy Lagman (killed in 2001) from Manila-Rizal (the Capital Region). Some others were similarly sentenced, secretly or publicly as Joel Rocamora (then a fellow of the Amsterdam based Transnational Institute).
In addition to those already mentioned, here are some of the persons who have been recently labelled “counterrevolutionaries” by the CPP. Anyone familiar with the Philippines knows that most of them are dedicated activists.
Walden Bello, chair Emeritus of Akbayan! (named both in AB “diagram” and Ibon’s letter).
Efren Binalla, farmer-leader, Bondoc Peninsula.
Sixto Carlos, Akbayan’s officer.
Argee Esquejo, farmer-leader, Nueva Ecija.
Robert “Bobby” Garcia, who wrote an in depth testimony of the 1980s’ paranoid purges in the CPP.
Edwin Igay and Dindo Diaz, unarmed young organizers of the MLPP-RBH in Bataan, were abducted June 11, 2003 and received death threats before being released (Donie Valencia, who was abducted with them, was actually assassinated).
Miel Laurenaria, identified as MLPP/RHB by the CPP. Sonny Melencio, named in AB “diagram”.
Boy Morales, named in AB “diagram”.
Lidy Nacpil, Jubilee South, named in AB “diagram”.
Nathan Quimpo, Akbayan.
Manuel Quiambao Pena, Akbayan.
Loretta Ann P. “Etta” Rosales, first Akbayan representative in the Congress (named in AB “diagram”).
Joel Rocamora, Transnational Institute, IPD (sentenced to death in 1993).
Gani Serrano, PRRM, named in AB “diagram”. Ben Sumog-Oy, Akbayan (General Santos City, Mindanao)
B. ORGANISATIONS
Most of the organisations mentioned here are named in the December 7, 2004 Ang Bayan “diagram”. Some do not exist anymore, having merged with others. Focus is named in Ibon’s letter and various individual statements.
Akbayan! (Citizen Action Party)
AK: Alab Katipunan
ABB “bloc”: Alex Boncayao Brigade “bloc”
Bisig (component of Akbayan)
BMP: Solidarity of Filipino Workers (trade-union center)
CPLA: Cordillera People’s Liberation Army
Empowerment (peasant NGO, Nueva Ecija)
Focus on the Global South
IPD: Institute for Popular Democracy
KMPB: Peasant Movement of the Bondoc Peninsula.
Makammasa: Federation of small farmers (Bondoc Peninsula).
MLPP/RHB: Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines/Revolutionary People’s Army.
Padayon (component of Akbayan)
Pandayan (component of Akbayan)
Peace Foundation (Bondoc Peninsula)
PKP: the “old” Communist Party of the Philippines
PopDems: Popular Democrats
PPD: Proletarian Democratic Party (joined PMP-merger)
RGK: Revolutionary Communist Group
PMP: Workers Party of the Philippines (later PMP “merger”).
RPM-M/RPA: Revolutionary Workers Party-Mindanao / Revolutionary People’s Army
RPM-P/RPA-ABB: Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines / Revolutionary Proletarian Army / Alex Boncayao Brigade
Sanlakas (coalition of mass organizations)
Siglaya
SMB (peasant association, Nueva Ecija)
SocDems
SPP: Socialist Party of Labour (joined PMP-merger)
Task Force Bondoc Peninsula
Unorka
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article6...ppine
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