Philippine left unity
Over 12,000 workers, urban poor, students of our Arab members are intellectuals who live in Tel Aviv or West Jerusalem, and who are more or less integrated into the Israeli Jewish intellectual milieu.
Given the way it has developed, Gush Shalom does not have at this time real structural support in the Arab population centres of Israel. What we do have is quite a lot of contacts there, which are enough for occasional joint actions. But it's not enough to build a real organisation in those localities. You have to understand that it is extremely difficult in Israel to maintain a bi-national organisation, even when it's composed of the most wellmeaning people with political intentions to link up to one another. • Does Gush Shalom also have privileged relations with similar Palestinian peace organisations based in Gaza and on the West Bank?
Yes, We have quite a lot of contacts with Palestinian peace organisations, with Al-Fatah (the Palestinian leadership) and with the Palestinian People's Party (Communist). But in fact our strongest tie with Palestinians is not so much through political organisations, but regional organisations. The most common type of action which we have with Palestinians starts
According to Melencio, "The Lagman strikes is growing as companies resort to and peasants reacted to President Joseph Estrada's "State of the Nation" address with their own noisy protests on July 27, writes Reihana Mohideen.
The "State of the Nation" address is traditionally an important day in the left calendar. This year there was a united mobilisation of several left political blocs which in past years have held separate demonstrations
Marching together were the socialist organisation BISIG and several forces with roots in the pro-Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP): the MR, a section of the Manila-Rizal regional leadership which split from the CPP in 1993, and the Movement for National Democracy (KPD), which includes former CPP's leaders and activists in central Luzon, who left the party earlier this year in protest at its "sectarian" politics.
The July 27 rally also included a large youth contingent organised by the broad youth and student coalition Youth Arise. The main forces behind the Youth Arise contingent were Kamalayan and the BISIG youth organisation, MASP.
The rally was some 7000 strong. Popoy Lagman's BMP and the CPP held separate rallies numbering around 2500
A new addition to the united left contingent was Liga Sosyalista (Socialist League), a revolutionary socialist organisation formed on July 19 by dissidents from the Komiteng Rebolusyonaryo ng Manila-Rizal (KRMR) headed by Popoy
According to a founding member of Liga Sosyalista, Sonny Melencio, "The formation of Liga Sosyalista was the culmination of a period of intense debates and struggles within the KRMR group The debates centred on the Stalinist and sectarian policies being implemented by the Lagman group and the continuing drift of its so-called 'pragmatic politics towards the right."
group has a stated position against the unity of the socialist forces in the Philippines. They refuse even to participate in tactical unity efforts with others on the left. Their view is that they are the only
"Given the fragmentation that has racked the left, this is not only very sectarian, but also an absurd position to have. We need to understand that... no one organisation encompasses all of the class-conscious vanguard forces."
Discussions are now under way amongst BISIG, MR, Liga Sosyalista and the revolutionary forces in the KED on the formation of a socialist front.
The editorial board of the Liga's newspaper Progresibo has been opened up to include other left groups, an important step in the unity process. There is also agreement on the need to set up a Marxist-Leninist school for the socialist Economic and social crisis
This unity process has also been driven by economic and social factors. Like in neighbouring countries, large sections of industry have collapsed. Manufacturing output is down by 50%. In agriculture, the crisis is threatening food
Unemployment is soaring to unprecedented levels. At least 10 million people are unemployed and 15 million more are underemployed.
The number of urban poor is exploding as more and more unemployed rural workers move to the cities looking for work. Criminality is rampant. Young people cannot find jobs, and many end up victims of drug abuse and prostitution.
The middle class is also suffering. Many have joined the ranks of the unemployed and the working class. The number of students is dwindling as the cost of education increases.
The economic crisis has led to increased social unrest. The number of closures and lockouts. Urban poor communities facing demolition threats are pitching tents in front of government offices and setting up barricades (in some instances armed) around their communities. Mass actions are staging a comeback, a series of demonstrations, rallies, pickets and other protest actions taking place in the last few months
The ruling class remains united around its programme to "solve" the economic crisis. The new government's economic programme is no different from those of previous regimes. Its hallmarks are continuing trade liberalisation, privatisation of government corporations and assets, and deregulation of local industries and the finance sector.
Estrada has already declared his government bankrupt. The government forecasts a P70 billion deficit this year. Foreign debt has reached P1.9 trillion (US$45.6 billion), while domestic debt is
The government admits there are no solutions in sight, no way of halting the slowdown, the double-digit inflation, the rising interest rates, the free-falling peso or even deeper economic depression.
Instead, Estrada is taking unpopular measures to raise revenue, including settlement of the "frozen assets" of the family of former dictator Fernando Marcos, and a soon-to-be signed Visiting Forces Agreement, which will allow the creation of new US military bases in the
According to Melencio, the incapacity of the regime to solve the economic crisis and to deliver on Estrada's populist and "pro-poor" electoral programme will fuel the mass unrest. "An intensification of the class struggle is inevitable. The situation demands that the left unite its forces and maximise its striking capacity. A socialist front will enable us to achieve this in the short term." * Source: Green Left Weekly #328, August 12 1998
with contacting people from a particular village. The people tell us there is a big problem in their village: that their land is confiscated or that houses have been demolished or something like that. Then we go to the village and discuss with them to carry out common action such as a demonstration.
With such an approach, we prefer to work with as broadly-based organisations as possible. We go to the village and try to see exactly how broad the organisation which invited us is. We prefer to work with organisations which include all (or most of the political currents present in the village. We try, as much as possible, not to become involved in local power struggles. The more united they are in this village, the more likely joint action will be successful... • Concerning the problem of land confiscations in Palestinian villages, Gush Shalom's most recent campaign is a boycott of Israeli products produced in
Yes, this is an idea we've been thinking about for a long time. It's a fact that the settlers are continually building up more of an economic infrastructure. They are getting more and more products into the Israeli and international markets. They get a lot of subsidies from the government. There are industrial zones in settlements, and many entrepreneurs are going there not for any ideological reason but simply because the government is making it very worthwhile for them. They get the land nearly for free, a lot of tax reductions and since it's not officially part of Israel, they are not subject to Israeli labour laws. So they can pay lower wages. The most conspicuous example is wine produced from vineyards in the Golan Heights and on the West Bank... There are three producers in particular which, together, certainly account for the majority of the wines which are now sold in Israel... Because they have so many subsidies they can undercut their competitors inside the Green Line [between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza] • So rather than ideological or nationalistic debates, is it the immediate financial interests of Israeli capital which are responsible for further confiscation and colonisation of Palestinian land?
I wouldn't say that. These industrial zones, are undoubtedly also using up confiscated Palestinian land, but I would not say that they are the biggest consumers of Palestinian land. • But perhaps of Palestinian resources, particularly water, which is a key question for both agricultural and industrial requirements.
Yes, that is true. If you want to consider the capitalists' interests which are 26 International Viewpoint #303 most involved in the settlement issue, you have to look at real estate brokers, building contractors, architects, mortgage banks. This part of the economy is certainly making enormous profits out of the settlements. • Does Gush Shalom consider that the immediate interests of Israeli capital -with its investments on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip - constitute a major obstacle in finding a political solution?
If you want to reason in terms of capitalists and their interests, I think that there are different interests among them. I would say there is certainly a quite conspicuous group of capitalists: the biggest ones in Israel, who dominate the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Industrialists, and so on.
These are the high tech, most advanced industries in Israel, and in fact they are quite dovish from a political point of view because basically what they would like 1s to open the market of the Arab world to Israeli products.
We can say that Israel's relationship with the West Bank and Gaza is a classical colonial relationship. It's a captive market for Israel, full of cheap labour.
There is a quite conspicuous and dominant part of the Israeli bourgeoisie which you could say is willing to make the step from colonialism to neo-colonialism. They basically feel that if, by giving up this captive market of over two million people...
Of course, Israel is still keeping this market captive for the time being. Also, Israel controls all the border crossings between the Gaza strip and Egypt and between the West Bank and Jordan, and there is a kind of enforced customs union between Israel and the territories. So Israel still has this captive market of two million people, and it's in fact quite a big part of Israel's economic success.
There are the more enlightened capitalists, if I can use that term, who feel that by letting the Palestinians go free and giving up their domination over the Palestinian market, they could get access to the market of the whole Arab world, which is made up of 100 million people. And especially to get access to the markets of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, which have quite a lot of money and consumer goods. They consider that it would be a worthwhile exchange. And you could say that Shimon Peres, with his vision of the new Middle East, without a doubt politically represented the views of these enlightened Israeli capitalists. * Adam Keller is the spokesperson and member of the Executive Committe of Gush Shalom (the Peace Block). He was interviewed by Richard Wagman, who visited East Jerusalem as a delegate of the French Jewish Peace Union to a conference organized by the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, entitled *1948-1998: 50 Years of Human Rights Violations". Contact: Gush Shalom, P.O. Box 3322, Tel Aviv 61033. Israel, Tel.: (972)-3-522-1732, Fax: (972)-3-527-1108 E-Mail: otherisr@actcom.co.il Web site: www.gush-shalom.org
Habibie: The
The limits of the 'reforms' promised by the Habibie Presidency are increasingly clear. So are the new government's links to the previous regime. B. Skanthakumar Clear too is the challenge for the "total reformation" wing of the pro-democracy movement, in this exciting but difficul period opened by the mobilisations, demonstrations, riots, strikes and other protests that have rocked Indonesia in
Habibie's greatest success to date has been in distancing himself from his mentor Suharto, declaring that he is "nobody's puppet" and not being manipulated by anyone least of all the ex-dictator. Some of his pronouncements and actions to date seem to support this.
However his greatest problem is that he is compromised by his past association with Suharto and the New Order' regime. Habibie's ascent to Presidential office was a regime strategy to outmanoeuvre the will of the pro-democracy movement.
Habibie continues to be seen both by supporters and critics as a transitional figure, overseeing the process of democratic change until Presidential elections promised before the end of 1999. However he is known to be keen to seek election in those polls for a "second and final" term.
There has been a liberalisation of political life throughout Indonesia, including in the most militarised regions of East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya (West Papua) where separatist conflicts have raged in recent years. The most important factor, as some Acehnese students recently declared is, "We are no longer afraid". The reward for overthrowing a 32 year old dictatorship and standing up to the Armed Forces (ABRI) is courage.
Yet Habibie's 'reforming' credentials have been belied by his enacting of Decree No. 2/1998 which in Orwellian doublespeak is styled "Freedom of Expression" It bans demonstrations near the Presidential Palace, military installations, places of worship, hospitals, airfields, ports and
Demonstrations are also banned on public holidays and after nightfall. Written permission must be obtained from the police at least 48 hours in advance of demonstrations larger than 50 people Where demonstrations are under 50 people, written notice must be given to the Police at least 72 hours in advance
These stringent restrictions aim to
imits of change clamp down on mass action in the streets and communities and encourage a diversion of energies into the parliamentary and electoral arena.
56 new political parties have been announced mainly based on religious, ethnic and social groups and loyalties. The government looks likely to disallow any such formations. Amien Rais, leader of the 28 million strong Muhammadiyah movement has formed the National Mandate Partv (PAB) and 'Gus Dur', leader of the 40 million member Nahdlatul Ulama has formed the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Habibie himself has recently said that only parties with a minimum of 1.2 million members will qualify for registration. Also that they should be organised in at least 14 of the country's 27 provinces. Any parties which fall below this threshold will be allowed to be politically active but not electoral
These proscriptions are of course to the advantage of the state sponsored Golkar Party whose organisational structure, diffusion at every level of society and immense financial resources make it the leading contender in any electoral contest.
At the Golkar congress in July there were two candidates for the post of Chairman, one supported by the Suharto clique including his children and the other by Habibie. General Wiranto placed ABRI'S support behind Habibie's nominee, who
This is another reversal of fortunes for the Suharto family and its cronies in Golkar who were hoping to use that Party as a political vehicle for the ex-President's family and their interests. In fact Suharto's intensely ambitious daughter Tutut had been the intended (sole) candidate for this position some months ago, a plan she had to abandon because of the strength of feeling against her family.
Coalitions and blocs among the Opposition are anticipated to prevent a Golkar victory in the May 1999 Legislative elections through splitting the opposition vote. The elite opposition of retired Generals, business people and former state functionaries is quietly burying the demands of the reformation movement and preparing to share power instead, if necessary with Golkar.
Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party (PDI) is reorganising itself and will hold a Convention before the end of
November. It will be a sought after partner in any electoral arrangement.
One victory in recent weeks is that the radical Left Peoples Democratic Party
(PRD) has been unbanned following a successful legal challenge to the September 1997 banning order imposed by the
Already 11 political groupings have
Communication of Pro-Total Reforms Parties". [They insist that it is not a coalition. Its participants include the United Democracy Party (PUDI) of Sri Bintang Pamungkas, the New Masyumi Party, the National Democrat Party, The Commoner's Party, the Islamic Brethren Party, the Economy Party, the Indonesian Nationalist Party, the Murba Party, the Marhaen People's Party, the Indonesian Workers' Party and the Alliance of Indonesian Democrats Party.
All the pent-up grievances, the experiences and reports of human rights abuses, the agonies of the ethnic Chinese community in the May riots and the frustrations of the common folk long suppressed are now in the public arena. 60 new publishing licences have been awarded and banned publications have made a return. Their pages over-spill with long taboo topics.
The rape of hundreds of Chinese girls and women in May and the death of at least 20 of them who took their own lives or succumbed to their injuries has provoked a public debate between ethnic Chinese and pribumi (Malay and indigenous) and within those communities on the future for Sino-Indonesians, their
Indonesia * rights and responsibilities as citizens and the campaign for justice for the victims of the violence.
In towns and villages, people have agitated against state and local officials often securing their resignation. There is public debate on prosecuting Suharto for the worst excesses of his rule and on recovering the wealth his family thieved from the country. There have been land and property occupations by landless farmers. One action was the symbolic reclamation of a golf course whose construction had displaced poor farmers, by the planting of cassava overnight!
Nine peasant associations in North Sumatra formed a federated farmers union on July 8th declaring, "We reject the capitalistic economic system which has resulted in the theft of farmers lands, destroyed the environment and forced the farmers into a biased and unfair trading system, as well as violating the rights of traditional peoples."
The objectives of Indonesian Federation of Farmers Unions (FSPI) include lobbying for land reform; promoting organic and sustainable agriculture; develop agricultural co-operatives and promoting freedom of association and a political role for farmers.
This is a remarkable development: it was in the rural areas where the massacres of 1965/66 were the most brutal and lasted
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