ALAB-Katipunan organisers were overjoyed when the organising coalition-particularly the bishops-decided to transform themselves into a permanent co-ordination of the tri-people peace movement. Sectoral discussions are underway, and the KASAMA KA coalition will be formally launched in the coming weeks. [JD] *
International Viewpoint #313 July 1999 21
udittalb insists that they can win freehold over their land, and warns that individual mortgages are likely to result in bank ownership of much of the barrio. Church groups that are not rooted in the popular movement have also received an unfriendly response, as have government programmes that claim to help the poor.
The RWP-P has pinned its future existence to success in organising districts like this one. "We have been able to refound our party, and produce basic programmatic documents," says
N local organiser Nerissa Dalisay. "But nothing in those texts guarantees us a significant role in our communities! Everything depends on how well we build our bases in the urban and rural
"The big problem in the urban areas is the informalisation of the economy. Urban poor (squatter) areas are threatened with demolition because of the growing demand for shops and offices. We organise on the day-to-day
"Kill the pushers!" Mark Johnson accompanied RWP-P activists to a 'red' slum in one provincial capital People here used to pay rent. But now the landlord wants to expel them, so that he can sell the land. He thinks he can get P1500/m' (US$40). None of the residents have that kind of money. The men occasionally work as day labourers or drivers. Some of the women sell snacks by the side of the road. But without seed capital from outside, even this kind of business is impossible for most families.
The Communist Party of the Philippines organised this district for over 30 years. Many young people were recruited join the communist guerrillas in the rural area.
But-because of this recruitment potential-the CPP's Maoist leadership neglected community organisation. Local campaigns would attract state attention, something undesirable for a "red base,' they argued.
Leaders of the breakaway RWP-P, now the province's largest communist group, are trying to overcome this legacy, but progress is painfully slow. The intensity of urban organising is much lower than in the party's rural base areas. Only 29 of the 300 households are organised.
The residents' organisation has prevented the development of prostitution in the district, but is unable to confront the drug gangs which have mushroomed in recent years.
Even the guerrilla movement was surprised by the expansion of the drugs business. According to local commander Jose Lahug, "it will take a long, deter22 International Viewpoint #313 July 1999 mined struggle by community groups to rid their districts of drug gangs. The rebel army will intervene where it can, against known drug pushers. And we will tolerate police activities aimed at suppressing the drug trade."
But with 2/3 of local people now dependent on alcohol or illegal drugs, the rebels are careful to distinguish between users and dealers. Or, as Lahug puts it, "educate the users, kill the dealers!"
The district youth group is trying to educate young people about drugs, and provide alternative social activities. But "it is hard to find a common language with the many young people who are out of school," one organiser complains. Another quietly remarks that even their own members take drugs sometimes.
The residents association is part of the provincial federation of urban poor groups. But residents jealously guard their barrio against outside most outside groups. They recently expelled the government-backed Citizens Mortgage Program, which tried to persuade families to take massive loans so as to buy their own homes. The community questions of the urban poor. Though we obviously try to educate people on national issues, such as oil price increases."
This is a new paradigm, a new methodology for Philippine communists. It differs from the Maoist past, and the purely propagandistic approach of many European revolutionary groups.
"We want to have our own government one day. And we became socialists because we want to help people. So we must begin, today, to develop our own solutions to the problems of the people. It isn't enough just to go into the streets and shout! People are tired of slogans. They still need to be convinced that the radical left is ready, worthy to hold power.
"Are we for empowerment, and active decision making by the popular organisations? In the old days the CP mobilised people on a range of ideological issues. But did the people really understand? And did what we asked them to do make any difference to their lives?
RWP-P organisers are keen to study the experience of the Brazilian left in Rio Grande state, where the progressive government has ensured that relocated squatters have school places and work possibilities, partly financed by those who wish to exploit the land which the squatters currently occupy.
The Maoist CPP calls the RWP-P "collaborators" because of their insistence on using every legal loophole, and every government programme, to improve the lot of the urban poor.
The new party recognises that they will recruit very few rural poor in the short term. But they are determined to root their organisation among the poorest sections of the population. "This is where the action is, and where the new upsurge will come from," explains Dalisay. "In the global economy, these are the human resources which we must unite. *
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