Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 32)
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- Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 32)
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government policy, not merely intended
to mollify US officials. Throughout the
autumn, Enrile, echoing the US line,
had been haranguing the government
for «dealing with the communists.»
However, Enrile’s sacking marked no
change in the government’s approach
to the talks. On the contrary, the
January 22nd massacre exposed the
government’s anti-popular bent.
The NDF suspended the negotiations
immediately, finalizing this with a
statement on February 7th, entitled:
«The Aquino government is not serious
about negotiating a just and durable
peace.» After reviewing the evidence of
the government’s bad faith, the state-
ment concluded: «The NDF will only
return to the negotiating table after the
Aquino government shall have
demonstrated its determination and its
capacity to:(1) pursue programs that
would attack our society’s problems at
their roots; (2) assert and effectively
exercise civilian supremacy over the
fascist AFP (the army), and thoroughly
reform and reorient it; (3) give due
recognition to the NDF as a political
entity with a legitimate cause and a
program supported by a considerable
section of the population; and (4) work
for a genuine settlement of the armed
and political conflict.» The NDF called
on the people’s organisations «to wage
militant and unremitting struggles on
all fronts for their patriotic and
democratic interests.»
NEW PHASE OF STRUGGLE
The armed struggle was stepped up
immediately, especially in the four
provinces where the NPA has long had
strongholds. On the background of the
revolutionaries’ determination to con-
tinue their just people’s war, the
government’s efforts to deal with the
NDF on the regional level failed. NDF
organizations in the different regions
rejected such talks. In Mindanao, the
country’s second largest island, a pro-
visional council was established to
coordinate recruiting, propaganda and
organization for the liberation struggle.
The council’s vice chairman said that
similar councils will be established in
other areas by the end of the year. They
will operate together in order to form
an alternative to Aquino’s administra-
tion. «Later, if we win, we will replace
this government with a revolutionary
government whose class content would
have peasants and farmers who are not
represented in the Aquino
government,» he concluded. Moreover,
the Moro liberation fronts have ex-
pressed their openness to cooperation
with the NDF, should the government
continue to reject their demands, or
take military actions against them.
With the struggle in the Philippines
entering yet a new phase, we have
found it important to take stock of
developments there for three main
reasons. The first is obvious: The peo-
ple of the Philippines, like all oppressed
peoples, deserve the social justice and
national sovereignty for which so many
have fought and died. We like other
progressive forces are following their
struggle in the interests of international
solidarity.
The second reason is that revolu-
tionary forces everywhere can draw
lessons from developments in the
Philippines, especially pertaining to
how to deal with the new US strategy of
trying to replace discredited dictator-
ships with ‘moderate democracies’ in
order to halt the mass struggle.
The third reason is that the struggle
for the national sovereignty of the
Philippines has regional and even in-
ternational implications in view of the
massive US military presence there. The
US bases there are some of the largest
in the world. They were important for
the US invasion of Vietnam and today
hold a key position in the US global
military network. Task forces from
Subic naval base are regularly deployed
in events such as the Iranian crisis, the
Iraq-Iran war, and the conflict between
North and South Yemen. A secret US
document, leaked in March 1985, em-
phasized the importance of these bases
to face what it called «expanded Soviet
and Vietnamese threat in the region.»
Truly these bases have an international
role in US imperialism’s war on the
progressive forces of the world.
The Philippines are, moreover, in-
voluntarily serving as a _ nuclear
weapons storehouse for the US. The
May-June 1985 issue of the NDF’s
English bulletin Liberation reported
that Reagan had signed a_ secret
Memorandum authorizing the station-
ing of 467 nuclear bombs in other
countries without notification of the
local government. Of these, 227 were to
be stationed in the Philippines, 32 each
in the Azores, Bermuda, Canada,
Iceland, Spain and Diego Garcia, and
48 in Puerto Rico. In view of all these
facts, fighting US domination and
military presence in the Philippines is
an important part of the worldwide
struggle for peace. e@
Peasants in Cayan march against militarization.
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