PEOPLES' MOVEMENTS: BUILDING POWER AND MAINTAINING STRUGGLE
EDNA ORTEZA
Ms. Edna Orteza is a
church worker from Mindanao, one of the most militarised areas of the
Introduction
It is with
considerable apprehension and a great sense of inadequacy that I am putting
myself to this task today.
First, because I am not young, at least not your age, and understanding
the fervor of youth, I probably lack much of your dynamism. I was never involved in any youth
organization or student activism of any form, either. In fact, the process of my own
conscientization started rather late in life, when as church youth advisers my
husband and I were confronted with students out in the slums, who in the early
seventies, were already advocating nationalism and democracy, exposing the
evils of Imperialism, Bureaucrat Capitalism, Feudalism and
Fascism, denouncing the U.S. Marcos clique — terms which took years for me
to comprehend. I would sit there amazed,
listening to a 16 year old student expound on foreign domination of the
Philippine economy, colonial mentality, irrelevant education, tools of
deception and challenging the church to do some theological rethinking. A vacillating breed, I thought perhaps he was
right, but as for me, I would rather just sit back and await the change of
history. The sitting, of course, took
several more years until later events in Philippine history put my own theology
to a test.
Secondly, as a
woman belonging to the majority minority in world society, I rather hope that
the fact that I am here is not another tokenism
of feminism. All over the world
today, there has been persistent clamour for equal
participation in all aspects of the
21
peoples' struggles. I wonder how many women there are here today? Let our
participation speak for the aspirations and hopes of an
women all over the world, now in various situations of exploitation and,
oppression as many people are.
Thirdly, the
topic itself is rather awesome - Peoples'
Movements: Building Power and
Maintaining the Struggle. The people
who can best speak on this subject are now in solitary confinement and under
maximum security in some lonely prison cells.
Nevertheless, as these heroes of our times would hope, even from the
depths of their dungeons, our efforts, as manifested by this assembly, express
the unspeakable aspirations of our people.
Let us draw courage from the people's own suffering and their own
struggles to make all our dreams come true.
From their experiences, may we gain more insights into our own, discover
our maximum potential and maintain this in the context of a global structure
that so imprisons our hopes.
People's movements can be understood as conscious
purposive efforts to bring changes in the existing
order by means of people’s participation, in order to obtain a just, participatory and sustainable society. People's movements inevitably aim at people's power... which has hardly ever been renounced
voluntarily. People's movements do not
aim to develop participation within
existing oppressive structures ... rather,
to lead oppressed groups to power so
that they can control their lives and their economy, creating just and participatory structures.
(CCPD Network Letter, April, 1982)
Today, all over
the Asia-Pacific region, people are engaged in various forms of struggle. Indigenous peoples are fighting for land
rights: Maoris in Aotearoa, Aborigines in
22
are workers' strikes, student demonstrations and in some countries, peasant
revolts.
While the
character of the struggle assumes different forms and intensities, the faces of
suffering arc the same. We find
commonalities in the issues and the causes.
We sense the same resources of power and hope welling from the people
wanting to liberate themselves from the forces of oppression, exploitation and
repression.
In order to
understand these movements better, we need to view them from a particular
historical perspective. Perhaps, we can
begin by looking at the Philippines experience and find out about the
structural mechanisms in Philippine society that make it possible for a
privileged few to gain economic and political power for their own interests and
how these same powers are used against the people. Paradoxically, as we will discover and
perhaps as we already know these same conditions of powerlessness are the very
factors that helped empower the people and which have given rise to people's
movements.
This paper is
merely an attempt to present an overview of people's movements and does not
claim to provide an exhaustive analysis of these movements either. Even as I draw mainly from the Philippine
experience I am afraid that the attempt at brevity has still resulted in
generalities. However, I hope that this
will at least generate further in-depth discussions as to the character and
visions of present movements in our own countries.
THE
PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE
A
Revolutionary Situation
A woman carrying a sick baby in her arms, was crossing the
Metro
Why are these
drivers always in a hurry? A bus driver
plying EDSA told us about the pressures of work. There are 2 shifts of 12 hours each a
day. In his own shift, he has to make 8
trips from Baclaran to Monumento,
a good 20 kilometers. To and from Baclaran means 16 trips per shift. The driver has to meet the quota
23
to keep his job and at the
appointed time has to hand over the keys to the next driver whose turn it will
be to rush through Metro Manila traffic.
Celia lives with her family in a small shack half of
which stands on the banks of Agusan river in
Celia at 27 looks 10 years older. Adjustment in the city has not been easy. A migrant from Agusan Del Sur
where her family owned a piece of
land planted to cacao and other root crops
and which enabled them to be relatively
self-sufficient, she remembers with bitterness how, one day military operatives had forced them lo
evacuate the area. Needing support for
survival, Celia was j6rced to marry. When her sister died, the husband ran away and left Celia with the
care of 5 children.
The filthy surroundings, constant threat of
demolition, inadequate income, the children’s
failing health are some of the problems Celia has to confront everyday.
The woman, the
baby, the bus driver, the passengers, Celia and her family are victims of
forces beyond their control. The woman is in a hurry to reach the hospital and
get the baby treated because she is also needed at home. The driver ekes out a living and cannot
afford to lose time. The passengers,
although they sometimes complain and get into a fight with the driver, stay in
the bus to get to their destination because, if they get off, the alternative
would be a taxi, and that is another story.
Celia endures the riverside community because she has nowhere to go.
These
situations reflect some aspects of life in the
This economic
imbalance is mainiv rooted in the large scale control
of TNCs in all aspects of economic activity. Hence, even when so called independence has
been gained, from Spanish colonizers in 1896 and from American rule in 1946,
the country still remains in the shackles of economic dependence on foreign
powers. The farce of Transfer of Technology, Employment, Infusion
of Capital and
24
other such trappings of
development have only benefited foreign investors and have plunged the people
deeper into poverty.
More than 80%
of Filipinos live below the poverty line, which at the minimum includes 2 meals
of rice, dried fish or vegetables per day, a yearly change of clothing,
medicine, rentals and elementary education for an average family of six (NEDA,
1983). Translated into monetary terms,
this means P73/day. Industrial workers
in Metro Manila are among the highest paid and they receive only a minimum wage
of P43/day. As a result, the whole
family works to augment income. Mothers
vend or do laundry for more fortunate households; daughters become hospitality
girls which means prostitutes actually; children leave
school and sell cigarettes or newspapers, watch cars or become scavengers.
Worse, some of them become child prostitutes or fall prey to syndicates forcing
young boys to beg..
In contrast 1%
of the population controls 70% of the economy and most of the country's
resources. TNCs,
85% of which are American, continue to make profit from the land. They enjoy 100% repatriations of their
earnings as imposed by the IMF-World Bank. World Bank figures show that for
every dollar invested, TNCs earn $3.58 of which only
$1 is reinvested back into the country. Foreign debt has reached an
unprecedented $34.5 billion from $500 miIlion when
Mr. Marcos first became President in 1965.
The people
confront other related problems. Peasants,
tribal Filipinos and the Moro people are being driven out of their lands,
either through deception or through the muzzle of the gun, to give wav to TNC
expansions usually carried out in collaboration with local elites. Fishermen
in many coastal communities are displaced by foreign-owned fishing trawlers
which indiscriminately exploit marine resources for profit. Urban
poor settlers are harassed, threatened and dislocated in favour of government cosmetic projects, or expansive
business ventures of some favoured cronies. Workers — whether in agribusiness or
industrial complexes — labor for long hours at controlled wages and under
repressive laws.
At a varying
intensity, the broader sectors of society also confront situations of
powerlessness. Teachers, who have to bear with subsistence income, arc the
workhorses of an irrelevant educational system which prepares students to
become the young labor force for foreign industries. Media personnel, caught within the
stranglehold of censorship and mass media monopoly, are coerced into becoming
tools of the establishment and as unwilling mouthpieces for repraise
releasesre, half-truths and, often, outright
lies. Lawyers
25
practice jurisprudence in mock
trial courts under a questionable constitution and anomalous secret
decrees. Doctors and medical; personnel battle against diseases incurably
rooted in poverty and extreme deprivation.
These
conditions have given rise to social unrest.
As the people become openly assertive of their rights, the government
becomes obsessed with total economic and political control. The pattern of intensifying militarization is
therefore not merely accidental. Rather,
militarization has become essential in the perpetuation of the regime. The imposition of martial law in 1972 ensured
this. Immediately after that, the American Chamber of Commerce congratulated
Mr. Marcos for his bold step in maintaining political stability.
In 1983, in exchange for $900 million over the next
five years in aid, the
1918-1920, to send troops
to
1927, to protect a
Western Settlement in
1950s, to bomb
Sumatra and right-wing rebels in
1975, to
send troops to
Since 1972, the
Philippine bases have increasingly been geared toward serving American
interests.
(Sen. Jose W. Diokno, 1983)
The same may be
said of
26
considered as the main source of
uranium to fuel the nuclear industry and that is how vital
Indeed, under
the ideological pretense of national security the machineries of violence
continue to be strengthened to protect and advance the economic and political
interests of global and national powers.
Even remarkable scientific advancement, the
manifestations of which could have been beneficial, arc being used against the pcopic's interests.
Perhaps, Lenin was right when he said that Science is a whore because it sells itself to any class interest.
Against such complex, highly sophisticated
maneuvers of the forces of domination, can we hope to change the course of
events in favour of our side of history?
A
Revolutionary Consciousness
Far from
subduing the people into mute subservience, these developments in the
Maria is a peasant woman in a remote village in
Surigao Del Sur in
One day, the military came and took her husband with
them. The next day, he was released only
to be picked up again. Five months
pregnant, Maria suffered further oppression when a soldier raped her. Three days after and when
strong enough, Maria followed up her husband in the military camp. Sure enough, the husband was there, cold and
dead. Healthy before arrest, the soldiers claimed he died of malaria while in
detention. Maria sorrowfully buried her husband but after she delivered her
fifth child, went back to literacy work.
Today, Maria provides education not only among the tribals but also among traditional church women, mainly
sharing her own experiences and challenging the women to become aware of the
realities surrounding them and to be relively
involved in the whole process of social transformation.
27
Before martial
law, traditional politicians used to dominate the political scene. Today, a new
breed of politicians has emerged. The
leaders come from the people themselves.
The politics of this Parliament Of The Streets seeks to answer the basic issues of
neocolonialism, bureaucrat monopoly and militarism.
Mass
organizations of workers, peasants, students, teachers, businessmen,
professionals and the religious have began to emerge. In contrast to personality-centered
organizations of traditional politicians, people organized themselves based on sectoral interests and territorial divisions. They formed alliances and coalitions. Thus, today, we have the workers' Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), the
teachers' Association Of Concerned Teachers (ACT), the students' League Of Filipino 5tudents (LFS). In
1973, the National Democratic Front
(NDF), probably the most significant revolutionary bloc, was formed. Under its umbrella are the other
revolutionary but outlawed groups such as the Communist Party Of The Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA), the Kabataang
Makabayan (KM), the Christians For National Liberation (CNL) among others. (Atty. Alex Padilla,
PCHR conference, 1984.)
Since the
Aquino assassination, the depth of the people's disenchantment has been
defiantly visible in the streets of
Teachers, who comprise 60% of professionals in the country and
who are mostly women, are complacent no longer.
In October last year, 15,000 public school teachers in Metro Manila
staged an indefinite mass leave. Soon
after, 4,000 teachers in
Youth and students who first popularized the
nationalist political line, are in the streets again. Although martial law brought serious setbacks
in the beginning, the youth have returned to the streets
28
with more militance. They lead demonstrations fearlessly as they
did during the height of the Vietnam War.
Still during martial law, students agitated for the restoration of their
right to organize, right to publish their own newspapers, against tuition fee
increases, against irrelevant education.
These issues became the rallying point for the discussion of broader
problems. They formed alliances, not
only among students from other universities and colleges, but also with
peasants, workers, professionals and the religious in exposing the evils of the
present regime and its collusion with the
Businessmen counter government claims that the crisis is
purely economic and assert they are political.
Consternation, widespread dissatisfaction and contempt at Mr. Marcos's
rule are now expressed in rallies, demonstrations and novel protest forms
reflective of their lifestyle — confetti, tickertape, protest jogs,
motorcades. The business sector have organized themselves to join the people in the
struggle for basic freedom. As one
organized group said:
Once a people's eyes have been opened,
there can be no closing them.
Once a people's voice has
been raised.
there can be no silencing them.
Once a people's hearts and minds have embraced
the principles of
nationalism and democracy there can be no turning back.
Perhaps, the
most significant indication of widespread revolutionary consciousness is the
apparent growth of the NPA, as it ultimately symbolizes the people's
willingness to confront the powers that be in an armed struggle. The NPA seems to have considerably widened
its base of support. According to a
statement released on its 15th anniversary, the NPA has grown from a fledgling group of 50 guerillas with 35 rifles in 1969 to a fighting force of
20,000,fulltime troops, part-time fighters, militia and combat support
personnel with 10,000 high powered
rifles, operating in 45 guerilla fronts in 53 out of 72 provinces... Even from the point of view
of the U.S.-Marcos government,
29
the NDF-CPP-NPA pose the most
significant threat to national security and the regime's stability as this
revolutionary bloc boasts of a million
active members and a reach of another 10 million people as sympathizers,
supporters and at the very least, influenced.
In
THE POWER
OF THE PEOPLE
Building
Power
The existence
merely of a revolutionary situation in the
In his analysis
of people's oppression, Paulo Freire observed that reThe oppressed
people have so internalized the oppressor to such an extent that their very
self-identity is based on the identity of the oppressor and the oppressor's
exploitation and oppressive relationship to the oppressed'. Hence, if the
peasants had to make any changes at all, they first had to understand what
needed changing.
30
Developing
Critical Consciousness
The first step
in building power, it seems to me, is the development of critical
consciousness. It involves certain
processes.
Lando visited his relatives in a neighboring barrio. Everyone was glad to see him after a long while.
They talked about the children, the animals on the farm, their friends and their neighbors. Lando asked about the harvest, the land rent, the new
people in the community, the recent
developments, some problems. The sharing
went on until the we# hours of the morning.
Lando is a youth organizer. He is
actually conducting a Preliminary Social Investigation into the
conditions of the barrio to prepare for organizing work among the
peasants. The data he gathers from his
interviews are discussed among his colleagues.
They relate these with their own data on the economic conditions of the
area and the sectors concerned.
A more complete
picture of a social condition is obtained by exploring its historical and
structural relationships. This can be
understood by studying its changes through time, Historical Analysis, and by examining its structures in a given
moment of time, Structural Analysis.
When we review
our history seriously, we develop a historical consciousness. This eventually frees people from the tyranny
of history's invisible powers which
determine the course of our lives. Paulo
Freire speaks of the need for this kind of critical
consciousness because it liberates people from the role of historical object empowering them to become its subject, i.e. agents of change.
In the
Philippine context, change necessarily implies changes in structures. Hence, the need for
structural analysis. When first
introduced in the
Through
structural analysis, the grassroots were able to study the realities around
them in a more systematic manner. For
the peasants, it meant learning about common problems, like how much is the
total harvest for the year and how much goes to the absentee landlord. Also, how much is the rate of exploitation
and how this is possible. Or, who are
the wielders of power and why.
These
investigations lead to class analysis where they begin to, understand why the
interest of the landlord is not synonymous with their own. They begin to realize that social classes
determine
31
particular interests and modes of
behavior. Then, they begin to relate the
whole tenancy system with the use of chemicals and fertilizers and with TNC
incursions Into their lives and properties. Many peasants understood landlessness,
malnutrition and widespread poverty in a new light. They realized that the process of changing
all these is not separate from the historical process. Other people's experiences provided them
insights into their own.
Without
structural analysis, there is a tendency for people to be blind to the real
issues in society and adopt a personal attitude which may unwittingly reinforce
a situation of injustice. Through
analysis, the people arc able to identify the key structures in a given
situation and to move beyond personal considerations towards specific
structural changes.
Training
seminars, participation in mass actions and other activities enable the
grassroots to perceive the roots of their suffering and those of the entire
Filipino people as well. These help them
extend their home, to include the next community, the region, the country, the
world. They also realize their role as
prime movers in the whole process of liberation and as makers of history. By collectively identifying possibilities for
concrete actions to shape their own history, the people become united.
Through the use
of structural analysis in the
The development
of critical consciousness leads to the realization that the struggle for change
is not confined to the solution of immediate problems, but that it has to be
carried out in a larger context in which powerful forces are at work against
the people. As Paulo Freire
said, it is attained in the process of reperceiving
the reality of oppression, not as a closed world from which there is no exit,
but as a limiting situation which they can transformre.
As the people
are confronted with more advanced and more complex systems in society, deeper
analysis is imperative. Conditions
change and their implications must be thoroughly studied in order to be able to
provide objective truth about society.
In this sense, the building of critical consciousness is a continuous
process.
Organizing/Mobilizing
People
Organizing is
integral to the whole education process.
In fact, people gain more insights from organized action and actual
32
involvement. Common experience-sharing of common problems,
hopes and aspirations and participation in community action also create
authentic unity. Who was it that said
that for a worker to learn about exploitation and oppression he should be put
in-the picket lines?
Organization
also safeguards the interests of the people.
Sometimes, mere articulation of problems and needs could lead to
manipulation and control. On the other
hand, if presented in an organized manner, articulation tends to get
results. In concrete involvement, the
people assume power.
An urban poor community in
Since that first experience of success, the women
have sustained their organization by linking up with
other groups, not only on particular issues
but also in bringing up broader concerns.
These activities have provided
them an added source of power.
Raymund Fung said that a message conveyed by a few
powerless people becomes a new power to be reckoned with. When a group make
their demands, they lift up the sentiments of the people. Their action speaks for the aspirations of
the poor in general.
The Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) was organized
when the people realized that they were the best
judges of their own needs and that
operating as an organized cohesive force, they were the best means of achieving the fulfillment of these
needs. ZOTO differed significantly from earlier community development
approaches which had paternalistic overtones,
developed dependence and stifled the people's creativity.
Before this, the people in Tondo had sought
assistance from church leaders, government agencies,
civic organizations and big business firms for intercession. They were
given promises of help. When they
realized no help was coming, they
began to be assertive. When the Manila
Archdiocese did not fulfill its promise
of support made during Pope Paul's
visit in Manila in 1970, the people marched to the Manila Cathedral and as the Cardinal Sin himself
was celebrating Christmas Eve Mass,
they seized the microphone and presented their demands.
At another time, when the First Lady's
33
Project threatened the eviction of thousands of families,
the ZOTO members trooped lo Malacañang, despite the
ban on demonstrations.
These encounters with authority figures helped to
dispel fear for the powerful and the mighty. The discoveries and insights gained from
these in turn developed a
consciousness of solidarity and built up confidence and courage.
(Ted Butalid, SJ, 1984)
There are now
many such organizations. The education,
organization and mobilization processes have given rise to peoples' movements characterized
by participation, equality and self-determination. They continually develop in the course of the
people's struggle for structural change.
These
organizations began as small group undertakings, rallied other sectors/groups
around them, grew into a nationwide force and by skilful directing of mass
discontent into mass action, developed people's movements. Hence, from small core
groups to people's movements. The
in-between stages of development have included those of organizing groups and
organizing committees. Federations,
organizations or sectoral organizations, were
formed. Then alliances
of multi-sectoral organizations. Through these, the people advocate and
struggle for nationalism, justice, freedom and democracy.
However, there
are still some basic questions regarding concrete results. In many grassroots communities there have
been discussions on the viability of socioeconomic projects. Development workers often ask if it is enough
that people are conscientized even if their stomachs are
empty. Others argue that socioeconomic
activities would merely be palliatives since they do not answer the very basic
issues of poverty.
Times were when
such projects were used as the means of entry in communities. Projects were started even when people had
not undergone education and organization.
In fact, if there was any organization at all in the community, it was
only for the benefit of projects. As
expected, when outside help ceased, the groups also disbanded. Today, socioeconomic projects are carried out
mostly in Communities which have achieved a certain level of organization. Hence, the projects themselves help sustain
and maintain their activities. Many
farmer communities are involved in appropriate technology like oil and soap
making. Some women are engaged in
handicrafts. Workshops are often
integrated with skills training and seminars updating them on current trends in
the national and regional situations and invariably deeper analysis of these.
34
These are the
ways that would give proof to the sustaining, maintain aspects of the
struggle. However, socio-economic and
development projects, at least the types mentioned above, are but a small part
of the efforts of various communities to respond to immediate, day-to-day
problems in order to be able to struggle another day, another month, another
year.
How Filipinos
are maintaining their struggle without foreign support as a reflection of the
people's self-reliant attitude is concretely expressed in fully trusting that
organized people will collectively think out problems, solutions and strategies
and implement them, through their own effort.
The underlying theme for this is to have faith in the people and faith in the justness of the cause which binds them.
What has made
the Philippine struggle sturdy as it has been for the last decade,
has been the unfailing participation of people in all the aspects of work
needed to bring about social change. People taking various responsibilities, voluntarily and resolutely,
is proving the old maxim that a
people that takes history into its own hands is a force that cannot be defeated.
A constant
cultural forum to keep faith in the struggle is also one important factor for
this resoluteness among the people.
Celebration of the achievements and life examples of martyrs, heroes and
other selfless participants of the struggle keeps the revolutionary spirit
burning. The singing of old and new
songs of the struggle is part of this cultural struggle among the people.
When the vision
for tomorrow is not a pipedream, but a plant that is consciously, protectively
being nurtured today by the people, there is no reason to doubt that the vision
will come to pass.
Some
Typical Methods
Let me just
outline some of the typical methods used in the process of building and
maintaining power.
Protest actions
that are peaceful but militant are effective means of asserting and developing
the democratic power of the people.
The 7-dav Lakbayan
(People's March) before the May '84 elections, which started off from the countryside and towns of Central Luzon, Southern Luzon and North Luzon and climaxed
with a grand rally in
35
which the various
classes and sectors of society found their common voice in upholding the democratic struggle.
As a form of protest action, the long march required a relatively high level of political consciousness among the marchers and a high level of organizational skills among the leaders. Physical sacrifice and discipline were expected of every participant, not to mention the, risks of military harassment along the way. Children marched with adults, fishermen with priests, students with professionals. Political; personages shared the difficulties of the long march. The Lakbayan, demonstrated the people's unity against the present regime.
Other protest
actions include: rallies; demonstrations;
strikes; candk processions; prayer rallies; protest jogs; confetti; tickertape;
motorcades; hunger strikes; fasting;
use of streamers; noise barrage; floating streamers; boycotts; peace marches; barricades.
Some
information activities: leafleteering; posters/cards; alternative media; creative
dramatics; people's art/literature; exchange programs; conferences;
consultation; dinner forum; symposia; assemblies.
Solidarity
Linkages
Linkages with
other liberation-oriented programs, institutions and groups both on the
national and international levels help, advance people's movements. These linkages are extensive sources of
experience and learning. These help the
people broaden and deepen their ideological perspective. When education, organization and mobilization
activities are mutually shared these lead to the enrichment of the
organizational mechanisms within the people's movements.
In this era
characterized by global imperialism, no nation can exist without international
support. Self-reliance cannot be
absolute. Change can be achieved only
when all nations and peoples who share the same problems and aspire for the
same goals unite in solidarity.
Solidarity and interdependence are important factors in the liberation
process. Continuous development,
expansion and consolidation of people's organizations and the achievement of
national goals require the unity and support of all peoples' organizations. The present urgency of this need for
solidarity intensifies the requirement for building global networks.
Solidarity
linkages can be enhanced through: Exchange
visits; exposure programs; internship programs;
people-to-people linkages; support statements/letters; international
conferences.
36
Evaluation
A process of
evaluation, assessment and summing-up of experiences must be integral to
people's movements. This process keeps
them apart from bureaucratic, authoritarian types of organizations that
exercise power from above. It helps a
group reflect systematically upon experiences previously undertaken.
Evaluation also
serves as the springboard for mapping out future plans of action. It is, therefore, integrated into planning
and programming. If done regularly, it
helps to keep sight of goals and perspectives.
The Role Of The Middle Sectors
As we have
already seen, people's movements emerged not just because there were
revolutionary situations. Some processes
were involved. These processes were
initiated by so-called “catalysts”, “vanguards”, “change agents”. Students helped advance the workers and
peasant struggles. In Latin America and
also in the
The peasants
are the backbone of society, the middle sectors are the articulators of the
people's aspirations. These are
students, artists, media, professionals and the religious. They are differentiated from other sectors of
society by their role in forming, receiving, handling and transmitting
ideas. Although they are not directly
engaged in production, they are just as essential as the workers and peasants in
the development of societies.
Throughout the
history of people's struggles, the middle sectors played a distinct role in mouldnig the minds of the people, raising questions,
searching for answers. They give voice,
shape and color to people's experiences and aspirations.
The Filipino
intellectuals, or intelligentsia, then studying in
During the
following decades, progressive ideas continued to exert strong influence on the
intellectuals. They in turn have placed
themselves in the forefront of the movements for radical changes in society.
Today, a great
number of intellectuals arc taking part in the
37
people's movements. We have observed this in the streets of
The Role Of The Church
Since there
will be a theological reflection tomorrow which I think will unavoidably deal
with the role of the Church in the people's struggles, I would like to mention
just a few points here. The Churches
played important roles in the process of social change. In the case of
These efforts
resulted in an informed laity, both in the religious and political sense. Hence, later in
Further
analysis of the Latin American experience will reveal a clear correlation
between the development of CEB'S, the political radicalization of the people
and the emergence of political organizations.
In the
BCCs are small communities of small people, grassroots who do not enjoy participation in decisions affecting them — whether in society or
in church. BCCs are aimed at
supporting peoples' mo as advanced
38
by workers and
peasants. They also assist established
mass movements as well as promote solidarity and
alliance work among other sectors.
Later, BCCs evolved into
BCC-CO, incorporating the community organization
approach with the faith dimension, previously focused ox liturgy and indigenous worship.
The BCC-CO program has seen the reality of how
Christian communities weld together the vast
Potentialities of People. Since 1978, these
communities have rapidly increased from a handful to approximately 2000 all
over the counts. These are small sized
communities with an average of 50
families or 300 persons.
There are 190 trainers, facilitators and organizers
able to reach rough@ about 100,000 families or
600,000 people. These are mainly peasants, workers, urban poor families and
fishermen.
(BCC-CO Program Evaluation, 1984)
Although far
from being resolute, the church has taken some initiatives to resolve existing
problems. The BCC (Basic Christian
Communities) program is one such initiative.
Following the mandate of Vatican N, Papal encyclicals and influenced by
the Latin American experience, the BCCs were born.
Today most
conspicuous in any given protest mass actions in Metro Manila are priests,
pastors, deaconesses and church workers.
There are not the only Christians in these movements but they are the
most dramatic symbols of the church's participation in the people's
struggles. More and more church workers
are joining these movements. They have
generated hostile reactions not only because of theological conservatism but
also because of the vast interests the church has to protect. Church politics tends to identify with the
ruling class thereby reinforcing oppressive structures not only in society but
also within the church itself.
But these progressive
church people know the risks of involvement.
Government harassment, arrest, torture, detention even murder, and
church condemnation notwithstanding, they continue to be with the people —
drawing resources and hope from their faith.
Not a few of them have Joined the NPA as
political leaders and as armed revolutionaries.
Some have already given up their lives.
According to the observation of the Task Force Detainees of the
Philippines (TFDP), church people are the most effective groups In exposing human rights violations. This is because they have the basic
commitment to serve the people.
Conclusion
People's
movements are far from being over. There
are many
39
questions, difficult questions. Still for many, these are going to be protracted
ones. “Should we be involved?” “Whose
side are we on?” There can be no easy answers and solutions either. The task for us then is to search, to gather
together not in studies divorced from life, but in reflections on the struggles
of all peoples in Asia-Pacific today.
From our concrete involvement in these struggles, we may yet find some
answers.
The challenge
for us is to commit ourselves to the task of social transformation, be in
solidarity with the people and immerse ourselves ever more deeply in their
sufferings. Let us resolve to create new
communities with one another as our source of power and strength.
In closing, I
quote from one of Jose Ma Sison's latest poems
written while in solitary confinement.
It speaks of the disintegrating feudal cosmos, superstition and natural
abundance yielding to infrastructural development and transnational plunder of
our resources. As well, there is the
understated allusion to the resurgence of a people's war.
But the forest is still enchanted.
There is a new hymn in the wind, There is a new magic in the darkgreen,
So the peasant folks say to friends.
A single fighting spirit has taken over
To lure in and astonish the
intruders.
(Jose Ma.Sison, “But the Forest is Still
Enchanted”, 1982)