{"id":8558,"date":"2019-09-12T11:21:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T03:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8558"},"modified":"2020-02-05T06:03:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T22:03:52","slug":"21st-century-neoliberal-authoritarianism-for-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/21st-century-neoliberal-authoritarianism-for-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"21st Century Neoliberal Authoritarianism for Whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(<\/em>Statement for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)\nInquiry on \u201cThe Current Situation Impacting on the Work, Safety, and Security\nof Human Rights Defenders in the Philippines\u201d delivered on September 11, 2019)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IBON Foundation was set up in 1978 and is in its 41st\nyear of service to the Filipino people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a small NGO. We don\u2019t\nclaim to have big ideas on our own but, rather, share the big ideas of social\nmovements in the Philippines and across the planet for a just and humane\nsociety free of poverty and exploitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are most of all a research and\nadvocacy institution and have been doing this for over four decades now. We\nanalyze issues, especially but not only socioeconomic issues. We share our\nanalysis and ideas freely with the public: media, policymakers, students,\nacademe, civil society and actually anyone who cares to ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we share and work with\npeople\u2019s organizations most of all. We know ideas are nothing if not embraced\nand acted on by the country\u2019s mass movement for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have always been transparent\nabout our bias for the majority of Filipinos who are persistently marginalized,\nand about our opposition to unjust and inequitable economic structures. We have\nlikewise always been open about our belief in the capacity of people to change\nsociety and in the importance of organized movements to bring about a better\nfuture for all. Like so many others we are activists and, if the label matters,\nLeftist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly two decades now, we\nhave also been providing textbooks and journals, holding seminars and forums,\nand networking with educators in hundreds of primary and secondary schools\nnationwide. For at least five years, we\u2019ve worked particularly closely with\nLumad community schools in Mindanao \u2013 providing not just teaching materials but\nalso working with them to develop their curriculums and train their teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been doing development work\nunder six administrations already. Not without difficulty but at least freely\nand openly as would be expected under a democracy. However, things changed\nunder this seventh Duterte administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly and systematically, we\nare now accused of channeling funds to so-called \u201cCommunist-terrorists,\u201d of\n\u201c[pulling] statistics out of thin air\u201d, of submitting \u201cfabricated reports\u201d to\nthe EU and UN, and of producing \u201cradical literature\u201d teaching armed struggle\nand rebellion. We do this, according to the government, because we are a\n\u201cCommunist front organization\u201d. They even say our editors are \u201cspouses of\nCPP-NPA personalities\u201d in Mindanao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, there are arrest\nwarrants on trumped-up murder charges for two long-standing members of our\nBoard of Trustees. Staff have been approached to be recruited as intelligence\nassets. The presidential spokesperson and a PCOO undersecretary have called us\nout for false data. The AFP has done the same aside from repeatedly and\ninsistently calling us a \u201cCommunist front organization\u201d in its press releases,\nbefore mass media journalists, among our development partners abroad, within\ngovernment policymaking circles, and in schools and universities. Wherever we\nwork, they have been there and are there to vilify us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We categorically deny that our\nfunding has gone anywhere than to our programs for research, advocacy and\neducation. We have asked the government to prove that we have been doing\nanything illegal but they refuse to show us their so-called evidence. But they\napparently show others here and abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We categorically state that our\nresearch and teaching materials are always based on evidence and facts at hand.\nWe have asked the government to prove that we have been falsifying anything but\nall they do is declare that we do so, without any explanation. Because there is\nno counterargument to the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u2019s attacks on IBON\nare tame compared to the violence they inflict on so many. But, of course, it\u2019s\nnot just about us. The attacks on IBON are just one component of the 21st\ncentury authoritarianism being pushed by the Duterte administration. If this is\nsuccessful there will be far-reaching consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one, the attacks are\nevidently part of a systematic campaign by the Duterte clique to put down\nopposition to its rule and stay in power. The administration\u2019s weak spots are\nthe innumerable controversies from its grossly illiberal and corrupt\ngovernance, and the inherent discontent from economic backwardness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government knows that\npropaganda and disinformation can only go so far in covering these up, and that\npopulist social measures will never offset the structural causes of poverty and\nmisery and dissent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, it is also using much\nharsher measures to put down any and all viable political opposition. The\nadministration established its authoritarian credentials with its vicious\nso-called \u2018war on drugs\u2019, martial law across Mindanao, and resurgent\ncounterinsurgency operations in the Visayas and Luzon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it has also weaponized the\nlaw and used this against perceived political opponents in the legislature and\njudiciary, mass media and big business, and civil society. It is also upgrading\nthis weapon in the name of social order with a slew of issuances and\nregulations against illegal drugs and so-called \u2018Communist-terrorists\u2019. There\nis also the national identification system, reinstatement of the death penalty,\nlowering the age of criminal responsibility, and amendments to the Human\nSecurity Act (HSA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pres. Duterte has so far\nappointed 73 military and police officials to civilian positions to facilitate\nall this. They are heads in 38 of the agencies where they are in, and already\nconstitute one-fifth of the Cabinet or 11 out of 50 Cabinet and cabinet-level\npositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines was on the\nfrontlines of global people power in 1986. Since 2016, we have joined the\nfrontlines of global populist demagoguery and authoritarianism. The Duterte\ngovernment portrays itself as pro-poor and anti-elite, and as a radical critic\nof oligarchs and foreign domination. It is of course none of these and instead\nrepresents the worst aspects of the ruling system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our greatest concern however lies\nto the horizon beyond the Duterte administration. One of the main goals of the\nincreasingly militarized State is to defeat people organizing to assert their\ncivil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. There is parochial\npolitical self-interest to this by the Duterte clique, but also a greater\ndanger \u2013 a rightist counterattack by the system to protect the interests of the\ncountry\u2019s dominant political and economic classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearing September 21, we are\nreminded of how the Marcos dictatorship decades ago ushered the country onto\nits neoliberal economic path resulting in the failed and failing economy of\ntoday. Inequality has worsened to unprecedented levels and the majority of the\npopulation is still very poor and deprived. Agriculture and Filipino industry\nhave been hollowed out and self-serving foreign interests have intensified\ntheir control. The ecological disasters we face are devastating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Duterte government is out to\nput down the mainstream Left that is the most potent challenge to the unjust\nand oppressive status quo. Dismantling the forces pressing social change for\nthe better will be catastrophic for Philippine society. We will see the\nhegemony of capital, the rights of the working classes demolished, increasing\nprofits at the cost of greater poverty and exploitation, an economy shaped to\nfurther concentrate wealth and power, and environmental destruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it is, we already see how the\nDuterte government is making so much headway in pressing the neoliberal\neconomic program demanded by foreign and domestic elites. This is\nauthoritarianism increasing their profits, income and wealth even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt in our minds \u2013\nthe Duterte government is attacking us, activists, for our ideas. Unable to win\nwith better ideas, they are battling us with their brawn. Calling us\n‘Communists-terrorists’ is just their spurious justification to use as much\nviolence as they want and to intimidate all who struggle for a better world.\n###<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo courtesy of GABRIELA | A National Alliance of Women<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Statement for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Inquiry on \u201cThe Current Situation Impacting on the Work, Safety, and Security of Human Rights Defenders in the Philippines\u201d delivered on September 11, 2019) IBON Foundation was set up in 1978 and is in its 41st year of service to the Filipino people. We are a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,14,961],"tags":[1834,1902,1055,1923,1925,347,1926,1463,116,1924,1927],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8561,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8558\/revisions\/8561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}