Since ages, the reactionary classes have made use of buzz words such as “unity,” “peace,” “reconciliation,” to rally the masses behind them and their interests.
But when a charged moment of conflict among them intensifies, they mouth these calls within their ranks to de-escalate the tension. Such was the case in January this year when believers of the Iglesia ni Cristo were herded, in the name of peace, its believers to decrease the tension between the Marcos and Duterte dynasties that has already rock the system.
Yet, this brand of peace imposed by the reactionary classes has been the cause of unpeace, of the systemic violence and injustices against the masses. The dominant narrative is: do not complain, do not protest, do not rebel. Cooperate. Say yes to landlessness, unemployment, corruption, poverty, demolition, plunder and destruction of natural resources, US military bases, to US domination, Chinese incursions in our seas, endless importation, destruction of local industries. Say yes to the continuing exploitation and oppression of the masses by the ruling classes under a semifeudal, semicolonial system.
Continually, the reactionary state tries to turn the table against those who are working to change the harsh and violent system towards a progressive, just and humane Philippine society. From the most inane accusation such as traffic violation, illegal assembly, to being the cause of underdevelopment in the country, those who fight against social injustice and for their democratic rights were called tulisan, subversives, terrorists and end up being harassed, intimidated, jailed, killed, disappeared.
In the peace negotiations it means surrender, capitulation, and to work within the framework of the reactionary constitution that serves the semicolonial and semifeudal system which the reactionary classes themselves continue to violate as they fight among themselves for their own share of crumbs from the nation’s coffers they have wiped out.
Hateful of anything that shakes the system, the ruling classes always insist on “peace” to save the semicolonial and semifeudal system. Like a bunch of leeches, these bloodsuckers—the landlords and bourgeois compradors and their imperialist masters—cling to this rotten system, protect and preserve it at all costs because of the political and economic power they get from it. Not even when hell freezes will they surrender their power to the masses.
It is this situation that validates and legitimizes the necessity and urgency of the national democratic revolution as the solution to the age-old problem of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism; to achieve peace that is based on justice and not defined by the use of guns. It means land for the landless, food on the table, roof above our heads, decent jobs and wages, free education and accessible and affordable basic needs. These aspirations are articulated in both the Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution as well as the 12-Point Program of the NDFP.
The people’s democratic revolution in the Philippines—led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), with the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)— treads the path of war to gain peace, freedom and prosperity for its people. It is a people’s war that targets, imperialism, principally the US, and the landlord-comprador class as its enemies. It builds people’s lives, not destroy it. ###
