New group vows fight vs fascism
ANEW opposition coalition on Sunday vowed to resist and oppose all efforts of the Duterte administration to enforce authoritarian rule.
the University of the Philippines’ Bahay ng Alumni, the Laban ng Masa coalition pledged to combat the “fascist” moves of President Rodrigo Duterte, who, according to former Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello, one of the leaders of the group, is leading the country to an open dictatorship and fascist rule.
The creation of the coalition came a week after Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte launched a coalition called “Tapang at destabilize the Duterte administration.
not pushing for the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The need for a genuine and credible opposition to authoritarian rule is one reason we have come together in Laban ng Masa. But there is another reason. That other reason is that we offer the only alternative that our people can take to break from the repression, poverty, and inequality that engulf them. That alternative is system change. This is change oriented in a socialist direction,” Bello said.
“There may be differences among us as to whether we should call the current regime fascist, authoritarian, or de facto dictatorial rule, but there can be no doubt that the direction is toward the consolidation of absolute power, whether this comes in the form of martial law, the de facto subjugation of all the other branches of government to the President, a so-called revolutionary government, or charter change along the lines of ‘federalism,’” Bello said.
He cited Duterte’s drug war, which he described as the third deadliest “war” in
the South East Asian region.
“President Duterte is what I call a fascist. But he is a fascist original. The usual textbook model of how fascism comes about is that of “creeping fascism,” like that of (former president Ferdinand) marked by violations of political and civil rights, followed by the grab for absolute power, then by massive, indiscriminate repression,” Bello said.
“Duterte’s brand of fascism is what we might call “blitzkrieg fascism,” wherein the order is re - der in the form of thousands of extra-judicial executions of poor people, then with all sectors thoroughly intimidated, followed by the grab for absolute power and the abolition of democratic institution and political and civil rights,” he added.
Bello warned that the President may declare a dictatorship as his trust and popularity rating plummet.
He slammed Duterte for abandoning some of his campaign promises.
“[ Duterte] has shown his true colors when it comes to economic reform. Instead of outlawing contractualization, he has made it legal. He has made no effort to promote agrarian reform. He has not given coconut farmers the coco levy funds, as he promised during the campaign,” Bello said.
“[Duterte] allowed the big mining lobby to oust Gina Lopez when a phone call to his allies in the Commission on Appointments could have save her. He has become the [best friend] of big capitalists like Ramon Ang and Manny Pangilinan. Nearly a year after he of the ruling class stand solidly behind him, and he stands solidly behind them. The only difference of substance from past regimes is that his main base within the elite are the warlords and clans that control local politics throughout the country,” he added.
Bello said the socialist coalition they just launched will meet the demands of the Filipino people and battle the authoritarian rule of the Duterte administration and the “oligarchic” democracy.
“The only response that we can make to this swift movement towards absolute rule is resistance. However, it cannot be resistance in the name of restoring what I have called the EDSA system of elite democracy, for one of the chief reasons why Duterte is in power is because of the failure of that 30-year-old system to deliver on its promise of bringing about genuine democracy and the redistribution of wealth,” Bello said.
“Instead, what it gave us was a system dominated by traditional political elites, the continuing concentration of economic power in an oligarchy, and neoliberal economic policies that have resulted in some 25 percent of our population living in poverty,” he said. “[We are] ordinary citizens - ing for a future of participatory democracy and economic and social equality.”