Pipol Power

Aziz Choudry wrote an interesting assessment of Bush's recent Asia tour. He quotes Bayan Muna (People First Party) Representative Crispin Beltran who described his eight-hour Philippine visit as “one a master does to the home of his slave, an emperor surveying the territories of his empire, and inspecting the lay of the land.” More in Choudry's essay "The Emperor Goes To Asia and Talks Terror."

This week’s issue of BMJ has an interesting article about one of the biggest, yet unknown, massacres of recent history: the stunning ‘excess mortality’ since the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union’s integration into the capitalist world system, mortality rates surged and millions have died who would have lived much longer under the country’s conditions in the 1980s. According to the article, an extra 2.5-3 million Russian adults died in middle age in the period 1992-2001 than would have been expected based on 1991 mortality.

The study identifies two waves in the increase of mortality in Russia: one immediately after 1991, and a second wave after the economic crisis in 1998, including rapid devaluation of its currency and increases in poverty. This economic crisis coincided with a further increase in adult mortality in the three years up to 2001, with life expectancy falling to 58.9 among men and 71.8 among women, levels similar to the low points reached in 1994.

Interestingly, capitalist economic crisis and health under socialism are also featured in an article in this week’s Lancet. Argentinian people denied medical services as a result of the near-collapse of the republic's health and social security after the country’s 2001 economic meltdown, will get free treatment in… Cuba. This is made possible by an agreement between the two countries under which Havana's US$ 1.9 billion debt to Argentina will be reduced, in return for drugs, vaccines, and access to Cuban health-care services. Care up to a value of $50 million over 5 years will be provided to low-income Argentinians. Argentina's chronic shortage of drugs will be eased by consignments from Cuba's highly developed pharmaceutical sector, worth $475 million and Cuba will provide training to Argentinian scientists and medical tutors.

Stephen Shalom makes an interesting comparison between the situation of Iraq now and the history of the Philippines. "What does the historical record tell us about the U.S. commitment to promoting democracy?" he asks. His article on ZNet explains that the U.S. is only committed to its own interests. That's how it was when the Philippines was annexed by the U.S. in 1898 (Interestingly, Bush summarized this last Saturday in his speech before the joint session of Philippine Congress as "Together our soldiers liberated the Philippines from colonial rule."); when Washington maintained two huge military bases and many smaller ones on Philippine soil and used them for military interventions in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War; when Washington stepped up its military and economic aid as soon as Marcos declared martial law in 1972; and when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brought back the U.S. troops to the Philippines, supposedly to fight terrorism. A quick scan of Philippine history tells us already enough to support Shalom's conclusion that in Iraq "one can expect a neocolonial relationship, one where the U.S. helps make sure that the Iraqis in charge support U.S. interests."

Allover the Philippines, tens of thousands of Filipinos took to the streets yesterday to register their protest against the visit of US president Bush. His speech in Congress was delayed by one hour because of the crowd of protesters that had assembled on Commonwealth avenue in Quezon City. Seven congressmen and -women, including Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza and Crispin Beltran, walked out on Bush as soon as he entered the session hall. I was not allowed to join the rallies (see below) but joined the courageous rallyists in spirit. Many of them came from as far as Occidental Mindoro in a 5-day "lakbayan," holding protest marches along the way. Last night, while Bush was boarding Air Force One at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, I saw them board their convoy of decrepit buses and jeepneys in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform. The contrast couldn't be bigger. The moral victory, however, was for those weary, poor farmers, workers and youth who came to Manila on slippers, only armed with an enviable determination. In spite of the draconian security measures, including a bulletproof limo and hordes of heavily armed US security agents, they were able to disrupt Bush's schedule and get the message across: warmongers are not welcome here. Check out the Ban Bush website for the latest news.

In today's issue of Today newspaper, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo warned once more that the Bureau of Immigration would not hesitate to order the arrest and deportation of foreigners taking part in protests against the visit of US President Bush to Manila. “Any antigovernment action is by nature a political activity, and such activity is exclusively reserved for Philippine citizens,” she said. According to Domingo, aliens who take part in mass actions can be deemed threats to national security, public order and the national interest, and can, therefore, be arrested and deported. Moreover, she said that under the Philippine Immigration Act, even the "belief in the overthrow of the government" can land a foreigner in jail in the Philippines.

"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific."

This quote from US President Bush, at the occasion of a previous trip to Asia in February 2002, illustrates the man's sense of history as he seems to be oblivious of a thing called World War II. It's only one of the so-called 'Bushisms' in a column in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer. More Bushisms in part 2.

US president George W. Bush will visit the Philippines on October 18. The visit is part of a nine-day swing through six nations of Asia-Pacific and his stop-over in the Philippines is intended to thank his most loyal ally in the region, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Bush visit has already been contested in Philippine congress and massive protests of the Philippine people's movement will hound Bush throughout his eight-hour visit in the country. The history of colonial and neo-colonial relations between both countries, and especially the atrocities committed by the US during the Philippine-American war, easily explain why the Philippine people will not welcome Bush as a friendly head of state.

A quote from an article in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer about the security preparations for the October 18 visit of Bush:

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Hermogenes Ebdane said (...) foreign activists would be arrested and placed in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration if they joined illegal rallies. "We don't want foreigners to join demonstrations because that would be an abuse of (our) hospitality," he told reporters.

Some of my friends however assured me that Ebdane's concept of Filipino hospitality is seriously distorted :-).

The government is using a ridiculously low poverty threshold (about half a euro per person per day) and is revising its poverty assessment methodology more often than its poverty reduction strategies (if any) and yet the trend is clear: poverty in the Philippines is rising. Currently, more than one third of the population or 26.5 million Filipinos are considered poor by the government agencies, 2.5 million more than in 1997. The news came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer based on a factsheet from the National Statistical Coordination Board.

Ford's plant in Genk, Belgium lays off 3,000 workers or about half of the workforce. The unions are afraid that this is only the beginning and the closure of the plant has become inevitable. Indymedia Belgium has done a wonderful job to get the workers' emotions and analysis on the Internet. Check out Overview: 3000 jobs less in Ford Genk or Overview: Foerd Ford if you know Dutch or French.