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May 1 and Covid-19

EcoSocialist Internationalism Now!

19th Year Anniversary Statement of RPM-M Philippines

Saturday 2 May 2020, by Revolutionary Workers Party - Mindanao

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Revolutionary Salute to the Workers of the World!

Revolutionary Salute to all Comrades in the Revolutionary Workers Party-Mindanao, Comrades in Arms in the Revolutionary Peoples’ Army and all other Revolutionary Friends and Allies!

Capitalism is in crisis putting us all, humanity and the Earth in danger. Faced with the coronavirus pandemic which affects all peoples and nations with no vaccine yet available, our gears of protection are only physical distancing, solidarity and the continued fight for our rights even in isolation to break the chain of contagion.

The capitalist profit over lives framework exposed that it is a failure and human society must bear the brunt and must be ready to shape a new normal contrary to the existing one. A new system in the neighbourhood, workplaces and homes everywhere in the world must put first the essentials for survival at the core of everything. Health care systems should be substantially improved and businesses should allocate enough attention to the worker’s protection and participation in shaping the business direction. Among others, governments should mobilize resources that could assure self-reliant, sustainable, ecological and productive agricultural economies. Industrialization must be anchored to ecological-based framework where human lives and environment are at core before profit.

Without massive testing all over the Philippines positive cases of COVID 19 is now approaching to 9,000 cases mark with more than 500 death cases as of April 30 this year. Of the almost 9,000 positive cases more than 1,000 are health workers (19%) or 1 in every 5 infected Filipinos is a health worker and not less than 20 out of more than 500 deaths are medical responders. It has been said again and again that when mass testing starts the figures will be much higher.

To combat the contagion, the government imposed lockdowns and put the military and police institutions in charge. The people are told to stay home, and the use of public transportation are suspended. Constructions and establishments and workplaces belonging to non-essential services stopped operating putting the millions of daily income earners and workers at the mercy of the government poor and late support. Initiatives from local governments and social organizations should always be with sanction from the national government task force.

While it is true that coronavirus affected everyone but it is the poor populations and workers are the most affected. Health workers, delivery crews and transporters, farmers and agricultural workers, fishers, waste and garbage collectors, grocery workers and other essential responders must continue working for everyone to live despite of the high risk to the virus. In other words, the pandemic affects everyone, but not in the same way. And the crisis is hitting women hard, who are responsible for most of the work of social reproduction, and who, confined in their homes, burdened of more work and are suffering domestic violence. The Indigenous Peoples aside from the racial marginalization in covid-19 response continued to experience displacements caused by armed conflicts, harassment and threats from State and Non-State armed groups and corporations making it more difficult for them.

The pandemic also have made more manifestations of how the Duterte administration dealt the health crisis and among other situation – military and police over the civilian authority. Its top-down format in the Marawi Siege in 2017 with the same Military Generals in command have been copy-pasted in responding the coronavirus pandemic in the country. Now, the spread of the virus have been blamed to the ‘pasaway/stubborn’ poor populations that have wilfully go out for food sustenance despite of knowing the threats of coronavirus-19. Making these ‘pasaways’ as scapegoats of its complacency and incapacity to arrest the situation. Ashamed to accept that social organizations and medical experts have warned the government as early as December 2019 to January 2020 of the possible impact learning from China’s experience.

In the 19th year (May 1, 2020) of our Socialist Revolution, the Revolutionary Workers Party – Mindanao (Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Mindanao or RPM-M) continue to stand and commit as a Party of the toiling masses, working class and oppressed peoples.

The coronavirus-19 crisis have only proven that our Socialism, our EcoSocialism is the effective response to the decayed capitalist system and that the working people around the world must rely on their own power.

Let us stand with our frontliners and call for the availability and accessibility of free health care services for all specially the vulnerable sectors and pandemic-resilient medical research should be prioritized while we encourage scientists and experts and all movements to elevate the debate and actions on the pandemic to the over-all Climate Justice struggles. Let us call for mass testing and made it for free. If vaccine and medicine be available, it must be free for all.

Let us fight for workers’ rights at all costs and forms and collectively confront the unjust system. Fight for guaranteed work and social protection and relief to all workers regardless of categorization as well as to all economically vulnerable in the country. Demand for guaranteed minimum income which must be sufficient to live decently and dismissed workers should be reinstated.

Let us continue to organize towards political and economic empowerment and strengthen solidarity among sectors and oppressed class and nations. With this we can also share knowledge and wisdom in improving immune and psychological systems including the promotion of people-based agricultural seeds and varieties’ control. Solidarities can also organize Health Emergency and Human Rights Committees for mutual aid and protection from corona and political viruses. Thus, let us call for transparency and accountability and resist any authoritarian measures and abuses to social, political, economic and civil rights.

Let us continue to defend the Indigenous Peoples against all form of oppressions and aggressions instead we must learn from them how to manage natural resources and nature sustainably and within collective governance.

Demand for the support and prioritization of the essential for survival productions and nationalize vital industries and services for the mass population including the banking system.

Strengthen the fight in scrapping laws which contributed to the sufferings of the peoples before or in the midst of the pandemic, such as TRAIN Laws, Mining Act of 1995, Rice Tarrification Law, etc.

A deep reorganization of human society is needed and should be started right now, right here!

May 1, 2020

Executive Committee of the Central Committee
RPM-M, Mindanao

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