National Democracy (Philippines)

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National Democracy (ND) (Cebuano: nasodnong demokrasya; Filipino: pambansang demokrasya; Ilocano: nailian a demokrasia), known colloquially as natdem, is a political ideology and movement in the Philippines that aims to establish a people's democracy in the country. With the Communist Party of the Philippines as the vanguard party, the movement seeks to address what it deems to be the "root causes of social injustices affecting the Filipino masses" in what is analyzed to be a "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society", by confronting the "three fundamental problems" of imperialism, feudalism, and "bureaucrat capitalism".^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

It is not to be confused with the existing democratic form of government in the country.

History and background[]

The national democratic movement has its origins in opposition to former president Ferdinand Marcos during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but in its entirety is interpreted by the ND as a continuation of struggles since the 1896 Philippine Revolution led by the Katipunan.^{[citation needed]} As a result of sustained economic, political, and military abuses during the Marcos dictatorship, several figures such as Jose Maria Sison (writing under the eponym Amado Guerrero) proposed that the creation of a revolutionary mass movement of a national democratic character was necessary to overcome the "three basic problems" underpinning the oppressive conditions of Philippine society in the 1970s. Sison's vision uses Marxist–Leninist–Maoist principles for social analysis and in carrying out people's democracy or national democracy:^[6]

Under the present concrete conditions of Philippine society which are semi-colonial and semi-feudal, the Communist Party has to wage a national democratic revolution of a new type, a people's democratic revolution. Though its leadership is proletarian, the Philippine Revolution is not yet a proletarian-socialist revolution. We should not confuse the national-democratic stage and the socialist stage of the Philippine Revolution. Only after the national-democratic stage has been completed can the proletarian revolutionary leadership carry out the socialist revolution as the transitional stage towards communism. — Philippine Society and Revolution p.78^[7]

Once martial law was lifted in 1981 and Corazon Aquino was elected to the Presidency in 1986 after the People Power Revolution, corruption and abuse of government power remained endemic in the Philippine political system, which according to the ND were exemplified by the Mendiola massacre, the counter-insurgency programs waged against the armed groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New People's Army, embezzlement and graft during the terms of Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and the 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre. According to the analysis espoused since the 1970s by Sison and others, the continuation of human rights violations in the Philippines at the hands of government officials and other social, economic, and political injustices highlight the need of liberating the nation the imperialist forces—primarily led, from what ND proponents identifies, the United States. As a former U.S. colony, the Philippines' dynamic with the United States dates back to the Philippine–American War.

Mass organizations[]

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, GABRIELA, and Kabataan Partylist, to name a few, are among a multitude of organisations that comprise and overlap with the movement. The movement seeks to advance national democracy and freedom from imperialism in the Philippines. The ND movement of the Philippines is interwoven with a larger global alliance: the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS), in which Joma Sison serves as its chairperson.^[8]

Its member organizations include:^[9]

• Alliance of Concerned Scientists, Technologists, Engineers and People (STEP)
• Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)
• AMIHAN (National Federation of Peasant Women)
• Alay Sining
• Anakbayan (Philippines)
• Anakbayan-USA
• Anakbayan-Canada
• Anakpawis
• Babae-GABRIELA Babae-SF
• Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)
• Bayan Muna
• BAYAN-USA
• College Editors Guild of the Philippines
• Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
• Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace
• Gabriela Women's Party (GABRIELA)
• Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
• Kabataan Partylist
• KARAPATAN: Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights
• Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) (National Alliance of Indigenous Peoples Organizations in the Philippines)
• Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY) (Militant Center of the Filipino Urban Poor)
• Katribu Partylist (Progressive Indigenous Peoples' Party of the Philippines)
• Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (Pilipina Women Workers' Movement)
• Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) (Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
• Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) (May First Movement)
• Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (KALUMARAN) (Mindanao Alliance of Indigenous Peoples)
• League of Filipino Students (LFS)
• Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (Patriotic Coalition of Citizens)
• MIGRANTE (Alliance of Filipino Migrants Organizations)
• National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
• Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) (National Federation of Fisherfolk Organizations)
• Panday Sining
• Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR)
• Samahan ng Malayang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA) (Association of United and Free Women)
• Student Christian Movement (Philippines)
• UGATLahi Artist Collective

References[]