[From the archives]
Women’s liberation lies in national liberation.
The emancipation of women is not separate from the struggle of the broader masses to liberate themselves from all forms of oppression. This remains the irrevocable truth in spite of the deliberate attempts by the ruling class to dilute the truth of class politics.
The International Working Women’s day we commemorate today originates from a fundamentally radical and socialist movement. It was a movement led by working women whose goals went beyond universal female suffrage and towards the overthrow of the capitalist system.
Today, this historical class struggle is muddled by the use of identity politics during talks of women empowerment. This is why we see the grotesque exaltation of figures like Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose rise to office is perceived by some as a triumph for women.
But a female fascist is still a fascist.
The first female president of the Philippines killed peasant women. The first female House speaker robbed the Filipino public. Many female senators currently in power actively work against the interest of the Filipina.
Imee Marcos is a known liar who shows neither remorse nor accountability for the murder of Archimedes Trajano, along with the countless atrocities committed by her family of murderers and plunderers.
Cynthia Villar is a peasant killer who authored the Rice Liberalization Law as part of her sustained offensives on the agriculture sector.
The class enemies in our midst transcend gender.
They are active allies and enablers of the macho-fascist in the Malacañang whose unfettered misogyny is traced not only in his disgusting rhetoric but in the state attacks launched that overwhelmingly burden Filipino women.
Duterte’s chauvinism has infinitely worsened the already dire conditions that plague women. Bent on purging all forms of dissent, Duterte is ruthless in his persecution of activist women who defy his repressive regime. He also openly encouraged sexual violence in his “shoot in the vagina” order to state forces, reducing a woman’s value to their genitals.
In an already feudal patriarchal society, the vulnerable sectors in our country suffer double the oppression.
The women in our country are also exploited workers, marginalized LGBTQIA+, landless farmers, and indigenous peoples robbed of their ancestral lands.
Celebrating International Working Women’s Day then must go beyond singing praises to women who seem to have ‘made it’— because in a macho-feudal society, many do not. And this harsh reality must not fade in the background of applause for ‘girl bosses’ and ‘trailblazers’ whose successes are rooted in the exploitation of the majority.
Rather, we are called to join forces with the women who unwaveringly stand alongside the toiling masses in the struggle for national liberation.
These are the women who choose to militantly organize and mobilize even when dissent is criminalized, women who remain undaunted in the face of tyranny, women who strive for the emancipation of all.
To stand with them is to oust the principal enemy not only of Filipino women but of the entire Filipino people, and to dismantle the prevailing class structures engendering their oppression.
To quote the revolutionary Lorena Barros, “The Filipino woman’s place is in the struggle.”
ABANTE, BABAE! PALABAN, MILITANTE!
#IWD2022
#AbanteBabae
