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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
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“You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
And skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.”
– Gil Scott-Heron
WHAT if the septuagenarian founder of the New People’s Army (NPA), Jose Maria Sison, becomes the next President of the Philippines? Will we hear Renato Reyes, Teddy Casiño and company shout, “Ibagsak ang regimen US – Joma Sison”?
These so-called leftists have been shouting, “Ibagsak ang regimen US (add the name of the current president) since time immemorial although there seems to have been a lull during the presidency of that nincompoop Noynoy Aquino.
There is no armed struggle that will lift the masses from their wretched and miserable lives in the clutches of capitalism. There is no “withering away of the state” that will turn the Philippines into a utopian proletariat paradise. What there is in these islands are organized armed mafia-like groups making a profitable and ego-tripping livelihood of kidnapping, extortion, coercion and armed robbery in the guise of “communist insurgents” or rebels fighting to free the motherland from the evils of capitalism.
If you believe all these bullshit that the National Democratic Front (NDF) and NPA are churning out then you also probably believe that Leila de Lima is a virgin and Kris Aquino was born out of “immaculate conception.”
People, we’ve been had. What started as a noble struggle for an advocacy and ideology against the Marcos dictatorship some 40 years ago has morphed into a profit-making and ego-tripping enterprise. Come to think of it, Ninoy Aquino was instrumental in the founding of the NPA so the ulterior motive was most probably not noble.
Communism is not only obsolete but dead. Even the country that started it has long abandoned it for capitalism. Russia, where the top icons of the communist movement came from, i.e. Lenin and Stalin, and where Marxism became the form of government, is now one of the top capitalist countries in the world challenging the United States to be the No. 1 capitalist country. Considering the huge debts of the US, then Russia is probably the top capitalist now.
China, the home of that number one communist icon in Asia Mao Zedong, is the No. 1 trading partner of the “hated capitalist” country, the United States of America.
The most popular American brand of athletic shoes Nike are made in factories in China and probably all the known American brands i.e. Gap, Converse and Levis.
These sweat shops in China where these iconic brands are made are the same conditions that prompted Karl Marx to write the “Communist Manifesto” because of the exploitation and conditions of the workers during the Industrial Revolution in England in the early 19th century.
The “rich and famous” in China, a result of capitalism, spend money like there’s an endless source for them. Come to think of it.
So much for communism and the workers struggles…
Meanwhile in the Philippines and the Netherlands we have a bunch of senior citizens who still dream that they will turn the country into a workers’ utopian paradise and behave like they’re still in full control of the armed bandits in the countryside a.k.a. the NPA when in reality they may even have difficulty in controlling their bladders.
In one of the media sorties of the NPA they like to parade this bunch doing cosplay of armed revolutionaries complete with faces painted with red “hammer and sickle “led by an old NPA Commander wearing a Red Guard uniform. Obviously his inspiration is Mao Zedong’s “cultural revolution.”
This old guy wants the Philippines to be like Mao Zedong’s China. Is he aware that China is now the one of the biggest capitalists in the world? I guess not. He’s probably not also aware that Henry Sy’s SM Shoemart has one of the biggest malls in China. Come to think of it, he might not even know what a mall is.
Which makes moi wonder why Renato Reyes, Teddy Casiño and company are not happy that China has occupied some rocks in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, whichever is your preferred label.
When President Rodrigo Duterte announced an end to the ceasefire and peace talks – after time and time again the so-called NPA-NDF leadership has shown they actually have no control over the armed NPA in the countryside – most of the natives agreed with him. Those that do not are the so-called leftist and pseudo communists who still dream of the “withering away of the state.”
Wake up, people! Communism is obsolete and dead and buried in Russia and China.
And Mao Zedong is just a print on a t-shirt for tourists. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
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