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href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Duterte-Admits-Fascism-Vows-Defeat-of-Communist-Terrorists-and-Crackdown-on-Left-20171121-0038.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Duterte-Admits-Fascism-Vows-Defeat-of-Communist-Terrorists-and-Crackdown-on-Left-20171121-0038.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Duterte Admits 'Fascism,' Ends Peace Talks
With Communists and Vows Crackdown on Left<br>
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<p class="blogtit" itemprop="name headline">November 21,
2017<br>
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<p><span><strong>As the Philippines president cancels
peace talks with NPA guerrillas and vows to crack
down on legal activists, we speak to BAYAN
Secretary-General Renato Reyes, Jr. in this teleSUR
exclusive.</strong></span></p>
<hr>
<p>President Rodrigo Duterte has terminated peace talks
with the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the
underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP),
while vowing to treat combatants in East Asia's
longest-running communist insurgency as "terrorists."</p>
<p>"I will follow America, since they say that I am an
American boy," Duterte said. "OK, granted, I will admit
that I am a fascist. I will categorize you already as a
terrorist."</p>
<p>Both the CPP and the NPA have been included in the
official U.S. government list of foreign terrorist
organizations since 2002, shortly after then-President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced her own campaign to
defeat them.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"We look at such threats as part of a greater plan to
impose a fascist dictatorship."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On Wednesday, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process Secretary Jesus Dureza finally announced the
formal cancellation of the peace talks.</p>
<p>“We are hereby announcing today the cancellation of all
planned meetings with the CPP/NPA/NDF in line with
President Duterte’s directive that there will be no more
peace talks with them,” Dureza said.</p>
<p>“There will be no peace negotiations anymore with the
CPP/NPA/NDF until such time as the desired enabling
environment conducive to a change in the government’s
position becomes evident ... Never before have we all
reached this far in our negotiations with them," he
added.</p>
<p>Since 1986, Manila has been engaged in on-again,
off-again peace talks with the National Democratic
Front, the united front representing the communist
fighters and allied social movements.</p>
<p>While Duterte initially championed the peace process,
which hinged on the implementation of an ambitious
socio-economic reform agenda known as CASER, the
negotiations were derailed in May after he declared
martial law in Mindanao and launched a devastating
five-month siege on alleged "Islamic State-aligned"
rebels in Marawi City.</p>
<p>Duterte has lashed out at the reds for making
"unreasonable demands" while failing to unilaterally
"stand down" and halt their military operations.</p>
<p>The president has also threatened to crack down on
legal social movements and mass organizations such
as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – the New Patriotic
Alliance, or BAYAN – for allegedly "conspiring" with the
guerrillas.</p>
<p>The threat is taken seriously by the labor unions,
progressive student groups, human rights watchdogs,
opposition politicians and other mass organizations
united with BAYAN, the alliance's Secretary-General
Renato Reyes, Jr., told teleSUR.</p>
<p>"(We remain) prepared and vigilant and look at such
threats as part of a greater plan to impose a fascist
dictatorship," Reyes explained.</p>
<p>Groups such as human rights monitor KARAPATAN,
farmworkers' and peasants' unions, and housing rights
group Kadamay have all reported the arbitrary detention
of several of their members in the past week alone.</p>
<p>On Monday, the Communist Party issued an acerbic
dismissal of Duterte's latest threats.</p>
<p>"Duterte is nothing if not consistent in his fascist
rants and acts, using even the tired excuse of the
progressive left 'conspiring' with the NPA, to
constantly kowtow to the wishes of the higher echelons
of the U.S.-controlled armed forces," the CPP
Information Bureau said.</p>
<p>"He has resorted to namecalling and threats so many
times, in so many forms, that the people have grown
weary of his constant harping. Emboldened by the recent
Trump approval of his strongman rule, he is bent on
eliminating all opposition, legal and otherwise.</p>
<p>"The people recognize these threats against the
revolutionary and progressive movement for what they
are: to eliminate the strongest and most consistent
opposition to his fascist rule, silence dissent against
his anti-people and pro-imperialist policies and further
perpetuate himself in power through a one-man rule."</p>
<p>Much of the Philippines left has made no secret of
their sympathy toward the NPA, which they see as the
armed branch of a genuine people's government fighting
for national independence and democracy, guided by a
socialist perspective. In the eyes of organizers such
as Reyes, the NPA can't be defeated unless the social
roots of the armed conflict are addressed.</p>
<p>"Duterte's recent threats of designating the NPA as a
terrorist organization, following the U.S. line, will
not accomplish anything except the intensified attacks
on the people. It certainly will not stop the NPA from
waging revolutionary struggle.</p>
<p>"The threat of a terrorist listing may also be used by
Duterte to force the revolutionary forces to surrender,
but that won't likely happen. In any case, if he does
push through with it, it has the effect of terminating
talks."</p>
<p>As recently as Oct. 20, Duterte had hinted that he
would resume the negotiations with the NDFP, telling
reporters: "I have to talk to the NPA still." Since the
conclusion of the ASEAN leaders' summit in Manila and
the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump, however,
Duterte assumed a far more bellicose tone that
precipitated Wednesday's cancellation of the peace
process.</p>
<p>"The timing of the threat is not surprising since
Duterte and Trump reaffirmed U.S.-Philippine
relations," Reyes said. "Trump has increased military
aid to the Philippines – Duterte may be thinking that
U.S. support for counter-insurgency, terror listing and
Martial Law are enough to defeat the revolutionary
forces.</p>
<p>"His imagined 'conspiracy' between the NPA and the
legal organizations under Bayan is meant to justify
increased political repression in order to eliminate the
most effective resistance to fascist dictatorship, human
rights abuses, anti-people economic impositions and
increased U.S. intervention."</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Duterte also threatened to shut down mines
that pay "revolutionary taxes" to the Maoist combatants,
accusing mine operators of depositing money in bank
accounts maintained by the fighters in exchange for
allowing their operations to continue.</p>
<p>"If I go against the communists, then everybody has to
reconfigure their relationship with the New People's
Army," he said. "If you support them financially, I will
close you down."</p>
<p>Foreign-owned mining operations have an extensive
presence throughout rural regions of the Philippines,
digging for gold, nickel, copper, chromite and coal. The
Mines and Geosciences Bureau say the country had an
estimated US$840 billion worth of untapped mineral
wealth as of 2012, making the Philippines a "prime piece
of real estate" from an extractivist standpoint (to
paraphrase Trump).</p>
<p>The activities of foreign miners have resulted in
militarization, land grabs and extensive environmental
damage to the ancestral lands of national minorities
such as the Lumad, Cordillera and Moro peoples.
Indigenous peoples are among the most consistent
supporters of the NPA, who are seen as defenders of
their land and livelihood from the process of
"imperialist plunder" facilitated by local comprador
elites.</p>
<p>Predictably, the country's mining bosses have eagerly
welcomed the president's promises to wipe out the NPA
and are pledging to comply with Duterte's new directive.</p>
<p>"We do not condone any member supporting the New
People's Army through the payment of revolutionary
taxes," said Ronald Recidoro, executive director at the
Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.</p>
<p>"This is clearly against the law and they really should
be prosecuted if they are found to be supporting these
organizations. And if closure is warranted, that is
within the prerogative of the president."</p>
<p>Recidero also complained that some miners had
experienced their equipment being burned by the NPA
because of a refusal to pay the taxes.</p>
<p>During his speech, Duterte further promised to build
the military's domestic counter-insurgency capabilities.
"I am fighting a rebellion... I have to build a strong
army," he said, noting that the military would acquire
23 attack helicopters in the near future.</p>
<p>Despite the threats from Malacañang, the communists
continue to project confidence in their ability to
withstand the announced all-out war.</p>
<p>"Duterte is wrong in thinking that the revolutionary
movement will just roll over and surrender in the face
of his rants," the CPP said.</p>
<p>"He is wrong in thinking that the progressive movement
will be cowed with his threats of a crackdown and mass
arrests. The democratic mass movement will continue to
strengthen itself by organizing, propaganda and militant
mobilizations, while the revolutionary forces will
continue advancing the people's war comprehensively to
achieve genuine democracy and national sovereignty."</p>
<p>Likewise, Reyes is sure that Duterte's attacks on the
Philippines left are doomed to backfire. "Duterte's
pronouncements will only fan the flames of struggle – he
would be the best argument on why revolutionary struggle
is needed.</p>
<p>"Marcos in 1972 attempted to do the same, but his
dictatorship was eventually overthrown and the mass
movement grew. Any attempt to impose a dictatorship now
will be met with fierce resistance by the people."</p>
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