Bonifacio
will always be relevant. At every juncture and for every generation,
Bonifacio’s struggle for national independence and social justice will be
reinterpreted by workers and the youth to understand the challenges of the
situation.
Today,
the Filipino people are caught between a new cold war between China and the US
in the Pacific, and on a global scale between Western powers and rivals such as
Russia and China. Filipino workers and youth must navigate a path of peace and
independence from these geopolitical rivalries. Workers and the youth refuse to
be the cannon fodder in the hot and cold wars of stronger countries.
Aside
from the relevance of Bonifacio’s fight for independent development, his
advocacy for social justice and “kaginhawaan” continues to ring true in the
face of the consolidation of the authoritarian turn and growing inequality. The
Philippines has one of the most unequal societies in Asia as revealed in a
recent World Banks study. This inequality can only worsen as workers’ civil liberties
and political rights are curtailed under a Marcos regime.
The
struggle for freedom and “kaginhawaan” forms an integral whole as revealed in
the current authoritarian regime of Marcos which has no program for workers.
Thus, the advocacy for a labor agenda combining the demands for wages, jobs,
rights and services intersects with the campaign to defend human rights and
civil liberties.
We vow to pursue Bonifacio’s struggle under new conditions. Workers fight for wage hikes, secure jobs and labor rights to defend their living conditions. Further, workers resist the shrinking of the democratic space that denies them the ability to advance its advocacies for social justice and “kaginhawaan.”
Partido Manggagawa
30 November 2022
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