THE NEXT WORLD WAR
by Gregorio V. Bituin Jr. from his column LINKS
The Featinean publication, March 1997, pages 42-43
I am not against social progress. Any progress the government and the people to whom they serve is a very ideal one. No one can deny that fact. Oh, is it really a fact? But I am against social progress with social justice. Any progress that the government and the basic masses need should be based on social justice. I know that no one can deny that fact.
Why do we need social progress with social justice? All of us want to live in a better society, where there is peace. Peace doesn't mean fear, chaos, inferiority and other negative connotations. Peace means equality, social order, internationalism and better life for all. We need social progress to live a good life. We need social justice because we want equality for all.
The declaration of the Catholic Church of becoming the "Church of the Poor" during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) held last 1991 is really a great leap forward in serving the poorest of the poor in our society. Its relative importance to the workers, rural and urban poor communities is a great help in understanding the plight of those who are in need. Most of the bishops and priests who attended PCP II were very much vocal about the issue of social justice. For most of them, social progress should be based on social justice.
According to the PCP II document, pages 100-101 of the subtitle The Social Doctrine of the Church, "If development causes the widening of the morally scandalous gap between the rich and the poor of our society, development is simply inauthentic and misdirected. This is why we cannot help but mention the negligence and even exploitation, made to the poorest of the poor..." It further added, "Each person has to be respected as equal member of the human family, can participate actively towards the common good in solidarity with others. A situation such as the concentration of the economic wealth and political power in the hands of the few is an affront to human dignity and solidarity. It runs counter to the truth that all human beings and not just few are 'the source, the center' and the purpose of all socio-economic life. Human dignity and solidarity are fundamental values from which our development as a people must proceed." According to Pope John Paul II in his Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, "One must denounce the
mechanisms of unlimited free trade which are maneuvered by the more developed countries to their own interests, but which suffocate the economies of the less developed countries."
One of the most urgent calls of our time is to fight all evils that will destroy us. One such thing is the so-called development that some of our "powerful" leaders want us to accept. They said we need development to raise the standard of living of the people. I agree. Perhaps, that's why they are thinking of globalizing the economy. But social progress must be based on social justice. Under globalization, development means the freedom of the international capital to exploit the labor and resources of poor countries like the Philippines. Globalization means borderless economy.
Let's emphasize it more clearly. Philippine development plans for some decades ago were based on plans laid down by foreign creditors represented by multilateral institutions. For them, development can only be possible if the poor countries will be integrated into a global economy. They did not emphasize that this development will be at the expense of the poor. It will also degrade our natural resources. This is perhaps because these industrialized countries think that they are colonial powers, that's why they want to exploit the weak. They become rich by exploiting their colonies or former colonies by extracting cheap raw materials from them, then selling it as expensive products. After the Second World War, these colonizers have run out of territories that they can plunder. Wealth continued to flow from their ex-colonies under the present concept of development based on free trade. Through import liberalization, the products of industrialized countries can easily penetrate weaker economies at the expense of
these poor countries that usually cannot compete with the industrialized ones. Global corporations from Europe and Japan can set up corporations and factories anywhere in the world because of cheap labor and law taxes.
In other words, globalization means recolonization by industrialized countries with weaker economies. One example of these is the APEC which many world leaders think will save the world from ruin. On the contrary, APEC will only destroy most of us because it is concerned only with solving the crisis of the world capital. In the sense, the crisis of capitalism has just come to the fore. That's why they invent APEC. They did not have concrete plans in solving the plight of the poor, most especially workers which became slave of the capital. The question is: Who is directly affected by this borderless economy? The workers themselves!
Globalization is a renewed capitalist expansion. This transpires as rigid international competition. We know how fierce and cruel capitalism is when it is in delirium of expansion and competition. The darkest evidence of this is the two World Wars. We cannot compare these wars to other wars in history because it killed lives of millions of people. If World Wars I and II were wars between imperialist countries, the present globalization is a war of the world of capital against the world of labor. Globalization greatly affects the working class. It is attempting to destroy the trade union movement in the world. Take the case of German company Telefunken Electronics (Temic) which laid off about 1,600 Filipino workers. From September 1995, the DOLE issued at least five orders to let the workers go back to work. The Temic management refused. Yes, the DOLE cannot implement its own orders!
Globalization, in essence, is a world war between the world of the capitalist and the world of labor. It is a competition to cheapen and lower the value of labor force by extensive and extreme extracting of profit from the working class. This is why casualization, subcontracting, downsizing and other forms of workers' oppression exist. All of these have one objective in mind: Press labor power to its cheapest value. To dominate the competition, the capitalist must lessen his cost of production. Rival capitalists feud on who can crate the same product with lesser expenses. The capitalists have no interest in the solution of the workers' fate. They have no interest because they want it to remain unsolved.
They say that technology gives the forefront between capitalists. They say globalization is a competition of technology, but it covers up its real motive - the competition on how to cheapen the value of labor. Capitalism develops technology not for public service, but for competition that is profit-hungry. Capitalism develops technology to make the labor force more productive in a cheaper price. So cheap that almost caused their lives.
It is also ironic to note that the government spends P1.5M for toilet alone for use in APEC, grand villas for visiting heads of states, APEC lane, to mention just a few. The government has done it rush, just for the sake of 17 heads of states who visited our country in just a few hours, while they cannot do it for millions of poor Filipinos. Also take note of this brutal fact: The combined assets and property of three hundred fifty eight (358) billionaires in the world is equal to the combined yearly income of countries representing 45% of the world's population!
They say that we are in a democratic country, but democracy for whom? They said we are heading for development, but development for whom? They said we should compete our products with others, but do we have the capability to compete without making much suffering for the workers, as well as not degrading our natural resources? In the spirit of world competition, many will suffer. That's reality. That's APEC. What we need is world cooperation, not competition. What we need is development based on social justice.
Oh! How I wish I could still continue serving the studentry as a campus journalist. My stay in the Featinean as a staffwriter, then an editor, is fruitful enough. It contributed much to sharpen my writing skills. In sudden deliberation of my conscience, I decided that I have to say goodbye. I believe that my continued stay in the Featinean will become fruitless. My farewell is not a loss, but a gain. For me, for you, for all of us. My gradual rise as a Featinean editor has to meet its sudden end like a meteor. I'm tired. I have to go somewhere. To the place where I can valuably contribute my talent, skills and my whole life. I know I will pass a narrow line between life and death. Offering my life for social progress with social justice is a great and a valuable decision. A social injustice, the globalization, ruined our race, made our morals rotten, and causes the widening split among our people. I believe that the worldwide capitalist system is the root cause of all our misery. Its' time to face the greater challenge outside the four walls of the academe. From now on, our struggle is our life. Someday, we will be victorious. It's time to say goodbye. A sour way to exit, but a very sweet farewell. See you some other place, some other time.
by Gregorio V. Bituin Jr. from his column LINKS
The Featinean publication, March 1997, pages 42-43
I am not against social progress. Any progress the government and the people to whom they serve is a very ideal one. No one can deny that fact. Oh, is it really a fact? But I am against social progress with social justice. Any progress that the government and the basic masses need should be based on social justice. I know that no one can deny that fact.
Why do we need social progress with social justice? All of us want to live in a better society, where there is peace. Peace doesn't mean fear, chaos, inferiority and other negative connotations. Peace means equality, social order, internationalism and better life for all. We need social progress to live a good life. We need social justice because we want equality for all.
The declaration of the Catholic Church of becoming the "Church of the Poor" during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) held last 1991 is really a great leap forward in serving the poorest of the poor in our society. Its relative importance to the workers, rural and urban poor communities is a great help in understanding the plight of those who are in need. Most of the bishops and priests who attended PCP II were very much vocal about the issue of social justice. For most of them, social progress should be based on social justice.
According to the PCP II document, pages 100-101 of the subtitle The Social Doctrine of the Church, "If development causes the widening of the morally scandalous gap between the rich and the poor of our society, development is simply inauthentic and misdirected. This is why we cannot help but mention the negligence and even exploitation, made to the poorest of the poor..." It further added, "Each person has to be respected as equal member of the human family, can participate actively towards the common good in solidarity with others. A situation such as the concentration of the economic wealth and political power in the hands of the few is an affront to human dignity and solidarity. It runs counter to the truth that all human beings and not just few are 'the source, the center' and the purpose of all socio-economic life. Human dignity and solidarity are fundamental values from which our development as a people must proceed." According to Pope John Paul II in his Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, "One must denounce the
mechanisms of unlimited free trade which are maneuvered by the more developed countries to their own interests, but which suffocate the economies of the less developed countries."
One of the most urgent calls of our time is to fight all evils that will destroy us. One such thing is the so-called development that some of our "powerful" leaders want us to accept. They said we need development to raise the standard of living of the people. I agree. Perhaps, that's why they are thinking of globalizing the economy. But social progress must be based on social justice. Under globalization, development means the freedom of the international capital to exploit the labor and resources of poor countries like the Philippines. Globalization means borderless economy.
Let's emphasize it more clearly. Philippine development plans for some decades ago were based on plans laid down by foreign creditors represented by multilateral institutions. For them, development can only be possible if the poor countries will be integrated into a global economy. They did not emphasize that this development will be at the expense of the poor. It will also degrade our natural resources. This is perhaps because these industrialized countries think that they are colonial powers, that's why they want to exploit the weak. They become rich by exploiting their colonies or former colonies by extracting cheap raw materials from them, then selling it as expensive products. After the Second World War, these colonizers have run out of territories that they can plunder. Wealth continued to flow from their ex-colonies under the present concept of development based on free trade. Through import liberalization, the products of industrialized countries can easily penetrate weaker economies at the expense of
these poor countries that usually cannot compete with the industrialized ones. Global corporations from Europe and Japan can set up corporations and factories anywhere in the world because of cheap labor and law taxes.
In other words, globalization means recolonization by industrialized countries with weaker economies. One example of these is the APEC which many world leaders think will save the world from ruin. On the contrary, APEC will only destroy most of us because it is concerned only with solving the crisis of the world capital. In the sense, the crisis of capitalism has just come to the fore. That's why they invent APEC. They did not have concrete plans in solving the plight of the poor, most especially workers which became slave of the capital. The question is: Who is directly affected by this borderless economy? The workers themselves!
Globalization is a renewed capitalist expansion. This transpires as rigid international competition. We know how fierce and cruel capitalism is when it is in delirium of expansion and competition. The darkest evidence of this is the two World Wars. We cannot compare these wars to other wars in history because it killed lives of millions of people. If World Wars I and II were wars between imperialist countries, the present globalization is a war of the world of capital against the world of labor. Globalization greatly affects the working class. It is attempting to destroy the trade union movement in the world. Take the case of German company Telefunken Electronics (Temic) which laid off about 1,600 Filipino workers. From September 1995, the DOLE issued at least five orders to let the workers go back to work. The Temic management refused. Yes, the DOLE cannot implement its own orders!
Globalization, in essence, is a world war between the world of the capitalist and the world of labor. It is a competition to cheapen and lower the value of labor force by extensive and extreme extracting of profit from the working class. This is why casualization, subcontracting, downsizing and other forms of workers' oppression exist. All of these have one objective in mind: Press labor power to its cheapest value. To dominate the competition, the capitalist must lessen his cost of production. Rival capitalists feud on who can crate the same product with lesser expenses. The capitalists have no interest in the solution of the workers' fate. They have no interest because they want it to remain unsolved.
They say that technology gives the forefront between capitalists. They say globalization is a competition of technology, but it covers up its real motive - the competition on how to cheapen the value of labor. Capitalism develops technology not for public service, but for competition that is profit-hungry. Capitalism develops technology to make the labor force more productive in a cheaper price. So cheap that almost caused their lives.
It is also ironic to note that the government spends P1.5M for toilet alone for use in APEC, grand villas for visiting heads of states, APEC lane, to mention just a few. The government has done it rush, just for the sake of 17 heads of states who visited our country in just a few hours, while they cannot do it for millions of poor Filipinos. Also take note of this brutal fact: The combined assets and property of three hundred fifty eight (358) billionaires in the world is equal to the combined yearly income of countries representing 45% of the world's population!
They say that we are in a democratic country, but democracy for whom? They said we are heading for development, but development for whom? They said we should compete our products with others, but do we have the capability to compete without making much suffering for the workers, as well as not degrading our natural resources? In the spirit of world competition, many will suffer. That's reality. That's APEC. What we need is world cooperation, not competition. What we need is development based on social justice.
Oh! How I wish I could still continue serving the studentry as a campus journalist. My stay in the Featinean as a staffwriter, then an editor, is fruitful enough. It contributed much to sharpen my writing skills. In sudden deliberation of my conscience, I decided that I have to say goodbye. I believe that my continued stay in the Featinean will become fruitless. My farewell is not a loss, but a gain. For me, for you, for all of us. My gradual rise as a Featinean editor has to meet its sudden end like a meteor. I'm tired. I have to go somewhere. To the place where I can valuably contribute my talent, skills and my whole life. I know I will pass a narrow line between life and death. Offering my life for social progress with social justice is a great and a valuable decision. A social injustice, the globalization, ruined our race, made our morals rotten, and causes the widening split among our people. I believe that the worldwide capitalist system is the root cause of all our misery. Its' time to face the greater challenge outside the four walls of the academe. From now on, our struggle is our life. Someday, we will be victorious. It's time to say goodbye. A sour way to exit, but a very sweet farewell. See you some other place, some other time.
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