The struggle of the peasant movement in the Philippines inspires the world. To join in the international solidarity effort to support the peasant movement, you can help cover travel and hosting expenses of Filipino farmers and international solidarity activists during this month’s peasant mobilizations!

Donate to ICHRP’s peasant fund at ichrp.net/PeasantFundraiser

During October, known as Peasant Month in the Philippines, peasant and indigenous communities hosted international delegates for the International Solidarity Mission (ISM). These communities welcomed the delegates into their lives and ongoing struggles against land-grabbing and militarization.

During the ISM, a great amount of warmth and solidarity was generated between the visitors and the locals. The delegates learned of local struggles against land-grabbing and militarization by host organizations, including  the Kilusang Magbubukid Philippines (KMP). Hosts exposed the rights violations committed in connection to the Kaliwa mega dam in Rizal; a palm oil plantation in Negros; a real estate development in Mindoro; and low farmgate food prices in Samar. ISM delegates visiting from around the world integrated with community members and in some cases even visited the sites of exploitation and militarization.

All groups were subjected to intense surveillance by soldiers and military intelligence agents! Surveillance of international delegates escalated to the point of drone surveillance and even direct confrontation and questioning by members of the Philippine military.

All throughout Peasant Month, organizations like KMP are mobilizing to expose the issues of peasants and generate the broadest possible support for the peasant struggle. This campaign includes the coordination of the ISM itself, as well as a massive protest of peasant farmers this coming October 21st, which will bring together peasants from many regions to convene in Manila.

You can contribute to the efforts of the peasant movement by donating to ICHRP’s Peasant Fund. Funds raised will contribute to the costs of travel associated with the large mobilization of peasants on October 21st, as well as the travel and hosting costs associated with the ISM which was conducted earlier this month.

If you would like to help expand the work of ICHRP through grassroots support, we also invite you to become an ICHRP sustainer: ichrp.net/donate

This article is the third in a series on the important work of KMP. The other three articles are available to read here on the ICHRP website: ICHRP celebrates KMP’s 40 years, KMP and the struggle for land, KMP and the anti-imperialist struggle.

AN INSEPARABLE HISTORY

Founded during Martial Law under Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s regime, KMP’s history is inextricable from the long history of fascism in the Philippines. Since the 1980’s and beyond, Filipino peasants have endured countless brutal attacks and massacres aimed at silencing their collective demands for land and justice.

STANDING FIRM IN CALLS FOR JUSTICE

Despite the viciousness of the state’s unrelenting fascist attacks, KMP has not wavered in its fight for justice. They have led efforts to expose extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of activists and peace consultants, campaigned for the release of political prisoners, organized independent fact finding missions to unmask the truth, and pushed for investigations and inquiries into massacres.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT 

KMP has also contributed to agreements to protect human rights and address the root causes of conflict on both the national and international stage, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and  Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER). They have been instrumental in building networks and alliances to strengthen the peasant movement against fascist violence, such as ICHRP, Tanggol Magsasaka, and the Coalition for Land Against Martial Law and Oppression.

THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM IS NOT JUST DEFENSIVE

At every point in its history, KMP has fought fascism in the country not only in defense of the peasant masses, but as an offensive step toward dismantling the oppressive and exploitative systems of feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism. ICHRP is invigorated by KMP’s resolute resistance against fascist attacks and stands firmly in solidarity with their fight for land, justice, and genuine peace!

Watch the recording at ichrp.net/Oct14Webinar

In the Philippines and across the world, Filipinos have demanded accountability and justice in response to the recent exposure of naked corruption within the Philippine government. While the Marcos government has sought to identify scapegoats and distance itself from the corruption, members of the Marcos clan are increasingly implicated alongside other dynastic families in the Philippine government as more information is exposed about the scandal.

The Marcos Jr regime has also responded with violent crackdown on protests. By September 23rd, police officers had arrested over 200 protestors in Manila after over 100,000 Manileños marched against the corrupt flood control projects. Police shot and killed a bystander who was returning from work.

The corruption behind the flood control projects, and the fascist response of the government, have captured international attention and agitation – but they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the broader problems facing the Filipino people.

On October 14, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) held a webinar about the anti-corruption protests, and the connections between this issue and the broader plunder and extraction from the Philippines by local and foreign elites – plunder that acutely affects the peasant farmers of the Philippine countryside. Our webinar featured speakers Maria Sol Taule, Teddy Casino, Ariel Casilao, and Peter Murphy.

This article is the second in a series on the important work of KMP. The other three articles are available to read here on the ICHRP website: ICHRP celebrates KMP’s 40 years, KMP and the struggle against fascism, KMP and the anti-imperialist struggle.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) was formed out of the unity of farmers and farmworkers in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to struggle against land monopoly, high land rent, usury, high production costs, low buying prices for farm products, and low wages of farmworkers. Until today, the agricultural system in the Philippines remains feudal; semi-feudal exploitation in the countryside continues, alongside state attacks against the toiling masses.

For decades, peasants and farmworkers across the Philippines have organized and struggled against the semi-feudal system. One prominent struggle occurred in Hacienda Luisita. Beginning in 1956, farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita began organizing the United Luisita Workers Union to assert their rights to land and decent livelihood. Over the years, repression has intensified, culminating in the brutal 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre, which became a symbol of the failure of bogus land reform. In 2017, the #OccupyLuisita campaign was launched to continue the spirit of the struggle. 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, with continued resurgence of farmer & community actions in the hacienda.

Similar peasant- & indigenous-led struggles have occurred across the Philippines, concurrent with increasing bogus land reform programs that fail to properly redistribute land.

The KMP has vigorously advanced land struggles across the Philippines. One key initiative advanced by the organization has been bungkalan, or collective farming, in which peasants maintain, develop, and farm on unused public lands. Peasants form cooperatives and local markets to connect producers directly to consumers.

Under the new challenges of the current Marcos regime — including the opening of agricultural lands to foreign leasing for 99 years, and the presence of U.S. military bases and missile systems in rural communities nationwide — the livelihood and security of farmers are placed in even greater danger. Yet if there is one truth that KMP’s forty years of struggle has proven, it is that the collective strength of the oppressed classes, once organized and united, cannot be suppressed.

With full strength and determination, we must stand with peasants to resist the deepening intervention of the U.S. in the country.

The history of KMP stands as proof that land is not merely a natural resource — it is life, livelihood, and dignity. And so long as there are farmers tilling the soil without their own land, so long as lands are stolen and defenders are killed, the Peasant Movement of the Philippines will remain alive and militantly fighting!

CONTEXT & CALL TO ACTION

This peasant month, From October 11-15, progressive and human rights organizations in the Philippines hosted an International Solidarity mission to document and expose the Filipino people’s struggle against land grabbing and the impacts of widespread militarization in the countryside on peasants and Indigenous peoples. 

Since the first day, ISM teams in Southern Tagalog (Rizal and Occidental Mindoro), Negros Occidental, and Eastern Visayas experienced surveillance, harassment, and intimidation.

Throughout the ISM, delegates documented unidentified people on motorcycles filming delegates, faced questioning by members of the Armed Forces, observed a drone flying above their ISM location, faced police and military presence surrounding ISM venues, and in one case even had Armed Forces enter the main venue of the ISM in Mindoro, scaring away children who were playing there. 

The attempts of the Marcos regime to undermine the International Solidarity Mission are part of the Philippine government’s counterinsurgency campaign which seeks to quash those who are seeking change to the status quo through respect for indigenous sovereignty and genuine land reform. 

Day to day, the peasant movement in the Philippines is resisting various land grabbing attempts of the big landlord class and foreign entities, whether via palm oil plantations,renewable energy projects or other forms of land use conversion that turn people’s land into golf courses, subdivisions or malls.

The struggle of peasants for land, and the people’s resistance is just. While the Marcos regime and its minions plunder the people’s resources through fake flood control projects, they also enrich themselves by overseeing projects in rural areas and serving foreign corporations over the people. 

On October 21st, just days after the completion of the ISM and Asia Pacific People’s Conference on Climate Injustice and Militarism, the peasant movement in the Philippines will mount a major protest action, known as a lakbayan, marching from the Department of Agrarian Reform to Mendiola in Manila to hold the US backed Marcos regime accountable for their crimes agains the people. 

As peasants in the Philippines advance, intensify and develop their struggle, our solidarity support must expand and become more bold.  

In order to amplify the findings of the International Solidarity Mission and the campaigns of peasants in the Philippines, ICHRP is calling for a Global Day of Solidarity with the Peasant Struggle Against Land Grabbing, on October 21st. 

To expose & oppose the responsible, US backed Marcos regime, we are calling upon members and friends of ICHRP to hold actions in front of Philippine embassies and consulates in major cities across the world. 

CALLS

Highlight the following calls in signs, speeches and written publications: 

SUPPORT THE PEASANT STRUGGLE FOR GENUINE LAND REFORM!
END AID TO THE PHILIPPINE MILITARY AND POLICE!
END SUPPORT FOR THE US BACKED MARCOS JR REGIME! 
END SUPPORT FOR CORRUPTION & PLUNDER IN THE PHILIPPINES!
SOLIDARITY IS NOT A CRIME! LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!