Unlike the famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Smokin’ Joe Frazier,
the Asian Global Justice School (AGJS) at the International Institute for Research and
Education (IIRE) in Manila was a showdown between political heavyweights, with much
less violence and much more love and cooperation – that is, until the karaoke comes out!
Seriously though, the AGJS is 3 weeks of intensive Marxist and political
education for the respective cadre of the different sections of the Fourth International (FI)
in Asia (with a few European sections thrown in for good measure), and for the selected
guests of the RPM-M (Revolutionary Workers’ Party of Mindanao), such as Partido ng
Manggagawa (PM); we thus had members of the Peoples’ Liberation Party (PLP) of
Indonesia, with an accompanying member of the KPO, a couple of comrades from the
Labour Party of Pakistan (LPP), a Sri Lankan comrade of the of the NSSP, a particularly
colourful member of the Bangladeshi section, CPB-ML, along with comrades from the
Australian Socialist Alternative – to say that this was a show of internationalist solidarity
would be an understatement!
The programme, with its well-thought out structure and content, attempted to
cover the most pertinent issues facing comrades within the region today: issues such as
the particularities of the global economic system within Asia – with Alex De Jong doing
a great job in covering its imperialist content; questions of migration (in the Philippines
alone, remittances from OFWs account for approx. 10% of GDP!); class composition
and how this feeds into modes of organising, both in terms of traditional trade union
structures, and the less orthodox methods of NGOs and more peasant-based strategies –
the latter being covered brilliantly by a comrade from the Philippines; the all important
question of feminist politics; what it means to be ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ in Asia; how we
should organise for the twenty-first century; and, one of my personal favourites, the
ecological question and how Marxism points the way to overcoming the contradiction
between capital and nature.
Besides the official programme, there was time to develop networks between our
respective sections – I was fortunate enough to accompany our Bangladeshi comrade to a
meeting with the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and I’m looking forward to joining BKF
and BKS on the second leg of their famous Climate Change, Gender and Food
Sovereignty Caravan that was so successful last year; there was also time to visit and
make connections with urban poor resisting eviction form their squats, as well as with
members of PALEA (Philippine Airlines Employee Association), who have been fighting
against contractualization and unemployment for 10 months – inspirational comrades and
a particular highlight of the 3 weeks.
All in all, the AGJS is a stalwart of the FI and its particularly pluralist
internationalism. I thank the RPM-M comrades for organising a successful and eye-
opening school and I hope to see them again next year!

 

La quatrième École Altermondialiste organisée par l’IIRF de Manilla était uneconfrontation amicale et solidaire entre poids-lourds politiques – à l’exception de lasession de karaoke !

Construction de partis larges et la Quatrième Internationale

Building broad parties and the Fourth International

Construir partidos amplios y la Cuarta Internacional

 

Penny Duggan

 

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La crise en Asie

The crisis in Asia

La crisis en Asia

 

Alex de Jong

 

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Nouveaux mouvements de résistance, les USA

New movements of resistance, USA

Los nuevos movimientos de resistencia, Estados Unidos

 

Michael Marchmann

 

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La crise en Europe, les mouvements d’extrême droite

The crisis in Europe, far right movements

La crisis en Europa, los movimientos de extrema derecha

 

Alex De Jong

 
 
 

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Impérialisme et révolution permanente au 21ème siècle

Imperialism and permanent revolution in the 21st Century

El imperialismo y la revolución permanente en el siglo 21

 

Peter Drucker

 

 

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Oppression des femmes, mouvement autonome des femmes

Women’s oppression, autonomous women’s movement

La opresión de las mujeres, el movimiento autónomo de mujeres

 

Marijke Colle

 
 

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La crise écologique globale

The global ecological crisis

La crisis ecológica global

 

Marijke Colle

 

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La crise économique mondiale

The global economic crisis

La crisis económica global

 

Catherine Samary

 

 

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Notre marxisme critique, une introduction

Introduction to our critical Marxism

Introducción a nuestro marxismo crítico

 

Alex Merlo


 

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