Yesterday morning I was interviewed by a student journalist from Chicago about human rights in the Philippines.
“I’m interested in knowing what the major human rights issues are… or at least your perspective on what they are,” she asked in her preliminary email the day before.
During our phone conversation she told me of how she had spoken to others and received a variety of answers: the sex trade, armed rebels, the poor state of education and health, and extrajudicial killings and disappearances (ie. government sanctioned murder and kidnapping of undesirables).
She wanted to know which I thought was the most pressing issue of all of these.
For me all those problems are important, but I chose none of them as the most pressing human rights issue. For me they are all symptoms of the greater problem, that of poverty borne of a lack of true sovereignty and true democracy.
Poverty drives the sex trade. Poverty results in less children going to school. Poverty has a clear link to poor health. And poverty spurs rebellion to the existing order—called “terrorism” by the ruling class—which then results in violent government repression of that rebellion.
Thus for me, poverty is the cause of this suffering, and the government the cause of poverty.
Questions of human rights fascinate me as people today usually assume that this is a concept that has always been held dear by all. People often forget that general (but by no means complete) acceptance of universal human rights is a very modern idea—recall that even the lofty American Bill of Rights excluded women and people of colour.
There is nothing in human nature that makes acceptance of these rights a given. In fact, this concept is only sixty years old. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, and the covenants that were set up to make this declaration enforceable [don’t ask me how] have yet to be ratified by all the world’s nations (the US, for example, has refused to sign on completely and gave itself many formal exceptions to compliance).
Human rights must be recognized and desired by the ruling classes for them to be implemented. And ruling classes will only desire them if it serves their own interests. And it can only be in their interest if the ruling classes are members of the ruled classes—this is one of the proclaimed virtues of democracy.
In a semi-feudal society like the Philippines, there is a distinct division between the rulers, and the masses they rule. The former do not understand, nor do they want to understand, the latter. And the latter have no realistic hopes of integrating with the former.
The government is made up of elites and rules for the elites, thus it cannot be truly democratic. How can human rights be respected if the people are not represented?
More than that, even if the government wanted to combat the poverty that causes suffering it simply cannot. The government of the Philippines has its hands tied due to commitments and treaties to foreign powers. Put simply the Philippines is not truly an independent state. It does not now, nor has it ever (since the time of colonization) had the sovereignty needed to act.
Right from its birth after WWII, when the Americans ‘granted’ the islands ‘independence,’ its decisions had to be approved. Filipinos could make decisions about how to implement policy, but policy (both economic and foreign) remained under Washington’s guidance.
For example, the Bell Trade Act passed by the US Congress after the war provided for ‘free’ trade between the two countries. This deprived the country of economic independence. It ensured that raw agricultural products and mineral ores would be exported to the US based on need, while it tied the Phils into accepting unlimited entry of surplus manufactured goods. This prevented the development of domestic industry.
Worse, the bill gave equal rights to US citizens and corporations to Filipino citizens in the right to acquire and use natural resources.
To this day the government cannot make a decision without first asking permission from its foreign master. To this day foreign businesses have more power than the peoples of the land.
Modern day Philippines has no major domestic industry, virtually no domestic manufacturing base–even match sticks are produced elsewhere.
The Philippines has always been dependent on foreign governments and organizations, from the US, to the IMF and World Bank, the economy has always been dictated from without.
The elites, as the middle-men between exploiter and exploited, do well so they have no interest in changing the status quo. Of course the masses rebel, the poverty is unsightly, and the indignities of the people embarrass them—but they need only roll up the dark tinted windows of their expensive foreign-made cars until they are back inside their gated communities. There they can return to the fantasy land where they imagine themselves ‘equals’ to their masters.
So when asked what the biggest human rights problem in the country is I have only one answer: the government itself.
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***all images: ©2008 alex felipe / All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the photographer with use inquiries***
Stats to the end of June 2008 (from www.karapatan.org)
For more of the above stats visit: http://www.karapatan.org/files/KarapatanMonitor_2Q_edited%20FINAL.pdf
The UN sent a special rapporteur (Philip Alston ) to the Philippines to investigate the alarming numbers of civilians killed or disappeared. Activists pointed the finger at the government and military. He confirmed these accusations in his 2007 report. To download his final report please visit: http://stopthekillings.org/stknpv2/?q=resources/60/alston%E2%80%99s-final-report-rp-extrajudicial-killings
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Other human rights related posts:
Gold: Our Conflict Diamonds… http://alexfelipe.com/2008/02/28/gold-our-conflict-diamonds/
After Arroyo, Then What?!? http://alexfelipe.com/2008/04/19/after-arroyo-then-what/
Canada to Spread Democracy in the Phils? http://alexfelipe.com/2008/08/05/canada-to-spread-democracy-in-the-phils/
06/10/2008 at 8:40 pm
[...] by Jack Stephens on October 6, 2008 Alex Felipe writes on what he thinks is the biggest problem facing the Philippines today: Poverty drives the sex trade. Poverty results [...]
07/10/2008 at 3:04 am
[...] The Biggest Human Rights Problem I haven’t read it right through but what is being argued here (I love the passive voice) is that poverty is the root of most all problems. Problems such as the sex trade (of women and children), terrorism, lack of education etc. [...]
07/10/2008 at 1:25 pm
[...] The Biggest Human Rights Problem | Alex Felipe Photography [...]
08/10/2008 at 7:47 am
You say, “More than that, even if the government wanted to combat the poverty that causes suffering it simply cannot. The government of the Philippines has its hands tied due to commitments and treaties to foreign powers.”
What a bunch of hogwash. Japan and South Korea have treaties and commitments to a foreign power (of course you mean the USA) and they’re doing just fine. And both of them were occupied more recently than the Philippines.
You also say, “…it [human rights] can only be in their interest if the ruling classes are members of the ruled classes—this is one of the proclaimed virtues of democracy.”
Baloney. In the USA everyone, including the poor, has human rights, and our rulers have almost always been members of the elite. Yes, the extension of human rights to everyone is not perfect (especially not now), but to say that the non-elites do not have human rights at all would be ridiculous. And the same could be said for basically all of Western Europe. You are parroting Communist dogma that is demonstrably false.
Stop playing the victim game. People do not have human rights in the Philippines because your ruling elite is corrupt, and that is nobody’s fault but theirs.
08/10/2008 at 4:51 pm
Hi Paul, thank you for commenting.
I must say that I am a little confused by your argument. You say that the Phils have poor human rights because of the corruption of the ruling elite. If you would re-read my piece, that’s my argument too: “So when asked what the biggest human rights problem in the country is I have only one answer: the government itself.”
As for your arguments against foreign influence, I am glad to know that you have an interest in post-WWII politics in developing nations. Perhaps you can show me, because as you say my thesis is “demonstrably false,” this evidence of yours that neo-colonialism was/is not a major factor in the underdevelopment of countries like the Philippines?
You point to Korea and Japan—both are US satellites that have been allowed to be regional junior powers [note that Japan only paid direct reparations to Western powers] so they’re not really proper parallels. I could just as easily point to Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, most of SEAsia, Africa, Latin America, etc.
You ask that I stop playing the “victim game.” Sir, do you truly believe victims choose to be so? Sir, would you truly categorise the kind of suffering experienced by peoples in impoverished countries like mine to be playing a ‘game?’
10/10/2008 at 1:12 am
That’s pretty deep. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea the problem was deeper than that. And the photos, those are jaw-dropping. Keep up the good work.
16/10/2008 at 6:07 pm
Great intersectional analysis, and your other posts provide a good historical background as well. I think too many approach human rights issues in piecemeal fashion, pointing to a single cause like a corrupt elite (yes, I’m looking at you Paul), without considering factors like poverty and neocolonialism.
31/01/2010 at 9:34 am
Hello. Great job. I didn’t expect this on a Sunday. The reason is a good story. Thanks!