Mass movement topples Marcos; Fight for democracy unfinished
1986Robert Capistrano 1986-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 1
FORUM section: The fight for women's rights today, See pp. 4-5 With his army slipping from control in the wake of a mutiny by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Fidel Ramos, Ferdinand Marcos was forced to relinquish his 20-year hold on the presidency and slink away to exile.
The end of the dictatorship came after the spontaneous mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Filipino people to defend the mutineers from an assault force of Marcos troops. This popular outburst reflected the country's pent-up rage at the overt fraud and coercion with which Marcos had stolen the Feb. 7 presidential elections from chal -lenger Corazon Aquino.
Marcos' fall culminated a hectic series of events which, only two weeks before, saw the elite opposition in disarray and Ronald Reagan apparently accepting Marcos' reelection.
Appearances, however, were deceiving. Internal rot and the rumblings of the mass movement had already undermined the main pillars supporting the dictatorship.
But though the Filipino people have won a great victory, much remains to be done to win national and social liberation.
The makeup of the new government manifests its capitalist character. The key posts of prime minister and foreign minister are held by Aquino's running mate, Salvador Laurel, leader of the most pro-U.S. and conservative wing of the antiMarcos opposition. The defense ministry and the Central Bank are headed by the same people as under Marcos.
As an analyst for Wells Fargo Bank pointed out, "The government [of Cory Aquino] is still made up of the traditional leading families. You don't see a transfer (continued on page 11)
CRÁCK MARCOSY
Scan page 2
SOMOCISTAS NICARAGUA the future of Nicaragua with the contras. The FSL leadership rejected these conditions.
Mass protests needed
The threats to Nicaragua have never been greater. Never has the need for a nationally coordinated response to the bipartisan U.S. war drive in Central America been more urgent. The Nicaraguan people need to know that the majority of the American people are opposed to this dirty war.
Last April 20, over 125,000 demonstrated in seven major cities in support of four demands: No U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean; End U.S. support to South African Apartheid; Freeze and Reverse the Arms Race; Jobs and Justice, not War. This showed it is possible to mount powerful nationally coordinated actions against the warmakers.
Unfortunately, however, no action on this scale has been called for this spring. Yet several important protest actions are being planned.
On April 19, a demonstration against the U.S. war at home and abroad is being held in San Francisco. Called by the Mobilization for Peace, Jobs and Justice, which last year organized a march and rally of 50,000, this demonstration continues to attract broad support. Five AFL-CIO central labor councils have endorsed the action, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Alan Cranston, Congresspersons Ron Dellums and Sala Burton, and other major community and religious figures.