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CHINA-AFRICA

Under the caption Debt-Trap Diplomacy, Wikipedia estimates that in 2020 Angola tops the list of the 10 most indebted countries in Africa, owing an estimated US$25 billion and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) comes at the bottom, owing approximately US$3.4 billion.

As it was asserted in the South China Morning Post in May 2018, China is now Africas most important economic partner. China has also successfully leveraged its economic influence to include African university education.

Confucius Institutes across Africa

During the peak of global communism between the 1950s and 1970s, China was sympathetic to Africas economic and political plight on ideological grounds. China also supported African countries that opted for communism and positioned itself as a global, moral role model.

In that period, as part of its development assistance, China offered Africans only a small number of graduate scholarships to study at its tertiary institutions. However, since 2000 Chinas graduate scholarships and grants to Africans to study in its tertiary institutions have increased to about 61,000.

Over the same period, China has increasingly made its presence in Africa more visible by establishing more than 54 Confucius Institutes (CIs) and 27 Confucius Classrooms (CCs) across the African continent, according to the 2018 edition of Quartz Africa. Both CIs and CCs are major instruments designed to promote Mandarin and Chinese culture in Africa.

The South China Morning Post reports that China has been highly successful in creating a cultural footprint across Africa, the worlds fastest growing continent, through its Confucius Institutes.

Possible cultural influence

In addition, Chinas 20+20 scheme announced at the November 2009 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) ministerial conference links 20 African universities and colleges with those in China. African universities selected for the scheme include the universities of Cairo, Nairobi, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Pretoria, Makerere and Stellenbosch.

The scheme aims at ensuring a long-term collaboration between African and Chinese higher education. But collaboration for what? What could African universities learn from Chinese universities that they could not learn from European and American universities?

This is a critical question in that Chinese universities increasingly imitate and promote Western university education models for their own use. More precisely, the Chinese insistence that morality and service to the public interest should be an integral component of doctoral education is not quintessentially Chinese.

Quartz Africa also reported on 11 August 2018 that unlike Frances 180 Alliance Francaise centres, Germanys 21 Goethe Institute centres, Portugals 34 Instituto Cames centres and the UKs 38 British Council offices, Chinas Confucius Institutes in Africa are established within colleges and universities across the African continent.

A Confucius Institute is also set up through a partnership between a Chinese university, a host country university and the office of Chinese language and culture promoter Hanban, an agency of the Chinese ministry of education and an affiliate of the Chinese Communist Party.

Despite the fact CIs are housed in African colleges and universities, they are funded and controlled by Hanban.

In addition, a CI is allowed to develop and maintain ties with other local higher education institutions. For example, the CI in Cameroons public University of Yaound has ties with eight local universities and several private language colleges in the country. As a result, in 2017 it was able to enrol more than 10,000 students.

Nonetheless, we must ask why the Chinese government has chosen to establish CIs in African universities? According to my source, a Chinese graduate school colleague, African universities have become very important to China over the past 20 years.

Admittedly, university education is now expected to play a strategic role in African development compared to what was the case at the time of political independence in the 1960s. Indeed, owing to the fact that several empirical studies have demonstrated the importance of human capital, university education in Africa is now seen as a way of nurturing critical human capital for national development.

For this reason, the Chinese want their language and culture to become part of the education of generations of young African undergraduates. More importantly, China wants young Africans to know and appreciate its perspective on world history and to understand the models of economic and social development which have been distorted owing to the dominance of Europe and the United States in Africa.

My colleague says China is doing everything possible to ensure that it gradually wins the hearts and minds of young adult Africans, given the exponential growth of university institutions on the continent. Eventually, the idea is that educated Africans will look to China rather than Europe and America for intellectual inspiration, leadership and models of social and economic development.

This, of course, is a colonial model because colonialism is not merely about forcibly placing a piece of land under foreign control for the purpose of resource exploitation. Colonialism is also about the systematic indoctrination and acculturation of indigenous people for the purposes of cultural domination and exploitation.

Effects on Africas universities

In keeping with Chinas strategic expectations, many African universities are now offering undergraduate degrees and diplomas in Chinese language and culture. An interesting case study is Makerere University in Uganda. In 2019 it launched its first bachelor degree in Chinese and Asian studies. And it is looking forward to creating Chinese and Asian studies degrees at the masters and doctoral level in the near future.

Though the bachelor degree at Makerere University is labelled Chinese and Asian studies, all the constituent courses are oriented towards Chinese language and culture. Where, one may ask, are the courses on Japan, Korea, India, the Philippines, Russia and Vietnam? Are these countries not part of Asia?

The presence of CIs in African universities could influence the academic programmes they offer, how they should be taught and which programmes should be given priority.

It is likely, however, that African governments will roll out more sycophantic policies in the higher education sector in favour of China, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic has further impacted the ability of African countries to repay the debts they owe to China.

As a combined study by the Institute for Security Studies, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and the Frederick S Pardee Center for International Futures has indicated, the cost of repaying African debts and interests have increased substantially while many African currencies have depreciated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Another effect of the establishment of CIs in African universities is the possibility of crowding out other language programmes, such as German, Spanish, Arabic and Swahili, especially in Anglo-African countries. This may be an unintended consequence.

The problem is that Africa is economically and politically weak and has a burgeoning youth population. That makes it safe, fertile ground for China as a new flowering colonial power. Accordingly, the South China Morning Post declared in 2018 that Chinas soft power policy in Africa was a winner.

The South China Morning Post has also asserted that Mandarin is beginning to challenge the ubiquity of European languages in African countries. While speculation about Mandarin replacing European languages in African universities is exaggerated, it is clear that Mandarin generally poses a formidable challenge to colonial languages in Africa.

The fact of the matter, however, is that English has attained international language status and has even made considerable inroads into Francophone Africa, owing mainly to the cultural influence of the United States as a global superpower.

We should not lose sight of the fact that Rwanda joined the Commonwealth in 2009 and a year earlier changed the medium of education from French to English. In addition, the English language is an indispensable language of communication between African-Americans and continental Africans.

Nonetheless, in Lusophone countries, such as Mozambique and Angola, that have loose ties with their former coloniser, Portugal, Mandarin has good prospects of rubbing shoulders with Portuguese as a national language.

History shows that Mozambique joined the Commonwealth in 1995, though it had no historical association with Great Britains colonisation in Africa. Angola has started campaigning to join the Commonwealth, citing weakness in the Portuguese Association and the continued rivalry between Portugal and Brazil.

Critical African higher education experts are worried about the increasing influence of China in African universities. Yet some higher education experts are optimistic that higher education partnerships between Africa and China will be founded on the basis of mutual respect, equality and honesty.

However, it is my view that African higher education leaders should take care and form alliances to protect their collective interests and to oppose any Chinese colonialism in the higher education sector.

Eric Fredua-Kwarteng is an educator and policy consultant in Canada.

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What is China's higher education agenda in Africa? - University World News

I see you.

In your soft, broken English, I do not hear weakness. In your five-foot frame and small features, I see only strength. I do not know you, but I know you are a survivor a man who has fought for his family his entire life. Im so fortunate to meet a man like you, so grateful to be your doctor.

***

Everyone in the room was watching his breathing, the way he gasped for air pulling in his abdomen and stretching out his neck, using all of his energy to fight against time with lungs that were rapidly failing. His wife was admitted upstairs, on a ventilator, fighting just the same. COVID-19 is smoldering through the Hmong community in St. Paul.

Everyone was watching his breathing, but I saw his feet. Feet that first touched the earth on a misty mountainside in Laos. Feet that ran through the jungle beside his brothers helping Americans fight our secret war on communism. Strong feet that carried the load of his family, their suffering and shared tragedy, across the Mekong River, leaving behind a country that would never welcome him back. Feet that worked in a Thai refugee camp stuffed into slippers made from old car tires. Feet that ultimately found a place to call home in the same city where I grew up, shuffling along snow-covered sidewalks in shoes from Savers that were two sizes too big.

This man survived for his family. Fighting his whole life: in Laos against communist forces that sought to kill him and his people, in Thailand waiting in the purgatory of a refugee camp for a chance at a new start, and here in Minnesota struggling to acclimate to a culture and a climate he could never have imagined.

In 1976, while this man and his relatives were hiding in the jungles and caves of western Laos being hunted and killed en masse after they were abandoned by American forces that had used them like pawns to fight a secret war on communism, Richard Dawkins, an English evolutionary biologist, released his seminal work, The Selfish Gene. This book describes how human emotions and behaviors like sexual desire, love of family, and instinct to protect our young have direct underpinnings in our DNA. Our desire to see our children thrive is hard-wired into our genetic material to give our genes a selective advantage to continue on generation to generation. The problem is that our genes are not alone in this world, they are constantly at odds with the DNA of others: not just other humans, but a dearth of microscopic organisms (including the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV2) living on and around us taking what they need from us to ensure that their genetic material survives on to the next generation.

***

In Laos, you were used by the American government to do our bidding in a war that wasnt yours. You and your family suffered the immense cost of genocide, surviving only to become a stateless people. Here, in Minnesota, you were pushed to the margins of our society, forced to live in an impoverished part of town and take on the jobs white Americans did not want. And now, as you lay here before me, infected with a virus that found you here, but has still not made it to your home village in the lush hills of Laos, again you suffer to survive.

I spoke to your daughter just now. I could hear your grandchildren playing in the background as she gently sobbed, telling me to keep you alive for them. Your genes live on through your family, but sadly your body will not.

Know that I see you. Know that Im proud to call you my neighbor. Know that I will tell my son your story.

Im sorry I cant do more to save your life.

Dr. Daniel Hogan, Lake Elmo, is a resident physician at Regions Hospital.

See more here:
Dr. Daniel Hogan: To the Hmong man I met last night in the emergency room - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

Both the Trump and Biden presidential campaigns vied to outdo the other in being tough on China. The Trump administration declassified an intelligence assessment that the Chinese Communist Party favored Biden over Trump, and Biden responded with harsh words for both President Trump and Chairman Xi. While the House and the Senate are slated to be sharply divided in the next Congress, there is broad consensus on the need to confront China. But consensus can be hazardous for strategy, and policymakers should be wary so that the rush to confront China doesnt sacrifice Americas values and interests.

The key question for any strategy to compete with China is: With our economy closely tied to an authoritarian power, our channels of communication infiltrated by surveillance technology and weaponized information, and the legitimacy of our liberal institutions questioned from within and without, how can the United States avoid an outright military conflict and remain a free and open society? Any strategy to confront China by mimicking its illiberal tendencies would be self-defeating.

President Truman grasped a similar dilemma at the beginning of Americas confrontation with the Soviet Union. In a statement to Congress, Truman warned that failing to contain the Soviet Union would lead to the emergence of a garrison state, forcing the United States to impose upon ourselves a system of centralized regimentation unlike anything we have ever known. If the U.S. failed to build a network of allies to prevent the spread of communism, communism would gain strength and make the word unsafe for American democracy.

Trumans successor, Eisenhower, though of a different political party, expanded on this warning. In his 1961 Farewell Address, Eisenhower cautioned the American people about doing too much in response to the Soviet threat: Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can be responsible for ensuring that security and liberty may prosper together. Both presidents understood that the competition with the Soviet Union was not only military and economic, but also ideological and political. Sacrificing Americas democratic character would be unacceptable.

The words of the first two Cold War presidents are especially salient for our present moment as the U.S. confronts a new military, economic, ideological, and political competition with China. How much this emerging confrontation resembles the Cold War remains an academic debate, but a recent survey indicates that the American public views China as a significant threat to the United States.

While the great China debate rages on, Congress and the administration have begun to assemble a China strategy piece-by-piece. Congress has passed resolutions to investigate and sanction human rights violators in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The president has issued executive orders to respond to legitimate national security threats posed by Chinese technological acquisitions. While overdue, both the next Congress and the next administration must learn from President George W. Bushs laudable Islam is Peace speech at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., just 6 days after the 9/11 attacks: The first task in an ideological struggle is to defend against illiberal tendencies at home. So far, Americas elected leaders have ignored this lesson.

One critical example includes the worry that Chinese students studying in the United States pose an espionage risk. Sen. Tom Cotton even suggested that Chinese students should be banned from studying certain subjects at American universities. While Chinese intelligence has used Chinese-national students and scholars at American universities as assets, such a draconian measure would undermine American universities long-standing international reputation for being havens of opportunity, pluralism, and free exchange.

Such rhetoric also perpetuates a pernicious pattern of categorizing entire groups of Americans as threats to national security. While this tendency dates back at least as far as the Alien and Sedition Acts signed into law by President John Adams, the most egregious example is the internment of Japanese Americans, including many American citizens, during World War II. President Trumps insistence on referring to COVID-19 as the China virus rekindled a similar hostility against Chinese Americans that dates back to the discriminatory Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Todays Chinese Americans face a dual threat of bigotry at home and tyranny from abroad. In addition to xenophobic attitudes encouraged by the White House, the coercion of the Chinese Communist Party aided by the long reach of digital technology and a robust network of informal agentsreferred to as the United Front Work Departmentalso threatens Chinese immigrants to America and their families. The Chinese state has sanctioned American citizens and extortedChinese expats by threatening their relatives still in China. Any measure aiming to halt Chinas extraterritorial intimidation tactics must pay special attention to the freedoms and well-being of Chinese Americans so as not to duplicate the oppression they face.

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Ensuring that Chinese-Americans continue to be an advantage for the United States, instead of perceived enemies, is an urgent task for the Biden administration. But leading America into the competition that could define the 21stcentury requires much more.

The Biden administration will not only inherit a polarized country but also an ideologically polarized world. President-elect Biden recognized this in his essay in Foreign Affairs outlining his desire to restore American global leadership. Yet judging by the campaigns of his former rivals for the Democratic nomination, the rest of the party seems inclined toward retrenchment and more focused on domestic issues.

A Biden administration needs to unify both desires: restore confidence in American democracy at home and rebuild American credibility abroad. The two can be one in the same. After responding to the coronavirus, the first thing Biden and his allies in Congress should have on their agenda should be a list of reforms designed to reinvigorate American democratic governmentnot only for the health of the country, but as an example to other nations of the inherent flexibility and self-healing nature of democracy.

The first measure President Biden should pursue is a Presidential Accountability Act. Many voluntary measures such as releasing tax returns, divesting from personal investments, and selecting family members for government roles were taken for granted before Trump. These soft norms should be codified as statute by Congress.

Next, Biden should work with Congress to revitalize Congressional oversight. Public transparency is necessary (but not sufficient) to slow the avalanche of conspiracy theories rolling over American politics. Moreover, more muscular oversight ought to be only the start in a larger effort to reverse the trend of expanding executive power at the expense of the legislative branch. America has come close enough to Orbn-style authoritarianism to know now how to avoid it, and for our own sake and that of our allies with less consolidated democracies, we should demonstrate how to prevent the consolidation of power in a populist-nationalist executive.

Biden will also inherit a country still grappling with race and racism. Yet again, Truman provides an example of how a Biden administration can influence American politics at home to preserve what the president-elect has called the power of [Americas] example abroad. Trumans Justice Department filed an amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, noting Racial discrimination furnishes grist for the Communist propaganda mills, and it raises doubts even among friendly nations as to the intensity of our devotion to the democratic faith [School segregation] jeopardizes the effective maintenance of our moral leadership of the free and democratic nations of the world. As the United States continues to reckon with its past and present, the Biden administration should encourage other branches and levels of government to see every step against systemic racism as a victory against Americas adversaries.

The international community has rightly decried the detention of Uighur Muslims in China, yet the United Statess protestations are decried as hypocritical, coming from the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. Americas incarceration problem is not the result of overt ethnic and religious oppression, and it lacks many of the most horrifying elements of the slow-motion ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang, but it remains a fundamental problem that is inconsistent with many of the same liberal ideas we stand for internationally. Because most prisoners in America are in state prisons, not federal ones, there is a limit to how much direct influence the Biden administration can have on this problem. But just as the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act Biden championed helped create the mass-incarceration problem, the Biden administration can wield federal influence to help alleviate it.

Human rights policy and democracy promotion are too often derided as trivial distractions within certain foreign policy circles. The Biden administration would be wise to align its mandate to reform liberal institutions at home with broader foreign policy goals necessary to succeed in a global ideological confrontation with China, Russia, and other authoritarian powers. Before we are able to be a shining light for the world, we need to reignite the flame of democracy here at home.

Read more here:
How to Wage an Ideological Conflict with China - The Bulwark

Tagged again for 'recruiting communists', UP explains what it actually does

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:50 p.m.) Amid continued red-tagging and false claims of recruitment of communist insurgents, the University of the Philippines has asserted that it is an education institution that has trained and produced experts and even government officials.

In a statement on Thursday, the UP Office of the Vice President for Public Affairspointedout that recruiting communists is not its mission as an educational institution.

"The Universitys core mission is knowledge and innovation creation, production, and dissemination, using various approaches of knowledge transfer,"it said.

This comes on the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to defund UP in relation toAteneo de Manila students holding a strike to hold the government accountable for its disaster response.

In a speech that aired late Tuesday night, Duterte said partly in Filipino: "I will stop the funding. You do not do anything except recruit communists there anyway."

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has said that he has since clarified with the president that the academic strike is by Ateneo students.

Being an activist does not mean one is a communistand the belief in communism is in itself not illegal.

UP stressed that it has played a critical role in training the professionals, high-level specialists, scientists and researchers who are needed by the country to generate new knowledge in support of development needs and goals.

It pointed out that it has mobilized its research in broad disciplines from molecular biology studies to analysis of the pandemics socio-economic impacts to help launch COVID-19 initiatives.

It added that many UP graduates are officials too, including 15 members ofDuterte's Cabinet.

The University of the Philippines values academic freedomthe freedom to think, to speak, to study, to teach, and even the freedom to disagree, UP, which has a history of student activism, also said.

It explained that the university also encourages critical thinking which, at times, may manifest as an attitude of dissidence and anti-authoritarianism.

But UP asserted that it cannot be deemed as anti-government because its mandate as a national university is clear.

"Its community of scholars is dedicated to the nations quest for development. And so, UP will continue to lead as a public service university by providing service to the nation including scholarly and technical assistance to the government, the private sector, and civil society," UP added.

In a separate statement, UP Visayas said that militant activism is part of the universitys institutional history and was borne of the atmosphere of intellectual freedom and vigorous exchange of ideas in its campuses. It is in this atmosphere that UP produced leaders in various sectors of the society, it added.

"UP is a diverse and plural place where all kinds of ideas are welcome. Our faith is in diversity, which we view as essential to creating a progressive society,"UPV said.

"How people eventually live out their political belief is beyond the control of any university. UPV does not, and will never, condone acts of lawless violence,"it also said.

This is not the first time Dutertes officials accused the university as being used as venues for organizing and mobilizing by the New Peoples Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

RELATED:How films and art can help protect Martial Law memory from revisionism

In October 2018, then-Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines assistant deputy chief of staff for operations at the time, accused the Communist Party of the Philippines of inciting students to rebel against the government using film showings on martial law in18 universities, including UP.

The AFP later admitted that some of the schools in the list weresubject of continuing validation.

Parlade is now spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Read more from the original source:
Tagged again for 'recruiting communists', UP explains what it actually does - Philstar.com

Red-tagging in the Philippines is the practice of branding people, usually activists and dissenters, as members of the communist rebellion and associating them with the armed wing the New Peoples Army. It is a practice that has become commonplace during Dutertes term as he has refused to negotiate peace with the Communist Party of the Philippines. In April of 2020, Duterte rejected future peace talks with the group saying that there were No more talks to talk about, according to Rappler. With the recent passing of Dutertes terror bill and the deaths of activists around the country, red-tagging has become a serious threat to the safety of those who are branded.

After speaking at an event for left-leaning womens group Gabriela Youth, Filipina actress Liza Soberano was threatened by Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Luzon. Parlade berated Soberano for her connections with Gabriela, who he claims is tied in with the New Peoples Army. He claims that hiding under Gabriela Womens Party is a mass underground organization called Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA). MAKIBAKA is a revolutionary socialist womens organization that was banned and forced underground in 1972 along with Kabataang Makabayan, another revolutionary organization, when former President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law.

Parlades threat came in the form of a warning. Addressing both Soberano and Catriona Gray, who won Miss Universe in 2018, Parlade warned against associating with left-leaning groups. Gray has been speaking out about the crackdown on human rights groups and the latest anti-terrorism law that has effectively acted to stifle dissent.

Parlade invoked the name of Josephine Ann Lapira, who was a UP Manila student killed in a battle between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and suspected members of the New Peoples Army in 2017, saying that Soberano would suffer the same fate as Lapira if she continued to interact with Gabriela.

Singer Bituin Escalante called Parlade a fascist pig in a tweet. She has been outspoken against past red-tagging Parlade has taken part in. The Lieutenant General claims he wasnt red-tagging Soberano at all. Instead, he says the statement was just a warning. He has stated that he supports womens rights.

Arlene Brosas of Gabriela said in a statement reported by Rappler: How come these macho-fascists have the audacity to mansplain strong women and lecture them on what to do? And why do they seem so afraid of women using their platform to defend other women?

The questions posed by Brosas are a clear demonstration of frustration with the behavior and conduct of male leaders in the Philippines. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has a history of misogyny of which he is very proud. On multiple occasions, he has openly joked about rape to the outrage of women across the country. Notably, he recently joked about the rape of an Australian missionary during a prison riot by saying that he should have been allowed to join.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, as reported by the New York Times, voiced her support for the two women targeted by Parlades attack. Senator Hontiveros assured the two women, We will be monitoring him from now on. He should not use his power as a general and threaten these women.

To Liza and Catriona: It is difficult and painful to be at the front lines fighting beside persons oppressed by a norm that advocates rape, murder and exploitation. Senator Hontiveros said in support.

The network Soberano appears on, ABS-CBN, released their own statement of support: ABS-CBN and Star Magic stand by Liza Soberano as she speaks out against violations of womens rights. They go on to recognize Soberano as an advocate of womens rights who supports initiatives that protect and promote womens interests.

Catriona Gray recently posted a video on Instagram which seems to be in response to the recent red-tagging. In the caption, she says, Please dont ever allow your voice to be silenced. You never know whos life may be impacted by your words. You never know who youll help feel seen, courageous or comforted. When you speak up for yourself, know that in sharing your stories, youre speaking up for others too.

Red-tagging has become a major source of fear for many Filipinos in public view. With red-tagging comes a fear of violence and even death. Just recently, a former congressman of the Bayan Muna party-list filed a petition of writ of Amparo asking a court for protection after being red-tagged by the military. He was accused of being a high-ranking officer of the New Peoples Army by the Philippine Armys Third Infantry Division in June.

Earlier this year, activists Ka Randy Echanis and Zara Alvarez were killed within the same two weeks both of whom had been previously red-tagged by Dutertes terror list. Red-tagging is dangerous, especially when it is at the hand of state and military officials. It can result in not only social targeting but violence up to and including death. Unfortunately for Ka Randy Echanis and Zara Alvarez, the cost of their red-tagging was their lives.

It is important not to let the same happen to more activists or public figures who are outspoken against the problems that exist systemically in the Philippines. Speaking out against sexism, which is clearly an ever-present problem under Dutertes regime, should not cost you your safety. The government of the Philippines is utilizing fearmongering in labeling dissenters as dangerous, evil, and violent by vilifying them through red-tagging. In doing so, they are further encouraging the silencing of dissenting voices. It is important to combat this, to de-vilify those who are dissenting and make space for activism and human rights groups who are working to take care of communities that have been harmed by the government. Liza Soberano and Catriona Gray are not a danger, they are advocates speaking out for womens rights. The red-tagging of them and consequent threat by Lt. Gen. Parlade was inappropriate and out-right dangerous.

Philippine military officials need to refrain from abusing their positions of power to vilify dissenting civilians. The act of red-tagging creates fear and increases the potential for violence. Instead, dissenters, organizers, human rights workers, and activists should be given the space to voice their opinions and serve their communities through their work. If a democratic society is to be successful there can not be a stifling of dissent, especially not through the threat of violence. The targeting and killing of activists and human rights workers will only lead to further violence. When you label someone as violent or dangerous and back them into a corner you are forcing them into potentially violent reactions.

To work toward resolving the existing conflict, the Philippine government needs to start by stopping the vilification of the Communist Party of the Philippines as terrorists and the subsequent threats and red-tagging that result from that label. Instead, they should recognize the party as a legitimate political group and work toward negotiations. To continue to paint the Communist Party of the Philippines as harbingers of death, especially when the Philippine government has been the instigator in many of the violent conflicts between the two, is a dangerous form of fearmongering. The refusal of Duterte to work toward meaningful negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines and find peaceful resolutions should not be taken out on the people through red-tagging and fearmongering targeted at dissenters and activists. It is in the hands of the Philippine government to put an end to red-tagging and start making moves toward peace negotiations.

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Fear Of Communism Leads To Red-Tagging And Threats In The Philippines - The Organization for World Peace