Global Social Rights

The paper examined the demands, activities, tactics and alliances forged by the Nagkaisa (United) labor coalition as the authoritarian covid response of Duterte in the Philippines led to an unprecedented economic crisis. Nagkaisa is the most successful experiment in uniting organized labor in the last decade. It pushed for a response that prioritizes workers’ rights…

In dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the Duterte government responded too late in stopping local transmission, too little in preparation, and too much force in lockdown enforcement. The Philippines has the strictest and longest lockdown in Asia, yet the steady increase of covid infections from June 2020 until the surge on March 2021, show that…

Image by Mayday Multimedia Although the official vote count only began today, the results of the 2022 Philippine presidential election are already more or less clear: Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., the son of long-time dictator Ferdinand Marcos, appears to have won a landslide victory and will become the next President of the Philippines. Although he…

Prior to the 2022 elections, the Left in the Philippines had fielded candidates only at the middle and lower levels of government, including the party list system in Congress. At the presidential level, left-wing groups would either support candidates who were of a liberal bent and less repressive towards them, or else simply adopt a…

In left-wing discussions worldwide, the call for a “new internationalism” is growing ever louder. In the Guardian, former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has called for the foundation of an “international progressive movement”. According to Sanders, a political project should be established that opposes the “international authoritarian axis”-a project that stands for a “vision of shared prosperity,…

As the whole world reels under the impact of the unprecedented health crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been little attention on its effect on grassroots communities and marginalized sectors. This is particularly important given the haphazard and erratic manner of some governments to contain the contagion given a situation where health…