Celebrate the people’s victory over Trump! Continue the struggle for total victory over U.S. imperialism!
Anakbayan-USA celebrates with the masses of people who secured a significant victory by defeating Trump this election. At the same time, we recognize that the election of the Biden-Harris presidency does not fundamentally alter the relationship between the ruling class and the majority of exploited and oppressed people in the U.S., the Philippines, and the world over. With one tactical victory in our hands, we maximize this opportunity to continue building the mass movement in our strategic fight against U.S. imperialism.
At the heart of Trump’s defeat at the polls was the swell of people’s rage on the streets that had been building up since well before the beginning of his presidency: the movement for Black liberation, indigenous land sovereignty, dignity for migrant families forced to flee their countries, healthcare in the face of an uncontained pandemic, support for liberation struggles in Puerto Rico, Palestine, and the Philippines, and so many others.
Nonetheless, pro-Trump forces were also able to mobilize en masse, securing a significant part of the popular vote, more seats in the House than the previous term, and a possible retention of majority in the Senate. Moreover, we must face the truth that the victory of the Biden-Harris administration does not represent a strategic win for the mass movements who mobilized to the polls. While we can engage the state in various ways, we have no illusions that we can reform it.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties represent the two sides of the same imperialist coin. Trump’s more overt war-mongering and disregard for human life will be replaced with more covert tactics to maintain power in the hands of the few. Biden has already signaled his intention to do just this on the campaign trail: rejecting calls to defund the police and instead invest $300 million more in sham reforms like community policing; backing the neoliberal US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and reconsidering to rejoin the even worse Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA); and promising to maintain the U.S.’ military superiority, particularly through deadly technology like unmanned vehicles and artificial intelligence systems.
The Philippines will not be spared from Biden’s neoliberal and militarist domestic and foreign policy. As the U.S. continues to fall into a deeper economic and health crisis, we know that it will tighten its leash on the Philippines and other semi-colonies to further exploit the country and its people for their wealth and labor. The return of the U.S. into the TPPA will only worsen the effects of trade liberalization, capital export, and foreign ownership of industry already felt by the vast majority of workers and peasants in the country. U.S. military assistance to the Philippines may see an increase as Biden plans to strengthen multilateral alliances in the Asia-Pacific to contain China’s growing imperialist might. This will have disastrous impacts in the hands of the fascist Duterte regime, who will be sure to maximize such aid to bolster counterinsurgency programs that target any and all opposition. Even Malacañang, led by the Philippines’ own ruling elite of big landlords and comprador capitalists, forecasted “no major change” in bilateral relations between the countries.
As we enter this new chapter of imperialism’s decay, we must ground ourselves in the everyday struggles of the masses to advance our own liberation struggle forward, and contribute to the liberation struggle of the masses worldwide. We have the opportunity now to agitate, organize, and mobilize people around the bread and butter issues—from police terror to healthcare to worker’s rights—that catalyzed over 160 million to vote, as well as the millions more who were unable to. And in doing so, we must consciously link and raise these issues to the fight against imperialism to build the broadest united front against the ruling system. In particular, we must conduct painstaking work among the Filipino community to demonstrate why a Biden win can never secure genuine liberation or democracy for our people, both in the U.S. and back home in the Philippines. We must continue developing our own independent organized political power to challenge the U.S.-Duterte regime, no matter which party sits at the helm of U.S. imperialism.
