Neoliberalism, Imperialism and Militarism and the Crisis of Human Rights in the Philippines and the People's Resistance

Weaving together primary data from fieldwork and secondary data from a collection of literature and documentations, this paper examines the crisis of human rights in the Philippines in the context of neoliberalism, imperialism and the various forms of people’s resistance both within the Philippines and overseas. While many discussions on human rights rarely contextualize the occurrence of human rights violations within the regimes of neoliberalism, imperialism and militarism this paper will examine how these various social forces intersect to suppress people’s political, economic, cultural inalienable rights. The right to fight for these inalienable rights is a basic right – but such political right is suppressed to manufacture consent to neoliberal policies that seek to maintain global capitalism. Political rights (such as the right to fight for rights) and economic rights (such as the right to access basic needs) are inextricably linked. Militarism becomes the political tool of the state to violently suppress people power, to divide and rule, and to continue its counterinsurgency, which is supported by imperial powers, like the United States, through military aid. As global capitalism continually seeks cheap labor for maximum profit workers’ rights get violated, and as it (capital) seeks to transnationally expand Indigenous People are dispossessed of their ancestral lands, violating their rights enshrined in UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. But various sectors of the Filipino people have persisted in their resistance and their various social movement organizations have engaged in various collective actions in defense of human rights both on the local and international scales. Their resistance is forming collective power (a form of political right) and suggest insights that achieving the universal goal of protecting human rights requires changing oppressive and exploitative political and economic systems.