This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
Maoist Internationalist Movement
Support Filipino peasant struggles
Golf War screenings with Director/Producer Jen Schradie

Screening locations, times & sponsors
RAIL Organizes Peasant Support: Adopt a Peasant Organizer Program

The Golf War documentary tells the story of Filipino peasants being violently and illegally kicked off their ancestral land to make way for one of Asias largest golf resorts. Filmmakers interviewed developers and politicians, as well as armed guerrillas and peasants fighting the development. They even caught Tiger Woods promoting golf in the Philippines.

Peasants in a beachfront community called Hacienda Looc have been tilling their land for generations. But, the Filipino government decided to follow a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded report that recommended the area instead be used for tourism. The government illegally sold the peasants land for less than its worth to the Manila South coast Development Corporation (MSDC). To cover itself, the government later claimed that this fertile mountainous area and tropical paradise was not suited for agriculture. Fil-Estate Land, Inc. is working with the MSDC to develop the Hacienda Looc land into a four-course golf and tourist resort.

When the peasants who live on the land learned of this takeover, they formed an organization called Umalpas-Ka, a chapter of the larger national peasant federation KMP. The developers are working in collusion with the military, as well as with national and local politicians. Meanwhile, three peasant opponents of the golf course construction have been killed. Consequently, many peasants have supported the New People's Army's offer to protect their families and their land.

More about Golf War:
MIM Notes review of Golf War
Message of solidarity from Professor Jose Maria Sison
Press release from Anthill Productions
Article by Jen Schradie about the making of the Golf War
New People's Army website

Screening locations & times, sponsors of these events

Michigan State University -- East Lansing
Monday, March 27th
7:15 PM
Wells Hall, rm. B106

Wayne State University -- Detroit
Tuesday, March 28th
6:15 PM
Wayne State University
Student Center Building, rm. 289

University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor
Thursday, March 30th
7:00 PM
Angell Hall, Aud. A
On State Street b/w South Univesity & Williams

Sponsors as of 8 March, 2000:
Anthill Productions, Friends of RAIL, the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League, the Maoist Internationalist Movement, University of Michigan Asian Languages and Cultures Program, Michigan State University Center for Asian Studies, Wayne State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Wayne State University Women's Studies Program, University of Michigan Program in Film & Video Studies


RAIL Organizes Peasant Support: Adopt a Peasant Organizer Program

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) has launched support work for the Adopt a Peasant Organizer Program. This program, initiated by the Philippines Peasant Support Network (PESANTE), supports peasant activists in the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), or Peasant Movement of the Philippines.

Three quarters of the Filipino population of 70 million are peasants. The majority of these till small plots using simple farm tools. Land concentration in the hands of a few families and growing landlessness cause massive poverty in the countryside. According to Philippine government statistics, 5% of landowners hold 43% of the agricultural land, while the 67% who hold less than 8 acres own only 18 per cent of the total agricultural land. In some places about 90% of the peasants are sharecroppers. In some places more than half are landless. Land rent to the landlord is still as high as 80, 70, and 60 percent of the crop.

The KMP militantly pursues the implementation of genuine agrarian reform. The KMP is the largest organization of landless peasants, small farmers, farmworkers, subsistence fisherfolk, rural youth, and peasant wimmin. The KMP diligently fights for national industrialization, the true democratization of Philippine society, and national sovereignty.

Many of the KMPs farmer-leaders organize full time and are therefore not able to work on their farms. Some receive meager compensation while others are not paid at all for their political work. They need financial assistance to support their families and cover daily operating expenses. (Estimates for the monthly costs for one organizer range from $70 to $130.) RAIL is happy to organize contribution collection, but we need your help to make a regular and dependable contributions! Contact RAIL if you want to make one-time or monthly contributions.