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Issue Number 31, October 2008
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 31, October 2008
NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS REMEMBER KA BEL
Just over a month before Ka Bel’s sudden
death at his home in Manila, we had sat down to dinner
together at a friend’s house in Montreal, halfway
through a national tour by Crispin and two other
progressive Congresspeople from the Philippines. We
reminisced about his 1999 visit to Aotearoa/New Zealand,
he asked after comrades and friends there, and shared
numerous jokes. He fondly remembered Murray and Becky,
Jane Kelsey, and Leigh Cookson and the support he had had
from people in Aotearoa during his most recent
incarceration. He told me how much he missed Dennis Maga
after he had stayed on in Aotearoa/New Zealand last year
after his very effective protests against Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo’s State visit, demanding Ka
Bel’s release from detention, but was also very
pleased that he was now doing great work in union
organising, especially among Filipino workers, in
Aotearoa these days. Whenever I saw Ka Bel, he’d
always ask about “that Christchurch business”.
He had been with us in Auckland during our anti-APEC
activities around the 1999 APEC Leaders Summit, when the
Shipley government settled out of court with me over the
illegal and bungled New Zealand Security Intelligence
Service break-in at my Christchurch house in July 1996
(see http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/choudry.htm for
details. Ed.). I was surprised to hear Ka Bel say that he
saw this as a key event in the early days of the latest
wave of repression against activists around the world,
when for me it seemed to be one of many, ongoing State
actions against dissent.
The things I most valued about Ka Bel, besides his sharp
mind, staunch political convictions and commitments to
struggle, were his humanity, humility, warmth and sense
of humour. There was a slightly mischievous look in his
eyes as he rather nonchalantly rattled off the various
medications for serious ailments that he carried with
him, and tales of various doctors’ visits. In spite
of hearing all that, and knowing that the outrageous
imprisonment at the hands of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime
had taken a heavy toll on this incredible 75-year old, I
told friends that he looked remarkably well. So it came
as a shock to open my email on 20 May to read messages
that he had died. When I first knew Ka Bel, he was the
chair of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) – and I heard
him give some eloquent, passionate and militant speeches
in the Philippines, and in Aotearoa/New Zealand. For
many, in many countries and workplaces around the world,
Ka Bel and the KMU were and are beacons of hope –
militant movement-based trade unionists with a sharp
anti-imperialist analysis and practice, and strong
commitment to international solidarity. By the time our
paths crossed again in Europe in 2001, Crispin was a
Congressman for Bayan Muna, but still living in the same
urban poor settlement as he had done for so many years,
and still as down-to-earth as ever.
Unfortunately “progressive” movements have more
than their fair share of large egos. Yet for someone
whose entire life had been given to struggle, often at
enormous personal costs, Ka Bel was an incredibly
unassuming man, who always seemed to have genuine words
of encouragement for others. Ka Bel’s legacy speaks
for itself – from the multitude of campaigns and
movements that he has been part of, to the laws and
policies he fought for in the Philippines Congress, to
the enormous outpouring of love, affection and respect
that we have seen in the past few months. He’ll
always occupy a space in my heart.
Aziz Choudry
Montreal, Canada
23/6/08
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