The June 2004 death of former US President Ronald Reagan (1980-88) produced an outpouring of quite extraordinary rosetinted nostalgia for an apparent "Golden Age" (the 80s, for God’s sake), when America, and the world, were led by "The Great Communicator". A prime example of this is the Commemorative Issue of Time (14/6/04) devoted entirely to this myth. New Zealanders have plenty of reasons to not look back fondly on Reagan – his was the intransigent US Administration that tried to bully us out of our nuclear free policy, and didn’t say a word when French State terrorists bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985, killing a man in the process. The peoples of America and the world have also got no shortage of reasons to not mythologise this most reactionary of US Presidents. There was a flood of critical material following his death. This one (World War 3 Report; 10/6/04; WW3Report.com) was my favourite. I couldn’t have put it better myself. Ed.

What a tsunami of bullshit has been unleashed by the demise of Ronald Wilson Reagan, architect of the conservative revolution we still suffer under today. The media blitz occasioned by the near-simultaneous presidential passing (June 5) and the 60th anniversary of D-Day* (June 6) has been a boon to the sitting President, himself the spawn of a dynasty that rode the Reagan revolution to power. America gets a time-out from the Iraq horror show to feel good about itself and celebrate past militaristic glories. It almost makes you wonder if news of the death wasn't withheld awhile to coordinate the spectacle. * June 6, 1944. The date when the Allies landed in Normandy, starting the liberation of Western Europe from the Nazis. Ed.

Simultaneously, the Reagan White House backed fascism abroad. The massively US-funded-and-directed bloodbath in El Salvador in the Reagan years claimed some 50,000 lives by the UN Truth Commission's estimate--and double that by many rights observers. The genocide of Maya Indians in neighbouring Guatemala, with the US aid more covert and the Israelis serving as proxies, claimed similar numbers--while Reagan advocated restoring overt aid to the military dictatorship, claiming it had received a "bum rap." Reagan called Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt, author of the genocide, "a man of great personal integrity and commitment... I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice." The (1976-80) Carter-era notion of "human rights" was replaced by "national security" as the cornerstone of US foreign policy. Reagan's UN Ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, theorised on the distinction between the mere "authoritarianism" of anti-communist regimes such as Augusto Pinochet's in Chile (at least 3,000 killed or "disappeared") and the intolerable "totalitarianism" of those such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Reagan's Victory in Europe (VE) Day 1985 visit to (the former) West Germany's Bitburg cemetery, where officers of Hitler's SS are buried, illustrated the historical and ideological shift.

"No Pasaran!"--they shall not pass!--the slogan of the Spanish Loyalists who resisted the Nazi-backed fascist forces of Generalissimo Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War prelude to World War II, was resurrected by Nicaraguan loyalists who similarly defended an elected government against the Reagan-backed "contra" guerillas. In 1984, the World Court ruled in favour of little Nicaragua, finding US support for the contras--"terrorists" by any single-standard definition, openly seeking to destabilise Nicaragua's first freely elected government by attacking its civilian supporters--was illegal. Reagan refused to recognise the Court's ruling. And when Congress cut off funds to the contras following reports of rights abuses, Reagan turned to a private spy network and kickbacks from secret arms deals with Iran to keep the insurgency alive. In an October 25, 1984, Scripps-Howard interview, Reagan justified US mercenaries fighting for the contras by pointing out that "nothing was done legally about the formation of a brigade of Americans in the (1930s) Spanish Civil War"--a reference to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, that fought against Franco--and added that they had been "in the opinions of most Americans, fighting on the wrong side." If anyone doubts that Reagan was really pro-fascist, the Great Communicator's own words speak eloquently for themselves.

The saviour-of-the-Free-World jazz is based in the notion that Reagan precipitated the Soviet collapse, and there is some truth to that--but the way the grim, amoral struggle of contending military-industrial empires is being glorified now is sickening. In the current atmosphere of official amnesia I guess we aren't supposed to talk about how everybody was scared shitless of nuclear holocaust back in the early '80s. At an August 11, 1984, press conference, Reagan quipped during the microphone check: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". It wasn't just a joke. The hypertrophy of nuclear weapons production reached such a breakneck pace that safety corner-cutting resulted in a wave of cancers near the Energy Department's plutonium plant at Hanford, Washington. Despite massive protests, the Cruise and Pershing missiles were installed in Europe, as the Soviets placed their own SS-20 missiles in the former East Germany and Czechoslovakia--bringing the interval between launch time and Einstein's feared "unparalleled catastrophe" to a mere ten minutes. The "Star Wars" programme was launched, with the US abandoning its commitment to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty--although sheer technical hubris has kept the scheme an empty dream, even in its current down-sized version. Nobody has even pointed out how the title of the current Hollywood climate-destabilisation thriller "The Day After Tomorrow" recalls that of the 1983 TV movie "The Day After," depicting nuclear war. The pic was sanitised and mediocre, but the fact that it was made (and received much hoopla) indicates the apocalyptic zeitgeist of the Reagan era. In 1984, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its symbolic "Doomsday Clock" to three minutes of midnight--the closest since 1953, when the Soviets developed the hydrogen bomb.

We are also apparently not supposed to talk about what an objective disaster the restoration of capitalism in the post-Communist world has been in simple human terms. The bloodlettings in the Balkans and the Caucasus loan credence to Cornelius Castoriadis' juxtaposition of "socialism or barbarism." Even where ethnic warfare and neo-fascism have not followed the Communist collapse, the results have been horrific--the plummeting of Russian life expectancy, the implosion of agriculture, the virtual abandonment of controls on toxic industries, the plunder of Siberia's forests, the sinister black market in Soviet nuclear materials. And the pro-democracy dissidents aided by Reagan's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Communist world (along with unsavoury fascism-nostalgists) would be radically sidelined by Bush pere in favor of Western-trained technocrats once the collapse arrived and they had outlived their usefulness--assuring that the vision of socialism with a human face (long opposed by both superpowers) would not be realised. Today it has been nearly erased from historical memory. If the Stalin-nostalgia now inevitably emerging in Russia is perverse, equally so is the American consensus that celebrates the Soviet collapse as an unequivocal victory for human freedom.

The Reagan-era nuclear arms race was one leg of a strategic gambit to force the Soviet Union into collapse--through morally and even legally criminal methods. The other leg was the Mujahedeen insurgency against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. The Reagan era was the high noon of covert proxy wars. Nicaragua and Afghanistan were the most celebrated cases, but there was also CIA aid and direction of the brutal Jonas Savimbi insurgency in Angola, and (via South African proxies) the even more brutal Renamo guerillas in Mozambique (again in the name of the anti-Communist crusade, Reagan helped shore up white supremacy in South Africa, opposing sanctions against the apartheid state in favour of "constructive engagement").

But the even more disastrous blowback became dramatically evident on the morning of September 11, 2001. It was under Reagan's watch that the US began training, arming and funding Osama bin Laden. In Reagan's Cold War end-game, Islamist extremism was cultivated as a pawn against the rival superpower--despite the obvious reality that the jihadis saw in godless Communism an enemy second only to godless capitalism, and would inevitably turn their new-found prowess against their erstwhile underwriters. So the end of the Cold War only presaged a new, in many ways even more terrifying dualistic global conflict--this time, the West against "Islamic terrorism". And while the Soviet "Evil Empire" (as Reagan dubbed it, characteristically taking a cue from Hollywood) was at least a centralised monolith, the new enemy is hydra-headed, molecularised, everywhere and nowhere. The stage is set for a war that could last generations, centuries. This is Reagan's grimmest legacy.

For good measure, it was also under Reagan that the US began supporting Saddam Hussein with military sales and intelligence in his 1980-88 war with Iran. In March 1988, Reagan's final year in office, Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against his own populace, instantly killing 5,000 in the gassing of the Kurdish city of Halabja. A Bill to impose sanctions against Iraq in response to the attack was opposed by the White House and never got out of Congress.

Then there were Reagan's actual direct military interventions--most notably the 1983 expedition to Lebanon and invasion of Grenada--which tested public tolerance for post-Vietnam Syndrome adventures, again paving the way for the current paroxysm of ultra-imperialism. Libya's Colonel Moammar Qaddafi reacted to Reagan's passing by expressing his "deep regret" that Ronnie had died before being brought to a war crimes tribunal for the 1986 US airstrikes on Tripoli that killed Qaddafi's adopted daughter and 36 others (in retaliation for an anonymous Berlin disco bombing that killed three, including two US soldiers. Associated Press, 7/6/04). One hates to agree with so unsavoury a character, but I am with the colonel on this one.

This Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial ("Mixed Legacy", 9/6/04) is a vital reality check for those wading through the bullshit following Reagan’s death. It’s startlingly different from those of mainstream media in other countries, including New Zealand and provides the true Third World perspective. Filipinos have no reason to mourn Reagan. His Presidency coincided with the final years of the vicious Marcos martial law dictatorship, which Reagan supported to the hilt. When People Power 1 had Ferdinand Marcos surrounded in the Malacanang Palace, in 1986, it was the US military that flew him out, and he went into exile in Reagan’s America. At least Reagan got a State funeral and was promptly buried. Ferdinand Marcos has had neither. He died, in Hawaiian exile, in 1989, and remains, unburied and on public display, in a refrigerated crypt in his political stronghold in the far north of Luzon, the main island. His widow, the repulsive Imelda, is holding out for him to be buried with other former Presidents, in Metro Manila. She’d also like him to have a State funeral. These remain political hot potatoes for Filipino governments, no matter how kindly disposed they might be towards the Marcoses, so he’s not likely to be buried anytime soon. Ed.

The "Palace in the Sky *," the hilltop mansion the Ferdinand Marcos had built in Tagaytay City, outside Manila, is Ronald Wilson Reagan's monument in the Philippines. It is a monument to the cynicism and extravagance his leadership inspired in Filipino politicians. A manipulative and mendicant reaction to Reagan that, in the end, resulted in the betrayal of a traditional relationship that is Reagan's true legacy to Filipinos. *The Palace in the Sky, overlooking the beautiful Lake Taal, is a blot on the landscape, and another illustration of the fact that, although the Marcoses were guilty of many heinous crimes, nobody ever accused them of having good taste. Ed.

His relation with the Philippines began as a special guest in the inauguration of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in the early 1970s. It blossomed into a personal relationship with the Marcoses. A relationship the Marcoses used to personify the larger, sentimental, relationship an older generation of Filipinos felt for America and Americans. It ended in bitterness, disbelief and betrayal.

Reagan and Ferdinand Marcos belonged to what the Americans call their "greatest generation," and which we remember as the generation of Filipinos and Americans bound together by ties of loyalty and sentiment due to the shared sacrifices of World War II. It was a relationship characterised by a sense of brotherhood filled with gratitude on the part of Filipinos. Reagan and Marcos, for a time, stood tall together. Their countrymen took pride in that shared sense of partnership.

Democracy in the Philippines was inconvenient and unnecessary in Ronald Reagan's worldview. Having a loyal lackey in Manila was, however, essential. The Philippines cannot forget the friendship he shared with the Marcoses because it was that friendship that destroyed a larger friendship. His trust in Marcos' capacity to be a bulwark against Communism fostered the growing strength of Communism in this country. His esteem for Marcos shown in messages and State visits resulted in the erosion of Filipino esteem for the America that Reagan presided over. His ambivalence in the face of a furious and brave effort by Filipinos to redeem their freedoms resulted in a redemption achieved despite of, and not because of, the efforts of Reagan's America.

When Reagan began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, he engineered a bowing out from the public eye, all the better to preserve his image and his legacy. Undeniably, he was and remains a beloved American president. We are not, however, America, and we are not Americans. At the bier of Reagan must be laid, posthumously, the eradication of a bond of trust nurtured by World War II, and dissipated by martial law. We cannot be kind to him in death, because every day of our lives, our country continues to suffer from the manner in which Reagan confused his friendship with the Marcoses with the broader interests of his country and ours.

It may be that everything Reagan did was less due to affection for the Marcoses, and more along the lines of American interests in our region. This only goes to show how those interests are so widely divergent from the interests of our own country. The billions of pesos stolen; the thousands of people dead and maimed; the lives crushed and wasted; the ideals ground in the dust: all these are factors in the delicate democracy we are still so hard pressed to sustain. Ronald Wilson Reagan turned a blind eye to all these sufferings. As he rests in peace, this country must remember its uneasiness will long outlive the man. That he is a great man by American standards only goes to show how different American ideals can be from what should be our own.

One of my wife’s imprisoned aunts is Marie Hilao-Enriquez (she gave birth to her oldest daughter in prison). She is the Philippines’ best-known human rights leader and heads the organisation of former Marcos political prisoners. She is touring New Zealand, in the first two weeks of October (I will be accompanying her, in my Philippines Solidarity capacity). For tour details, go to www.converge.org.nz/psna and click on Activities. When you hear Marie speak, reflect on Ronald Reagan and his faithful servant, Ferdinand Marcos.

Graeme Tapper, who died in April 2004, aged 71, was never a member of CAFCA but we had worked with him in the 1990s in his capacity as President of the 4,000 strong Christchurch branch of Greypower. He was elected to that position for seven consecutive years, from 1996. Graeme was a leading figure in the ad hoc coalition set up to fight the sale of Trust Bank to Westpac, in 1996. One tactic was to make protest withdrawals of money from Trust Bank. Watchdog 82 (August 1996; "The Trust Bank Campaign", Murray Horton) reported that: "On May 10, at Trust Bank’s main Christchurch branch, a number of individuals and organisations made their withdrawals under the watchful eye of several TV networks. We printed some slips to be handed across the counter, when the withdrawal was made. They read: ‘The Manager, Trust Bank. This withdrawal is made in protest at Trust Bank’s decision to sell out and become just another foreign-owned bank. This is not in the public interest. It is a betrayal of trust’…There were withdrawals all over town that day, most of the $10 variety but some were decidedly more than token – Graeme Tapper, a leading figure in both Greypower and the informal coalition, pulled all $10,000 out of his personal account, in front of the national TV cameras…".

Another big issue of the mid 1990s was that of Southpower (remember Southpower? This was before Max Bradford’s electricity market "reforms" consigned it to oblivion. It was sold to TransAlta and then Meridian. The lines company, which was forcibly split from the retailer by Max, became Orion). CAFCA had played a leading role in the coalition known as the Campaign for People’s Sovereignty and Southpower was our main issue. We used to attend Southpower’s annual meetings, where Graeme Tapper used to regularly lambaste the directors and management. And health was another big issue of the 90s (actually, it’s always a big issue). CAFCA was involved in the Canterbury Health Coalition, and I was amongst those who refused to pay hospital outpatients’ bills (the Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay, Don’t Pay Twice Campaign; in one memorable protest, we burnt the bills in the Square). Once again, Graeme Tapper was to the fore in fighting the health "market reforms" of Bill Birch. Not to mention other huge issues such as National’s betrayal over the Superannuation surcharge.

This underscores the fact that for a number of years in the ideologically mad 1990s, Greypower was often a lone opposition voice to National’s drive to privatise and corporatise social services such as health. Labour was in hiding after its shattering 1990 defeat and was too compromised to denounce a process that it had started in the 80s; unions were fighting for survival against the onslaught of Birch’s Employment Contracts Act. Greypower, representing a huge and vocal chunk of the population, held big public meetings and protests. And it was a key political constituency, with radio talkback as its chosen medium, mainly Radio Pacific, and Pam Corkery’s show in particular. Alister Barry’s documentary "Someone Else’s Country" made excellent sales through Greypower networks and Radio Pacific.

More than once, Graeme invited me to speak to regular meetings of the Christchurch branch, meetings which attracted 100-200 members. And several times, I was interviewed on Greypower’s programme on Plains FM community radio. In the early to mid 1990s Greypower developed a rapport with Winston Peters. That came to a halt when Peters and New Zealand First went into coalition with National in 1996 and he became thoroughly compromised as a leading member of that Government (see Watchdog 84, May 1997; "Winston Peters Out", Murray Horton). Since that time, Greypower has never made the mistake again of identifying so closely with apolitician or party, nor has it been the political voice for the elderly that it was in its glory days last decade.

CAFCA expresses our condolences to Cath Kelly, of Wellington, for the death of her husband, Pat. He died in June 2004, aged 75. Pat Kelly was one of the last of the old school trade union leaders, serving as President of the Wellington Trades Council from 1977-86, as an organiser for the Drivers’ Union and later as secretary of the Cleaners and Caretakers’ Union. Decades ago, he was a leading member of the Wellington branch of the former Communist Party of New Zealand (the entire branch was expelled by head office, in Auckland), and later he became a leading activist in the Labour Party. He got involved on the strength of his position in the Cleaners’ Union, and in 1981, he was elected President of the Affiliates’ Council. From that position, he attacked Rogernomics from inside the Party (unlike all but a handful of the gutless MPs), predicting – entirely correctly – that those policies would lead to massive unemployment. Pat was inside the Wellington Trades Hall on that day in 1984 when it was bombed, killing his friend and fellow unionist, Ernie Abbott. That murder has never been solved; the country’s trade union leadership was believed to be the target.

Pat was an uncle of CAFCA’s Bill Rosenberg. For the past couple of years, Bill has been President of the Association of University Staff (Pat and Cath’s daughter, Helen, is the secretary) and the Kelly household has been his home away from home during his weekly sojourns in Wellington. Ross Wilson, President of the NZ Council of Trade Unions, said: "Pat dedicated his working life to fighting for the rights of his fellow workers. He was a real character of the trade union movement" (Press, 25/6/04, "Dogged unionist Kelly dies"). It’s the end of an era.

And CAFCA expresses our condolences to Maxine Gay, for the death of her mother, Ngaire Duggan, who died of a heart attack, in Timaru, in July 2004. She was 82. One of my other hats is the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aootearoa (PSNA). Back in 2002, PSNA toured Emilia Dapulang, a leader of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU - May First Movement) trade union confederation. In her capacities as both a longstanding PSNA member and a national trade union leader, Maxine played a key role in that tour. For several days she drove Emilia through the North Island, meeting workers in factories, speaking at public meetings and talking to the media. They were accompanied by Ngaire, who was then 80. It might be considered unusual by New Zealanders to take your Dear Old Mum along on a political trip, but for Emilia this was wonderful, and entirely the normal practice in Philippine culture. She and Ngaire got on like a house on fire, with the latter treating Emilia like another daughter. They had a highly memorable few days and it certainly wasn’t all work. They squeezed in visits to several tourist spots and provided Emilia with one of the highlights of her life – her first ever experience with snow (which Filipinos only know from Christmas cards, the real thing doesn’t exist in the tropical Philippines, not even on the highest mountains), when they made a sidetrip up to a skifield (Maxine and Emilia were definitely the odd couple among the female skiers, with Maxine in a skirt and Emilia a suit).

Emilia sent Maxine a message, part of which said: "…I will treasure and remember your mom and our great time together while I was staying in your house. She became a mother to me even for a short time only… I usually update her at night about my whole day activities and meetings. I will always remember her favourite TV sport (football) and, of course, her hospitality and care. I will really miss her…"