Overview

When Benigno Aquino was assassinated, and the Marcoses fell, hundreds of journalists streamed into Manila. But the reports they filed, from Imelda Marco’s shoes to Mrs. Aquino’s election, ignored a larger story. This is the first book to tell that story. Outside Manila in the desperately poor farming villages and port towns of the Philippines, the communist New People’s Army is gaining strength in its relentless struggle for power. Yet virtually nothing is known about the NPA’s origins, composition, aims and tactics. This book fills that gap. William Chapman follows the trail of the New People’s Army from its founding 19 years ago by a motley group of Marxist students and rebel farmers with barely 70 weapons between them, to a force of more than 23,000 active guerrillas today, supported by hundreds of thousands of ordinary Filipinos. He tells of the grim social conditions that spawned the movement, of the strategy of the NPA’s leaders, and of the rank and file who fight, and who are still winning the people’s hearts and minds. He shows why those in power in Manila and Washington fear the NPA and wish to thwart it. Today the NPA holds its own against the U.S.-backed military. It controls or influences large parts of the countryside. In some villages it has become the de facto government, the people’s choice. Its assassination squads roam at will through city slums, and its guerrillas camp outside U.S. bases. In ceasefires and negotiations, the NPA has become a permanent contender for power. This is a riveting piece of contemporary history, essential reading for all who follow international affairs and events in the Pacific region.

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9781350186705

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William Chapman is a Correspondent for The Washington Post. He currently lives in Tokyo.

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