The KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines): Movement generation, activity, and continuity in Philippine society

Abstract

Social movements persist in Philippine society. Peasant politics remains to be a catalyst toward collective political actions. By investigating the oppositional politics of the KMP, a peasant social movement, the study advances two general arguments a?? social movements are inherently structural, historical, and dialectical and oppositional movements are better understood if analyzed in their own terms. Specifically, movement generation, activity, and continuity rely on movement processes and structures that are in turn influenced by broader social processes and conditions. The investigation of the oppositional practices of the KMP at different levels of engagement further reveals the complex interface of local, national, and transnational peasant politics. Oppositional movements, however, face a particular kind of dilemma. The gains achieved by the KMP, e.g., defending agricultural lands against conversion, are categorically fleeting because they were won through extra-parliamentary means.