Bringing Grievances Back In

Jeroen Adam

doi:10.1163/22134379-17401001

Abstract

Over the past 10 to 15 years a pertinent critique has been formulated against the dominant framing of violent conflict in Muslim Mindanao as a mere struggle for autonomy or independence by a Muslim minority against the Philippine nation-state. This critique demonstrates how a wide range of coercive organizations compete over gaining access to rents, and how this competition is the main source of violent incidents. Furthermore, it is discussed how this violent competition over rent access has a clear subnational, intra-Muslim character. This article argues that, despite its obvious merits, this literature has come to overestimate the greed-related features of contemporary conflict in Muslim Mindanao and the coercive qualities in the build-up of political authority in the region. As an alternative, we wish to bring grievances and ideology back in, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of conflict and politics in the region. This will be done by illustrating how the spread of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF ) as a legitimate and morally just alternative against injustices and inequalities within Muslim society has been crucial to the organization’s extraordinary growth in recent decades.

Highlights

From the late sixties onwards, when Muslim and Christian militia groups started clashing over issues of land control and electoral politics, the western and central parts of the Philippine island of Mindanao have been witnessing one of the longest-running armed conflicts in the world
The emergence of the mnlf needs to be understood as a reaction of young, male Muslims to the close identification of Muslim elites and politicians with the Philippine nation-state
Relevant for our argument here is that what is being labelled within this database as ‘political issues’ or a classic, national, vertical conflict between armed insurgents and the Philippine army accounts by and large for 25% of all violent incidents that occurred in the period 2012–2014

Summary

Introduction

From the late sixties onwards, when Muslim and Christian militia groups started clashing over issues of land control and electoral politics, the western and central parts of the Philippine island of Mindanao have been witnessing one of the longest-running armed conflicts in the world. Apart from this historical critique on the narrative of eternal resistance, in the past 10 to 15 years another important body of literature has emerged This literature—which constitutes the analytical starting point of this article—departs from the dominant view that conflict in Muslim Mindanao can be solely explained by reference to the historical grievances of the Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en VolkDoewnnlokaudend dfroem B17ril4l.co(m21011/082)/2012–12034:58:50PM via free access bringing grievances back in minority population. This leads us to our second point, which is that too many of the writings on Muslim Mindanao have been obsessed by a quest to uncover the reasons and motivations behind the emergence of violence In this case, we would like to start our analysis from a systematically overlooked observation, namely that the milf, as the most important organization representing the Muslim minority population in the Philippines, is much more than just an armed rebel movement. It is difficult to predict the manner in which the whole peace process will continue, apart from by noting that the current Duterte administration has made a clear commitment to bringing the ongoing talks with the milf to a successful conclusion

An Alternative Approach Towards the milf

Muslim Civil Society and the milf

Findings

Conclusion