Rosa
By Karen Fredericks
On International Women's Day we march not merely for our rights as individual women but for the rights of all women around the world. We march for the rights of women who cannot march, who have been imprisoned and tortured for their political activities, women like Rosa.
"Rosa" is a political activist in the Philippines. She has spent 10 of her 36 years in prison, under both Marcos and Aquino. She says she has been tortured so many times that the military have developed a strange kind of respect for her. They no longer expect her to talk. Rosa has been committed to social, economic and political justice in the Philippines since she was a child at school. "What is life", she says, "if you know the situation and do nothing about it?".
When Rosa was 14 years old and a first year student studying commerce at university, she became involved in the First Quarter Storm, the 1971 student uprising, and became a student leader. By the end of 1972 she was being pursued vigorously by Marcos' military. When the military were unable to find Rosa, they arrested her two brothers instead. They forced her mother to ask Rosa to surrender to obtain her brothers' freedom. Rosa refused.
In September of 1973, while organising among local people in Bontoc, Rosa was arrested. She was interrogated using sleep deprivation and a technique known as the water cure, during which the victim is restrained and water forced down their nose and throat. When she was transferred to Baguio, she was raped while under interrogation, blindfolded and had a gun held to her head. She did not answer any questions. She was 16 years old.
The military thought they had captured a high-ranking Communist Party member and publicised their catch in the media.
Rosa was in and out of prison from this point on. In May 1978 she married another political prisoner. They escaped prison together in October of 1978.
After only a few months in the mountains, Rosa was again captured by the military. She spent a further two year in prison before escaping into the mountains. After four years of separation, she was finally reunited with her husband.
Rosa's child was born during a military raid. She was forced to evacuate to the hills only minutes after giving birth. She kept the child with her for the first month of his life but had to leave him with an aunt in the end. If it is hard for a woman to live a political life underground, it is impossible for a child. When Marcos was overthrown in 1986 many activists hoped they would be able to return to some kind of normal life, but Aquino's regime proved just as repressive. After a short period doing "legal" political work, Rosa returned underground. In January 1988 she was again captured and charged with the political crime of "rebellion". She was released in 1990, after two years in isolation.
On IWD Australian women can take inspiration from the strength of Rosa and, in return, we can offer our international solidarity and support to her and the many women struggling under repressive regimes throughout the world.
(With thanks to Philippine Issues, December 1992.)