I’m currently taking a course with Dr. Iyer titled Non-State Armed Actors, in which each student focuses their studies of all the themes covered in class through the lens of one group. Of course, my non-state armed actor is the MILF, because I clearly have not spent enough time trying to figure the MILF out, now I need to do it from an organizational standpoint. In all seriousness, I think it’s been really good for me, because not only do I now know so much more about the general conflict, but I also find that I understand better the role of the MILF, what it wants, and how it works.
But a few weeks ago I was speaking with a friend and he asked me a question that I’m still grappling with: what am I going to do with all this information? I’m not going to be able to return back to the Philippines any time soon, and while the purpose of the class is to learn more about engaging with armed groups, I’m certainly in no position to be the person to try to engage with the MILF.
The flag to be used for the creation of the MILF’s autonomous region, the Bangsamoro.
However, I think that, where this information can come in useful is a little closer to home, and a little more forward looking. After talking with all of my friends who participated in the trip to Los Angeles, I could hear all the similarities between the conflicts in both areas. Both are areas have experience serious violence between the government and local armed groups (whether the MILF or the gangs), as well as among the populations, and both are grappling with the challenges of trying to crawl out of a conflict that has lasted so long but has only at certain points in time exploded into full-blown war.
Unlike Mindanao, I go back to LA, my hometown, multiple times a year. Also unlike Mindanao, I have a base there, a connection and a belonging, although not in the conflict-ridden areas (fortunately). And while LA is a very classic example of inner-city violence, it is certainly not the only city in the US in such a predicament. Can I apply the ideas and theories that I’ve learned in this class in a different sense? Obviously the MILF and the Crips and Bloods are not analogous completely, but that’s the point of what we’ve been learning – each group, each context, each conflict requires its own analysis and understanding in order to be able to engage with the actors involved if any lasting peace is to ever be achieved.