A Filipino Communist, a Japanese Radical, and the Quest for International Solidarity

Speaker: Patricio N. Abinales, Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii

Moderator: James Robson, James C. Kralik, and Yunli Lou Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; Harvard College Professor; Victor and William Fung Director, Asia Center, Harvard University

Abstract: This presentation is about the unusual friendship that developed between a Filipino communist and the leader of the Japanese Red Army as both sought out the support of “fraternal” movements and “comradely” states to advance their respective revolutionary agendas. It examines segments of the Filipino’s unpublished memoir to show how “solidarities” are established and the tensions these create in the lives of these revolutionaries and their respective organizations.