Bas Umali

Bas Umali is a longtime organizer living in Manila. He has been involved with digital and physical infoshops, mobile education initiatives, climate crises campaigns, natural disaster relief programs, and bringing solar technology to marginalized communities.

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Praise

“Isabelo de los Reyes and Mariano Ponce: good men now mostly forgotten even in the Philippines, but crucial nodes in the infinitely complex intercontinental networks that characterize the Age of Early Globalization.”
—Benedict Anderson, author of Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination

“For these anarchists, while they may come from different interest groups, they all form the same basic principles of ‘true’ anarchism: that anarchism values the capacity of the individual to organize itself; that anarchism sees the role of the individual as a tool that contributes to a larger community; that anarchism is about mutual aid, directly helping any soul in need; and that anarchism is about the belief that humans are wired to pursue the common good, regardless of an authority figure.”
—Portia Ladrido, CNN Philippines

“What impressed me most about Bas Umali’s essay on the ‘Archipelagic Confederation’ is that, in setting forth an anarchist alternative for the Philippines, Bas Umali created an original synthesis of the communitarian anarchism of people like Murray Bookchin and traditional communal forms of organization in the Philippines, pioneering the development of a postcolonialist anarchism, building on the lived and shared experiences of the dispossessed. A collection of his writings was long overdue.”
—Robert Graham, editor of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas

“Bas Umali gives us an in-depth explanation of the decentralized struggle for autonomy in the Philippines. He offers not just a reconstruction of the history, but also an example of what anarchists can do for building alternative political structures. ‘Archipelago’ is fertile.”
—Keisuke Narita, Irregular Rhythm Asylum, Tokyo

“The important work of assembling the vocabulary of libertarian socialism, the regional history of failed Maoism, the persistence of indigenous anti-colonial action, and the future potential for a decentralized federation of citizen councils in the Philippines is masterfully done by Bas Umali. This book belongs in every Southeast Asian anti-capitalist toolkit.”
—Mark Mason, U.S. domestic and foreign policy analyst

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