March 20, 2005

Message of Solidarity from the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines on the 2nd anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq

Warmest and militant greetings from the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines!

We are happy that the ILPS participating organizations in Vancouver have taken the initiative to hold such a anti-war rally in the spirit of international solidarity for our Iraqi brothers and sisters who are waging a heroic, militant, and fierce struggle against U.S. imperialism and occupation!

It is critical that we show genuine solidarity for those anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces engaged in life-and-death struggles for national and social liberation such as those in Iraq. Such current struggles for liberation are helping to weaken the stranglehold of U.S. imperialism and build the strength of the anti-imperalist movement worldwide.

It is for this reason that the U.S. is so hell-bent on quelling growing people's resistance justifying the use of military aggression and occupation as their effort to "combat terrorism".

It is under this guise of "combating terrorism" that the U.S. is using to now justify its military presence and re-occupation of the Philippines. Using its "war on terrorism" as a desperate attempt to ensure its political and economic control in the Philippines and the region, the U.S. is intensifying its attempts to deploy combat troops to the Philippines. There is now talk of a possible transfer of U.S. forces now currently stationed in Okinawa to the Philippines. The continuing U.S. military presence in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and other countries is reportedly being re-tooled to make U.S. forces jointly with Washington's allies more capable of containing China as an emerging power in the region as well as to counter North Korea's "nuclear threats".

Bolstered and encouraged by U.S.-backing and the presence of the U.S. military, current Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo is also using the pretext of combating terrorism" to terrorize and repress the Filipino people. There is growing people's resistance against the neo-liberal policies of Macapagal-Arroyo which are driving wages down while pushing living expenses up. As the crisis deepens, the workers, peasants, women, youth and other progressive sectors of the Philippines are taking to the streets almost daily.

In response, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime is using state terrorism to try and quell the growing resentment and resistance of the Filipino people. She has stepped out an all-out military campaign against legal national democratic organizations.

Already in the past 2 weeks, six members and supporters of national democratic organizations have been killed or disappeared at the hands of the Philippine military and para-military groups -- one priest, a lawyer, a 67-year old leader of a peasants organization, a city councilor -- all have been murdered in the Philippine government's military campaign. Every week for the past six weeks, three Bayan Muna leaders or supporters have either been killed or abducted. At this rate Bayan Muna, a legitimate party genuinely fighting for the majority of Filipino people, will be wiped out by the next elections.

Macapagal-Arroyo and her military buddies have even gone as far as proposing a media gag banning media interviews of anti-government forces.

As she tries to violently stem the growing people's movement against her regime, Macapagal-Arroyo is also trying to force the capitulation of the revolutionary forces of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). She has clearly exposed that she is not at all interested in achieving a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. Instead her government has shown no commitment to adhere to previous peace agreements the Government of the Philippines has made with the NDFP.

The Macapagal-Arroyo government is highjacking the current peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the NDF as it tries to use the U.S. "terrorist-listing" of the NDFP's chief political consultant, Prof. Jose Maria Sison, and the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army to force the revolutionary forces to lay down their arms.

Despite Macapagal-Arroyo's desperate attempts to terrorize and surpress the Filipino people and U.S. imperialism's intensifying onslaughts, the Filipino people have not deviated from the century-long struggle that Filipino patriots and revolutionaries have set out before them. They continue to wage a valiant struggle to realize the Filipino people's aspirations for national and social liberation. They continue this struggle in solidarity with the Iraqi people. They continue this struggle for a new and better world!

Down with U.S imperialism, its accomplices and puppets in the crime of aggression!
U.S. troops out of the Philippines!
Long live the Filipino people's struggle for national freedom and democracy!
Victory to the Iraqi people in their revolutionary resistance for national liberation, democracy and socialism!
Long live international solidarity!

Read at the ILPS anti-war and anti-imperialist march and rally on 20 March 2005, Vancouver, B.C.