MIM sends greetings to militant youth movement in the Philippines

ANAKBAYAN, a militant legal youth organization in the Philippines, wrote to MIM about its efforts to resist U.$. military intervention -- including teach-ins and protests in front of the U.$. embassy in Manila, which police violently disperse. MIM sent the following solidarity message in response.

Please accept our warmest greetings and sincere support for ANAKBAYAN's campaign to oppose the deployment of U.$. troops in the Philippines. U.$. President Bush and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are merely using the small Abu Sayaaf kidnapping gang as an excuse to increase U.$. military presence in the southern Philippines and to ride roughshod over Philippine sovereignty. The U.$. "war on terrorism" is hypocritical. The United $tates is itself the world's biggest terrorist and the only state ever to use nuclear weapons. It supports numerous undemocratic regimes which themselves are guilty of terrorism. Its own CIA undertakes terrorist intrigues which poison relations between and within nations. The Philippine government's claim that U.$. troops are needed is equally hypocritical. Military and police actions purportedly against the Abu Sayaaf have included mass arrests of Muslims. Village bombardments have created thousands of refugees. Like ANAKBAYAN, we are organizing educational fora and protests to oppose U.$. intervention in the Philippines. To the lies and spin of the Amerikan imperialists, we counterpose the truth. Amerikan youth and students more readily grasp that they will be called upon to spill their blood in meaningless wars if imperialism is allowed to continue. We are happy to report their vigorous participation in this educational and protest campaign.