|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League hosted a forum on U.$. terrorism in the Philippines at UC Berkeley February 13 with a standing room only crowd of over 60 people. The event opened with a powerful spoken word piece imploring people to get involved in fighting for humanity.
Musical performances by the Filipino activist band Diskarte Namin interspersed presentations by speakers from the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM), the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP) and BAYAN-Bay Area. This important forum kicked off a growing movement on campus opposed to U.$. imperialism in the Philippines. Students expressed their resolve to build an educational and activist presence at UC Berkeley in solidarity with the struggles of the Filipino people for self-determination. The speaker from MIM opened up the forum by pointing out that the 600 U.$. troops deployed and $100 million in military aid the U.$. promised the Philippines in January are just the latest manifestation of U.$. domination of that country.
[The U.$. troops are in the Philippines allegedly to train Philippine army units to combat the Abu Sayaaf gang, which the united $tates says has links to Osama bin Laden. However, as a CHRP speaker later pointed out, the Philippine government itself considers the remaining 60 bandits to be insignificant. New York Times editorial writer Nocholas Kristof -- hardly a radical anti-imperialist -- argues that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "seized on the opportunity created by Sept 11 to portray Abu Sayyaf as international terrorists" and get more military aid from the United $tates.(1)] The pretext for the current invasion is the so-called war on terrorism, yet by its own definition, the united $tates is itself a terrorist organization, to say nothing of its clients in the Philippines or Israel. The U.$. State Department's definition of terrorism includes "the use of biological agents, chemical agents or nuclear weapons or devices or use of explosive or firearm, with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property."(2)
Offering more global context the MIM speaker went on to define the various forms of involvement in other countries employed by the united states. This includes both direct colonialism and indirect colonialism or neo-colonialism. Examples ranged from supporting the overthrow of democratically elected governments, to financing and arming militias to undermine popularly elected governments, to direct military aggression, to arming and financing puppet governments. We call this military and economic involvement in other countries imperialism -- the stage of capitalism characterized by colonialism and monopoly corporations and the export of capital abroad for higher profits. Being a good capitalist corporation means bringing home lots of profits by setting up shop in countries where wages are very low, there are no labor laws, no environmental regulations and natural resources are there for the taking. The MIM speaker pointed out that the standard of living in the united states is significantly higher than in the Third World because of all these profits brought home. But MIM believes that no nation should enrich itself at the expense of another. This is called internationalism. Internationalism is opposed to racism and national chauvinism. Internationalism is why we in this country, who benefit from the exploitation and oppression of people around the world have a responsibility to support the just struggles of peoples around the world for self- determination. The MIM speaker implored the audience to think about how they could be internationalists while listening to the subsequent presentations on the situation in the Philippines. Speakers from CHRP outlined the reasons for the U.$. involvement in the Philippines. One speaker discussed the wealth of natural resources and strategic location that makes the Philippines desirable. [The Philippines are located in the southeast Pacific Ocean. They were used as a staging area during the Vietnam war and could be used again should the united $tates go to war in Korea, China, or southeast Asia.] She also addressed the long history of lackey governments which signed treaties giving the United $tates rights to occupy Filipino land and further U.$. interests. The result of these treaties has been immense poverty in the Philippines. The CHRP speakers discussed the national democratic movement in the Philippines, which is seeking agrarian reforms, national industrialization, liberation from foreign domination and changes in leadership in the government. [The underground Communist Party of the Philippines is in the forefront of this struggle, leading a protracted people's war to overthrow the reactionary government of the Republic of the Philippines and lay the groundwork for socialism.]
There has been a strong response to the recent invasion of U.$. troops in the Philippines. On January 18, national democratic groups organized a lightening rally in Manila to oppose the U.$. troops in the Philippines. [The Communist Party of the Philippines issued a statement in late January condemning "the brazen intervention of US troops in the Philippines and the Macapagal-Arroyo regime's shameless subservience to the US." "The entire Party is determined to frustrate such moves and stands ready to lead the people in resisting US armed intervention in all fields and through all means," the statement continued. " It is ready to make the Macapagal-Arroyo regime pay dearly for its out- and-out puppetry and treachery to the country."]
As all the speakers stressed, the situation in the Philippines is urgent. People are dying because of U.$. imperialism. And this latest invasion could turn into an outright war of aggression. A war fought against the people of the Philippines who are demanding their right to peace, food, shelter, medicine, education, national culture, territorial autonomy, and self-determination. The people should have a right to take up arms in self- defense, and this is what many have done. The revolutionary movement in the Philippines represents the interests of more than 90% of the people, and it is successful and growing. We in the united states have a responsibility to demand that the united states end its imperialist chokehold on the Philippines.
Notes:
1. New York Times, 8 Feb 2002.
2. www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/fto_info_1999.html.