Strengthen Solidarity w/ Filipino People and Their Struggle for National Liberation in NJ!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: TONIGHT NOV 3: Please tune in at the livestream with Nato Reyes, Secretary General of BAYAN in the Philippines to talk about Trump's asia pacific tour tonight at 8pm. 
http://tinyurl.com/livewithnato Despite the explosive anti-U.S. rhetoric from the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last year, the US-Philippines’ neo-colonial relations remain intact.This neo-colonial relation continues and will play an even more important role now as the United States seeks to maintain its place as the dominant imperialist power in an increasingly multi-polar world.

In line with this, U.S. President Donald Trump together with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to visit the Philippines as part of their Asia Pacific tour and to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) East Asia Summit (EAS) this coming November 12 to 14. Through this tour, U.S. Imperialism will being pushing for expand neoliberal globalization and domination of the region, including trade wars, the U.S. military pivot to Asia, containment of China’s aggressive expansionism as well as war mongering in the Korean peninsula as well as increased intervention in the Philippines.

U.S. Imperialist, no.1 terrorist

In this context, let us remember that Philippines served as the United States’ blueprint for its Imperialist conquest. At the turn of the century, United States unleashed a genocidal war of aggression against the young Philippine republic. Particularly horrific is what is now known as the Balangiga massacre in Eastern Samar where U.S. troops murdered “everyone over the age of ten”. The U.S. even took the Bells of Balangiga as a war trophy which remains in US possession to this day. This war, dubbed as America’s “first Vietnam”, dragged on for an entire decade from 1899 to 1910 leaving 1.5 million people, mostly civilians, dead.

Despite the victorious eviction of U.S. military bases in 1991, to this day, U.S. Imperialism’s virtual occupation of the Philippines remains and is legitimized by various unequal treaties such as the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) of 1951, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of 1998 and the most recent Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), turning the entire archipelago into a U.S. military base. This is on top of the annual $180 million of U.S. military aid to the Philippines supporting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which is notoriously known for committing human rights violations against the Filipino people.

This continued U.S. military presence has been the cause of various atrocities against the Filipino people. The case of “Nicole”, a young Filipino who was gang raped by four U.S. servicemen  in 2005; the mysterious death of Gregan Cardeño  in 2010, supposedly recruited as a translator to serve at a U.S. military base in Maguindanao he ended up dead; and most recently the murder of Jennifer Laude, a transwoman murdered by a U.S. serviceman Scott Pemberton in Olongapo in 2014.

International Solidarity vs U.S. Imperialism

The Filipino people have been waging an anti-imperialist struggle ever since the U.S. imperialism first set foot in the archipelago and this struggle is set to intensify. The Filipino people continue to wage an organized and protracted struggle both in the parliament of the streets, through Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance), a massive multi-sectoral alliance of progressive people’s organizations, as well as in waging a revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside through the New People’s Army (NPA) led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its revolutionary alliance, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Locally, through Anakbayan New Jersey, a Filipino youth organization based in Jersey City, there has been organizing for the local rights and welfare of the Filipino community and linking it to the national democratic struggle back in the Philippines. Anakbayan New Jersey has conducted educational forums on campuses and in communities, conducted campaigns and has built solidarity relations with the struggles in New Jersey.

It is high time that all people supporting peace and justice to pay closer attention and strengthen the solidarity to the Filipino people and their struggle for national and social liberation. To this end, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee (NJPSC) was established in June 2015 to gather moral and material support for the Philippine struggle. The NJPSC was able to successfully organize the annual Philippine Solidarity Week each February to raise awareness about the struggle in the Philippines. Also, earlier this year, the NJPSC was able to host a forum about the ongoing civil war in the Philippines between the Philippine government and the revolutionary movement. There is much more to be done and the NJPSC continues to invite and encourage various organizations, institutions and individuals to join the solidarity movement for the Philippines.

How you can get involved

1. Join the international Call to Action against Trump’s visit to the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region, the neo-liberal agenda of the ASEAN and EAS, and towards building a movement of all people who support Philippine liberation and struggle for genuine independence from US imperialism!  
1. Take  in the streets confronting the US military & economic pivot!
2. Endorse the days of actions by filling up the form online (http://tinyurl.com/gtfoPhils)
3. SIGN ON to the Unity Statement against Trump in the Philippines! (forthcoming)
4. Donate to BAYAN’s People’s Caravan and Protest actions to confront Trump at Clark Airbase. You can Venmo @BAYANUSA or donate to BAYAN USA (contact Anakbayan NJ)
5. Join the Resist US-Led War Movement by signing on to the Manifesto online (http://tinyurl.com/resistUSwars)
2. Attend and support the national gathering of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) in Portland, Oregon  on December 9, 2017.
3. Join the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee (NJPSC)
   

Contact:

NJ Philippine Solidarity Committee
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NJPhilippineSolidarity

Email: njphilsolidarity@gmail.com

Anakbayan New Jersey

Facebook:www.facebook.com/AnakbayanNJ

Email: anakbayannj@gmail.com

This article will appear in #NJAntiWarAgenda - a printed paper to hit the streets very soon!

Related:
http://www.ilps.info/en/2017/11/06/people-in-asia-pacific-resist-trumps-visit-to-the-region/