and donate to: The Peoples Caravan for Peace and Justice in the Philippines
People can contact Anakbayan New Jersey through their Facebook Page @AnakbayanNJ
You can watch Matthew's presentation:
The following is the text of Matthew's presentation:
Thanks for the chance to speak and to all who are here, I’m Matthew and I’m the Educational Development Officer of Anakbayan New Jersey, a Filipino youth and student organization fighting for national democracy and progressive change in the Philippines, as well as the welfare of Filipinos here in the US.
First, I wanted to affirm that it is
vital that we as Rutgers community loudly denounce the despicable acts of
Islamophobic and white supremacist hate that have taken place on our campus and
throughout NB, and at the same time loudly condemn this Rutgers administration
for its own hateful acts towards its own students.
The title of the symposium taking
place in there is “fighting hate while preserving freedom.” So tell me, how can
Rutgers claim to be fighting hate, when its President, at a town hall last
year, said that hate speech is something that should be protected? How are they
preserving freedom by being gracious hosts to the DIA and DHS, institutions
that we know fundamentally erode our freedom, and primarily that of black and
brown people, and those fighting for their own welfare.
In fact how can we even say that the
people of the Rutgers community have freedom in the first place, when activists
fighting for a living wage, my friends who are dual members of Anakbayan and
USAS, on top of 10 other student activists, have received criminal charges for
nonviolent protest. So according to Rutgers, when the the FBI undermined and
ripped apart the black liberation and civil rights movements in the 60s--that
must be preserving freedom to them. Activism is not illegal, and it is right to
rebel against an unjust system
This event isn’t about preserving
real freedom. It’s about a preserving a sham freedom, which amounts to the
ruling class patting themselves on the back for giving token speeches against
hate, but never confronting the real structures of oppression that cause hate:
white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. It is not freedom for the vast
majority of us who suffer from these systems.
The Filipino people are well
acquainted with the crimes of US intelligence, and our country has in fact been
a testing ground for all kinds of intelligence strategies and tactics, aimed at
containing and pacifying any movement toward real sovereignty. The Philippines
were one of America’s first overseas colonies, and the capital Manila was host
to a CIA training facility as early as the 1950s. The tactics of
counterinsurgency and undercutting mass movements with bribes and superficial
aid was first applied in the Philippines, and later Vietnam and also in the US
Given this history of intel services actively working against people’s
movements, going back to COINTELPRO in 60s, and even today with the
infiltration of J20 and Black Lives Matter why should we believe they wouldn’t
be willing to apply the same tactics on our campus and in our community?
So I just want to talk about what is
the legacy of US intelligence and imperialism in the Philippines today. The
Philippines continue to be of great interest to the imperial war machine
because of its strategic geographic location, potential for agriculture, and
rich mineral resources. The Philippines is extremely rich but it's people are
still devastatingly poor. The US sends $10s of millions each year in both
military and development aid, to pacify and control the Filipino people on the
armed front and the civilian front respectively. US funding of extremist groups
to counter popular movements has directly led to the existence of Al-Qaeda, Abu
Sayyaf, and ISIS in the Philippines. The existence of these groups serves to
destabilize the region, discredit real people’s struggles, and justify US
intervention.
These harsh realities were
manifested in the Siege of Marawi last year, where the whole of Marawi City was
shelled to a husk under the advisory of US Special Forces. Almost its entire
population remains displaced in inadequate and inhumane temporary shelters and
faces intense food shortage still today. This is the legacy of US intelligence.
So this event here today, really
shows Rutgers’ priorities, and where the administration’s allegiances lie. US
intelligence agencies, in service of the US ruling class and its war machine,
have an astounding track record of spreading hate, undermining freedom, and
violently opposing those seeking a better life for oppressed people. Rutgers
has no problem inviting these people onto our campus, and providing a pipeline
for its students to even work for this vile war machine. Rutgers
administration is against your liberation.
We must call for US intelligence to
get the fuck off our campus.
To view the complete set of speakers and the musical performance:
Addendum
Targum covers protest of DIA ties
Some answers to a reporters questions about opposition to $2M DIA war project
The massive intelligence operation at Rutgers New Brunswick has been the subject of a news report in the Daily Targum, and a blog piece at this site, an article at the New Brunswick Todaynews site, an article in the #NJAntiWarAgenda paper which is also published at our website.
Group: CIA OFF CAMPUS #CIAOffCampus / Oppose Campus Militarism
There will be a presentation about the Philippines at this April 7 event in Newark. More details.
There will be a presentation about the Philippines at this April 7 event in Newark. More details.
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