September 25, 2005

BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP) and ILPS in Canada Join Seattle Anti-war Rally
Over 5,000 people gathered at Westlake Plaza at 5th and Pine in downtown Seattle to join the nation-wide action against war and occupation on Sunday, September 24, 2005. The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition joined the United for Justice and Peace coalition in mobilizing as many as 300,000 people in Washington D.C. and many other U.S. cities. They echoed the main theme that the death toll is rising in an unjust occupation as high military spending is draining much needed resources from workers and the poor in the U.S., causing hardship to the Iraqi and US working people alike.

In Seattle, speakers representing veterans, soldiers’ families, students, labour unions, women, minorities, church groups and solidarity organizations expressed their urgent concerns. The lead banner read, “”From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund Peoples’ Needs not the War Machine!” During the march they shouted, “Stop the war!” and “Stop the war on the poor!”, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!” as well as “Bring the troops home!” and “From the Middle East to the Philippines, we gotta stop the US war machine!”

Barbara Waldern was invited to speak about the impact of US military intervention in foreign lands on behalf of the BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines and ILPS participants in the Vancouver area. Below is the text of her speech.

“Militant greetings of solidarity from the anti-imperialist movement in Canada! Congratulations on your anti-war action! Last week marked the anniversary of Martial Law in the Philippines, 14 years of terror backed by the US against the people. It was the Filipino peoples’ struggle aided by the international solidarity movement that won liberty from Martial Law and eventually caused the US bases to close. Sadly, international solidarity is urgently needed because human rights abuses have risen in severity and frequency as never before. The Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) regime, backed by the US, is carrying out these crimes in the name of fighting terrorism. The recently concluded International Solidarity Mission proved that Arroyo and the US government are guilty of crimes against the people of the Philippines.

“Despite the demands for her resignation in the face of allegations of rigging the elections, corruption, poverty and other ills, Gloria is hanging onto power, supported by the US, hoping that the voice of the Filipino people will die out. But the struggle continues and we are one with the Filipino people today as they head towards their liberation from tyranny and the problems of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. We shall not stand idly by as the rampage goes on and the Filipino people cry for the ouster of the US-Arroyo regime. In BC, we shall continue to educate Canadians and the crisis of the Arroyo regime, and the clamour of the people for its ouster. We will heighten our campaign to demand that the Canadian government withdraw its support of the Arroyo government for its human rights record. We will also continue to inform Canadian churches and trade unions that the Arroyo regime is killing human rights activists, church people and striking workers and others struggling for genuine peace and social change.

“The US is supplying military equipment and millions of dollars to its neo-colony so as to open a path for more foreign corporations, to grab land and exploit the people to the bone while beating down the peoples’ resistance. Thus, the debt to the World Bank piles up and greater concessions to transnational corporations are made resulting in more poverty, displacement and conflict in the Philippines. The US declared the Philippines to be its second front in the war on terror and is carrying out direct military intervention under the pretext of thwarting Al Qaeda supporters. With this excuse it is waging terror against Muslim communities and fostering discrimination on a daily basis. The civil wars stem from longstanding issues of land, workers’ rights, public services and so on. The US war on terror emboldens the Arroyo’s state terror against civilians, targeting the peoples’ movements for change in particular. Activists are being murdered: church people, labour leaders, human rights defenders… Activism is being criminalized and demonized.

“But the people have a right to defend themselves and fight for their rights and better way of life. The governments are failing to address their issues and provide for the people so they are institutionalizing terror and tyranny. We must build international solidarity for social justice, human rights, lasting peace, national liberation. We have confidence that the people of the US will build their struggles to oppose war and militarization. We invite you to the ILPS Towards a Just and Lasting Peace Conference in June 2006 in Vancouver, BC.”