References: Chito Quijano, Vice-Chair, BAYAN USA, vc@bayanusa.org; Lyn Meza, International League of Peoples Struggle, US Coordinating Committee, ilpsusa2001@yahoo.com
The International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) US International Coordinating Committee members and the US Chapter of BAYAN Philippines (BAYAN USA) urges and welcomes all freedom, peace, and justice-loving peoples in the USA to join us for an EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE FILIPINO PEOPLE, WHOSE LIVES ARE BEING CLAIMED WITH NEAR DAILY POLITICAL KILLINGS under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Over 751 lives have been targeted by politically motivated killings in the Philippines, and the death toll rises nearly every day.
Gatherings and mobilizations will take place in cities across the US to commemorate the 34th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law, and call for and end to the continuation and intensification of politically motivated killings
ILPS and BAYAN member organizations across the US invite all friends of the Filipino people to take part in this most urgent action. For information on actions, to endorse this action or to propose organizing an action where there is no BAYAN organization, contact ILPS-USA or the BAYAN coordinator nearest you:
ILPS-USA- ilps2001usa@yahoo.com
Pacific Northwest- email: pnc@bayanusa.org
Northern California- email: nc@ayanusa.org
Southern California- email: sc@bayanusa.org
Northeast- email: ny@bayanusa.org
Washington DC- email: dc@bayanusa.org
Hawaii- email: hawaii@bayanusa.org
Actions are already scheduled to be held in the following cities:
Hawaii, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C
issued by:
International League of Peoples Struggles-USA
BAYAN USA Chapter
babae-San Francisco
Anakbayan Seattle
Anakbayan NY/NJ
Anakbayan Honolulu
Anakbayan Los Angeles
Critical Filipino/Filipina Studies Collective
Habi Arts-Los Angeles
League of Filipino Students- SFSU
Migrante International
NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
JOIN THE GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION TO STOP EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES
On September 21, 2006, the Filipino people will remember the imposition of martial law and a fascist dictatorship on them by Marcos upon the instigation of the US in 1972. They will commemorate their suffering and sacrifices and honor the revolutionary martyrs and heroes. They will celebrate the victory ultimately won in the struggle against the US-directed fascist regime.
At the same time, they will renew their resolve to continue the struggle for national liberation and democracy against the persistent and worsened dominance of foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. These evil forces have once more given rise to a new repressive regime, that of Gloria M. Arroyo, since 2001. State terrorism in the Philippines is today the bitter fruit of such US imperialist policies as the “neoliberal globalization” and “global war on terror”.
The Filipino people are confronting and resisting the Arroyo regime, and its violent instruments, such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and their death squads – the perpetrators of massacres, assassinations and other grave violations of the human rights of the people in both the urban and rural communities. Under the US-instigated Oplan Bantay Laya, patterned after Phoenix Program in the Vietnam in the 1960s, not only the forces of the armed revolutionary movement are being attacked in a barbaric manner but also the unarmed leaders and activists of progressive legal forces.
The Arroyo terrorist regime has already murdered 751 and abducted more than 180 legal activists, including party list local leaders, workers, peasants, women, youth, students, teachers, lawyers, church people, human rights workers and media people. The murders and abductions have been perpetrated with impunity at an accelerating rate since 2001. The annual rate at which these crimes have been committed during the 5-year rule of Arroyo has surpassed that in the 14-year fascist dictatorship of Marcos.
Amnesty International, Asian Human Rights Watch and other international human rights organizations, religious institutions and organizations, trade unions, political parties, lawyers groups, media organizations and many people abroad have condemned the rampant human rights violations in the Philippines and have manifested solidarity and support for the Filipino people in the struggle for justice against the Arroyo regime and its instruments of repression and state terrorism.
The victims, their families, friends and colleagues and the broad masses of the Filipino people are crying out for justice and retribution. The Arroyo regime, the military, police and death squads must be made to stand trial for their crimes against the Filipino people, and against humanity. Otherwise, these vicious violations of the democratic and human rights of the people will continue.
We are calling on all justice-loving people and forces of the world to join the international mobilization against the Arroyo regime and its US imperialist master. We demand an immediate stop to the extra-judicial killings and open the way to all possible measures for the attainment of justice. With the solidarity and support of the people of the world, the Filipino people can bring closer the day of reckoning for the entire Arroyo regime.
Join us in declaring September 21 as the global day of action against the extra-judicial killings in the Philippines. Let us hold indignation rallies and protest actions in front of the embassies and consulates of the Philippines in your country. Let us light a candle for the more than 730 martyrs killed by the Arroyo regime. Let us call on our host governments to end their support of the Arroyo regime and hold it responsible for its crimes against humanity.
NEVER AGAIN TO FASCIST DICTATORSHIP!
STOP THE TERRORIST KILLINGS BY THE ARROYO REGIME!
FIGHT STATE REPRESSION AND STATE TERRORISM!
JUSTICE TO THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!
UPHOLD DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES!