Filipinos join protests against US intervention in Libya

Filipinos join protests against US intervention in Libya

New York—Last Saturday, Filipino youth, workers and allies joined the massive rally and march against US intervention in Libya, and against all war and occupation in the Middle East and the Philippines. The action was organized in response to US missile strikes in Libya, an oil-rich country in northern Africa where the US has strategic interests.

DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association and Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, local member organizations of the national coalition Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines), led a group of over 50 people behind a hand-painted banner with portraits of youth and community leaders. The banner bore the words “Stop the War On Libya”.

The Filipino organizations were part of a larger contingent of over 500 working class people, anti-war activists, students and immigrants with their families, members of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), VAMOS Unidos (Street Vendors Mobilizing and Organizing in Solidarity) and CAAAV-Organizing Asian Communities.

“We're here to say, stop the war, spend the money on the people,” said Chevy Evangelista, spokesperson for Ugnayan, during the rally last Saturday. “Stop bailing out the banks, bail out the people. They say the country is bankrupt and that we don't have money. A lot of people are losing jobs, and those who have jobs are exploited in their work. Ironically, the Filipino World War II veterans who fought in another dirty US war are still fighting for equity and benefits. Meanwhile, the US government has all this money for even more war.”

Members of DAMAYAN and Ugnayan drew connections between all the military interventions in the Middle East—the recent attacks on Libya and the now 8-year occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—and the continuing US military presence in the Philippines. Just four days prior to the rally in New York last Saturday, service members from the Republic of the Philippines and the US military participated in the Balikatan 2011 opening ceremony at Camp Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Philippines.

“The US has been exploiting our country economically, socially, culturally,” continued Evangelista. “And now, the US government just sent more military to fight our Muslim brothers and sisters in the Philippines. We will continue to demand an end to this in the Philippines and everywhere the US has occupied.”

DAMAYAN and Ugnayan will continue to bring these issues to the forefront and highlight the demands of the overseas Filipino workers at the mass mobilization on May 1, International Workers Day.

ENDS

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