"Bush To Face Massive Philippine Protests"

Alexander Martin Remollino, www.Bulatlat.com

U.S. President W. Bush will arrive for a state visit in Manila Oct. 18 but multilateral organizations, anti-war activists and other militant groups promise to greet him with nationwide mass protests including in Metro Manila. The protest actions are part of an Asia-wide campaign against the Bush visit which includes Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.U.S. president George W. Bush is scheduled to visit the Philippines this coming Oct. 18 and deliver a speech before a joint session of Congress as part of a series of state visits.

This series of state visits is seen by militant groups and observers worldwide as intending to show the international community that his government’s “borderless war on terror” still enjoys substantial support. The Bush government has had to face international outrage following the U.S. attack on Iraq last March and the continuing occupation of the said country by U.S. forces, so that whatever sympathy it was able to generate following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001 has steeply fallen.

As President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a statement last September, the Bush visit “will further seal our pact against terrorism and poverty as the U.S. gears for a broader post-conflict and rehabilitative role in Mindanao... It will symbolize the conjoined strategic objectives of the Philippines and the United States for global peace, security and development and continuing US engagement in Southeast Asia.”

The Bush government has agreed to “participate” in the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It has, however, demanded that the MILF cut off its alleged links with the international terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

However, the U.S. president is expected to face massive protest actions during his series of state visits.

As Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan, New Patriotic Alliance) secretary-general Teddy Casiño said in a statement last Oct. 8, “The Bush visit is a rare opportunity for us to tell Mr. Bush and the American people how we feel about their government’s actions.”

Demands

During the Oct. 18 visit, Bayan will be putting forward the following demands: a stop to the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the pull-out of U.S. troops from the Philippines, and cessation of military “aid” to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which it describes as “corrupt and anti-people.”

Bayan and its allied organizations are also demanding the removal of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), as well as NDF chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison, from the U.S. list of foreign “terrorists,” and also the clean-up of the former U.S. military bases in Olongapo City, Zambales and Angeles City, Pampanga—which have both shown evidence of toxic waste contamination — the return of the Balangiga bells, and a public apology for atrocities committed by U.S. troops during the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century.

Philippines: opening salvos

If what has been happening in the Philippines is any indication, Bush will be facing a very tense atmosphere in the Philippines on Oct. 18.

Even as the world was focused on campaigns against the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun, Mexico early last month, the peasants’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Philippine Peasant Movement), which was then steeped up in anti-WTO protests, issued an announcement that its members will burn 100 U.S. flags in a demonstration on Bush’s arrival. Danilo Ramos, secretary-general of KMP, said their mass action will dramatize “the Filipino people’s more than 100 years of struggle against U.S. colonial and neocolonial domination of Philippine society.”

Last Sept. 16, various groups under the banners of Bayan and the Justice Not War Coalition launched a coordinated anti-Bush campaign in preparation for the Bush visit.

This was promptly followed by a number of forums in various colleges and universities.

On Sept. 27, as contribution to International ANSWER’s Global Day of Protest against U.S. military aggression, Bayan and the Center for Anti-Imperialist Studies held a forum on the Bush visit at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila.

Two forums on the Bush visit were also held by organizations of workers, peasants, and youth on Oct. 10.

The worker-peasant party Anakpawis sponsored a forum on the possibility of a “red carpet” welcome for Bush at St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, several youth organizations have refused to let the WTO issue go to rest with the collapse of the Cancun talks. The Philippines Out of the WTO Youth Coalition, a broad youth alliance formed in the heat of the Cancun campaigns, is carrying the WTO issue all the way to Oct. 18. The group is convinced that what the U.S. failed to achieve in Cancun, it will try to attain through bilateral agreements similar to those previously forged with other countries, and expects that such arrangements will be included in the agenda of the Bush visit.

Coming activities

As of this writing, various rock bands are expected to perform in a concert, “Bands vs. Bush,” to be organized this Oct. 11 by the Concerned Artists of the Philippines and held at the University of the Philippines’ Sunken Garden, while Bayan is working on a “Ban Bush” website.

On Oct. 12, the First Quarter Storm Movement, a group of veterans of the series of massive anti-Marcos protests of January-March 1970, will stage a motorcade.

On Oct. 13, Bayan Muna and youth groups will hold a press conference to tackle the issue of security checks in preparation for the Bush visit. The same date will also mark the start of the Lakbayan to be staged by groups under the new broad alliance Southern Tagalog Opposed to Bush (Stop Bush). The Stop Bush activity will be led by the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Association of Peasant Organizations in Southern Tagalog).

Central Luzon, where the former U.S. bases are located, is also expected to be busy. On Oct. 16, various groups from Pampanga, Zambales, Bataan, and Nueva Ecija will troop to the former Clark Air Base in Angeles City and begin a vigil there.

On Oct. 14, political prisoners will begin a five-day fast.

On Oct. 15, there will be a mass for peace to be sponsored by militant church groups.

Tens of thousands are expected to march along the streets of Manila on Oct. 18. There will also be simultaneous protest actions in major cities in Ilocos, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, La Union, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Bohol, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Gen. Santos, Kidapawan, Bukidnon, and other parts of Mindanao. Likewise Filipino communities in San Francisco, and Seattle will hold their own protest actions.

In the coming weeks there will also be protest actions in Japan, Thailand, and Australia, which are also set to be visited by the U.S. president.