The U.S.-backed government of Philippines and its President Duterte is putting in place the legal framework to carry out a wave of repression against activists in the popular movements who are fighting for social and national liberation. Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the recently signed Republic Act 1147, also called Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, for what it is: an attempt to criminalize trade unionists, environmentalists, women’s groups, student organizations or anyone else who wants to challenge the cruel rule of Duterte.
Beachgoers stumbling on human femur bones in the sand – just a few feet from world-class resorts. Families sifting through corpses, decayed beyond recognition and piled up on the beach, in search of missing loved ones. Roadways littered with human heads impaled on bamboo spears. Ordinary homes and buildings converted into charnel houses of unspeakable torture. Parents ripped from their beds in the middle of the night and led deep into the jungle by their captors, for all-night, around-the-clock execution sessions.
The Israeli apartheid regime is poised to commit a new crime against Palestine: the annexation of up to 30% of the West Bank. As things stand Israel effectively controls Palestine, with the heroic people of Gaza confined to an open prison and the hapless Palestinian Authority serving as accomplices to the occupation.
Chicago, IL – Israel already controls the entirety of Palestinian life in the occupied territories, even in the areas that are supposedly run by the Palestinian Authority, but this annexation plan codifies the expropriation of Palestinian land and may secure Israeli sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank, including the border with Jordan called the Jordan Valley.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Duterte regime and its armed forces and agents for the killing spree in Northern Samar and Iloilo, June 20, that resulted in the deaths of four civilians and wounding of three others. Three of those killed were peasants and another was a local youth leader.
Chicago, IL – Protesters demand the mass exoneration of everyone tortured and framed by Chicago cop Reynaldo Guevara. It was one of the three demonstrations that took place in Chicago, June 13. Cites across the U.S. participated in the National Day of Action to Stop Police Crimes called by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Milwaukee, WI – At noon on June 13, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression joined with Youth Rising Up (YRU), a student organization from North Division High School in Milwaukee’s notorious 53206 zip code, to host a march and rally. The demonstration was in response to the National Alliance’s call for a day of action around community control of the police and justice for victims of police killing.
On May 10 the Communist Party of the Philippines condemned the murder of five peasants by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), in Sorsogon province.
On May 8, 1945, at 11:01 pm Central European Time – already May 9 in the USSR – the German surrender took effect, ending World War II in Europe. The war with Germany and her fellow members of what we now call fascist allies in Europe – Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Slovakia and Finland – had already claimed the lives of perhaps 50 million people. In the ensuing years, oceans of ink have been spilled by right-wing historians and polemicists in an attempt to distort or even minimize the significance of this date. The purpose of this rewriting of history is in some cases to defend fascism, but in many more it is simply to diminish the prestige of the Soviet Union, the first socialist state. We think it is appropriate to call to mind a few facts.
Chicago, IL – In a dramatic development on May 4, two U.S. mercenaries were captured among an invasion force on the coast of Venezuela. Luke Denman and Airan Berry, ex-U.S. soldiers from Texas, were captured by the Venezuelan Navy and can be seen in photos, face down with their hands behind their backs on the shoreline. This failed “Bay of Piglets” comes as the U.S. Navy continues to patrol aggressively along the coast of Venezuela.
Chicago, IL – While the U.S. Navy aggressively patrols their coast, another U.S.-inspired attack on Venezuela failed during the morning of May 3. Venezuelan military and police captured two, and killed eight, armed mercenaries during the confrontation. Traveling by speedboat from Colombia, the invaders’ plan was to join local accomplices near the port of La Guairá. La Guairá is next to Venezuela’s international airport and only 20 miles from Caracas.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Luis Jalandoni, Member, Executive Committee and National Council, National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Fight Back! interviewed Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Organizational Secretary Tom Burke, who led the FRSO labor delegation to Venezuela on March 8.
Over the past few days the Armed Forces of the Philippines (APF) has stepped up in its propaganda drive against the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army (NPA) in a desperate attempt to discredit the ongoing public health and economic campaign of the people's army and the mass organizations to help the efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
