Washington, D.C. – On February 18, a diverse crowd gathered at Pershing Park for a Black and Filipino Unity Rally. Nearby, police cars and Secret Service vehicles loudly zipped around the area, preparing for the incoming visit by Trump’s so-called Board of Peace.

Chanting “From DC to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine,” the group marched to DC City Hall for the first leg of the demonstration. At city hall, protesters demanded an end to local government collaboration with federal immigration enforcement agencies. The group shouted, “City Council, do your job! Do your job!” and “The people united will never be defeated!”

An organizer with Bayan DMV spoke and stated, “The Filipino communities have been an integral part of the DMV for generations. This city has served as a landing place for Filipinos forced to leave their homeland, a land rich with natural resources and vibrant in its people, but polluted, exploited and impoverished by over a century of U.S. imperialism.”

The march ended at the White House where the group demanded an end to the militarization of Black and brown communities in the U.S. and the Philippines.

February, known as Black History Month, is also International Filipino Solidarity Month. To celebrate this shared month, organizers in the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines joined with Bayan DMV and others to organize a week of action to highlight and continue the 120-plus year history of Black and Filipino people’s shared struggle against US Imperialism.

The week of action began with a teach-in at Sankofa Cafe in Northwest DC, where attendees learned about the Black struggle for self-determination in the South, and Filipino people’s twin struggle for independence from Spain and the United States.

Later in the week, the group screened the film Revolution Selfie: The Red Battalion by Steven De Castro. The film was selected because it provides viewers with a direct perspective into the revolutionary armed struggles waged by the New People’s Army (NPA) against the U.S.-backed Marcos regime. The film shows one of the world’s first same-sex marriages, which occurred in 2005 between two soldiers of the NPA.

#WashingtonDC #DC #Philippines #Bayan #ICHRP #DCAARPR #International #OppressedNationalities

Tacoma, WA – On May 23, labor unions and Filipino community groups rallied with a unified message: “Free them all and shut it down!”

As the Trump administration continues escalating attacks against immigrant communities, the working class is drawing closer together to defend itself and fight back. The coalition is demanding the immediate release of a Filipino union member known lovingly as “Kuya Max.” Maximo Londonio immigrated to the U.S. as a 12-year-old boy and is now 42. He was detained at the Sea-Tac airport on his way back home to Olympia from a family trip to the Philippines.

Unions such as the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) united with community groups Tanggol Migrante, Bayan WA, La Resistencia, and more to make it clear that they will not tolerate these attacks.

Londonio is a member of IAM, and his union siblings began organizing as soon as he was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They are also demanding the release of the other immigrants, many of them workers, held by ICE.

“I’m afraid how far this is going to go. How far it's gone already is not ok. But I'm glad we're here sticking up for the people who can't stick up for themselves. When this place goes – you know the contract is up next year, then we should definitely do the work to get rid of it. It doesn't belong here,” said Latasha Palmer, who is running for Tacoma City Council Position 6.

“It's disgusting what he is doing to immigrants. He is enacting terror on them, and it's coming really close to home,” explained Haze Leviathan, a member of Teamsters Local 174, referencing Trump’s attacks.

Despite the fear of repression, people are showing up right outside the Northwest Detention Center in protest against for-profit corporations like GEO Group, which operates the facility.

“We are all going to have to stand together. Immigrants’ rights are real close to workers’ rights. Who are most of the workers? A lot of them are immigrants. Not so long ago, my family were immigrants also. Max is one of my coworkers. That hurts in our shop, having him out. Not only for his family, but on the floor. He is our friend. We want to stand together and get everyone back up and going, to lead their best lives”, stated Richard Howard, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 695.

A rank-and-file Teamster with Local 117 stated, “On the international observers mission that ICHRP did this month, we were able to talk to steel workers, steel process workers, teachers and other workers that are organizing under the most intense repression. We heard conditions of steel workers that are working 12-18 hour shifts seven days per week. And they were emphasizing these were the conditions that forced them to go abroad in search of work, to the U.S., to Canada, to Saudi Arabia. Those are the same conditions that create their detainments. Even when they become union members in the U.S., they are still being detained in Tacoma and all around the country.”

#TacomaWA #KuyaMax #MaximoLondonio #IAM #SEIU #ICHRP #Feature

New York, NY – Around 60 New Yorkers gathered in front of the Consulate General of the Philippines, December 10, in Manhattan to mark the 70th anniversary of Human Rights Day. On this day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) called for the rally on the cold December evening. Chants could be heard throughout the streets, such as, “No justice! No peace! Stop the killings in the Philippines!” and “Defend democracy! Rise, resist, unite against Duterte’s tyranny!”

The spirited group of protesters marched to Trump Towers after a round of speeches and singing, We Shall Overcome. They passed by the tourist-heavy Rockefeller Center and out-of-towners stopped ogling the giant Christmas tree to take pictures of the marchers.

Jessica Schwartz from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression-NY gave a speech connecting U.S. imperialism and the human rights abuses abroad, stating, “That is why when we oppose Duterte, when we oppose Trump, we must fight for an end to the entire U.S. war machine. We here in the belly of the beast must continue speaking out, no matter what threats and intimidation we receive. From New York to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!”

The evening ended with a speaker from ICHRP, who announced their new campaign to have the U.S. stop sending aid to Philippine military and police.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #HumanRightsDay #ICHRP #UniversalDeclarationOfHumanRights #InternationalCoalitionForHumanRightsInThePhilippines #Asia

Guinoman, Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines – On July 16, three vans stuffed with passengers traveled the badly eroded, muddy, narrow road from Pagadian City to the village of Guinoman in Western Min-danao, in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay. On the roof of one of them was a dog, standing on all fours, that managed to stay on its feet through one of the torrential downpours that are a daily occur-rence in July.

The vans included 14 members of the International Solidarity Mission, including activists from Canada, the U.S., Australia and Kenya. About half were Filipino, and all were there to support the Filipino people fighting for their rights.

One Filipina activist, Rita Baua, International Officer for BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) explained, “The movement here defines rights not just as civil liberties, but economic rights as well.” These include trade union rights for workers, the right to land for the peasants or farmers, or the right to self-determination and control of ancestral land for the indigenous Lumad people. All these rights have come under fire as a result of new international agreements, such as the Trans Pacific Partnership pushed by the U.S. This latest so-called ‘free trade’ law will eliminate limitations on the profits of multinational companies in mining and agriculture.

Imperialist militarization in the Pacific

The U.S. ‘pivot to Asia’ announced in 2012 is in part a military response to the rise of the People’s Republic of China as an economic power. It’s also designed to help enforce U.S. corporate interests in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Pacific. Imperialism as a factor in national economic and political affairs is constantly present in the Philippines.

For example, as delegates were arriving in Manila, there was the latest news from Japan that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to revise the clause in the constitution that renounces war. Abe’s revival of militarism is part of Japan’s role as junior partner to the U.S. in Asia, aiding in the U.S. objectives to contain China, as well as destroy socialist Korea. It also reminds the region of Japan’s role in the Second World War, when the occupation of the Philippines resulted in over 1 million deaths.

The backdrop of foreign militarism helps set the stage for the presence of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao, the epicenter of militarism in the country. 60% of the AFP is concentrated there because of the so-called War on Terror. Nene, a Filipina activist who had worked in this part of the country, pointed out that the Pentagon claimed the AFP recently attacked the group, Abu Sayyaf. In their statement, the military claimed that the shadowy group had about 200 fighters in Mindanao. “They have been claiming Abu Sayyaf has 200 for 15 years. It’s just the pretext for intervention.”

Militarism – at home in the Philippines

In Guinamon, the delegates heard testimony from witnesses of the very real use of force by company goons, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and paramilitaries against the local people. One man, a small scale miner named Benedicto, reported being fired upon by the AFP in October 2013. “Under the command of Col. Idan of the 44th Infantry Brigade, four trucks of AFP and Philippine National Police came and conducted demolition,” of the mining site he was working on Balabag Mountain. Troops then opened fire, strafing their camp. The miners retreated to safety.

A woman named Fe told the story of her husband, Rene, a laborer employed by the small scale miners. Her husband’s job was hauling bags containing cans of gas, carbon and other materials up to the sites on Mount Balabag. “The Blue Guards wouldn’t allow him to deliver to the location.” Blue Guards are a security firm hired by the large scale mining company, Toronto Ventures, Inc., which had been awarded a contract to explore for gold and silver on Mount Balabag. Their contract expired in 2012.

In 2013, her husband was working for Silva, a company that contracted with the miners, proving equip-ment for the extraction of gold from the ore. “He was working at night because the company wouldn’t let the small miners return even after their contract expired. The Blue Guards fired on him and our sons. My husband fell off a cliff, breaking something in his back. He is now disabled.”

These attacks bear the marks of the counter insurgency approach taken by the government of the Philippines under the direction of the U.S. military Counter Insurgency guide. The new president, Rodrigo Duterte, seems to be taking a different approach, reopening peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and releasing political prisoners allegedly linked to the communist led New People’s Army (NPA). Agreeing with the president’s approach, Amirah Ali Lidasan, the coordinator of the ISM in Western Mindanao, remarked, “NPA presence in areas where there are people’s resistance can’t be denied. Hence, discussion of peace talks is a must.”

International solidarity mission: Upholding people’s rights

The activists from around the world that came here were invited by the International Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). Many of the over 200 delegates went to Mindanao, where the AFP’s anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bayanihan targets especially the Lumad or indigenous peoples of Mindanao. Many of the miners, farmers and laborers, including Benedicto, Fe and her husband, displaced from the village of Bayog at Balabag Mountain are members of the Subanen tribe.

Bishop Antonio Ablon of the Philippine Independent Church in Pagadian, Zamboanga Sibugay, said, “This ISM is bigger, and the agenda is more comprehensive than before.” The growth of the international solidarity effort seems to mirror the advances in the people’s struggle across the Philippines. Lidasan noted, “Over 200 people are traveling from Western Mindanao to rally at the State of the Nation Address by President Dutarte. They are joining 5000 from across Mindanao.” She clarified, “We are going not to celebrate, but to support the platform that the president ran on, to ask for justice.” Justice including an end to the human rights abuses, an end to impunity for the extra-judicial killings, and for an end to the land grab from the Lumad.

#GuinomanZamboangaSibugayPhilippines #Guinoman #Philippines #BAYAN #Lumad #InternationalCommitteeForHumanRightsInThePhilippines #ICHRP #Asia