Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) joins the various patriotic and democratic sectors in denouncing the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) that is scheduled to be signed today by representatives of Japan and the Marcos government, at the behest of the interventionist US imperialist government.

The RAA, similar to the notorious US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement, will pave the way for Japanese military forces to establish their presence in the country as part of the plan to deploy overseas troops, preposition their vessels, conduct war exercises and preparations, and bind the Philippines more tightly to the US-led military alliances. Through the RAA, Marcos is allowing Japan to heighten its intervention in the Philippines in exchange for the transfer of military equipment, as well as promises of investments and loans, which only means deepening the country’s dependence on foreign capital.

The RAA is being signed in the context of intensified overseas military operations of Japan within the framework of the US-led Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) and increasing role in war exercises and preparations. It aims to increase the part of Japanese military forces in the current US geopolitical strategy, as elaborated in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims to contain and counter the growth of China’s economic and military power and influence. The RAA, in particular, will allow Japan to use the Philippines to expand its reach and influence, at the behest of the US military.

On US goading over the past years, Japan has been strengthening and expanding its so-called self-defense force (SDF) as a belligerent force, long prohibited under the Japanese constitution. The US has been putting pressure on Japan to increase its military spending to 2% (from 1%) of its GDP to “share the burden” of “deterring Chinese aggression.”

Since its defeat at the end of World War II, Japan has served as a junior imperialist power of the US. In pushing Japan to increase its military strength, the US is making the calculated risk of emboldening the expansionist aspirations of Japanese monopoly capitalists.

In signing the RAA with Japan, the Marcos regime will further tie the country to the US-led imperialist jingoist alliance, and shackle the Philippines more firmly to the military and economic interests of the US and Japan. It will further erode the country’s capacity to independently assert its own interests and aspirations.

By signing the RAA, Marcos will pave the way for the return to the Philippines of the military forces of imperialist Japan, which has never fully acknowledged and rectified the crimes perpetrated by its soldiers who occupied the country in 1942-1945, including the rape of thousands of Filipino comfort women.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Former US air force colonel, Raymond M. Powell, is an active psywar operative, interventionist, war-monger and American agent-provocateur. From an obscure career in the US military, he has been receiving much air time from big Philippine media organizations since last year, touted as a “security analyst” and “expert on maritime issues.”

Colonel Powell has been actively supporting Philippine security forces in carrying out provocative operations in the West Philippine Sea in the guise of “supply missions” to bring “construction materials” to the BRP Sierra Madre. He has recently stepped up his provocation, pushing the Philippines to consult with the US on options under the Mutual Defense Treaty. He insists China will not be open to deescalating conflicts, insinuating that there is no more room for diplomacy and dialogue.

Funded and endorsed by the US military, Colonel Powell has been playing an active role in the US “Indo-Pacific strategy,” that aims to contain China’s growth as an economic and military power. He presently heads the Myoushu and Sealight projects at Stanford University, which has been actively providing “information operations” support to the so-called “supply missions” of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine Coast Guard. These naval and maritime operations challenge China’s “gray-zone tactics” and push it to its limits. This is part of the overall US military scheme to make China “own the starting pistol.”

By way of background, Colonel Powell took part in the US wars of invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), both of which were waged by the US on false pretexts. As an expert in information wars, he is now actively seeking ways to ignite a military conflict between the Philippines and China, and thus set the pretext for a large-scale US war of intervention.

Colonel Powell is part of US drumbeating operations to generate a clamor for war and for US military intervention. He is working alongside other US-funded, supported or endorsed “think tanks” such as the “International Development and Security Cooperation” which has been hyping up the scenario of a “Chinese invasion” and consistently calling on the US to step in. The fanning of Sinophobia is also part of this information war.

Colonel Powell and the slew of “security analysts” must be exposed and denounced as war-mongers, who have no qualms of sparking a war in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea, which will surely trample further on Philippine sovereignty and bring a great disaster to the Filipino people.

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution, adopted by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO Executive Board on October 2, 2023.

Resolution in Solidarity with Organized Labor in the Philippines

WHEREAS, legislative and violent attacks on organized labor in the Philippines have resulted in the country being ranked among the world’s deadliest countries for trade unionists, where over 70 workers have been murdered since 2016, and;

WHEREAS, unions and labor activists are frequently targeted with forced union disaffiliation, intimidation, harassment, aggressive surveillance, torture, imprisonment, and killings, and;

WHEREAS, thousands of workers have been arrested on false charges in an attempt to silence their voices, including Anne Krueger, who was working to organize call center workers and hosted two delegations of Communications Workers of America (CWA) members to the Philippines, (1) and; 

WHEREAS, in April 2023, Alex Dolorosa, a union organizer whose work was funded by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), was violently murdered, and no effort has been made by the authorities to investigate his murder, (2) and;

WHEREAS, in the face of legislative attacks, violent repression, and human rights violations committed by the repressive Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regime, unionists in the Philippines continue to organize a vibrant and growing labor movement that merits great respect and solidarity, and;

WHEREAS, the government of the Philippines is by far the largest recipient of US military aid in the Indo-Pacific, having received $1.14 billion in US military aid since 2015, (3) and;

WHEREAS, on May 1st, 2019 the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Congress to end military aid to the government of the Philippines, and; 

WHEREAS, in June, 2020 the AFL-CIO issued a statement calling on Congress to pass the Philippines Human Rights Act (1), which would suspend US military aid to the Philippines, (4) and;

WHEREAS, The Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO, The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), and the AFL-CIO Executive Council have issued resolutions and statements calling for Congressional action to address ongoing human and labor rights violations by the government of the Philippines, and;

WHEREAS, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, representing nearly 20,000 union members, believes fundamentally in the power of worker solidarity, and actively supports trade unionists and all people of conscience working to stop attacks on labor and democratic rights.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO reaffirms our solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the labor movement of the Philippines, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO demands accountability from the Philippine government and supports international calls for a comprehensive investigation of the killings in the Philippines, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls for the urgent passage and signing of the Philippines Human Rights Act.

1. https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/congress-should-introduce-and-pass-philippines-human-rights-act

2. https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/2023-george-meany-lane-kirkland-human-rights-philippines-labor-movement

3. https://ph.usembassy.gov/fact-sheet-u-s-philippines-defense-and-security-partnership/http

4. humanrightsph.org/

#MilwaukeeWI #MALC #AFLCIO #Unions #LaborCouncil #Philippines #Labor #InternationalSolidarity