Brussels, Belgium – A packed house of several hundred people witnessed a dramatic legal proceeding this past weekend. May 18 and 19. An International People’s Tribunal was held, initiated by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle.

In its conclusion, the tribunal named Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former President Rodrigo Duterte, U.S. President Joe Biden and the U.S. government all guilty of charges of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Over two days, testimony was presented by activists and victims from different parts of The Philippines about violence, torture and murder committed by the Armed Forces of The Philippines (AFP), or by paramilitary groups working under the direction of the government.

The organizers of the tribunal described these violence acts as war crimes. Experts opened the weekend explaining that there is, in fact, a war taking place in the Philippines. The government in Manila is carrying out a counterinsurgency strategy, and even using a counterinsurgency guide designed in Washington against the guerilla New People’s Army (NPA).

International legal experts, occupied communities combine efforts

The tribunal included distinguished attorneys with expertise in international law. Some acted as jurors, others as prosecutors. Heading the panel of jurors was Professor Lennox Hinds. Formerly the U.S. attorney for Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Hinds also represented Assata Shakur, and was a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The other jurors included Suzanne Adely, President of the National Lawyers Guild (U.S.); Severine De Laveleye of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium; Julen Arzuraga Gumuzio of the Basque Parliament; and Archbishop Joris Vercamen, former member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Much of the two days consisted of emotionally jarring testimony of torture, extrajudicial killings, mutilation of the bodies of political activists, and attempted murder of other activists.

One dramatic video statement came from Brandon Lee, a U.S. citizen who survived an assassination attempt by members of the AFP in 2019. Multiple gun shots left Lee paralyzed from the chest down. He recounted how the military threatened him over the course of several years to end his advocacy for the rights of the indigenous Cordillera people he was working among. Like his adopted countrymen, Lee refused to back down in the face of tyranny.

Another witness was Eufemia Cullamat, an elected member of the House of Representatives from the Bayan Muna slate, and a leader of the indigenous Manobo tribe.

Her daughter, Jevilyn Cullamat, was killed by the AFP in 2020 in Surigao del Sur, Mindanao. Eufemia Cullamat learned about it on Twitter, when soldiers used photos of Jevelyn’s dead body like a trophy, posing her with a rifle in her hands. Her daughter was reportedly a medic with the NPA.

Cullamat also reported how in 2015, the AFP carried out the Lianga massacre of their community. Jevelyn witnessed the killing of her Uncle Dionel and Grandfather Jovillo.

After the first day of testimony, reflecting on the activists who struggled through their anguish to get on the historic record, Professor Hinds commented, “What we see is a community resisting.”

Background: Two figures from Philippines revolutionary history

To put the human rights violations in context, testimony was presented by Juliet De Lima, head of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel for the stalled peace talks with the government in Manila. De Lima noted that there is an underlying objective for the heinous crimes of the regime in the logic of counterinsurgency: to “Drain the water to expose the fish.”

The NDFP is the revolutionary united front organization of the Filipino people fighting for national freedom and for the democratic rights of the people. It includes the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. The AFP typically justifies the atrocities it commits against civilian activists they have targeted by claiming they are members of the NPA.

Early on in the tribunal, Connie Ledesma, also a member of the negotiating panel for the NDFP, explained why the national democratic movement has committed to a peace process with the government in Manila. For almost four decades the government and the NDFP have been engaged in peace negotiations. “From the perspective of the NDFP this could be a viable arena to achieve basic social, economic and political reforms in Philippine society,” Ledesma explained, and noted that the negotiations have resulted in 38 major agreements and joint statements.

Tribunal: Justice through solidarity

Prosecutors and jurors explained that while they use the laws that govern war and international human rights, the impact of the tribunal is political. The tribunal has no power to sentence Marcos, Duterte, or Biden to prison.

On the other hand, as has been seen in the case of the Gaza genocide being carried out by the U.S. and Israel, the court systems – whether in the Philippines, the U.S., or in existing international accountability structures like the International Court of Justice – are influenced by imperialist interests.

The International People’s Tribunal gives a voice to the oppressed Filipino people and can be used to help the national liberation movement, the peasants, indigenous people and workers to exact accountability on their oppressors. The national democratic forces know that it is the solidarity of those groups, along with youth and students, that will hold accountable the bureaucrat capitalists.

But a story from the solidarity movement with South Africa is worth recalling. Edward Said, the Palestinian intellectual, wrote in his 2000 book, The End of the Peace Process, about a visit with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1991.

Said had gone to see them to learn about using international boycott, divestment and sanction tactics against apartheid. Speaking with Sisulu, at that time the head of the ANC, Said writes, “He paused for a moment and then said something that I shall never forget as long as I live: ‘Every victory that we registered in London, or Glasgow, or Iowa City, or Toulouse, or Berlin, or Stockholm gave the people at home a sense of hope, and renewed their determination not to give up the struggle.’”

The International People’s Tribunal in Brussels is a victory for the people in Bicol, Cota Bato, Panay, Surigao del Sur. The legal process of collecting and presenting evidence of international human rights abuses and war crimes will be a tool to end the repression that emanates from Manilla.

#International #Philippines #Duterte #Marcos #NPA #IADL #FFPS #Belgium #Feature

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following message of condolences from the leadership of Freedom Road Socialist Organization to the Workers Party of Belgium.

November 16, 2022

To: Workers Party of Belgium

From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Dear Comrades,

We were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Jean Pestieau, and we send out condolences to the Workers Party of Belgium and Jean’s family and friends.

As a leading comrade in the PTB International Department, comrade Jean was friend, advisor and inspiration to revolutionaries around the world. He had was extremely knowledgeable, yet modest. He was friendly and diplomatic, yet firm on issues of principle. Jean was always ready to answer questions and explain his point of view in a down-to-earth way. He was an example of what a communist should be.

Many leading comrades of Freedom Road Socialist Organization had the opportunity to met with Jean, and the comrade played a role in the development of our organization. We benefited greatly from his political clarity and helpful advice. When we met with the PTB in the mid-1990s, a period before the internet, it made a huge difference to find comrades who were thinking along the same lines as we were.

Comrade Jean was an outstanding fighter for socialism who never doubted that humanity has a socialist future. He will be missed by many.

In solidarity,

Mick Kelly

Political Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#UnitedStates #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Belgium #Europe

After a phenomenal and social campaign, the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB-PVDA) has confirmed its progress throughout the country, with results ranging from 6.6% in Flanders to over 12% in Brussels and 13.5% in Wallonia. The genuine left thus sends 12 members to the federal parliament, 1 member to the European Parliament, 11 members to the Brussels Parliament, 4 members to the Flemish Parliament and 10 members to the Walloon Parliament. In addition, the PTB will have 4 senators. The number of PTB parliamentarians therefore, increases from 8 to 42. At the national level, the PTB has become the 5th largest party among the 12 parties with elected representatives. In his victory speech in Antwerp, PTB chairman Peter Mertens said: “He who fights can lose. He who does not fight has already lost,” said Bertolt Brecht. We fought. Like David against Goliath. Well-paid people said Goliath would win. They said they would bury David. They said that in Flanders, this would not happen. Well, no, no. We are David. We fought. And we won!” After the 2 seats in the federal parliament won in 2014, with Raoul Hedebouw and Marco Van Hees, this is the first time that the PTB sends deputies to the federal parliament from Flanders, where the situation is much more on the right than in Wallonia.

Mertens: “During this campaign, the PTB imposed a debate on matters of concern to the people: 6% VAT on energy, free public transport, the cost of health care, tax injustice. Having to work longer years, the people are fed up with. Having to work more flexibly, the people are fed up with. The people are fed up with a society where the rich are getting richer and richer and the poor are getting poorer.”

But we also have to face the rise of the far right, with Vlaams Belang coming second in Flanders, tripling its score and getting 18.5% in northern Belgium. “The rise of the far right must incite all traditional parties to reflect,” continues Peter Mertens. “They have an important responsibility. And they repeated that the N-VA [the largest party, Flemish nationalist and right-wing] was a barrier against the far right. But it's a bridge for her! The far right divides people, spreads hatred. We, the authentic left, are fighting for solidarity, for the unity of the workers. Our social security is united, our country remains united and the PTB is united. The far right has nothing to offer the people. It is up to us to prove it: fascism will not pass!“

Raoul Hedebouw, national spokesperson and federal member of Parliament for the PTB, talks about “a major bright red breakthrough on May 26”. He continued: “We need a real break for social and fiscal justice. This is an important signal for all traditional parties. But what do we see? None of them are currently questioning themselves. “

For the first time in its history, the PTB will send a representative to the European Parliament: Marc Botenga, with 14.5% of the vote for the French-speaking constituency. He congratulated all those who “propelled this ‘spicy’ left that appears everywhere, in companies, in neighborhoods, .” “Now we have a left locomotive that will be able to move the lines also at the European level. The genuine left will be necessary to offer an alternative to the far right and to the policies of Macron or Merkel, which open the way to the far right with their Europe of competition, austerity and money. “

The PTB considers that it conducted its best election campaign ever. On this point, the party chairman, Peter Mertens, said at the election evening in Antwerp: “What a dynamic, what an enthusiasm, what a commitment! And I would like to begin by applauding all the volunteers and militants who have worked in all the provinces, often in the shadows, often under difficult circumstances. They are people who make a difference, ordinary people, extraordinary people who act together... We can only do it together. Together, we have a world to win! “

#Belgium #PeoplesStruggles #PTB #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Europe

Minneapolis, MN – The political secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Steff Yorek, expressed condolences to the people of Belgium and Pakistan, especially those who lost family or loved ones in the March 22 Brussels bombings, the March 27 Lahore bombings, and others who suffered in similar anti-people attacks.

Yorek stated, “We stand in solidarity with the people of Belgium and Pakistan, and send out condolences to the families and friends of the victims. We condemn those responsible for these attacks on the innocent, be the attacks in Belgium, Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Iraq, Lebanon, or anywhere else.”

“Unfortunately, reactionary, racist and anti-immigrant forces are attempting manipulate people’s grief, concern and fear to promote an agenda of war and repression. Politicians such as Trump and Cruz are working overtime to fan the flames of Islamophobia and using the attacks in Belgium as a pretext to urge more repression against American Muslims and Arab Americans. We reject this,” Yorek continued.

“The U.S., Western imperialist powers and their partners in the Middle East such as Israel and Saudi Arabia have set the region on fire by waging cruel, brutal and destabilizing wars, in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. We can see the results everywhere we look and we cannot allow this to continue. We need to do more to more to build the anti-war movement and we will make every effort to shut down bigots like Donald Trump,” Yorek concluded.

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Belgium #Pakistan