While the Vietnam and Korean Wars remain fresh in the

American historical conscience, one of the most brutal

wars in American history remains ignored, belittled,

and even in some cases denied. Today, Filipino youth

and students around the world join in solidarity to

observe the 105th anniversary of the beginning of

imperialist U.S. aggression in the Philippines. On

February 4, 1899 the United States fired the first

shots against the Filipino people at San Juan del

Monte, beginning the long and brutal Philippine-U.S.

war. Over 125,000 U.S. troops were sent to ?pacify?

the Filipino people, leading to the massacre of 1.4

million Filipino men, women and children from

1899-1913.

After more than two years of revolution led by the

Katipunan from 1896-1898, the Filipino people had

established their own government and declared

independence from Spain. However, Spain had subverted

the will of the Filipino people by "selling? the

Philippines for million to the United States

following its defeat in the Spanish-American war. The

United States, claiming to have ?liberated? the

Filipinos from their former colonizers, promised

independence and cooperation with the Filipino people,

all the while planning to simply replace Spain as the

new nation?s replacement colonizer.

The American takeover catalyzed Filipino

out-migration, which continues to this day. Seeking to

escape the poverty wrought by U.S. imperialism and

government corruption, Filipinos now leave the

Philippines at a rate of 1,000 a day for overseas

work, in search of the wealth stolen from them. One

out of every eight Filipinos on the planet lives

outside the Philippines, and Filipinos rank 2nd behind

Mexicans in yearly immigration to the U.S. Upon

arriving in their host countries, these Filipino

immigrants in search of the American dream encounter

the harsh realities of working class exploitation,

racism, poverty, exclusion from mainstream society,

etc.

U.S. interest in occupying the Philippines were

numerous ? regional economic and military dominance, a

market for U.S. surplus, and a source of raw materials

and cheap labor. These motives were as evident then as

they are today in the war against Iraq. In addition,

the Philippine-U.S. war exposed the racism inherent in

Western imperialism ? firsthand accounts of U.S.

soldiers in the Philippines compared combat to

?killing injuns and niggers.? Subsequently, many Black

American soldiers deserted the U.S. army to join the

Filipino resistance.

All Filipino people, particularly youth and students

as well as friends and allies, are called upon to

critically study this suppressed history, as its

historical legacy continues to impact the Philippines

and the Filipino diaspora worldwide. Furthermore, the

interests and jargon that propelled the U.S. into the

Philippines draws similar parallels to the current

imperialist war in Iraq.

Today, 105 years later, the Philippines remains a

neocolony of the U.S. ? an ?independent? country only

on paper, whose political and economic policies remain

subject to U.S. dictates. Although the Filipino people

fought to remove U.S. military bases from their

country in 1991, the puppet Philippine government

continues to allow over 3,000 U.S. troops to engage in

?war exercises? under the guise of anti-terrorism.

Last year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accepted

6 million in military aid from the U.S., further

jeopardizing what little sovereignty the Philippines

currently has.

As Filipinos in the United States, it remains urgent

as ever that we not forsake this inherited struggle.

As citizens of the very country that has ravaged our

homeland, we embrace the task of educating, organizing

and mobilizing support for Philippine

self-determination here in the belly of the beast.

Just as anti-imperialist Americans such as Mark Twain

voiced opposition to the Philippine war, we speak out

today to oppose all wars of imperialist aggression, as

well as the ongoing plunder and oppression of third

world countries such as the Philippines.

What's with all the question marks around words? Reading it makes you sound like an idiot.

Re-think your writing style.

i think it's an error involving cutting and pasting from one format to another--the questionmarks, that is.

anyway -- all the points the above writer makes are valid points.



transformation and resistance in the United States --

a place very tenuous. born of the same sort of racist colonialism.

people deny that basic truth: that racist colonilaism and organized cultural rape of many non-europeans is at the foundation of the USA State.

some would destroy themselves using the same sort of resistance tactics that have failed to work in the past. i am so sure that the ideology that birthed the term

'totalitarianism'



will fail to effectively oppose the actions of those who would be champions of the New World order. -

in other words: the goals of Marx do NOT oppose the goals of Bush, corpocracy and big oil. The Goals of Marx and the One World Socialist State? There won't be any liberation for the worker/slave caste member under socialism. Just more work to keep the police state situated as the bleary baleful eye at the top of that pyramid. In short: if you have internalized the socialist Ideas: no matter how Dr Chomsky tries to spin it: Stalin and Lenin's shadow of police brutality will always be there.

IT'S OKAY to admitthat you have been SUCKERED. they made it their Goal. But Socialism is police brutality. Socialism CREATES a police state: and when it has captured -- mentally -- the thoughtful punque who thinks shortly -- capitlaism is a ghoulish mess so i will fight by becoming a socialist --

they have taken advantage of a gap in our collective memory -- as people like Dr Chomsky edit out the specter of USSR's history of brutal dealings with dissidents.

like -- when you were a so caled 'anarchosocialist' and you were getting busted in the street, beaten by the American Police -- how were you different from those Russian citizens in decades past who were sent to Siberia for resisting-- oh what was itt...the Soviet e,mpire? see both sides: you will feelbetter and it will give anarchism the non-horse shot in the arm that it needs to bust out of stagnation. Capitalism is oppressive and it gets its poppressive tactics from the same place Stalin and Lenin got them. beware of souble think among your comrades-- i daresay they are more loyal to the manifesto than to you. if you dare to think idfferently -- will they brand you a traitor?

that Bolshevist ideology was not designed to create peace. all they wanted was to kick out Czar Nicholas and replace him with new leaders.



IT IS AND WAS NOT AND CANNOT BE ANARCHISM.



some will out of sense of pride and loyalty, cling to the Marxist outlook. I am hoping in the name of anarchy and peace that people will WAKE UP and reclaim their aoutonomy for the LONG-HAUL from the mentality that wrote the Communist Manifesto.

do some research: remember the atrocities committed by Stalin's Armies, the brutality of Pol Pot and Mao: and reclaim your energy from a lie decades old.

i for one march every day for the rights of workers to quit their jobs and reclaim their lives, every step i take, every beat of my heart's drum. but this is free will. i am not alone in saying that Bolshevism is Statism: and that any anarchst who thinks that its philosophy is synonymous with Anarchism has been:

snowed:

conned:

fooled:

suckered:

made a laughingstock: 9in secret offices in Britain Tony Blair, a Socialist -- perhas rubs his hands together like a fly prepering to featst on shit and is considering every alleged punk socialist his unwitting goon and operative. what Black Blaoc people do in italy i will just leave for the pooperscooppers cause they are getting paid to make people insane and hatefilled. why would I as a real anarchist be jealous of those who have nothing to offer me but the same old vaguely hidden TOTALITARIAN SPECTER?

rendered a tool of the longrange plans of Conspirators who want to use such minds to make sure people feel patriotic about having tax miney sucked out of their souls toi finance permanent revolution and the military industrail complex

hoodwinked:

lied to:

subjegated my the state i sadly internaliz when i smoke a camel with prem,iums adn coupons. but i would rather KNOW i am being lied to than foolishly pmp myself up with the lies of Stasts like Marx and Lenin -- their goal was to have a WORLD STATE OF SOCIALISM: The implication fo Soicialism as order by BRUTE FORCE and Pressure was the Goal of the original Bolshevists. if theyhad been true anarchists they would have put down the czars and not stayed around to become the new LEADERS. wise UP. Socialism will never create freedom: it AIN'T ANARCHY and never will be.

so when considering the Pilipino situation -- consider as well the situation of the Yupik: the Lenni, the Delaware, the Algonquin, the Dakota, the hawaii peoples, the Arapaho, the Hopi...the Zulu, the Bantu, the Ibo and a lot of others...when faced with a European incusion of false religious righteousness that did a lot of genociding nd raping to create the US Con-stitution.

and then I challenge you to

reject racist ideology

in your urge to live on a free planet without gender crime and without racial intimidation. i fucking CHALLENGE you to face your real enemy, who is not Bush or any other human being.

i hope you take my challenge and ace it. as an anarchist that is what I WANT.

It has long been the trend of the divide and conquer mentality to get people bound up in hating a person. Bush is not your enemy, period. you are suckered into depleting your (our) rage by hating one man and failing to see the Constitutional Republic: the soulless sort of government by Law that is rigid and cannot change is mindless state.

Only Democracy is the style of lawmaking that can have a heart and a soul. Constitutional Republic is incapable of having a soul. see how it feeds corpocracy, see how it coneals and justifiues "Lawful evil"

Only Democracy exists as prgamatic IDEALS. as a one who is a spiritual seeker i realise that Democracy is an embryo, a larva, a foetus that only human action can give life to.

(yeah, love for others matters. without it how are we better than puppets for manifesto, robots for order? but with it everything beautiful and good is possible.)

but enoug lies about the blood of patriots. for generations people have died for causes and the same old regency of riches goes on shafting human inbterests. it's past time to start LIVING for concepts: dying for them just leaves a bitter trail of corpses and more people swearing REVENGE!! and that never satisfies.

I'll have to agree with the historic context of this article, however I think that there is a hidden Muslim agenda. The real problem witht he Philippines is that its people are corrupt! Filipinos cannot move forward till they address this issue. I've seen it conveniently put on the Wealthy, but it really has to start at the bottom.

Particularly the military who run the death squads for private capital to facilitate resource extraction . Who writes this swill?

Let's see, what have they got that we want for corporate America? Oh, that's right, EVERYTHING.