US OUT OF IRAQ, THE PHILIPPINES AND EVERYWHERE!

Statement of the Alliance for a Just & Lasting Peace in the Philippines

On the 6th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq

March 21, 2009

As the invasion of Iraq enters its seventh year, the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) continues to express militant greetings and solidarity to the people of Iraq, Philippines and everywhere who are fighting US imperialism and its forces of occupation. We stand with the people marching in the streets of Washington, DC today in the united cry “From Iraq to Afghanistan to Philippines and Palestine, OCCUPATION IS A CRIME!”

The US thirst for war must end. The current administration is not ending the US wars of aggression, but is transferring the war to other countries like Afghanistan. We are reminded how Nixon said he wanted to end the unpopular war in Vietnam but escalated the war in Cambodia and Laos. By redeploying 30,000 or more troops to Afghanistan, threatening Iran, Pakistan and the Russian Federation, Obama is not proving to be much different from his predecessors.

People are losing their homes and jobs at a rate unabated by trillions of dollars of bank bailouts. But the continued military spending will ensure continued profit for military contractors. These endless wars were never about freedom for the Iraqi people, and they’re not an issue of national defense in Afghanistan. We exposed these lies under Bush. We will continue to expose them under Obama.

We demand US troops out of the Philippines. In the Philippines, 4,000 US troops are conducting war exercises, supporting the US-backed Arroyo regime’s wars against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People’s Army (NPA). The human rights violations of progressives throughout the Philippine archipelago, and the suffering of millions because of the war in Mindanao, bear the same bloody stamp of US imperialism that has been imposed upon Iraq, Palestine and now Afghanistan.

We are appalled at Obama's phone call to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo supporting the joint military agreement between the US and Philippines. We are equally appalled by the scheme to change the Philippine constitution to continue the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The Filipino people have nothing to gain from these agreements. They trample on our dignity and sovereignty.

The Arroyo regime’s failure to support Nicole in her fight for justice against convicted rapist US Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, is a sickening example of how shamelessly Arroyo will sell out the Filipino people—especially women—to the US puppetmasters. It denies grave cases of trafficking of Filipinas to the US. And diplomats like former UN Ambassador to the Philippines Lauro Baja lead in oppressing and exploiting domestic workers like Marichu Baoanan in New York.

The war at home on immigrants, women and workers must end. In the US, millions of people displaced from their homelands because of US occupation suffer here on US soil. They contend with lack of immigration status, lack of workers’ protections and healthcare, deportations and detentions, and now job loss. They are on the frontlines of the war on the poor at home. This war has only intensified because of the economic crisis.

As we echo the call of the past six years to bring the troops home, we continue the struggle for the remaining 46,000 Filipino World War II veterans. The denial of their veteran’s equity exposes the ugly reality of racism as a necessary counterpart to war. It is always the poor and Third World people—on their own soil and as immigrants—who lose their lives and livelihoods.

We demand that the money for war and occupation—topping trillion next year—be spent for workers, youth, women and immigrants. We demand an end to the cuts in public needs like healthcare and education. We demand an end to the trampling of women’s rights and the sale of women’s bodies. We demand legalization and full workers’ rights for more than 1.3 million undocumented Filipino migrants, especially women domestic workers.

In solidarity we join the US and the worldwide action today in Washington, DC and add our collective voice to the call:

US OUT OF IRAQ, THE PHILIPPINES & EVERYWHERE!

MONEY FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS & COMPENSATION, NOT FOR WAR & OCCUPATION!

SOLIDARITY WITH THE WOMEN OF IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, PALESTINE & PHILIPPINES!

WAR KILLS THE FILIPINO & WORKING CLASS YOUTH!

MONEY FOR THE FILIPINO VETERANS, NOT FOR THE WAR!

STOP THE WAR IN MINDANAO!