Filipinos Join the World Against War

Hundreds of thousands from around the world took to the streets in the middle of January to protest the war in Iraq. Filipinos abroad marched with them while thousands of their compatriots at home kept the anti-war flame alive.

By Bulatlat.com

On Jan. 16, 17, and 18, the world was not asleep. As the United States was deploying its troops to strategic areas in the Middle East, millions of people all over the world were out in the streets protesting what has been called an unjust war. Filipinos were among those who registered opposition to the war.  

Anti-war rally at the U.S. embassy in Manila

San Francisco

By counting the rows of people that passed him by in San Francisco, California, Mario Santos of the Filipino Workers Association and Bagong Alyansang-Makabayan (Bayan)-USA came up with a figure of 350,000 for the rally in San Francisco on Jan. 18.

"The rally today was the biggest anti-war protest in San Francisco history," Santos said after the rally, "eclipsing the biggest one staged 12 years ago when the first Gulf War broke out, and surpassing the biggest of the protests against the US war in Vietnam."

Santos added that the rally was "historic" not just for the number of people who joined, but more so for the broadness of its composition. According to him, the large numbers came not just from the "usual suspects" -- left, anti-imperialist organizations and broad alliances like ANSWER, Not in Our Name, the Green Party as well as liberal groupings such as Greenpeace Action -- they came also from new formations that had just taken shape overnight." There were also participants from such groups as Environmentalists Against the War, US Labor Against the War (a two-million strong coalition of 50 unions just a week old when the rally was held) as well as from such unlikely formations as Mormons Against War and Republicans Against War.

There were dozens of Filipinos, mostly youth and students, in the contingent of Asian Pacific people of color. The Filipino-American rock band Diskarte Namin performed one of the opening numbers. Rhonda Ramiro of the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines spoke for Bayan-USA and condemned Bush's all-out war on Filipinos and Moros, called for a halt to the entry of U.S. troops in the Philippines, and assailed the U.S. government's demonization campaign against Filipino progressives. Members of Filipino organizations that joined the rally went around and collected signatures supporting the rights of anti-imperialist activist Jose Maria Sison. There were hundreds of signatures collected, Santos said.

Washington

The main rally in the United States was in Washington D.C. where half a million people participated. Among them was a delegation of over 100 Filipinos and Koreans. "Stop the US War Machine from Korea to Iraq to the Philippines!" their placards yelled.

"An invasion of Iraq will kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians," said Amanda Vender of the Network  in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines. “And this is all to take out the Iraqi ruler who the US government armed and propped up for decades. The US government has by far the most weapons of mass destruction than any nation, and it is the only nation to use them to attack another country. There is no doubt that this is a war about securing oil reserves for US oil corporations, and not at all about peace and safety for Americans or Iraqis."

Riya Ortiz, one of the organizers of the Filipino-Korean delegation, attacked U.S. intervention in the Philippines and Korea. "The people of the Philippines and Korea both have a long history of U.S. intervention in our countries,” Ortiz said. "The U.S. has propped up dictators, militarily occupied our countries, and used our land to launch wars on other countries. Last year, US military forces in Korea and the Philippines killed or injured Korean and Filipino civilians and gotten away with it."

Among the speakers at the rally were Marie Hilao-Enriquez of Bayan-Philippines as well as actors Martin Sheen, Amy Breneman (star of Judging Amy) and Mimi Kennedy, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzales, Walter Johnson of the SF Labor Council, Trent Willis of the ILWU, Sade Bonilla of Berkeley High, John Burton, president of the California State Senate, Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children's Alliance, Rep. Barbara Lee (D), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D), Dolores Huerta of the UFW as were Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial and Rev. Dorsey Blake. Folk singers Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt gave performances.

Elsewhere in the world

In their homeland, Filipinos staged anti-war protests even before the huge rallies that swept the world on Jan. 18. On Jan. 17, members of Migrante International demonstrated in front of the U.S. embassy in Manila. Militant youth and students belonging to Anakbayan and the League of Filipino Students followed suit the next day.

In the U.S. on Jan. 18, people in other towns and cities marched in solidarity with the protesters in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. A hundred and twenty-five took to the streets in Des Moines, Iowa; 600 in Indianapolis, Indiana; 200 in Florida, and thousands more in Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Michigan, Kentucky, and Orange County. In Texas, home state of U.S. President George W. Bush, about 300 marched in Houston, the Associated Press reported.

Protest in Albuquerque, New Mexico

There were other large rallies that day in France, Italy, Egypt, Japan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Sweden, India, Ireland, Russia, Turkey, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Alexander Martin Remollino/Bulatlat.com  

Photo Essay: NO TO THE BUSH WAR OF TERROR ON IRAQ! 

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