Stop US Intervention, VFA Out Now!

Press Release
September 15, 2010

Cotabato City – The US government and its excessive global war on terror is impetus to the uproar surrounding the planned construction of an Islamic centre near ‘Ground Zero’ in New York City, according to Moro group Suara.

Suara spokesperson, Michael Dumamba, says the disproportionate and indiscriminate US military campaign in mainly Muslim countries has done more than just wreak havocs in those countries; it promotes animosity and intolerance between Muslims and the West.

He said the war has further reinforced the negative view of some non-Muslims about Islam and the Arab world in particular.
Most opposition to anything Islamic in the West these days have nothing to do with disagreement in religious tenets, he adds, but have largely been due to the irrational dislike to the culture of the people who happen to be Muslims.

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The proposed community centre close to the site of the infamous 9/11 attack in New York has set off a chain of heated arguments in recent weeks not only in the US but in much of the globe as more and more persona attempts to take part in the fray for varied reasons.

“While we condemn all the parties who have fanned unnecessary controversy over the proposed Muslim community centre and those who have used the issue to draw attention to themselves, we call on the US government to stop its unwelcome and treacherous interventions in countries around the world including the Philippines,” Dumamba said.

Suara is one of the convenors of the OUT NOW! Mindanao Coalition – a group rallying for an end in US intervention in the country particularly the presence of US troops who are here under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

OUT NOW! and other allied progressive groups will be commemorating the 1991 scrapping of the US basing rights in the country come September 16.

In a statement, OUT NOW! urged Filipinos to rally behind the junking of the VFA in the same manner as they have supported the abolition of American bases in 1991.

“Filipinos can’t afford to serve as pawn in advancing and securing US interests and allow the nation and our resources to be exploited in the process,” says Dumamba. (Bulatlat.com)

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