As the U.S. readies to wage war against Iraq:

World Church Leaders Call for U.S. Troops Pull-Out from RP

Most of the speakers were soft-spoken and their words lined with religious undertones. But biblical quotations notwithstanding, the ecumenical leaders, scholars and peace advocates that attended a four-day ecumenical conference on terrorism used biting words in criticizing the United States’ “war on terrorism” and called for an immediate pull-out of U.S. troops in the Philippines.

By ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com

World church leaders from 22 countries late last week called for the pull-out of U.S. troops from the Philippines because their presence violated national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

 The call was issued Sept. 26 ending the “International Ecumenical Conference on Terrorism in a Globalized World” held at Bayview Park Hotel in Manila or just across the U.S. Embassy.

The conference decried the presence of U.S. military troops in the Philippines: “The U.S. armed forces must leave the Philippines immediately. This presence and activity in the Philippines violates national sovereignty and territorial integrity, aggravates armed conflicts and gives rise to social and cultural degradation.”

The delegates also said U.S. action designating the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army as foreign terrorist organizations has jeopardized the peace process and called on the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to immediately resume formal peace negotiations.

The conference statement asserted “the U.S. declaration of Southeast Asia and the Philippines as the Second Front of the ‘War on Terror’ threatens the human security and people’s sovereignty.” 

The church leaders came from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, United Kingdom, Anguilla, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Nicaragua, Lebanon, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Kashmir and Malaysia.

Among those who attended were Clement John, executive secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) International Relations Team; Dr. Ahn Jae Woong, Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) general secretary; David Wildman, United Methodist Church Global Ministries General Board member; Rev. Dr. Jake Masango, WCC Central Committee member and Presbyterian minister in South Africa; Rev. Chris Ferguson of the United Church of Canada; Rev. John Gilmore of he National Council of Churches of Australia; Dr. Gabriel Habib of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, Lebanon; Dr. Ninan Koshy, former WCC executive director for international affairs; and National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) officials Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes and Carmencita Caragdag.

Vice President Teofisto Guingona delivered the keynote address.  

Historic event

The world assembly, held Sept. 23-26, was the biggest international inter-faith conference to be held in the Philippines in recent years. It was sponsored by the WCC, CCA and NCCP.

Scoring both the effects and lack of bases of the U.S.’ war on terror, the conference forged a strongly-worded unity statement at the end of the conference.

“The U.S. state terrorism under the banner of the ‘War on Terror’ has legitimated the U.S. to target any state, nation, group or individual deemed threatening to U.S. national interests as defined solely by the U.S. itself,” it read. “This is a dramatic threat to global security. This amounts to a re-ordering of global politics and a repudiation of international law.”

On the impact of the U.S. war on religion, the delegates declared, “The Christian church is to give witness to Christ’s lordship and so resist oppression and idolatry of any state or group that claims divine justification for power over others. We oppose the use of theological and religious language to justify war and the agenda of Empire.”

“Make-believe war on terror” 

Meanwhile, in his opening address, Clement John of the WCC said, “There is no theological or moral justification for the use of military force and power – be it in war or through other forms of oppressive security systems and measures.” 

Dr. Ahn Jae Woong of CCA stressed, “The war on terror is not really a war against terror. It is a make-believe war to keep us under terror; to justify the use of military solution; and to distract us from the roots of these problems.”

Ferguson of the United Church of Canada called the U.S. war a “global coup d’etat” that should be exposed for what it is. 

Dr. Alejandro Bendaña, a Nicaraguan historian and former ambassador to the United Nations, also pointed out “there should be no interruption in the dialogue between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.”  

He stated, “It is not for the U.S. to say who the Philippine government should dialog with or not.” “There can be no peace without sovereignty and sovereignty is an exclusively Philippine matter,” he added.  

Global network for peace 

Duremdes, meanwhile, declared the conference “a big success” for having been able to gather such a large number of respected ecumenical leaders and scholars from all over the world coming from 14 religious denominations.   

She said the conference has “paved the way in facilitating a global coalition of ecumenical and inter-faith movements against U.S. global hegemony.”

“These delegates will go home to their respective countries, churches and organizations and circulate the unity statement, confront the issue of state terrorism and globalization. This means that the conference will spark a worldwide movement calling for peace based on justice,” she said.

Symbolic action

Joined by members of local church-based and sectoral organizations, the delegates formed a human chain in front of the U.S. embassy on Sept. 27, day after the conference. They wore body placards with the words “No to U.S. Wars, Not in our Names!” and chanted “Justice Not War.”

A scheduled audience with the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, set even before the conference started, was cancelled after the embassy informed the conference organizers that the ambassador had an out-of-town appointment.

Ferguson, after reading the unity statement during the protest, stressed, "Among the things that must stop is the U.S. aggression against Iraq and the U.S. support for the Israeli aggression against Palestine."

David Wildman, a conference delegate from the U.S., expressed the sentiment of a growing number of Americans. “The U.S. war of aggression against Iraq and its deployment of U.S. troops in the Philippines is not supported by the American people,” he said. “President Bush must not use us to justify the war – not in our name!”

Linda Banks from the Caribbean and Moana Cole from New Zealand, both of whom attended an earlier Peace Mission in Central Luzon, also spoke during the program. 

Harassment?

Conference organizers meanwhile revealed the “unusual difficulties” experienced by some delegates in securing visas from Philippines embassies. Even WCC officer Clement John, a Pakistani based in Geneva and a seasoned traveler because of his position, found it difficult to secure a visa to the Philippines.

An Afghan delegate, Azila Wardak Jamal, a refugee and activist based in Peshawar, Pakistan, was in fact unable to get a visa in time for the conference despite submission of all required documents and assurances by the Philippine embassy in Islamabad. Bulatlat.com

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