Filipino Activists in India Call for Resistance to U.S. War on Iraq

Thousands of delegates to the Asian Social Forum and the Peoples Movements Encounter last week took turns denouncing the U.S. war of aggression on Iraq and called for a worldwide campaign against this global threat. Filipino delegates joined the condemnation and call even as they stressed the higher task of dismantling U.S. global hegemony through more militant struggles.

By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat.com

India's poor (left photo) join the Jan. 3 march, along with the Philippine delegation (right), in the heart of Hyderabad. At least 10,000 protesters took part in the rally which opened two major forums.             
                                                                                                              Photos by Romeo Quijano and Bobby Tuazon

HYDERABAD, India – Filipino activists led by the Philippine chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) and Bayan joined thousands of Asian nationals and leaders of peoples movements in condemning the imminent U.S. war on Iraq.

The condemnation and call for the worldwide movement to stop the U.S. armed aggression on Iraq was issued at the end of the Asian Social Forum (ASF) and the People’s Movements Encounter held last week in this city, in Andhra Pradesh, southern India. The ASF is part of the world mobilization against neo-liberal globalization and was attended by 20,000 delegates from India, including tribal groups, as well as more than 1,000 foreign nationals.

Some 20 Filipinos from the ILPS, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Gabriela, Kalikasan, Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance, International Alliance of Peoples Lawyers (IAPL) and the Center for Anti-Imperialist Studies (CAIS) also attended the Jan. 2-7 forum and encounter.

In a statement, ILPS, led by its secretary general for the Philippines, Rita Baua, accused U.S. President George W. Bush of stepped-up military production and launching the war on Iraq and other nations as a means of solving America’s current economic recession.

“He has used the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to whip up jingoism and war hysteria among the American people to muster support for his military adventures abroad,” ILPS said in a statement to the delegates. “His so-called war on terrorism has become the pretext for waging wars of aggression and pushing for fascist measures at home and abroad.”

“America,” the league further said, “has become the No. 1 rogue nation that must be stopped from its madness.”

Forum declaration

An Indian protester (left, on stilts) garbed in colorful costume shows how to send his message by marching for five kilometers while a tribal troupe (right photo) dance to the beat of native drums on the Nimza College grounds, site of the 5-day Asian Social Forum.   
                                                                                                                                            Photos by Romeo Quijano

Echoing ILPS’ statement, the ASF, in its final declaration also at the end of the forum, accused the U.S. government of threatening Asian peoples by its looming war on Iraq. “U.S. political and military interventions in Asia under its so-called War on Terror – particularly in South, South East and East Asia – have brought us to the brink of nuclear war.”

The U.S. war on terror, the ASF also said, has also been used by repressive regimes in Asia to bully their citizens by “undemocratic and draconian laws…This has promoted a false discourse on terrorism and security, while systematically marginalizing and assaulting people’s struggles for survival, livelihood, rights, inclusion and self-determination.”

The ASF called for a resistance to the imminent U.S. armed attack on Iraq, its escalating militarist interventions in Asia as well as its “unilateral declaration of war against any country.”

In forums on “Unmasking the War on Terror,” Bayan Secretary General Teddy Casiño assailed the Bush government’s new wars to save America from its present economic crisis, adding that its military campaigns throughout the world in recent decades always boosted its economy particularly its war industries.

A CAIS representative, on the other hand, revealed that the ascendancy of an ultra-right regime in the United States led by Bush and other hawks has paved the ground for launching wars of aggression in order to consolidate U.S. hegemony in the world. He denounced blatant calls by major think tanks, conservative segments of the press and other influential circles for the American empire to start ruling the world.

The Filipino delegates’ call for a stop to the U.S. war on Iraq was also sounded out in a 5-km march-rally led by the Peoples Movements Encounter on the first day of the ASF.

Anti-globalization

The international movement against neo-liberal globalization took roots in the Philippines during the nationwide mobilization launched by Bayan and other militant organizations against the Asia-Pacific Economic Council (Apec) leaders’ summit in 1996. This was followed by other protests in Seattle in 1999 and in Prague, Quebec, Genoa and Porto Alegre, Brazil where the first World Social Forum (WSF)  was held last year. The WSF is an alternative forum to the World Economic Forum which is attended by bankers, businessmen and politicians.

Founded two years ago in The Netherlands, ILPS groups 230 peoples organizations from 40 countries, namely, Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and the United States. Bulatlat.com

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