Philippines Activists Send Solidarity Message to the Waihopai Ploughshares
GABRIELA Alliance of Women in the Philippines sends our solidarity to
the people of Aotearoa who are calling for justice and asserting
peace. We commend the Waihopai Ploughshares activists whose clever
actions disrupted the operations of a spy installation of the United
States of America, the number one terrorist of the world. It is the
right of the Aotearoans to make sure that their land and their taxes
are not used to wage war against countries or peoples asserting their
rights to independence and sovereignty. It is the right of every
citizen of the world to defend his/her country's patrimony and
sovereignty against any kind of foreign intervention. It is the right
of the Aotearoans and the people of the world to assert and defend
justice and peace.
As we mark the 100th year declaration of the International Working
Women's Day, the Filipino women salute all the women all over the
world who courageously defend and continue to fight any kind of
imperialist intervention. Women, especially from the working class,
have suffered enough economic, political and cultural plunder in the
hands of imperialists. Women today join hands with people's movements,
and in some parts of the world lead, the fight to topple imperialism.
Eighteen years ago, women joined the thousands of Filipino people in
the victorious fight to dismantle the US military bases in the
Philippines. GABRIELA in particular denounced the exploitation and
abuses of Filipino women and children committed by US servicemen.
Through the years, the number of women marching the streets grew and
the voices of women reverberated with the demand “U.S troops out now!”
Through steadfast, unrelenting and militant actions, the Filipino
people were able to pressure the Philippine Senate to reject the
extension of the US-RP Military Bases Agreement.
Yet, we are fully aware that the United States government, to protect
its economic and political interests in the Philippines and in Asia,
would do everything to return to the Philippines. Thus came the US-RP
Visiting Forces Agreement which was signed in 1998. In the pretext of
doing military exercises and humanitarian missions, US military
personnel are now imbedded in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and
participate directly in military operations in Mindanao and other
parts of the country in blatant violation of our Constitution.
Once again, we saw the rise of prostitution in areas where there are
Balikatan exercises. Abuses against Filipinos were committed by US
servicemen, and as in tha past, remain unresolved. The most
controversial being the case of Nicole, a young woman who was raped in
November 2005 by US military personnel participating in the Balikatan
exercises. The Philippine government lead by President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, a shameless US puppet, not only failed to fight for
justice for Nicole but, far worse, it connived with the US government.
After a guilty sentence was handed by the lowe court to the rapist US
soldier Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, the Philippine Department of
Foreign Affairs secretly transferred Smith from its detention in
Makati City to the United States Embassy. Given the character of the
Philippine government, it was not unexpected that it was able to
manipulate the Court of Appeals to reverse the local court's guilty
verdict and acquit Smith in 2009.
Despite this, for GABRIELA and all the women who called for justice,
the fight was victory in itself. The Subic rape was the first legal
case of abuse against an American soldier that was filed and heard in
a Philippine court. The Subic Rape went beyond Nicole and her family's
quest for justice nor was it just an issue for Filipino women who have
long struggled against rape. It had become an issue for the Filipino
people and all the others who wage a struggle against US imperialism,
militarism and sexual violence.
GABRIELA's experience shows that the unity of women together with the
militant fight of the people, social justice will prevail. Thus, we
join all the women and the peoples of the world in the fight to end
the rule of imperialism, to end wars of aggression, to end economic
intervention and asserting freedom from imperialist domination.
Long live international solidarity!
Down with imperialism!
GABRIELA Philippines
35 Sct. Delgado St, Brgy. Laging Handa
Quezon City, 1103 Philippines
TeleFax: (632) 374 44 23
E-mail: gabwomen@yahoo.com
GABRIELA is a grassroots-based alliance of more than 200 women's
organizations, institutions, desks and programs in the Philippines. We
seek to wage a struggle for the liberation of women and the rest of
our people.
