The following appeal for May 1 to be an international day of action against the Unites States government's bogus "war on terrorism" and in opposition to the military intervention in Mindanao was issued by the Solidarity of Filipino Workers (BMP) trade union federation. It has been slightly abridged.
US troops have now landed in the Philippines. They are back after the Filipino people, with the help of the international solidarity movement, successfully got rid of the US military bases in 1991.
Under the pretext of hunting down global terrorists, the United States is trying to secure hegemony in East Asia. That is the purpose of the Balikatan 2002 military "exercises".
Along with the "war against terrorism", another war is being waged by big corporate interests: a war against the jobs, wages and living conditions of workers.
We are extremely suspicious when the Philippines regime, whose track record is anti-worker, tells us that US intervention benefits the interests of working people in this country. It certainly does not benefit the workers and the poor in Mindanao, who are the refugees and casualties of this war.
On the other hand, this campaign against "terrorism" is aimed at the working-class movement. The real targets are not the armed bandits of the Abu Sayyaf group, but the organised forces of the working class and progressive movement, which still remains intact, organised and one of the strongest in the region.
The BMP is calling on the workers' movement to campaign all-out against the war drive of Bush, Blair and the governments that support them, like in the Philippines.
We are calling for May 1 to be declared an international day of action against the war and in support of the demand that US troops be pulled out of the Philippines immediately.
Email statements of support to the BMP at <bmp_national@edsamail.com.ph>. Organise protest actions against the presence of US troops in the Philippines. Move resolutions endorsing the anti-war campaign in your unions or organisations.
Call on the unions that you influence to condemn US military intervention in the Philippines.
From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.
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