Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the Duterte government of the Philippines’ designation of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as a “terrorist organization” and reaffirms our solidarity with the struggle of the peoples of the Philippines for justice and liberation from imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. Duterte has escalated official cooperation of the Philippine government with Israel, acting in line with his service to U.S. imperialism. The use of the “terror” label is routinely used by the Israeli occupation and the U.S. and other imperialist powers as well as in the Philippines to demonize and repress people’s movements for liberation. We know that this designation will never repress the dynamic struggle of the Filipino people for justice and true liberation. From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the U.S./imperialist war machine!
We are republishing below this important statement from the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle:
Just and lasting peace, no to US-Duterte state terrorism!
We, Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle, condemn in the strongest possible terms the designation of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as terrorist by the so-called ‘Anti-terrorism Council’ (ATC) of the Duterte government.
The listing of the NDFP as a terrorist organization is an attack to the Filipino people and their just struggle for genuine social change and national liberation. It also serves as a grave distortion of reality, and is part of the US-backed Duterte regime’s maneuver to hide the fact that he is the actual terrorist perpetrating vicious human rights violations against the Filipino people.
Duterte has proven himself to be a loyal puppet to US imperialism by continually patronaging the ‘US war on terror’ exported to the country to desperately delegitimize the Filipino people’s struggles and befuddle the term terrorism. The Duterte regime has used this as pretext to demonize and discredit the Filipino people’s aspirations for national liberation and genuine social change; justify the killings, illegal arrest and detention, filing of trumped up charges and other attacks against thousands of Filipinos.
Even without the listing, numerous NDFP peace consultants have been killed, proving that the US-Duterte regime is disinterested in the resolution of the root causes of armed conflict through the peace negotiations. Instead it is taking the path of facism and state terrorism to desperately hold onto power and repress and suppress the Filipino people.
We fully agree with Julieta de Lima, Interim Chairperson of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, that: “The ATC Resolution No. 21 designating the NDFP as a terrorist organization, is an anti-peace act.” Thus, it is but just to condemn the listing of the NDFP and Duterte’s fascist rule.
Our Calls
We call upon the international community to join us in our demand to pursue genuine peace, and to end state terroristic repression. Concretely, we call upon everyone who stand in support of the Filipino people’s struggle for people’s rights, social justice and national democracy to:
- Call for an end to all forms of state terroristic repression by the US-Duterte regime.
- Demand the immediate de-listing of the CPP, NPA and NDFP and all other progressive individuals and forces that were listed because of their supposed links to either of the entities as part of the state terroristic repression.
- Demand and put pressure to the Duterte government to seriously and genuinely heed to the people’s demand for just and lasting peace by laying down the conditions for the resumption of peace talks with the NDFP to address the root causes of the armed conflict.
Our Actions
We, as part of the international community that stand in support of the Filipino people’s rights, cannot be silent or docile to this onslaught of terroristic repression by the US-Duterte regime. We will:
- Conduct demonstrations and mobilization in our countries to show our support to the Filipino people in struggle and call for “Just and lasting peace, no to US-Duterte state terrorism!”
- Conduct a globally coordinated demonstration on the 26th of August to register the international community’s support for genuine peace in the Philippines.
- Lobby our own governments and parliaments to call on the Duterte government to heed the people’s demands for genuine peace through peace talks.
- Gather the broadest support for the Filipino people’s struggle against Duterte’s fascist rule.
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#JustAndLastingPeace
#USDuterte
#NoToStateTerrorism
#DuterteTerrorist
#DefendPeoplesRights
#EndUSImperialism
#InternationalSolidarity
#SupportTheFilipinoPeopleInStruggle
