www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, NOVEMBER 2003Asian-Americans protest Bush visit to ManilaSan Francisco--Seventy Asian Americans, led by Filipinos for Global Justice Not War, marched to and picketed the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco on Oct. 17 to protest George W. Bush’s Oct. 18 meeting with Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Suspecting there were plans not only to deploy Philippines troops to Iraq but also to expand U.S. military presence in the land of their roots, Filipino youth carried signs bearing exhortations like, “Kalayaan Ipag Laban!” (Fight For Freedom) and “Get The Hell Off Our Islands!” as they chanted, “Move, Bush, get out the way, get out the way, Bush, get out the way!” During the rally at Powell and Market Streets before the march, a young man representing the League of Filipino Students, based in San Francisco State University, spoke about the separation between the people and these two presidents. He pointed out that neither were elected (Arroyo was installed by government officials after scandal forced Joseph Estrada out), and that both come from the wealthiest 5% of their countries. The class divide is showing its destructive consequences on the ground in Manila. According to an Oct. 17 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE article houses in shantytowns along Bush’s tour route have been razed by government bulldozers. A middle-aged father of three, whose house was leveled merely because it was visible from the building where Bush is to address the Philippine Congress, said, “Nobody from the outside is going to believe this—that people had their homes demolished for so short a visit by this guy, Bush.” Atley Chock of the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition Against War sees such acts as “no different than what is going on in other Asian countries such as Japan and India where their governments have so readily bought into American imperialism.” He quoted Edward Said’s comment on Arab leaders giving in to U.S. political pressure: “This is a truly colossal failure of nerve, dignity and self-solidarity.” I was reminded of a passage in THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH where Frantz Fanon said of the educated classes that “the lack of practical links between them and the mass of the people, their laziness, and, let it be said, their cowardice at the decisive moment of the struggle will give rise to tragic mishaps.” --David Mizuno’Oto |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
