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For immediate
Release
10 November 2006
All
Souls’ Day march remembers political martyrs
Vancouver , B.C. – They came from different parts of the world and from
all walks of life. But on November 1, they walked together shoulder to
shoulder on the streets of Vancouver as a show of solidarity in denouncing
the political killings in their homelands.
Led by the local steering committee of the Stop the Killings in the
Philippines campaign, marchers from the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in
the Philippines, progressive Filipino-Canadian organizations, Bus Riders’
Union and Grassroots Women were joined by The Other Campaign from Mexico
and other friends and supporters from the Canadian public as they
commemorated All Souls’ Day – a traditional practice of honoring the dead
in the Philippines and throughout many other countries in the world.
Carrying mock coffins splattered in red paint and photos of more than the
770 victims of extra-judicial killings and over 180 enforced
disappearances in the Philippines since 2001, the protesters marched
through the eastside of Vancouver (an area populated by many working-class
Filipinos and other immigrants) to the Organizing Centre at Broadway and
Fraser where they held a solidarity celebration.
Chanting “From Oaxaca to the Philippines : Stop the Political Killings
Now!” and “A People United will never be defeated,” they were a small but
powerful symbol of peoples’ resistance on the streets of Vancouver the
night after Halloween.
At the solidarity celebration after the march, speakers lambasted
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her silence and inaction
in putting a stop to the killings. Testimonials were given on behalf of
those who died in the name of fighting oppression. Letty Malaggay was
among those who gave a moving testimony on the killing of her cousin
Markus Bangit and friend Alyce Claver, wife of her family physician Dr.
Constancio Claver.
“We must fight he good fight,” said Malaggay. “Because we don’t have the
guns and money like them and we are not criminals like them!”
The government of Mexico came under fire from members of The Other
Campaign who denounced the recent killings in the state of Oaxaca where
federal police stormed and fired on protesters killings a teacher and a
U.S. journalist from Indymedia.
Participants at the solidarity celebration shared a simple meal and
offered touching songs and original poems (see attachment) to honour the
dead as they lit candles vowing not to let the martyrs deaths be in vain.
Present at the gathering were four delegates to the Canadian fact-finding
mission to the Philippines . They will be documenting new cases of human
rights abuses and will be in the country from November 13 to 23 after
which they will present their findings in a cross Canada tour.
Participants also vowed to mobilize for November 16 as part of the
International Day of Action against Trade Union Repression and Political
Killings in the Philippines .
Please see attached photos and poems from the November 1 All Souls' Day
march and solidarity celebration. For more photos, please visit website:
http://www.kalayaancentre.net/assets/images/photos/2006/souls_dayindex.htm
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Please contact Hetty Alcuitas for more information at: 604-215-1103 or
email: bcchrp@kalayaancentre.net |
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Stop the Killings in the
Philippines Campaign
Vancouver Local Steering Committee
All Soul's Day Statement
IN PRAISE OF MARTYRS: STOP THE POLITICAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES
November 1 , 2006
On November 1 in the Philippines, families and communities travel to and
congregate at the graves and burial places of their departed family
members and ancestors to honour and pay tribute to their loved ones that
have passed away.
On November 1 in Vancouver, we as peace- and democracy-loving Canadians
and Filipinos in Canada are also gathering to pay tribute to those who
have passed away. Although we cannot travel to their gravesites to pay
them respects, we are gathering as a community to share their stories,
offer food and words of commemoration as well as taking to the streets to
protest.
We take to the streets to protest because the lives of those whom we
honour today were the lives of patriotic, peace- and freedom-loving
Filipinos who were brutally killed by the U.S.-backed regime of
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Not since the dark days of Martial Law under former dictator Ferdinand
Marcos in the 1970s to 1980s have the Filipino people suffered such
repression, state violence, wanton human rights violations, and
outright fascist attacks.
Since Arroyo came to power in 2001, there have been over 300 forcible
disappearances and attempted political assassinations, and 778 people have
fallen victim to her regime’s all-out war against not only her
government’s critics but also the people in general.
The 778 killed were ordinary peasants, workers, women, youth, students,
priests, church people, and indigenous people from all over the
archipelago. Many of those unjustly killed shared a common aspiration to
see the Philippines free from foreign and feudal exploitation and
oppression. This common vision of freedom propelled them to work
tirelessly organizing in their communities as part of the Filipino
people’s continuing struggle for genuine freedom and democracy.
It was precisely because of their commitment to justice that their lives
were hastily snuffed out by a regime clinging on to political power with
an iron-fist. Since Arroyo admitted to electoral fraud in the last
presidential elections, there has been a growing movement to oust Arroyo
from the presidency not only for her corruption, but also for her
anti-people policies. In a desperate attempt to hang on to her power,
Arroyo has launched an all-out war against so-called “enemies of the
state”. She even continues to stall peace negotiations with the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines, exposing her insincerity to work
towards a just and lasting peace in the country.
Using the pretext of “a war against terror”, Arroyo is escalating her
government’s war against the revolutionary forces of the Communist Party
of the Philippines (CPP) and Muslim rebel groups. But this war is being
waged against civilians, not only armed groups. Just recently, Arroyo
announced her intention to crush the national democratic revolution of the
CPP in three-years.
Only more bloodshed can be expected from such a reactionary statement.
Already, since the start of Arroyo’s counter-insurgency military operation
known as Operation Bantay Laya (Freedom Watch), there has been a
sharp rise in the number of political killings of legal and democratic
social activists and defenders of human rights.
As peace-loving Canadians and Filipinos in Canada we have taken seriously
the Filipino people’s call for support and solidarity during these trying
times. All across Canada, Canadians and immigrant and
migrant Filipinos have been joining together to call for a stop to the
killings and Arroyo’s wanton human rights violations.
As Filipino migrants and immigrants, Arroyo has only helped to deepen the
economic and political crisis in the Philippines that drives millions of
Filipinos abroad in search of survival in foreign
countries. In countries like Canada, where we are the fourth largest
immigrant community, we work in the country’s more dirty, difficult, and
dangerous low-paying jobs such as domestic work. Therefore, we must press
for an immediate end to the killings and for the ouster of the
illegitimate and
fascist President Arroyo.
As Canadians, we hold dear the principles of democracy, human rights, and
social justice. The escalating political killings insults these principles
especially since the Canadian government has only shown complacency about
the state of democracy in the Philippines. Through aid, foreign assistance
and trade, the Canadian government is helping to prop up the fascist
regime of Arroyo. Therefore, we must press the Canadian government
to defend the principles of human rights and democracy by denouncing the
Arroyo regime. We must continue to help raise awareness about the current
situation in the Philippines.
So today, as we commemorate the 778 victims of the Arroyo regime and
condemn their untimely deaths, we also renew our commitment to uphold the
dignity of life. We renew our commitment to hold high the memories of
these martyrs whose blood waters the fields of our liberation. We renew
our commitment to call for justice for the victims of state terrorism and
their families. We renew our commitment to heighten our efforts to build
genuine solidarity with the Filipino people in their
struggle for genuine human rights, freedom, democracy, and a just and
lasting peace.
Stop the Political Killings in the Philippines!
Justice for the victims of state terrorism!
Stop Canadian aid to the repressive Arroyo regime!
Support the Filipino people’s call to oust Philippine President Arroyo!
Long live international solidarity!
Download statement in Word format |
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In
another time and place
In
another time and place, where our names are not the same
But we speak with honesty between us
Unafraid, we face our limitations,
You challenged me to be better than I am.
In another time and place,
things unfamiliar are a daily reality
And familiar things, they become memories.
Where the sun was setting in the west
The moon was rising in the east
For a moment they shared the sky
We rode from Escalante to Sagay
To where family was waiting
To hear stories of where we’ve been,
To ask about our day
Come in and eat, they’ll say
To share a meal, a drink
Share a moment, sometimes awkward
We never could grow more apart
Because we never grew together
Unfamiliar, yet familiar, I was called home
In another time and place,
We are climbing, the winding unpaved road
Bypassed for steep shortcuts, We are climbing
Up Mount Canlaon
We are peasants, turned to workers
To handle cement instead of palay
No longer living off the land, but drilling into it.
In another time and place, we sit
Under banana tress and sing songs of revolution
Talk of foreign intrusion, of growing up in confusion
Came to the conclusion, national democratic is the solution
We were already comrades, united by our movement
And in another time and place,
We are comrades in arms
And in this place, our lives are not our own
But trusted to one another, and dedicated to the masses
In another time and place, I think of all the faces,
Crowded, in my memory, but I could never forget,
When I fell, how you helped,
Provided slippers for my feet
And cover for my head
In another time and place, we face our limitations
You challenge me to be
Better than I am.
By Carlo Sayo
Carlo is a member of the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
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What Does
It Mean When They Try To Turn Our Heroes Into Criminals?
What did I think
When I heard that they locked-up and locked down
Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casińo, Joel Virador, Liza Maza. Rafael Mariano and
Ka Bel
I thought
This World is upside down
And then I thought of
Martin Luther King who they locked up and later killed
Louis Riel who they hunted and hanged
James Connolly shot down by a firing squad
Assata Shakur who they locked up and drove into exile
Ahmed Sadat locked in an Israeli jail
Joe Hill who they killed for his songs
And Jose Marti shot down on the battlefield
REBELS, COMMUNISTS, TERRORISTS
Criminals all in this upside down World
Then I thought of the hundreds, the thousands, the millions who stood
beside them
The ones who’s names will not fill history books,
But who’s courage fills our hearts
The Cordillerans
The Oaxacans
The South Lebanese
The Mohawks
How many criminals before the word begins to change?
But words don’t change
A thing
What does it mean when they try to turn our heroes into criminals?
It means we need to turn the world right side up
(Make that Left Side Up)
So that hope and justice
Can rise to the top
By Aiyanas Ormond
Aiyanas is a member of the Bus Riders’ Union which is part of Vancouver’s
Steering Committee for the Stop the Killings in the Philippines campaign.
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Today I remember
Today I remember
the Philippines,
a place where I was not born,
yet, each time I arrive at the airport,
hot, sweaty, my heart beats faster
because I know I am home.
Today I remember
the Filipino people
who know that when I speak
Tagalog is not my mother tongue,
yet through their never ending patience
we come to understand one another.
Today I remember
the children,
smiling at me with dirt-streaked faces,
their poverty seen so clearly in their
clothes
despite the laughter in their eyes as they
pose for a picture for me.
Today I remember Diosdado Fortuna, a Nestle
strike leader who I met,
once four years ago, before he was killed.
It was through him that I am forever
connected to
the over 770 others who have died under a
fake and fascist president.
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Today I remember asking myself can I too risk
my life for this struggle?
Then I realize
that is not the question.
The real question is
how many more can I organize to join this
struggle?
Today I remember
that I am a part of we
and that we are a part of all
who will answer the call
because they may take our lives
but never our ideas
never our beliefs
never our will to fight
we will continue generation after generation
until our people's victory!
By Monica Urrutia
Monica is a member of the
Philippine Women Centre of B.C.
Carlo and Monica are second
generation Filipino-Canadians who recently returned from exposure and
integration trips to the Philippines |
