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ILPS - HK & Macau statement on Global Day of Action against Imperialist Plunder, Repression and War

The worsening crisis of imperialism is pushing people even deeper into crisis as dislocation, displacement and poverty intensify. At the same time, it is spurring the people of the world to rise up, question the ruling socio-economic and political system, and act towards changing the structures that thrive on oppression and exploitation.

The world needs a change and the change that we want is the demise of imperialism.

Two years after the explosion of the financial crisis that rapidly turned into an economic crisis, imperialists led by the United States are no way near finding a solution to the rut they have put the world in. Their prescription of neoliberal globalization and militarism instead heighten the deterioration in the condition of people in their colonies and semi-colonies; a condition that is now also rapidly spreading among the people in their own country.

Greater plunder, draining off of cheap raw materials and cheap labor of other countries, consolidation of their spoils of war and tightening of their military stranglehold in strategic regions of the world – these are the ways that imperialists, chiefly the US, are using to maintain its global domination at the expense of the working class and other oppressed and exploited classes and sectors.

Hong Kong hosts many of the financial oligarchs and the headquarters of monopoly corporations that rule the world and plunge the people in crisis. Even the people of Hong Kong, especially the working class including the migrant workers are not spared from imperialist attacks and the brunt of the crisis.

Control of the elite remains in the economic, political and social spheres. In the midst of the crisis, the government salvaged the corporations instead of prioritizing the needs of the people. Even in the so-called recovery of the economy, the people are just given mere dole-outs in order to pacify the discontent arising from the rising prices of goods, erosion of real wages, and cutbacks on social services.

The gap between the very rich and the very poor in Hong Kong is widening. Even the much-vaunted middle class of Hong Kong is rapidly dwindling as the economic status of many people cannot keep up with the surging cost of living.

Migrant workers in Hong Kong are now contending with heightened social exclusion and discrimination. From the issue of wage to the working condition and to the general treatment that migrant workers receive, they are relegated to the gutter and disposed of as seen fit. Worse, they are pictured by the government and the elite as job-stealers and as competitors for the dwindling social services in order to drive a wedge between them and the local workers.

Imperialism with its greed for superprofit, plunder of economies, destruction of natural environment, brutal war machinery and exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few is rapidly getting exposed as the root cause of the people’s misery.

The political actions of the people in the US in recent weeks further present the need for the people of world to intensify the struggle against imperialism. Occupy Wall Street is further spurring the people across the US and overseas to challenge imperialist schemes and advance a society that is more just and democratic.

We all want change. We the people shall continue to act to attain the societal changes we need.

No to neoliberal globalization! No to war!
Down with imperialism!
Long live international solidarity!

Signed:

International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) – HK and Macau Chapter
Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS)
Asia Pacific Youth and Students’ Association (ASA)
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
Association of Concerned Filipinos in Hong Kong (ACFIL)
Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Hong Kong (ATKI-HK)
Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Macau (ATKI-Macau)
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) – Hong Kong
Cordillera Alliance in Hong Kong (CORALL-HK)
Filipino Migrant Workers’ Union (FMWU)
Filipino Women Migrants Association FILWOM)
GABRIELA Hong Kong
Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union (IMWU)
Left 21
LIPMI (League of Indonesian Migrant Workers) Hong Kong
Pangasinan Organization for Welfare, Empowerment and Rights (POWER)
PILAR (United Indonesians against Overcharging)
Pinatud a Saleng ti Umili (PSU)
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)

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ILPS CALLS FOR GLOBAL ACTION ON OCTOBER 15 AGAINST IMPERIALIST PLUNDER, REPRESSION AND WAR
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
8 October 2011

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle calls on all its global region committees, national chapters and member-organizations as well as its allies to arouse, organize and mobilize the broad masses of the people for street marches and assemblies at the most prominent public places on the Global Day of Action on the 15th of October.

We urge ILPS-USA and its allies to participate vigorously in the occupy actions at Wall Street and all over the US. It is of great importance to wage resistance in the belly of the beast.

We unite for global change with all possible forces of the people along the anti-imperialist and democratic line. We must initiate the mass actions or participate in those initiated by other forces. We must cooperate and conjoin with a broad range of forces interested in any of the 18 concerns of the ILPS. We must protest and resist imperialist plunder, state repression and wars of aggression and demand the immediate end of these in order to bring about a better life for the people.

We condemn monopoly capitalism and its persistent neoliberal policy of unbridled greed for devastating the social conditions and natural environment and for escalating state terrorism and wars of aggression under various pretexts. Spearheaded by the financial oligarchy, the monopoly bourgeoisie has ruined the lives of the working people and even the middle class in both developed and underdeveloped countries.

The crisis of the world capitalist system has already resulted in a protracted depression comparable to the Great Depression. It is unleashing the forces of fascism and military aggression. It is urgent that we intensify our struggle against imperialism and all reaction (including chauvinism, racism, religious bigotry and war mongering) and for greater freedom, democracy, social justice, full employment and better living conditions, development and world peace.

We salute all the people, organizations and individuals who have waged the anti-imperialist and democratic struggle since a long time ago and in recent times. The current militant mass movements in various continents and countries are inspired by the history of people’s struggle and are driven by the current conditions of extreme exploitation and oppression to fight for the fundamental rights of the people. We are determined to expand and intensify the struggle and to raise it to a new and higher level. ###