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INTIFADA WORLDWIDE UNTIL RETURN!

May 16, 2018

The world should tremble at the sight of the innocent blood being shed on Palestinian soil.

More than half a century ago, David Ben Gurion, executive head of the World Zionist Organization proclaimed the Declaration of the Establishment of Israel on May 14, 1948. The following day sparks the beginning of Nakbah or the catastrophe for the Palestinian people as 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or have been displaced from their villages.

On the eve of the 70th commemoration of Nakbah, the imperialist state of America under the Trump regime moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, stating that Jerusalem is the capital of the Zionist state of Israel. Despite the international condemnation, representatives from 32 countries including the Philippines attended the inauguration. Protest on different cities sparked that day. Palestinians and supporters have been arrested but none would have anticipated the cold blood murders that took place in Gaza.

Gaza is the biggest open-air prison in the entire world with it’s 2 million residents isolated from the rest of Palestine, deprived of their fundamental right to electricity, water, food, and education. Gaza had enough of 70 years of illegal settlers killing generation after generation of Palestinians.

From al-Jalil (Galilee) to Ar’ arat an-Naqab, nationwide strikes organized by the Palestinians were held to oppose Israeli’s announcement to expropriate thousands of acres of lands. Every year since March 30, 1976, Palestinians commemorate the Land Day with protests actions.

Gazans marked the 42nd commemoration of Land Day with protests along the armistice line between Gaza and Israel. Tires were burnt and rocks were thrown against the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) while they were being shot with live bullets and droned with gas bombs and tear gas and yet more and more Palestinians joined the protest of the Great Return March that cultivated yesterday, May 15, 2018.

Trump was right, Israel created another history for killing 65 Palestinians in Gaza and wounding at least 3000. This number will continue to increase as long as the Zionist state of Israel exists. Palestinians have long respected Israel’s desire to live alongside them but Israel brought nothing but injustice and impunity to the Palestinians.

We, in Anakbayan-Europe strongly condemn the mass killings of the Palestinians not just of the recent event but since the establishment of the Zionist state. We recognize Palestinian right to resist. The recent even in Gaza is not an act of terrorism, what kind of terrorist organization will use slingshots and stones? Wooden sticks or tennis rackets and scrap metals to resist the bullets and gas bombs of one of the world’s most advanced military troops, the IDF? What act of terrorism did the 8-month old child commit for her to die from suffocation? The real terrorists are the ones in the White House, the ones in the Knesset and Malacañang. The real terrorists are the puppet regimes they have long installed to oppress the sovereign nations all because of land.

The form of oppression that the Palestinians are facing might be different than the monster we grew familiar with back home, but we recognize the face of the enemy even from afar. It matters not if it wears the face of religious war quoting from the old testament, the enemy of the Palestinians and Filipinos are the same and it is the imperialist state of the US, the Zionist Israel, the Duterte regime and its allies. To end all the oppression the only solution there is for us is a revolution. Be it in the form of freedom fighters or guerrillas in the countryside, it has become the duty of our generation to participate in the struggle for national liberation, for the ruling class will not give our freedom in peace. They will not hesitate to shed more blood and plunder more land. It is therefore not surprising the more and more people especially youth are joining the struggle. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Zionist state of Israel for its decades-long ethnic cleansing against the people of Palestine!

We as Filipinos have known what is it like to have our lands stolen. From Spanish colonization to US imperialism, there is no real independence for the Filipino people. We have come to know the demolition of our indigenous people’s community. The Moros in Mindanao are under siege and their villages being bombarded as well as their schools. Urban poor communities in the cities are being confronted by demolitions disguised as rehabilitation. We know the face of development aggression cause by the foreign powers. Like the Palestinian farmers, ours has no land to till. Like the olive trees of the Palestinian families, our crops are being taken by the landlords.

The Great Return March will start the prairie fire not just for the rest of Palestine but for all the people and nations that have fallen victim to imperialist war. The homeless, the migrants and refugees, the displaced shall return and we shall take back what is rightfully ours! Our enemies will do everything to suppress the uprising for it fears the victory of the people. But together through the leadership of the working class we will march forward to victory!

The young and the old will never forget the names of the martyrs, we will say the names of the martyrs with pride and honor. The war is cruel but the reason behind the war behind it is much more cruel, for it is a war against the rich and the poor. It is a war of capital. But the war that the people of Palestine and Philippines is waging is a just one for it will liberate all the oppressed nations and peoples of the world, it is a people’s war for the people’s peace!

We give the highest honor to the martyrs of Palestine. The youth and student leaders who selflessly stood in the front line with only rocks and slingshots to defend their people and reclaim their land with their lives. You do not die in vain, the day will come when your olive trees will bloom again and the harvest will be yours. Your children and the children of your children will return to your ancestral homes and villages and Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine again. You will no longer have to live in the cold refugee camps. We will return.

We urge the international community to put pressure on your government. Boycott! Divest! Sanction! Join mass protests and expose the reality that is happening in Palestine.

Palestine! Your freedom is the freedom for us all!

From the river Jordan to the Mediterranean sea, Palestine shall be free!
From Palestine to the Philippines stop the US war machine!
Boycott Israel!
Worldwide intifada until return!

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On the May 1st 2018 International Workers’ Day: Migrants and workers of the world unite!

April 30,2018

On the May 1st 2018 International Workers’ Day: Migrants and workers of the world unite!

As the global economic crisis boils up, the ruling powers are aggressively bolstering the oppressive social order that afflicts the majority of the masses. US imperialism is now more than ever eager to launch wars of aggression for the sake of sustaining its war-based economy at the behest of global monopoly capitalists and the warmongering monsters of the military industrial complex. Wherever it goes, it wreaks havoc on its path.

In the Philippines, the puppet US-Duterte regime finds pleasure in its harlotry with imperialist rivals China and the United States. We have seen how death and destruction has engulfed the city of Marawi for the sake of expanding EDCA-compliant military bases that will host more American troops while our territorial waters on the West Philippine Sea are now teeming with artificial islands guarded by Chinese military forces.

These devastating imperialist conquests are all attributable to monopoly capitalism and its ravenous greed salivating after the extraction and exploitation of our natural resources while subjecting the Filipino people to all sorts of neoliberal attacks. Boozed in his puppetry, Duterte still had the nerve to implore for patriotism from OFWs in Kuwait by urging them to come back, only to retract it later by pointing to China as their next destination.

Approaching his second year in office, the US-Duterte regime is clearly placing the interests of big corporations above the rights and welfare of the working class by legitimizing contractualization, flexible working schemes, union-busting and the perpetuation of regional wage boards. Moreover, unemployment, landlessness and privatization of public services inflict more pain and agony to our poor farmers and workers. Adding insult to injury, this year’s imposition of Duterte’s TRAIN law caused prices of basic commodities to spike rapidly. We can really be certain that under these conditions, millions more of our countrymen will leave the country to look for greener pastures abroad. Desperation has even caused many to end up working in war-torn and hostile countries. Duterte’s attitude on the issue of the OFWs in Kuwait and the case of MJ Veloso displays his lack of a clear and comprehensive program to resolve the long-standing problem of the migrant workers.

All over the Philippines, relentless killings and bombings have gripped communities and displaced hundreds of thousands. A few days ago, armed security ruffians opened fire at protesting farmers in Nueva Ecija. In Cagayan Valley, Father Mark Ventura was gunned down before his congregants just after officiating over his Sunday mass. The government’s fake war on drugs is claiming more and more lives in poor communities while big drug-lords are absolved of their crimes.

There is no denying that US-Duterte is waging war against the people by unleashing State-terror to establish his Fascist dictatorship. But the growing intensity of our unwavering resistance continues to frustrate his vicious ambitions. No amount of state-led repression or intimidation will ever immunize Duterte from the waxing outrage of the struggling Filipino masses. We rest in our strong faith that workers in unity with the farmers and other patriotic sectors will emerge victorious in the battle against Fascism and Imperialism.

The tempest still rages but let us keep pressing on in demanding for genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization to decisively address the roots of forced migration and underdevelopment in our country. As we continually realize our collective strength by struggling for the attainment of justice and national democracy, let us take inspiration from the working men and women of ages past who braved all hardships and persecutions when they fought unjust working schemes that deprived them of their rights and benefits.

The International Workers’ Day is the day when we glorify and honor all workers who struggle to build a just new world where the current oppressive order will finally be abolished and thrown into the dustbin of history. Migrante International salutes all progressive Filipino workers in their strong resolve to build a strong labor movement in the country for the liberation of the entire working class not only in the Philippines but in the entire world.

Migrants and workers of the world unite!

We have nothing to lose but our chains!

Long live the labor movement!

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Impact of Cleaning Products on Women’s Lungs as Damaging as 20-a-Day Cigarette Habit: Study

Impact of Cleaning Products on Women’s Lungs as Damaging as 20-a-Day Cigarette Habit: Study

By Tom Porter On 2/18/18

Regular use of cleaning sprays can have as much of an impact on health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, according to a new study.

Scientists at Norway’s University of Bergen tracked 6,000 people, with an average age of 34 at the time of enrollment in the study, who used the cleaning products over a period of two decades, according to the research published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

They found that lung function decline in women who regularly used the products, such as those who worked as cleaners, was equivalent over the period to those with a 20-cigarette daily smoking habit.

“While the short-term effects of cleaning chemicals on asthma are becoming increasingly well documented, we lack knowledge of the long-term impact,” said Dr. Cecile Svanes, a professor at the University of Bergen in Norway and senior author of the study.

“We feared that such chemicals, by steadily causing a little damage to the airways day after day, year after year, might accelerate the rate of lung function decline that occurs with age,” Svanes said.

The scientists advised avoiding the products, and instead using microfiber cloths and water.

They then examined the results alongside a questionnaire in which participants had been asked about the frequency of their use of cleaning products.

According to the study, women who used the cleaning products regularly had a markedly decreased lung capacity.

They also found increased rates of asthma among women who used the products regularly.

The products seemed to affect the lung capacity of women who took part in the study more than men, though the scientists noted the number of male participants was small compared with the number of female participants.

“When you think of inhaling small particles from cleaning agents that are meant for cleaning the floor and not your lungs, maybe it is not so surprising after all,” said lead study author Øistein Svanes, a doctoral student.

The experts attribute the decline in lung function to the damage that cleaning agents cause to the mucous membranes lining the airways, resulting over time in persistent changes.

The results follow a study by French scientists in September 2017 that found nurses who used disinfectants to clean surfaces at least once a week had a 24 percent to 32 percent increased risk of developing lung disease.

However, one company claims to have developed a spray that kills grime and lowers air pollution, Newsweek reported in 2014. Pureti claims its spray can transform any surface into a self-cleaning dynamo that kills grime and eats up pollutants.

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Defend Academic Freedom! Defend De Verrekijker!

March 15, 2018

The series of unfortunate events

While others sleep, some show support through giving blankets and food to those who stay at De Verrekijker (DV) to defend academic freedom. The women against imperialism event held at DV last February 27 sparked intrigue and series of accusation against DV collective and the organizers of the said event, calling the speaker a terrorist and threat to the whole university.

Students, youth and young professionals both from inside and outside the university have shown solidarity with DV by sleeping inside the autonomous space. DV has huisvrede, legal rights over access and occupation and space. Eviction is illegal without an order from the judge. As early as February 28, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) issued an eviction notice to the collective.

On the 14th of March, 2018, DV received another eviction notice from the university lawyer to vacate the DV by April 3, disregarding the request of DV to have an open dialogue with the VU management.

‘DV from now on is closed!’ is what the security told one of the DV members when the said member saw four security guards and maintenance in front of DV by 8:45 am of March 15 and forbid anyone from going inside. The maintenance was seen tearing down the locks and have cut down the electricity. The space has the status of autonomous and is being maintained by students.

Two more DV members arrived by 10 am and have been blocked by the security guards resulting to physical assault. These are security guards of the university and not police, the action committed is illegal and a clear violation to the rights of the DV members. Two university professors were also physically assaulted when they came to show solidarity. Once the door of DV was opened, the two DV members and two professors followed the security guards and maintenance inside. The guards was forcing the four to leave the place and one of the university professors was threatened with a screwdriver on the face. By 10:45, the security guards and maintenance left the place.

Defend Academic Freedom!

The paradox of freedom is evident at (VU) as the fight to defend academic freedom intensifies.

The limitation of academic freedom falls under the tolerance and policies of the university’s stakeholders. Academy has no freedom in the times of capitalism, what it has is a control of information flowing from professors to the students, so that our generation would turn into technocrats; heirs to the oppressive system and make believe freedom. Education, from basic to university level is a business and the citizens are the commodity and machinery to the oppression.

To defend De Verrekijker is to defend academic freedom, not only within the walls of the university but most importantly outside. Academic freedom is freedom of speech, it is a quest and search for truth not only in the letters of the books or inside the university. Not only within the university approved lesson plans but most importantly within the real struggle of the people.

Academic freedom traverse the four suffocating classroom walls; in practice, in openness and acceptance that there is a global socio-political struggle, will we ensure that our youth and students will enable to develop morally and intellectually to serve the people and bring change to the next generation. Academic freedom is an exchange in opinion, researches, collective discussion and dissemination of information. Therefore, it is needless to say that the role of DV within the premises of VU, a neoliberal institution is crucial. DV’s openness and acceptance to progressive ideas is what mirrors the characteristics of the youth, it is the embodiment of academic freedom for it allows the ideas to flow disregarding the religion, race and gender. DV embodies the freedom of thought and expression.

Defend academic freedom! The fight of DV collective is not an isolated case and once it is victorious, it will not only be hailed in the Netherlands. It will start a spark amongst the united youth and academes that academic freedom is free from the scrutiny of the stakeholders and repression of university, free from the intimidation of the authorities. Academic freedom should be boundless especially if it serves for the purpose of changing the oppressive system.

The eviction notice issued by the university shows where it clearly stands; not with it’s students and academes but with it’s stakeholders. Not with the academic freedom that the university should nevertheless be advocate of. It is clear that the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam fears the progressive thinking youth and students. They fear the disturbance in power and political opinion inside and outside the academe.

We call on all the youth, students, professors and young professional to join the fight of De Verrekijker and defend academic freedom. The decision of VU to evict DV is a violation the freedom of thought and expression of the academes and youth.

Academic freedom is only present if it serves the ruling class.

Defend Academic Freedom!

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Lumad school mocks Duterte’s offer of UP slots as new evacuation reported

Lumad school mocks Duterte’s offer of UP slots as new evacuation reported

February 3, 2018

MANILA, Philippines — An award-winning lumad school in Surigao del Sur poked fun at President Rodrigo Duterte’s “offer” to kick out activists from the University of the Philippines and give their slots to indigenous youth even as an advocate group reported fresh evacuations of tribal families in the Mindanao province.

Speaking at an indigenous peoples’ forum at the headquarters of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, Duterte dissed UP students who staged a walkout to call for his ouster and dared them to quit so he could give their slots to lumad youth.

“Kamong dili mang-iskwela, hawa mo diha kay dad-on ko nang mga nitibong bright ngari. Mao’y ipabutang nako diha. Daghang Pilipino nga gusto’g edukasyon nga gwapo (Those who do not want to go to school anymore, you get out because I will bring these intelligent lumads. I will put them there. There are many Filipinos who want good education),” Duterte said.

Responding to this, the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, or ALCADEV, tweeted: “First you told us you’d bomb our schools. And now you’re telling us you want quality education for us?! We’ve already established an education system relevant to our needs and our culture. If you want quality educ for us, pull out your military troops in our areas!”

Two images were attached to the tweet, one quoting Duterte after his second state of the nation address last year, when he threatened to have the military bomb lumad schools, the second quoting him on his offer of UP slots.

Another tweet said: “To every UP student who walked out from their classes to join us in our struggles, we express our heartfelt gratitude to you. You have already given us your slots when you welcomed us in your campus so many times! Padayon, pag-asa ng bayan (Onward, hope of the nation)!”

For the past few years, UP Diliman has hosted the annual “Manilakbayan” of lumad and peasants from Mindanao who journey to the capital to highlight their plight, mainly about militarization and the encroachment of extractive industries in their ancestral lands, and to demand relief from government.

In his recent speech in Davao, Duterte told the lumad to be ready to relocate and that he would choose investors to be granted access to their ancestral lands.

The resistance of may indigenous communities to mining, logging and large agricultural plantations has long been a source of conflict, helping fuel the communist insurgency in Mindanao and accusations of massive human rights abuses by state forces and militias.

ALCADEV itself, which the military has openly accused of espousing support for communist rebels, has often been targeted for violence or harassment of its students and staff. In September 2015, a military-backed militia murdered the school’s executive director, Emerito Samarca, and executed lumad leaders, Dionel Campos and Datu Juvello Sinzo in front of hundreds of tribesfolk, including children, as a nearby Army unit looked on.

The killings triggered the evacuation of tens of thousands of lumad from the Surigao del Sur hinterlands.

Although Duterte had earlier boasted of being an advocate of lumad rights, lately, after he scrapped peace negotiations with the communists, he has taken to accusing indigenous people of sympathy for the rebels and openly threatened hem.

Late this week, the group “Friends of the Lumad in Caraga” issued a statement decrying “a series of human rights violations” that dove 161 Surigao del Sur lumad families, or 758 individuals, from 12 communities in Lianga and San Austin towns to flee their homes on January 29, “the third time since July 2017.”

The evacuees have sought shelter at the community in Kilomeer 9, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, the group said.

“The past weeks had been terrifying for the lumad as the military were in their farms since January 8 and have been directly harassing them and threatening their lives, making it difficult for them to tend their farms and earn a living,” the statement said, adding that “at least 10 cases of threat, harassment and intimidation have been recorded.”

The statement said several residents on their way to their farms or homes “were interrogated at gunpoint and held by the soldiers,” who accused them of being members or supporters of the New People’s Army, taking pictures and listing down their names, and threatening them with retaliation of the rebels attacked.

The lumad organization Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga said eight Army battalions have been deployed to the Caraga region, three of these to Surigao del Sur, operating mainly in indigenous people’s and peasant communities, allegedly “so that they can eliminate opposition against the entry, operation and expansion of mining companies and plantations.” KASALO Caraga said in their statement.

The Andap Valley Complex, where the community hosting ALCADEV is located, contains rich deposits of coal which have long been eyed by mining companies.

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Anakbayan decries charges filed vs youth leaders

http://www.anakbayan.org/anakbayan-decries-charges-filed-vs-youth-leaders/

February 1, 2018

Youth group Anakbayan strongly condemns the filing of charges against its national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo, secretary general Einstein Recedes, and other progressive leaders over their alleged hand in inciting violence during the Nov. 13 anti-Trump protest in line with the ASEAN Summit last year.

On January 30, the Manila Office of the City Prosecutor issued a subpoena against Crisostomo, Recedes, Rep. Carlos Zarate and Teddy Casino of Bayan Muna, and Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), over charges of direct assault with physical injury, resistance and disobedience to a person in authority, and violation of Public Assembly Act of 1985.

Undoubtedly, this is Duterte’s crackdown in action. The subpoena came just days after the deranged president threatened that he will go after legal and progressive organizations deemed as “communist legal fronts” and “enemies of the state.” It is meant to harass the youth leaders in lieu of massive walkout protests against the Duterte government scheduled on Feb. 1 and 23.

After being exposed as a complete US lackey during the ASEAN protests, he is now using legal institutions to pursue staunch critics and prevent them from further exposing the US-Duterte regime’s corrupt and fascist ways. This calibrated attack affirms Duterte’s subservience to the whims of US, which has been further cemented following Trump’s visit.

Anakbayan firmly stands that the protest is rightfully justified. For over a century, US imperialism has plundered our natural resources and kept our economy backward, and it has lorded over virtually all aspects of our country’s affairs. It is therefore completely rational to assail the US-Duterte regime’s anti-people policies and hold it accountable for its atrocities against the Filipino people.

By intimidating and harassing progressive leaders, the fascist regime is unwittingly catalyzing the upsurge of the student movement. As such, the US-Duterte regime can only expect more youth and students to take to the streets in droves to frustrate his ascent to absolute political power.

The youth has said it many times, but we will not get tired of reiterating this: No amount of intimidation and harassment can diminish our revolutionary fervor. If anything, these attacks only firm up our resolution to carry on with the fight against tyranny and, ultimately, for the liberation of the Filipino people from the shackles of a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society

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Petition: Free Mary Jane Veloso!

Most of the Filipinos try their chance for a better life abroad and Mary Jane Veloso is no different. Coming from a poor family, Mary Jane grabbed the chance to work as a domestic worker in Malaysia upon the recruitment of his god-sister, Kristina “Tin-tin” Sergio.

Tin-tin bought her clothes and personal items including a suitcase as a “gift”. The kind gesture of her supposedly trusted friend put her in a deathrow in Indonesia upon the discovery of heroine in the linen of her suitcase.

We believe that Mary Jane Veloso is a victim of human trafficking.

We believe that if not for the Labour Export Policy (LEP) that sends millions of Filipinos abroad Mary Jane would not leave. We believe that without the US imperialist dominating the Philippines, dissolving our natural economy of self-sufficiency, Philippines will have its own national industry and peasants, like the family of Mary Jane Veloso will not have to slave for the landlords. We Filipinos, will not have to leave in mass.

Let Mary Jane Speak The Truth! Allow Her to Testify Against her Traffickers! #SaveMaryJane

We, the undersigned, concerned citizens of the Philippines and supporters from around the world, stand in solidarity with trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso in her appeal to be allowed to testify against her traffickers. We want Mary Jane to be given the chance to speak the truth once and for all.

On December 13, 2017, the Philippine Court of Appeals ordered the trial court judge handling Mary Jane’s case not to take her testimony in Indonesia. In its 18-page decision, the appellate court explained their belief that having Mary Jane’s testimony taken via a written deposition inside her prison cell would prejudice the rights of Sergio and Lacanilao to confront her and scrutinize her testimony face-to-face.

We find this recent decision unfair. In recognizing the rights of the accused, the authorities should put into primary consideration the right of the victim who continuously suffers and will inevitably suffer worse and more irreversible damage from the effects of the crimes committed against her. It is a big stumbling block on Mary Jane’s pursuit to prove her innocence. It restrains her sole opportunity to testify in court to tell the events that led to her ordeal.

Mary Jane is the principal complainant in the trafficking case against Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, the live-in couple who recruited her supposedly for work in Malaysia but brought her to Indonesia instead. Evidence so far presented in Philippine courts established that, among others, Sergio and Lacanilao have no license to recruit anyone for employment abroad. It is also established that they asked and was paid by the Velosos for Mary Jane’s trip and the job offer. Sergio’s records also showed that she has travelled very often to Asian countries several years prior.

Deposition in Indonesia jail, therefore, is the only available, allowable and practicable mode to officially get Mary Jane’s testimony as she is in in jail on death row.

Hence, we once again unite and amplify our voices for Mary Jane. We are calling on the Philippine Court of Appeals and other judicial and political authorities to allow her to testify in Indonesia. We are urging President Duterte to do everything in his power to let Mary Jane speak the truth. Through this, we are one step closer in our quest to finally #SaveMaryJane and bring her home.

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Free education now: Anakbayan lauds UP students for tactical victory

http://www.anakbayan.org/free-education-now-anakbayan-lauds-up-students-for-tactical-victory-warns-up-admin-against-retracting-decision-to-stop-tuition-collection/

Warns UP admin against retracting decision to stop tuition collection

Youth group Anakbayan lauds the students of the University of the Philippines for pushing the university administration to stop tuition and other fees collection in UP Diliman.

This tactical victory is ultimately a product of the students’ long history collective action and unwavering commitment to uphold the Filipino youth and people’s right to education.

In the past days, iskolars ng bayan walked out of their midterm classes in their hundreds in spite of the break in regular classes.

UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan announced last night to a mass of students still gathered in protest at the Quezon Hall after a day-long protest that no tuition and miscellaneous fees shall be collected from UP Diliman students this coming enrolment.

“There will be no tuition collection until government is clear about their plan. They are not clear yet as to how much subsidy there will be: partial or complete, and who will be eligible. Until they clarify we will not collect any amount from students,” said Chancellor Tan.

The UP Presidential Advisory Council has also reportedly recommended the implementation of a no tuition collection policy for the whole UP system.

We call on iskolars ng bayan to not let up the pressure on the UP administration lest it retracts UP Diliman’s decision to stop tuition collection. We warn of massive protests, walkouts, student strikes, barricades, and campus occupations should such treachery takes place.

Whether this measure will push through is now up to the intensified mass struggles of iskolars ng bayan, in concert with the rest of the UP community and the Filipino, to defend this tactical gain.

Free tuition implementation in UP should also serve as a final call for the immediate junking of the deceptive socialized tuition system in UP. This scam has resulted in tuition rates to increase from P40 per unit in 1989 to the current base tuition of P1,500 per unit, which has made UP gravely inaccessible to the poor majority.

The struggle against neoliberal attacks on education that has intensified UP’s role as a privatized profit-making institution and as a producer of cheap semi-skilled and skilled labor for export continues.

Nevertheless, this is one more step towards achieving a truly nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education. Its full attainment lies in the struggle to transform a rotten ruling system that denies the right to education.

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URGENT APPEAL FOR ACTION: Military operations in Lianga, Surigao del Sur displace Lumad community, less than a year after returning home

From Tinay Palabay of KARAPATAN

Dear friends,

Military elements in full combat gear conducted operations in nine (9) communities in the mountain areas of Lianga, San Miguel and San Agustin in Surigao del Sur since July 2, 2017. These communities have recently just returned home in September 2016, after spending a year in an evacuation center in Tandag City. Residents witnessed the brutal killing of their leaders on September 1, 2015, which prompted their evacuation. Now, amid martial law and continuing militarization, these indigenous communities are again threatened by military operations.

Join us in condemning the renewed military operations, threats and harassment in indigenous communities. Let us support the demand to junk the Duterte administration’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, as well as the immediate lifting of martial law in Mindanao.

BACKGROUND OF THE INCIDENT:

On September 1, 2015, MAPASU (Malahutayong Pagkigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod) chairperson Dionel Campos and Kiwagan Datu Juvello Sinzo were brutally killed in front of more than 200 residents of Km. 16 and Han-ayan, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Residents, teachers, and students were forcibly gathered by composite elements of the 75th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA) and paramilitary group Magahat/Bagani in Km. 16 to witness the execution of their leaders. After killing Campos and Sinzo, paramilitary forces threatened the entire community, saying they will all be massacred if they do not leave. After the military and paramilitary elements left, the dead body of ALCADEV (Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development) executive director Emerito Samarca was found in the faculty guest room of the school compound. The entire incident came to be known as the Lianga massacre.

Following the incident, around 2,700 individuals from twenty-six (26) communities evacuated to Tandag City on the same day. They were only able to return to their communities last September 3, 2016, after strong international and national campaign forcing military elements to withdraw from the communities.

In 2015, trumped up charges of trafficking were filed against eleven (11) Lumad school volunteer teachers and community leaders, while in evacuation.

Since their return, residents of 26 communities have been rebuilding their farms, homes, schools and livelihood. Lumad schools run by TRIFPSS (Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur) and ALCADEV started holding regular classes for the school year 2017-2018 this June.

Upon President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017, a checkpoint was placed in front of the military detachment in Post 1, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, requiring residents and visitors to show their ID or write their names in a logbook.

ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENTS:

On July 2, 2017, at around 2am, about 60 soldiers of the 75th IBPA in full combat uniform were seen gathered at a detachment in Post 1, Brgy. St. Christine, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. They were later seen going towards the other communities.

On July 3, 2017 at around 6am, the same number of soldiers from the 75th IBPA were seen in Km. 6, Brgy. St. Christine, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Later that day, more soldiers from the 36th IBPA and 16th Special Forces Battalion (SFB), all in full combat uniform, arrived in the Lumad communities of Hayon and Sangay Brgy. Libas Sud, San Miguel. These communities are located on the other side of the mountain, adjacent to the Lumad communities in Lianga.

On July 4, 2017, soldiers were seen in the communities of Tambonon and Bishop in Brgy. Bolhoon, San Miguel. These two communities are also located on the other side of the mountain, near the Lumad communities of Lianga.

Meanwhile, residents of Emerald in Brgy. Diatagon and Panukmoan saw soldiers in combat jungle uniform in the farm areas of their community, prompting them to evacuate near community centers. Residents of Mike, Km. 16 and Km. 14 evacuated to Han-ayan and stayed in the Lumad schools of TRIFPSS and ALCADEV along with the students and volunteer teachers.

On July 5 to 6, 2017, at around 11 pm to midnight, while the residents slept, bomber planes flew over the said communities, circling about 15 times. Residents from 9 Lumad communities — Han-yan, Mike, Km. 14, Km. 15, Km. 16, Manluy-a, Kabuluhan, Panukmoan and Decoy — all of Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga evacuated to and arrived in Emerald at around 6 o’clock in the morning. The residents, fearing for their lives given the harassment and threats that they have been constantly subjected to, thought it best to move out.

As of this writing, about 2,043 men, women and children are staying in the school grounds and classrooms of the Simowao Tribal Community School, located about 9 kilometers from the national highway and poblacion of Brgy. Diatagon.

Reports of food blockade have also been reported by the teachers, as military checkpoints prevent relief from entering evacuation centers. This is despite the desperate need for food and other assistance for evacuees.