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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Resist state tyranny! Junk the Anti-Terror Law!

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by ILPS Philippines

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Philippines opposes Duterte’s Anti-Terror Law which curtails the civil liberties of the Filipino people with odious and repressive provisions such as surveillance and warrantless arrests.

The ILPS Philippines and its member organizations have resolutely fought against the passage of the Anti-Terror Bill in the House of Representatives and we will continue to struggle against Duterte’s state terror and fascism.

Fascism is on the rise worldwide as the ruling bourgeoisie are taking exceptional predatory measures against the working class amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. The health crisis has highlighted the failure of monopoly capitalism and neoliberalism, and the running dogs of US imperialism are intensifying the burden of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the working people.

Duterte’s Anti-Terror Law reveals the nature of the reactionary state as an organ of class rule by monopoly capitalists who benefit from the exploitation of the toiling masses. The Duterte regime perpetuates the exploitation and oppression of the working people through neoliberal policies which ease the entry of foreign corporations that exploit the country’s natural resources and surplus labor, military agreements such as the VFA and the EDCA, legislation such as the Anti-Terror Law, and the primacy given to the state’s armed forces and the culture of impunity it breeds. This is the face of fascism.

US imperialism is striving to retain its military foothold in the Asia Pacific to stem aggressive Chinese expansionism. The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the US and the Philippine governments attests to US influence over the Armed Forces of the Philippines and US economic interests in the region. The VFA and other military treaties such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) protect the interests of the oil, mining, agribusiness, and other foreign corporations.

7.3 million Filipinos are unemployed while the state is focused on the advancement of neoliberal programs such as the jeepney “modernization” program in lieu of traditional jeepneys which are the main means of mass transportation, the salacious sellout of public assets and privatization of public utilities to foreign corporations, and the proposal to impose additional taxes upon consumers.

Activists, peoples organizations, critics and the broad political opposition against the economic and security interests of the US-Duterte regime are accused as members or sympathizers of armed groups. The administration’s ceaseless escalation of anti-communist rhetoric and the Anti-Terror Law legitimize attacks against these organizations and individuals and endanger their lives.

The ILPS Philippines exhorts its member organizations to continue arousing, organizing and mobilizing the Filipino masses to advance the struggle for genuine democracy and social liberation. We must unite with the wide masses of the Filipino people to drive this fascist, pro-imperialist regime out of power.

The ILPS Philippines calls on the international community to support the struggle of the Filipino people against state terror and fascism. In the face of the wanton attack on democratic and human rights, it is the historic responsibility of all freedom-loving peoples to oppose the US-Duterte regime’s terrorist dictatorship!#

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