CALL FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Wars of aggression defy the logic of reason and justice. These wars are waged not for any rational cause. They are underpinned by the barbaric law of the primitive period which prevailed during the Age of Ignorance (jahilliyah) that “might is right”. These were wars of conquest. In more contemporary times, such wars have been fought by colonial and imperial powers and their surrogates seeking to impose their will on peoples, rule their homelands, control and exploit their natural resources, and force on them a slavish culture and oppressive social orders beneficial only to the conquerors’ insatiable quest for economic, political and military dominance.

These wars have invariably taken their heavy toll on the lives, livelihood and the freedoms and future of peoples. Communities are uprooted, tens of thousands of human beings are dying either from bombs and bullets or mass starvation, innocents are herded into prison camps reminiscent of the dark days of Nazism in Europe, and many more are rendered homeless and forced to live in squalor and poverty in refugee centers or temporary shelters in areas and lands visited by conflict. The Palestinian diaspora and the American military devastation of Afghanistan, among others, eloquently illustrate this colossal injustice being committed in our time and right before our very eyes.

Yet, appalled as we are by the horrific tragedies that these wars of aggression have inflicted on human societies, we are as much terrified by the debilitating effect that they have wrought on global stability and order. For, indeed, the greatest casualty of these wars of aggression is world peace.

Today, another imperialist war of aggression is taking place in Iraq. A parallel colonial war, equally vicious, has been unleashed on the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao. Whether in Iraq or Mindanao, the costs are high, and the ends can never be justified.  International laws, human rights and civil liberties are being blatantly violated. The sovereignty of nations and the right of peoples to self-determination and freedom which the United Nations holds sacrosanct and inviolable are flagrantly being trampled upon by the boots of the conquering armies of the arrogant ‘superpowers’ and their “coalition of the willing”. 

In the light of this present menace to global peace and the security and rights of nations and peoples, the Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly hereby declares as follows:

• We vehemently condemn the unjust and unprovoked war that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has unleashed on the Bangsamoro people and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). This war has uprooted more than 200,000 innocent civilians from their communities and has destroyed their livelihood and properties.

• Corollary to the foregoing, we deplore the blatant violation of the letter and spirit of the MILF-GRP Tripoli Agreement on Peace of June 22, 2001 and all concomitant agreements thereto; as such we call for the deployment of United Nations Peace Keeping Forces in conflict-affected areas of  Mindanao.

• We denounce in strongest terms the governments of the United States and Great Britain and their “coalition of the willing”, which includes the GRP under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for the war of aggression and oppression they are now waging against the sovereign people of Iraq in defiance of the United Nations and world public opinion. This war in Iraq that is currently causing so much death and destruction to the Iraqi people is an assault on the entire Muslim world, a clear and present danger to the international community, and a crime against humanity.

• We strongly demand that President Macapagal-Arroyo immediately stop this war in Mindanao and desist forthwith from supporting the Anglo-American imperialist war of aggression in Iraq.

• Furthermore, we stand firmly opposed to the deployment of US combat troops anywhere in Mindanao and Sulu under the rubric of Balikatan 03-1. We view the presence of US combat troops on Bangsamoro soil as an act of hostility directed against the entire Bangsamoro people.

• Finally, while we believe that the Islamic right to self defense is an inalienable right and obligation of every individual, communities and nations, we are reaffirming our position that the resolution of conflicts, whether in Iraq, Mindanao or elsewhere around the globe, should be done through dialogues in the negotiating table, through democratic processes as prescribed by international laws, agreements and covenants, and/or through proper forums in the United Nations as befit civilized nations and peoples, and not through war and violence.
   
   

Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly
moroassembly@yahoo.com
April 1, 2003

Abhoud Syed M. Lingga
Chairman