In
the wake of the end of the Cold War, U.S. imperialism has come out
clearly as the sole superpower with an overweening arrogance. But the
world capitalist system is reeling from a grave economic crisis, the
worst since the end of the second inter-imperialist war.
Even
before the Sept. 11 attack, the Bush regime was already agitating for an
increase in military production as a way to revive the U.S. economy. In
this connection, he has been warmongering and threatening and launching
attacks of aggression against countries labeled by the U.S. as "rogue"
states.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. has used these as pretext for
launching a war of aggression against Afghanistan, threatening other
countries(the 'axis of evil' and 12 countries 'harboring terrorists')
and undertaking massive war preparations.
In
the aftermath of the Sept. 11 events in the U.S., the imperialists and
their reactionary lackeys in client countries have launched a new
offensive against the people's democratic rights under the pretext of
waging a 'war against terrorism.' The U.S. has seized on the Sept. 11
events to wage aggressive wars and thereby accomplish their geopolitical
objectives to establish control of strategic areas in the Middle East,
Central Asia and Southeast Asia. It has also taken the lead in imposing
draconian measures that further infringe on the democratic rights of the
people and to suppress any opposition to their anti-people policies.
We
have seen U.S. military intervention and aggression in the Balkans,
Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. We have seen the state terrorism
of the U.S. violating International Humanitarian Law, disregarding and
misappropriating UN resolutions. It even launched aggression under
various pretexts, such as "human rights", "humanitarian mission", and
"peacemaking."
This
war is a continuation of the economic terrorism of IMF-World Bank and
WTO by military means. It is aimed at suppressing the peoples that wage
revolution, the nations that fight for liberation and the countries or
governments that assert national independence. The US is overconfident
that it can carry out acts of aggression unilaterally or with the aid of
its imperialist allies. But these allies are becoming wary of the
propensity of the U.S. to undertake unilateral actions, its hysterical
bellicosity and its extreme voracity in grabbing most of the spoils. The
U.S. is sowing the ground for violent contradictions among the
imperialist powers themselves.
"Free market" globalization has victimized most grievously the oppressed
peoples and nations. But it has also weakened the puppet rulers. The
loot to share among the competing reactionaries has diminished. Thus,
they tend to become more violent in their political rivalry. They have
become more corrupt and repressive than ever before.
The U.S. Hegemonic
Drive in the Region
Let
me cite a recently formulated strategy of U.S. imperialism to further
expand its hegemonic drive in the world, particularly in Central Asia
and the Asia-Pacific Region. Called the Quadrennial Defense Review 2001,
this study states that America's overseas presence, concentrated in
Western Europe and Northeast Asia "is inadequate for the new strategic
environment, in which U.S. economic and security interests are global
and potential threats in other areas of the world are emerging." The
new strategic environment of course refers to one that is favorable to
the global trade and investments of U.S. monopoly capitalism.
Based on this strategic environment, QDR 2001 calls for a more
aggressive U.S. global security posture, a "political-military"
offensive different from what Bush officials call the Clinton
administration's purely "defensive" stance. Accordingly, the U.S.
global military posture will be reoriented to : " (a) develop a basing
system that provides greater flexibility for U.S. forces in critical
areas of the world, placing emphasis on additional bases and stations
beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia; (b) providee temporary access
to facilities in foreign countries that enable U.S. forces to conduct
training and exercises in the absence of permanent ranges and bases; (c)
redistribute forces and equipment based on regional deterrence
requirements; (d) provide sufficient mobility, including airlift,
sealift, prepositioning, basing infrastructure, alternative points of
debarkation, and new logistical concepts of operations, to conduct
expeditionary operations in distant theatres against adversaries...."
In
another earlier report, the 1995 East Asia Strategy Report of the U.S.
Department of Defense, it is stated that the report "reaffirms our
commitment to maintain a stable forward presence in the region at the
existing level of about 100,000 troops for the foreseeable future...for
maintaining forward deployment of U.S. forces and access and basing
rights for U.S. and allied forces...If the American presence in Asia
were removed, our ability to affect the course of events would be
constrained, our markets and our interests would be jeopardized."
Though China has been given a most favored status in trade by the U.S.,
upon pressure from the American corporate world, Bush has repeatedly
called this country a rising "regional hegemon." The U.S. government is
pursuing what its policy strategists call "co-engagement" with China
--"engagement" in trade and investment relations subject to certain
political and economic conditions and "containment" in light of
Beijing's potential threat.
The
U.S. has long considered the Asia-Pacific region as its sphere of
influence and maintains the biggest command outside the U.S., the
Pacific Command(USPACOM) in the area. U.S. imperialist trade with the
Asia-Pacific now surpasses that with Europe, and of special interest to
U.S. monopoly capitalism is the vast oil and gas reserves of the
region. Production levels of oil and gas in Indonesia and Brunei are
high, especially Indonesia, which accounts for 20% of the world's
liquefied natural gas(LNG). In the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam,
new oil and gas fields are being discovered. In the Philippines, U.S.
oil companies are fervidly drilling for offshore oil in the island of
Palawan and have struck it rich in several sites, forthwith preserving
these areas for themselves by elbowing out other European oil companies.
The
Council on Foreign Relations(CFR), a think tank for Washington policy
makers, has also seen the vital importance of the critical waterways
surrounding the Philippine archipelago, particularly the South China Sea
and North Pacific Ocean.
From
a military perspective, according to the CFR, these sea lanes are
critical to the movement of U.S. forces from the Western Pacific to the
Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. With a strong military presence in
the region, the Council said, the United States would be able to
challenge Chinese claims to the South China Sea and its disputed island
groups,the Spratlys and Paracels, that are believed to have significant
oil reserves.
The
Philippines as a Staging Area for U.S. Military Aggression
In a
May 2001 report of the RAND Corporation, the think tank of the US Air
Force, it is advised that the U.S. must once again gain access to the
Philippines as a staging ground to contain China and Russia from East
Asia. The report advocated a "robust security assistance program to
allies in the region, particularly the Philippines" which RAND senior
policy analyst Angel Rabasa called " a frontline state in the war on
terrorism." Rabasa called for the provision of "urgently needed air
defense and naval asset to the Philippines...to reestablish deterrence
vis-a-vis China." It is also Rabasa who, without any direct evidences,
and to justify the sending of some 3,000 US troops to the Philippines
began warning about the extensive pesence of terrorist networks in
Southeast Asia that span from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia to
Indonesia.
The
Philippines has always been a main staging area of the US in East Asia
when this imperialist power had still its military bases is the
Islands. Subic Bay, once the largest American naval base in the
Pacific, used to be the homeport of the US Seventh Fleet which policed
the Pacific Ocean, and Clark Field was the largest airbase of the US
outside its territory. From Subic and Clark, US military interventions
in all parts in Asia were launched.
With
the loss of their bases in the Philippines in 1992, US Strategists
considered it as a puncture in their strategic perimet to contain
potential enemies in Asia and Eurasia and the forfeiture of vital sea
lanes to guard their economic interests. This is the reason why Bush
after the fall of Afghanista, has declaredthe Philippines as the new
frontline against international terrorism. Based on the QDR 2001, the
Rand Report and the polcy advise of CFR, the yawning gap left in an
important strategic area in the Asia-Pacific region for the U.S. must be
closed and the Philippines once again secured to complete the ring
around China and Russia, and possibly Japan, the economic rival of the
US in this part of the world.
U.S.
Military Presence in the Philippines
Using the campaign against international terrorism as its cover, U.S.
forces have again gained a foothold on Philippine soil under the
Visiting Forces Agreement(VFA). Previous to the so-called war on
terrorism launched by the Bush administration, US- RP military exercises
under the VFA lasted only for one month, compared to Balikatan 02-1 in
Basilan and Zamboanga and Balance Piston 02-2 in Pampanga, which
extended to six months. The US has announced through the Philippine
government that the stay of US forces in the Philippines may be extended
to another five years after the expiration of Balikatan 02-2 on July 31,
2002.
U.S.
engineers have started building permanent infrastructures, roads and
other facilities, under the guise of civic action, "Operation Gentle
Wind", in Basilan. The international airport being built in General
Santos City by U.S. construction companies, which is intended to
accommodate various aircrafts of the US Air Force, is almost completed.
All
these fervid construction activities are evidences of the intention of
the US to establish a permanent presence for their troops in the
Philippines as part of its new strategic environment to more effectively
control the Asia-Pacific region.
It
must be noted that the VFA, ratified as a treaty by the Estrada
administration but not by the US government, does not allow the setting
up of infrastructure by US military personnel on Philippine soil, thus
the need to camouflage such actions under civic actions and economic
aid.
Previously, the attempt of the US in 1994 to legitimize the building of
infrastructures like storage and refuelling facilities under the
Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement(ACSA) was not successful
because of widespread opposition which saw ACSA as a prelude to
re-establishing US bases in the Philippines. But because of the
US-initiated wordwide propaganda against the threat of terrorism,
particularly in East Asia, the influx of thousands of American forces
here and their engaging in "civic action" have conveniently diverted the
attention of Filipinos from the hidden agenda of US imperialism in
securing the Philippines once again as a base for strengthening its
hegemony in the Pacific region.
This
is further buttressed by the secret negotiation by the Macapagal-Arroyo
and Bush administrations on the Mutual Logistics and Support
Agreement(MLSA) when the former went on a state visit to the US last
November, 2001. MLSA revives ACSA and, moreover, lays the groundwork
for the return of permanent US military bases in the Philippines. It is
instructive to note that the agreement called Status of Forces
Agreement(SOFA), similar to VFA, was also rejected in 1997 due to mass
opposition, only to resurrect later into the present VFA.
A
draft for the MLSA has been prepared for signing by the Philippine
government and this is the reason why US Undersecretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz suddenly made a turn-about and announced that the US after all
would stay for another five years in the Philippines after the present
Balikatan exercises expires at the end of July. This is also the reason
why Vice President Guingona was eased out by Malacanang, as Secretary of
Foreign Affairs since he was opposing the signing of the MLSA by the
Philippine government.
The
MLSA will place the Philippines more firmly under the claws of US
imperialism because, together with the VFA , which allows the use of all
the 20 ports for visiting US forces, MLSA can open the door for the
establishment of permanent military facilities in all these ports.
Under the old Military BAses AGreement(MBA), which was rejected by the
Philippine Senate in 1991, US forces were allowed the use of only four
bases, notably Clark and Subic. In short, the whole Philippine
archipelago under MLSA will be one big port for US imperialism , a
situation that Washington strategists have long aspired for. In time to
come, in an American war, the whole of the Philippines can be caught in
one huge conflagration. Truly, Filipinos will always be on teeter edge,
since of all nations, the US has the most enemies as evident by the
greatest number of its embassies bombed worldwide compared to those of
any other countries.
VFA
and MLSA are supposed to be part of the implementation of the Mutual
Defense Treaty(MDT) of the Philippines with the US, signed in 1951 with
the goal of mutual defense of the two countries against external
attacks. It must be noted again that the US Senate never ratified MDT
as did the Philippine Senate, which shows the high-handed treatment of
the US towards its former colony. But MDT does not provide the sending
of American troops to help quell an internal rebellion or banditry as is
true with the activities of the Abu Sayaff. Thus even with the MDT,
Balikatan 02-1 is unconstitutional.
The
need for ILPS-Philippines
The
First International Assembly of the International League for Peoples
Struggles(ILPS) last year is a great milestone in our militant,
anti-imperialist struggles. We need to carry forward these struggles,
especially in the light of an ever-worsening crisis of global monopoly
capitalism and the more recent US-led wars of aggression and
intervention. While the modern-day conquistadores expand for
imperialist world hegemony, all the more do we need to strengthen our
resolve and the capability to fight back. We have taken a decisive step
with the formation of the ILPS. We will now take it further. We shall
see to the formation of the Philippine National Chapter of the ILPS.
In
November last year, US President Bush and Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo
met, marking the 50th year of the post-World War II US-RP Mutual Defense
Treaty. They did not only talk about the export of Philippine mangoes
to the U.S. Bush agreed to give over $1-billion in Generalized System
of Preferences(GSP) benefits, increased quotas of US imports of textile
and garments from the Philippines, guarantee programs worth $150-million
for US agricultural exports to the country, $40 million in so-called
food aid, $29-million for Mindanao, a special credit line of $200
million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation(OPIC), a
ten-fold increase in Foreign Military Financing from $1.9 million to
$19million for this year, and a total security assistance to the
Philippines nearly $100 million. (Actually, Bush wants an increase to
379 billion dollars for his defense budget next year, boosting their
military-industrial complex and hoping to revive the US economy that is
now in deep recession.) The military and financial aid to the country
is a drop in the bucket, so to speak. But this is very much like the
military and financial aid given by the US to the late dictator Marcos
when the US military bases were still in the country before being booted
out in 1991. Of course, in exchange for the fresh support, Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo acceded to a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement(or MLSA)
with the US which would provide for flexible basing of US troops in the
Philippines.
With
the full backing and support by the US, President Arroyo as the
commander-in-chief of theArmed Forces of the Philippines has unleashed a
most brutal war against progressive and militant forces. Even the
unarmed, legal democratic movement is not spared. More than 20members
from my partylist, Bayan Muna, have been murdered in the past 18 months
since Arroyo became President. One-hundred forty-eight(148) activists
have been killed in this short period. In Basilan island alone, with
the recent US military training exercise, 10 people were killed, more
than a thousand people bombed and shelled, and more than 3,000 people
and entire communities forced to evacuate. That is just in one small
island, far South. You can just imagine the atrocities being replicated
here on a scale of 7,000 islands with about 80 million people. This
would be another bloody Vietnam or would be a bigger bloody Vietnam
should US armed intervention be allowed to gain headway.
Indeed, another Vietnam is in the
offing. But also, another bloody defeat for the U.S.. That is what the
US will surely suffer from the hands of a rising people, and from the
heightened anti-imperialist struggles in the world, be it in the
Philippines, Nepal, Peru, Colombia, Palestine, whether in nations
asserting their sovereignty or in the enemy imperialist homeground
themselves. Hence, we must prepare for the inevitable. We must prepare
for battle, and be ready for more intense battles ahead.
The
Task At Hand
More
than 300 delegates and guests, representing 232 mass organizations from
40 countries, attended the First Assembly of the International League
for Peoples Struggles(ILPS) last year. Forty-eight of those
organizations are here from the Philippines. The task at hand now is to
consolidate our Philippine member organizations into a National Chapter
of the ILPS or what we call the ILPS-Philippines. This is to strengthen
both our local struggle and to work for the 18 major concerns of our
International League.
ILPS-Philippine
chapter has the distinct task and responsibility to strengthen the
anti-imperialist forces in the country and unite the Filipino people to
expose and resist US imperialist designs and actual acts of aggression
and intervention in the Philippines and in the region.
ILPS
Philippine chapter is a key force in the broad anti-imperialist front as
embodied by ILPS and must play its role in strengthening ILPS
internationally so that it may lead the fight against terrorist,
interventionist and aggressive actions of US imperialism and its allies
in the whole world.
Cognizant of the great and difficult tasks ahead, the ILPS is ever more
committed to intensify its efforts to arouse, organize and mobilize the
broad masses of the people to fight imperialist globalization and war.
The
League will strive harder to attract more anti-imperialist and
democratic organizations in many more countries and continents. It will
have to exert more effort in carrying out political education,
conducting mass campaigns and in linking up and uniting with other
progressive forces in order to build a broad anti-imperialist solidarity
and international united front for the national and social liberation of
the people.
