Defend Philippine sovereignty! Cancel RIMPAC!
Defend Philippine sovereignty! Cancel RIMPAC!
Malaya Movement USA joins 3 days of action to oppose RIMPAC, the largest display of military intimidation in the world and a threat to Filipino lives and sovereignty
Why does RIMPAC threaten the Philippines’ sovereignty?
RIMPAC--a 5-week long series of war “games,” including weapons deployment, seacraft and aircraft deployment, and sinking of ships that pollute Hawaii waters-- is used by the United States military to further equip 29 of its allies with the ability to commit war around the world, including Israel and the Philippines. The Philippines’ participation at the behest of the United States is meant to threaten China.
Far from deterring China from advancing in the West Philippine Sea, China’s response to escalation from the US is to similarly escalate. The victims of this steady move to open conflict? Filipinos who live and survive off of the West Philippine Sea.
With President Bongbong Marcos all too eager to follow the United States, the Philippines is forced to be part of RIMPAC to signal to the Chinese government that Filipinos are ready to go to war and die to protect US assets on Philippine soil. In other words, RIMPAC is a threat to Filipino lives and sovereignty.
Malaya Movement marches against RIMPAC
On June 30, Malaya members from up and down the West Coast joined 600+ people for the historic Cancel RIMPAC march in San Diego, from which RIMPAC has launched into Hawaii for decades.
The march stopped at the San Diego Association of Governments, the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, and Tuna Harbor where the USS Midway war aircraft carrier is located: places significant to San Diego as a breeding and recruitment ground for wars of aggression.
Malaya Movement makes plans to oppose RIMPAC acceptance of US funding in exchange for participation in war
On June 29, Malaya Movement participated in the Cancel RIMPAC summit in University of California, San Diego. Along with Kabataan Alliance, they led members of community and student organizations in discussing plans to stop the Philippine Enhanced Resilience Act, or PERA, which was introduced in the U.S. Senate this past April.
If passed, PERA would fund the Armed Forces of the Philippines $2.5 billion over five years. The U.S. claims this is meant to help the AFP protect the Philippines, but as it stands, the AFP uses U.S. funding to commit war crimes against the Filipino people themselves. Accepting funding from the U.S. means the Philippines is obligated to fight the US’s war on China.
To oppose PERA, community members plan to gather community and congressional support for the Philippines Human Rights Act, which would suspend military funding to the Philippines until it meets human rights standards.
Malaya Movement protests war investor, US Congressman Darrell Issa
Malaya members were among 100 Filipinos and allies who rallied in front of Rep. Darrell Issa’s Escondido office on Monday, July 1, to say “Stop the killings in the Philippines!”
Issa introduced a measure that put the U.S. House of Representatives on the record for supporting hundreds of millions of dollars in military funding for the Philippines, despite the Philippine government’s use of that funding for brutal violations of International Humanitarian Law.
Rally participants committed to campaigning to stop US military funding to the Philippines and help pass the Philippine Human Rights Act.
From coast to coast, Filipinos don’t want to be pawns and human shields in the US war on China
Malaya USA members on the East Coast will be mobilizing for the Resist NATO People’s Summit and rally & march this July 6-7 in Washington DC.
