The Left coalition SANLAKAS spearheaded a lightning rally in front of the US Embassy earlier this morning to protest US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s arrival in Manila.  Clinton’s main agenda is to meet with PNoy to ensure a stronger Philippine compliance with American foreign policy directions.  Because of this, SANLAKAS opposes her visit as it clearly aims to only advance US imperialist thrusts around the world, especially within the Asia-Pacific region.

The platoon-sized militant lightning rally was held at the Plaza Ferguson directly in front of the main entrance to the US Embassy along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.  The mass action’s highlight was the spilling of ‘Blood and Guts’ onto the Plaza’s pavement to symbolize the deaths of countless victims of US imperialism worldwide. The activist group’s gory dramatization was done to focus public attention on the innumerable anti-human crimes of America. This is mainly done through Washington’s imposition of various policies worldwide, particularly in relation to wars of aggression, foreign debt, human rights violations, and notably global climate change through greenhouse gas emissions.

According to SANLAKAS Spokesperson Rasti Delizo, who led the rally, “Our mass action in front of the US Embassy shows our strongest opposition to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s latest visit to the Philippines and as such, we do not welcome her at all.  While her arrival coincides with the 60th anniversary of the unjustly imposed and one-sided 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), the mother treaty to both the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the 2002 Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), all these bilateral instruments remain in favor of Washington’s domination and control over the Philippines. These treaties must all be instantly abrogated to further liberate our poor masses from the clutches of American imperialism and its big and greedy capitalist corporations which are the main causes of global warming and climate change.”

Before the rally ended, Delizo also stated, “It is because the US is the world’s principal climate polluter through its large-scale emissions of greenhouse gases that we are now demanding for the US Government to already make reparations pay. This is America’s global climate debt which it clearly owes the majority of the poor countries of the world, especially the global South.  The latter’s poor masses are now being made to wrongly pay by suffering massive floods and other kinds of environmental destruction due to the ecological sins of US imperialism. Hence, the US has a lot of blood on its hands and it must pay now!”

The rally was initially blocked by security personnel of the Manila Police District (MPD) posted near the embassy complex. However, as soon as the activists secured a foothold at Plaza Ferguson, they quickly spilled the ‘Blood and Guts’ for media coverage while the SANLAKAS Spokesperson briefly explained the symbolism to the public. But before any further MPD reinforcements could arrive to forcefully disperse the rally, SANLAKAS initiated an organized self dispersal and the group instantly vanished into the side-streets surrounding the park.

Today’s lightning rally was organized in support of a scheduled larger mobilization set at the US Embassy for November 24.  This upcoming rally, which is targeting over one-thousand marchers, is part of the ‘Global Week of Action Demanding Climate Justice’ (Nov. 21-25) and is jointly being organized by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS-APMDD) and the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ). As such, today’s mass action was also actively supported by activists of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT) and the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM). -30-

*For more information please contact: Mr. RASTI DELIZO (SANLAKAS Spokesperson) @ CP# 09998092461