Solidarity message to Filipino People on 106th Anniversary of Philippine-American War
Issued by New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
February 10, 2005

New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine expresses its support for and solidarity with the struggling Filipino people in their struggle for genuine national democracy and national liberation. On the 106th anniversary of the Filipino-American War of 1899, the people of the Philippines and of Palestine stand united on the front lines of the struggle of the oppressed peoples and nations of the world against imperialism. The history of the Philippines is, like that of Palestine, a history of colonization and resistance, sharing a common legacy of murderous imperialist assaults upon the Palestinian and Filipino peoples, as well as a common heritage of continual struggle, continual resistance, and firm refusal to surrender to imperialist dictates and external control.

The Palestinian people have, for nearly fifty-seven years, been struggling for their existence against the so-called state of "Israel," a racist, apartheid colonial settler state, established through the dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people and the occupation of Palestinian land. The Zionist armies that seized Palestine in 1948, supported by the imperialist powers of the world and principally US imperialism, took over colonial control of Palestine from the British colonial authorities that preceded them. The transfer of power was not unlike that of the Philippines from Spain to the United States, colonial powers and movements finding in each other, despite their rivalries, partners in the continued colonial occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine and the Philippines. Since 1948, as they did previously under the British, the people of Palestine have been struggling for national liberation and self-determination, their right to live free of occupation and oppression, and the right of five million Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and their original homes and villages from which they were expelled in the pursuit of a "pure," racist, settler-colonial state.

The Palestinian people, in Palestine 1948, in the West Bank and Gaza, and in the diaspora, have faced the guns of the "Israeli" state for this time, armed and fully funded by the government of the U.S. The state of "Israel" has, in fact, been the agent of US imperialism against the Arab people, waging wars of aggression and a continual assault of terror against the Palestinian Arab people. When Palestinian leaders are assassinated, it is with U.S. missiles fired from U.S. helicopters; when Palestinian children are shot, it is with U.S. bullets fired from U.S. rifles; when Palestinian farmers are separated by their land, it is with a U.S. bought-and-paid-for apartheid wall; and when Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps are bombed, it is with U.S. bombs dropping from U.S. planes. Nevertheless, the Palestinian national movement, and the Palestinian people in their entirety, have continued to resist, to demand their full national liberation, and their return home. The people of Palestine have become a symbol to the world precisely because they have stood on the front lines against U.S. imperialism, fighting on in a revolution until victory. This is a legacy of powerful resistance that is shared with that of the Filipino people.

In recent years, the Palestinian people alongside their sisters and brothers in the Philippines have been suffering the assaults of the so-called "war on terror," in reality a war OF terror that has been waged against the people of both Palestine and the Philippines, and in fact, the people of the world. As the US wages war on Iraq and Afghanistan, sends its troops to the Philippines, Colombia, Haiti and elsewhere, funds and arms an ever-increasing assault upon the Palestinian people and threatens people around the world, from Iran and Syria to Cuba and Venezuela, it has not found easy victories or subservience - instead, it has met with RESISTANCE from the people of the world, determined to stand for their national rights and self-determination, and with resistance at home, as the broad masses of this country stand against imperialism and war. US imperialism has attempted to criminalize resistance and label revolutionaries as "terrorists," claiming a right to assassinate around the world and to trample upon self-determination. From Professor Jose Maria Sison, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army to the Palestinian resistance movement and its organizations, the revolutionary movements of the people have been branded as "terrorists" while the real terrorists slaughter with impunity. This criminalization has included a war on people's movements at all levels, from the legal national democratic organizations of the Philippines, targeted for military assault, assassinations and repression, including the killing of over 40 BAYAN MUNA campaigners in the most recent elections, to any and all organizations in support of the Palestinian people, including numerous charities and popular organizations.

Let us be very clear - it is not the revolutionary movement in the Philippines nor the resistance in Palestine who are the "terrorists." That is a label best reserved for US imperialism and its agents. From Palestine, to the Philippines, to Colombia, Iraq and around the world, the revolutionary movements of the people will not be slaughtered by military assaults nor suppressed by repressive legislation, but will instead continue to resist and to struggle for genuine national democracy and national liberation. Popular resistance, from Palestine to the Philippines, to Iraq and Afghanistan, to Colombia and Haiti, to Venezuela and Cuba, to Nepal and Peru to right here in the United States, will ensure that this so-called "war on terror" will never be victorious.

It is an honor to present this statement of solidarity and of mutual struggle for national liberation and national democracy and in confrontation with U.S. imperialism. The people of Palestine stand hand in hand with those of the Philippines and will continue the struggle until all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, is free, until every refugee may return home, and until imperialism is defeated everywhere.

Free, free Palestine!
Stop the US war machine from Palestine to the Philippines!
Long live international solidarity!