The crisis of neoliberalism has been widely discussed long before the outbreak of the COVID-19. The pandemic has even further exposed deep shortcomings in the dominant mode of global economic and political organizations reflected by the WTO. The free trade agreements brokered and promoted by the WTO have perpetuated this system of inequality between nations of the North and the South.
Several organizations in other countries have been preparing for their simultaneous, coordinated protests in front of Philippine embassies and consulates to demand the prosecution of Duterte’s crimes against humanity, and call for an end to U.S. military aid to the Philippines, among others.
It seems that from being a direct colony of the world’s top superpower, Afghanistan will now be subject to competition for influence by other global powers.
The first president from Mindanao failed to alleviate the poverty and to resolve the decades-long conflicts in the island.
The last four years for Lumad students like Inday and Toper seemed like a tug-of-war struggling for their right to learn, and fighting for their return to their ancestral lands.
“We are told, ‘Stay home and stay safe. Wash your hands regularly,’ but the displaced Meranaws live in cramped makeshift spaces without sufficient water supply. Those whose homes are at ground zero still could not return.”
It is dangerous to view the ongoing attacks as a mere “conflict”. History would teach us that the ongoing brutal crimes against the Palestinian people are because of the illegal occupation of their lands, ethnic cleansing of their people, and annexation of their territories by Israel state forces.
“As we painstakingly arouse, organize and mobilize against US Imperialism, we will continue to cherish Ramsey Clark’s spirit of internationalism that waged a remarkable and principled struggle for the peoples of the Global South from the belly of the beast.”
“Our task now is to learn from the Paris Commune and think what needs to be done in the coming decades so that many of the debacles that the workers had the courage to face before will be turned into a situation wherein there is nothing else to do but turn down the existing state power.”
“The truth is, many Moro women have been leading liberation struggles, they have been at the forefront of resistance movements, providers for their own families, decision-makers, fighters.”
Hundreds of families have been forced to evacuate since the imposed lockdown due to continuous military operations allegedly against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). But the aerial bombings and mortar shelling victimized civilians; the latest casualties include two children and a pregnant woman.