Filipinos Across the United States to Launch Three Days of #BanTrump Protests
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 9, 2017Contact: Jessica Antonio, BAYAN-USA, secgen@bayanusa.orgFilipinos Across the United States to Launch Three Days of #BanTrump Protests
As President Donald Trump closes out his 12-day swing through Asia with a three-day stop in the Philippines, Filipinos across the United States will lead protests to condemn Trump’s militarist neoliberal economic agenda in the Philippines and the broader Asia Pacific region. Organized by the Filipino American alliance BAYAN-USA under the call #BanTrump and #ResistUSWar, Filipinos will be joined by peace activists and members of the Korean and Pacific Islander communities at actions from November 12-14 in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. The protests will coincide with demonstrations being held simultaneously in the Philippines, as Trump touches down in Manila to attend high-level meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the East Asia Summit. Similar protests drawing thousands of people voicing opposition to Trump’s pro-war, militarist and neoliberal economic agenda greeted him in Japan and Korea earlier this week.“Trump is in Asia swinging the double-edged sword of a neoliberal economic policy agenda on one side and military escalation and war provocation on the other,” stated Jessica Antonio, BAYAN-USA Secretary General. “The biggest obstacle to genuine peace, democracy, development, and security in the region is not ISIS-affiliates in the Philippines or nuclear weapons in North Korea--it’s Trump and U.S. imperialism,” continued Antonio.In a “Unity Statement for Peace Not War in Asia” released jointly this week by BAYAN-USA and the organization Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, protest organizers cited examples of how U.S. military policies and actions have benefited the elite to the detriment of the majority of people in the region, historically and up through the present. “For over seven decades, U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM), the largest and oldest of the nine U.S. unified combatant commands of the U.S. Armed Forces, has carried out military invasions, exercises, wars, and occupations throughout Asia and parts of Africa. These include the Korean War, the Vietnam War, nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, illegally storing nuclear weapons in South Korea, the destabilization of local communities and denial of their development due to U.S. military bases and military exercises, including drone warfare, in Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, Guam, and the list goes on. The U.S. has over 180 military bases concentrated in this region alone. Everyday, the peoples of the Korean Peninsula, the Philippines, Asia and the Pacific region continue to wage life-and-death resistance to US-led war and military occupation,” reads the statement.“Trump and company continue the legacy of trade wars and proxy wars with their rivals Russia and China, and countries like the Philippines are caught in the crossfire. These world powers fight with each other to extract resources, expand territory and trade routes, secure geopolitical spheres of influence, and exploit labor for the profit of the elite and at the expense of the grassroots people,” said Antonio.Trump’s visit to the Philippines includes a first-ever meeting between the U.S. president and his counterpart, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. "These two are infamously known as fascist presidents who openly attack the poor, whether through Duterte’s Dirty Drug War that has killed more than 13,000 people, or Trump’s authoritarian racist and sexist policies, such as the Muslim ban and multiple cuts to education, women’s reproductive rights, rescission of DACA impacting the whole country. History has shown that people will rise up against fascism and will not be complacent. We will continue to rise up against fascism until this same old system crumbles, so we can build a society that truly reflects the majority of people." Protests will take place in:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Nov 13th
#BANTRUMP Rally to Stop the US War Machine 5:30pm-7:00pm
San Francisco US Federal Building- Mission St & 7th St
LOS ANGELES, CA, Nov 14thUS Out of the Asia Pacific Rally 5:30pm-7:00pm Wilshire Federal Building NEW YORK, NY Nov 14thWhat's Trump Doing in the Philippines? Forum on East Asia Summit6:30pm -9:00pm Project Reach 36 Eldridge Street CHICAGO, IL Nov 14thAction In Solidarity with the Philippines 6:00pm-7:30pmCorner of East Wacker Drive & Wabash Ave Bridge ###