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Duterte is an admitted American Boy and Little Brown Brother of U.S. imperialism. After his meetings with Trump, Duterte is ramping up fascism and sacrificing Philippine sovereignty in order to pledge his allegiance to U.S. imperialist interests. BAYAN-USA calls on our members and allies to continue to resist fascism, guard against Duterte’s moves towards becoming a full fledged dictator, and take action to condemn the escalating human rights violations of the U.S.-Duterte regime.Duterte’s flip flop from foul-mouthed critic of the U.S. to loyal Am-Boy has far reaching repercussions. Duterte and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza finally formalized their cancellation of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) November 21st, right before the latest round was set to begin. The talks responded to the people's cry for a just and lasting peace, built by addressing the root causes of poverty and towards a self-sustaining Philippines through the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER). By unilaterally canceling the talks, Duterte shows that he has no interest in peace or progress.Duterte’s human rights record is rapidly becoming worse than his predecessors. His deadly and uninhibited Drug War has killed more than 12,000 people, arbitrarily targeting users, sellers, and innocent bystanders; it also serves as a convenient excuse against anyone opposed to his regime. He has imposed Martial Law in all of Mindanao under the tired old pretense of fighting terrorism in the city of Marawi. Even after declaring the defeat of the Maute Group in October, he refuses to lift martial law, aiming to attack the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Duterte’s bombs continue to drop all over Mindanao, particularly in regions where peasants and indigenous people are fighting to stay on their resource-rich land. Duterte threatened to bomb the Lumad schools, which he and his generals attempt to smear by saying they are communist training grounds. More than 400,000 people have been displaced due to the bombings, airstrikes, and firefights under martial law.Duterte follows the tactics of presidents before him, openly threatening organizations of the legal mass movement such as BAYAN for allegedly “conspiring” with the guerillas of the New People’s Army. He has already intensified his attacks on legal activists with a spiked increase in harassment and intimidation tactics. These include illegal arrests and detention, abductions and extrajudicial killings, such as the case of the recent killings of Elisa Badayos of Karapatan-Central Visayas, and Elioterio Moises, a village guard and member of the local peasant organization, Mantapi Ebwan Farmers Association who were conducting a fact finding mission to investigate reports of human rights violations in a militarized region of Negros.The rationale behind Duterte’s actions is clear. In the words of Secretary General of BAYAN Renato Reyes: "The timing of the threat is not surprising since Duterte and Trump reaffirmed U.S.-Philippine relations. Trump has increased military aid to the Philippines – Duterte may be thinking that U.S. support for counter-insurgency, terror listing and Martial Law are enough to defeat the revolutionary forces.”BAYAN-USA calls on our members and allies to conduct actions to protest the fascist killings, unwarranted arrests and other human rights violations committed by the U.S.-Duterte regime. We must stand guard against these open fascist attacks on the people and continue to serve the people where the government has continuously failed. We know that Duterte will not side with the people, and has instead decided to attack them through his fascist rule. We can only rely on our growing movement against Duterte’s fascism to overthrow this regime and continue the struggle for just and lasting peace in the Philippines by any means necessary.
Defeat the imposition of dictatorship! Fight against the fascist US-Duterte regime! Fight against attacks on human rights! Assert the right to organize! Activism is not terrorism!