Global activists join protest actions to ‘Junk APEC’

MANILA – Coming from its 5th international assembly, members of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) today join protest actions against APEC as Pres. Obama and Pres. Aquino held a bilateral meeting.

“We’re here to join the Filipino people in an epic battle to Junk APEC and expose the latest power play of the US in its pivot to Asia,” ILPS Secretary-General Malcolm Guy said.

The Philippine government received two additional warships from the US and forged a new military alliance with Japan, a major security partner of the US. The moves were seen to counter China in the South China Sea, an issue on the sidelines of the APEC meet.

“It has been over a quarter of a century since the formation of this economic regime covering 40 per cent of the world’s population but leaves 63 per cent of world’s poor hungry. We see 1.7 billion people living in extreme poverty. Social conflicts erupt and big power rivalry between the US, China and others intensify,” he added.

Malcolm Guy, a Canadian, also took swipe at their Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying “the pretty boy image used by APEC 2015 could never cover up for the environmental devastation done by Canadian mining firm Placer Dome in the Philippines and still being done with other transnational corporations in other parts of the globe.”

The anti-APEC activists joined indigenous peoples who converged in Manila this morning who came from as far as Northern Luzon and Southern Mindanao. The Manilakbayan 2015 from Mindanao is protesting the recent spate of lumad killings in mining areas and the militarization of their schools and communities.

A social media blogger, Tonyo Cruz, had earlier invited netizens to join the “Battle of Manila”.

“We march and demonstrate for our national interests which our government fails to uphold: Genuine agrarian reform, national industrialization, a comprehensive social policy, progressive taxation, independent foreign policy, and other essentials to national prosperity,” Cruz wrote.

The twitter account #apectado has been trending in the past days as Philippine authorities enforced tighter security measures which inconvenienced millions of working people and commuters.