Please take a few minutes to watch this video of people being uprooted from their homes in the Philippines, which is most likely in the name of “development”. You don’t even need to know the language, you just need to look at their face and hear it in their voice to empathize with their situation — The tears. The despair. The pain. The confusion. The anger.
When I was there just a few weeks ago I heard so many stories, just like this one, of whole communities being displaced. We’re talking about hundreds or thousands of people whose homes are demolished to make way for some new mall or land development project. Of course, the politicians and business people say that it will stimulate the local economy by providing jobs, but the truth is that most of the residents in those surrounding areas couldn’t even afford to shop at those places anyway.
This video shows what’s been going on in the country for years. I understand that this can be tough to watch, but that’s nothing compared to actually having to live through this. Yeah, we can turn a blind eye and pretend this doesn’t exist, but I personally never want to forget images like this.
“That’s all fine and dandy, but what does this have to do with me since I live in the United States? I’m not even Filipino.”
The truth is that this affects all of us in the States. It’s not a Filipino struggle, it’s a People’s Struggle. Did you know that your tax dollars are being used to fund the Philippine military and their counterinsurgency programs like Oplan Bayanihan, which are modeled directly from the United States? Programs like these fall under the guise of combating “terrorism” but it’s really an all out war on the People. The military and the police constantly violate human rights in the Philippines — anybody who tries to organize or speak out against landlords, politicians, companies, etc. is subject to severe forms of repression, including kidnapping, torture and death.
During my trip to the Philippines, I participated in an Exposure/immersion program very similar to the one seen in this video. I met quite a few people who were victims of military and police repression, one of whom included a labor union organizer who was forced to flee his home and family in an attempt to keep them safe from the intense military harassment and surveillance. He hasn’t seen his wife and their 13 year old son in over six months, simply because he’s fighting for basic rights like livable wages and safe working conditions.
Again, these are our U.S. tax dollars that are funding things like this. With all the messed up things going on in this country, wouldn’t you rather have that money go towards things like education and healthcare? It’s just like 2pac said, “they got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor.”
Whether we acknowledge it or not, we’re a part of this struggle…but we can also be a part of the solution.
