Ready for Captain America
Fátima Lasay
digiteer at ispbonanza.com.ph
Thu Oct 16 21:10:57 CEST 2003
Yes, we're getting ready for CAPTAIN AMERICA.
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Photos by Ben Razon
benrazon at wirephoto.com
http://www.wirephoto.com
Manila demolition for Bush visit:
http://www.geocities.com/imaginero/bush.html
Displaced residents of Batasan Hills, a Manila shanty section situated
across the Philippine House of Representatives building complex, ponder
their immediate future as their houses were demolished in last-minute
clearing and beautification operations in preparation for the eight-hour
visit to Manila of U.S. President George W. Bush. Bush is scheduled to
address both houses of the Philippine Congress on Saturday, October 18.
Manila anti-Bush visit preparation:
http://www.geocities.com/imaginero/bush.html
A caricature of U.S. President George W. Bush as Captain America sits in
preparation for a massive anti-U.S. demonstration timed with the American
president's eight-hour visit in Manila on Saturday, October 18.
News Analysis
http://www.bulatlat.com/
Goodbye, Emperor Bush
U.S. president to step up ‘war on terror,’ free trade
By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat.com
The war on terror and free trade will underline U.S. President George W.
Bush’s nine-day swing through six nations of Asia-Pacific – including the
Philippines – beginning Oct. 17. The trip is also intended to thank Asian
allies, among them President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for supporting Bush’s
unpopular war on terror against Afghanistan and Iraq and for sending forces
and war materiel to war-torn Iraq which is now under U.S. neo-colonial
occupation.
Bush will be visiting a familiar territory – the region that for over a
century has been a priority in America’s drive for global hegemony meant to
ensure its continued access to major raw materials, trade and vital
security and commercial routes. What will be unfamiliar to him is that the
trip will not be all pomp and pageantry – he will be greeted by widespread
protests enflamed by the illegitimacy of the war on terror and the bane of
imperialist globalization.
His official trip will kick off from California where he is expected to
congratulate its new rightist governor, Hollywood celebrity Arnold
Schwarzenegger. From there he will fly to Japan, then to the Philippines
and Thailand (where he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum summit). The next leg of his trip will include Singapore, Indonesia
and Australia, where he will address a joint session of parliament in Canberra.
Bush is flying in at a time when support for the war and occupation of Iraq
has plummeted in his own country and elsewhere in the world. U.S. forces
are deep into a quagmire in Iraq amid guerrilla attacks that they are
unable to prevent. Washington has been unsuccessful thus far in pushing for
a UN multilateral force for peacekeeping mission in that Middle East
country outside of the pledges of support already committed by
Macapagal-Arroyo and other Asian allies. Meantime, the U.S. economy is on
the edge of deflation and the Bush visit is expected to boost U.S.
pressures to – in the light of the collapse of the recent Cancun WTO
ministerial conference – forge new free trade agreements as well as new
investment schemes favorable to U.S. transnational corporations. The first
of such free trade agreement has been forged with Singapore early this year.
More commitments
No doubt the U.S. president will use his visit as a platform for the
intensification of his “war on terror” and to extract more commitments to
support not only America’s neocolonial and pacification campaigns in
Afghanistan and Iraq but also current war preparations against other
members of the so-called “axis of evil” particularly North Korea and Iran.
Inevitably, this particular agenda will also call for the strengthening of
bilateral and multilateral security relationships conducive for the U.S.
Pacific Command’s (PACOM) plans to bolster its power projection in the
region. The plans have included, among others, the forward deployment of
more forces, reshuffling of forces, joint anti-terrorism operations and a
blueprint for a NATO-type regional defense force.
U.S. alliance with Japan is the linchpin of America’s military hegemony in
Asia. Almost half of the 100,000 U.S. troops in the Far East are in Japan
including the Marine Expeditionary Force and Fifth Air Force based in
Okinawa that will be used in a war with North Korea. In the U.S.’ recent
wars of aggression, Japan as a junior ally has played an active role by
using the façade of peacekeeping and humanitarian missions even if these
clearly exceeded the constitutional limits that provide only for a
self-defense force.
Singapore, on the other hand, has been a leading advocate of stronger U.S.
military presence in Southeast Asia and has even offered its territory for
a military base. The 1990 Access Memorandum of Understanding allows U.S.
carrier visits, aircraft deployments as well as naval and air training
exercises.
Like Singapore, Thailand is a long-time ally where the U.S. PACOM enjoys
rights of access and a high level of interoperability. It is here where the
U.S. conducts centerpiece war exercises including Cobra Gold. Thailand had
been under military dictatorship and supplied troops to fight America’s
wars of aggression in Indochina during the 1970s. The Thai government has
also sent at least 1,000 troops to Iraq.
Indonesia
The U.S. expects to renew a strong security relationship that it once
enjoyed under the 33-year long authoritarian rule of General Soeharto whom
Washington also supported. If it cannot rebuild its military base in the
Philippines, it can potentially do so in Indonesia considering this
country’s geostrategic position and – with the world’s largest Muslim
population and a large oil industry – its own regional influence. Indonesia
is a gateway between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and straddles some of
the world’s critical sea lines of communication.
Chiefly because of Prime Minister John Howard’s own warmongering, Australia
has sent combat troops to both Afghanistan and Iraq aside from naval
contingents. It is with Australia that the U.S. maintains some 250
defense-related bilateral agreements. Military ties between the two
countries have been upgraded during the past few years with bigger and more
frequent bilateral war exercises and a more visible presence of the U.S.
Navy. Australia, which seeks to project itself as a regional power,
provides a key link to America’s global military domination as it hosts
strategic intelligence-gathering programs and is a partner in the
Pentagon’s secretive new missile defense system.
Philippines
Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, however, it is the Philippines
where its government has long salivated to become not only America’s most
trusted ally but its own propaganda mouthpiece in the region. And this is
the reason why Bush will use his visit in Manila to – upon
Macapagal-Arroyo’s own prodding – address a joint session of Congress on
Oct. 18. Seen from that angle, Bush’s presence in the Philippine Congress
is a virtual endorsement for Macapagal-Arroyo’s bid for the presidency in
the May 2004 elections.
Bush’s tacit support for Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency is not at all
unexpected and is not without reason. With her unequivocal support for
Bush’s war on terrorism and strong military presence in the region even
when her own country cannot afford it, the U.S. has used the Philippines as
its “second front” in the global war against terrorism. As a result, the
U.S. has won legitimacy and expediency for a deeper war interventionism in
this country as well as for using the Philippines as a staging base for
greater military presence in Southeast Asia. Bush is also expected to
reiterate military aid pledges as well as investment packages particularly
in Mindanao where the U.S. is pressuring the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) to capitulate in exchange for development assistance. Today
Macapagal-Arroyo is described as a puppet without equal for trading her
country’s sovereignty and her own people’s civil liberties for that crucial
U.S. tacit support to her presidency.
U.S. security relationships with Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Australia are seen however as unilateral impositions by
America that have nothing to do at all with ensuring the security of these
countries. Rather, these security arrangements – backed by military bases,
war exercises, forward deployment of forces and the USPACOM – provide the
full spectrum mechanism for guaranteeing America’s economic and
geopolitical interests while preventing the rise of a rival military power
in the region. As a matter of fact, these security relationships are being
calibrated to support U.S. wars of aggression as far as the Persian Gulf,
Central Asia and elsewhere. Coincidentally, the U.S. military presence is
also used to rein in governments and maintain regimes who help administer
America’s junior allies, quasi-protectorates and – in the case of the
Philippines – neo-colonies.
Anti-war movements
The current war on terror has however generated strong anti-war movements
in Asia particularly in Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Australia.
The anti-war movements have arisen alongside the worldwide resistance to
globalization and are germinating higher levels of struggles against U.S.
imperialism and its military bases. There is a growing awareness among
peoples in the region that the U.S. has been the main source of instability
and oppression and that their sovereign integrity can only be guaranteed
through non-interference by all foreign powers and the phase-out of all
types of foreign military presence. The U.S. stands accused of instigating
terrorist acts in order to justify greater armed interventionism and
military presence in the region.
The latest report is that big protest actions will greet Bush’s Asia visit.
A news release by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic
Alliance) last week reveals that Workers’ Democracy, among several groups,
will spearhead mass actions in Bangkok in time for the Apec summit and the
Bush visit. In Japan, nationwide mass protests led by the Asia-Wide
Campaign (AWC) and other organizations will call for an end to U.S.
military occupation and protest the Koizumi government’s dispatch of
Japanese soldiers to Iraq.
A “Day of Ridicule” will be staged on Oct. 29 when Bush is expected to
address the Australian parliament in Canberra. The Sydney Peace and Justice
Coalition, one of the lead organizers of anti-war rallies protesting the
U.S. war on Iraq, will again take to the streets “to give George the
welcome he deserves.” In the Philippines, “Ban Bush” indignation rallies
will be launched nationwide with Metro Manila as the center of city-wide
protest actions. The Legislators Against War (LAW) led by Bayan Muna
representatives will also protest when Bush addresses the Philippine
Congress in a joint session.
Similar mass protests are also set in the United States. Bulatlat.com
Fátima Lasay http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/digiteer/
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