ON WITH THE SAFFRON REVOLUTION!
END THE CRACKDOWN!
STOP THE KILLINGS, MASSIVE ARRESTS AND POLITICAL PERSECUTION

The Burmese military regime may have killed, maimed, or impoverished the bodies of the peoples of Burma—but the spirit of the Saffron Revolution and the peoples’ aspiration for genuine democracy are very much alive.

With the crackdown of the thousands of people who participated in the historic Saffron Revolution a year ago, the notoriety of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) was further revealed. The junta’s casual disregard to human rights has reached a level where all international laws were ignored in the name of power. And all in the mighty name of power, a monk must be killed, a media man’s life must be sacrificed and hundreds must be detained.

It was a massacre committed in broad day light. That was the day of infamy—the day when the military regime slapped the world on its face by telling us that tyranny is a good substitute to democracy.

The Saffron Revolution, which was led by peace-loving Buddhist monks is a manifestation of the instinctual disgust of the peoples of Burma to the ill-governance, mismanagement, and oppression of the Burmese military regime. It was the culmination of the huge snowball of resistance inside and outside Burma aimed at reforming the military regime’s repressive style of governance.

However, instead of sitting down in a dialogue to ventilate the demands of the people that include economic issues brought about by the sudden increase of fuel prices, the call for the release of all political prisoners and the demand for national reconciliation starting with genuine dialogue, the junta chose to flex its military might and with brute force, hit even the highest moral authority of the land—the Buddhist Monks. Nameless civilians were not spared and massive arrest of protesters, raiding of monasteries and curfew immediately followed.

A year has passed but there was no sign that the military regime learned its lesson. It has remained intransigent to the clamor to bring back democracy and justice in Burma. Political persecution is everywhere until today and poverty and hunger are still rampant while hundreds of people are intimidated, jailed, and killed for exercising political rights. Arrests and intimidation of political leaders and raiding of monasteries are still happening. We demand an end to this crackdown and we challenge the regime to sit down on a dialogue and institute genuine political reforms.

Today, the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines extends its heartfelt solidarity to the peoples of Burma and to all the heroes and martyrs of the Saffron Revolution. We are joining thousands of voices inside and outside Burma in a united call for the immediate restoration of democracy and social justice in that land.

We call on the United Nations (UN) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and all its member states, to continue applying pressure to the military regime and exhaust all possible means to hold the junta accountable to the crimes it has committed and will continuously commit against its own citizens.
The Saffron Revolution is not just a day to remember but a struggle that must be pursued until its victorious end. Today, we would like our brothers and sisters in Burma to know that we will continuously join them in their quest for genuine democracy, justice and peace in Burma.

ON WITH THE SAFFRON REVOLUTION!
WE WILL FIGHT! WE WILL WIN!

-FREE BURMA COALITION-PHILIPPINES
Amnesty International (AI), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Bagong Kamalayan, Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK), Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)

A day before several lawmakers deliver their respective sponsorship speeches on the controversial bill promoting the use of both artificial and natural means of family planning, among others, a network of more than 50 non-government and people’s organizations advocating women’s and people’s rights today urged other members of the House of Representatives to affirm women’s right to reproductive self-determination, and to support the immediate passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.

The Welga ng Kababaihan, which includes the Freedom from Debt Coalition Women’s Committee, stressed that it is a woman’s right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to her sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.

In a statement of support to House Bill 5043 or An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, the group said the RH Bill embodies many aspects of the principle of reproductive health as a woman’s right.

Central to overall health

“The RH Bill promotes sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflects a commitment to women’s social and economic well-being, and affirms the moral capacity of women and men to make sound decisions about their lives,” the group said.

It added that because reproductive health is central to overall health, fundamental aspects of women’s well-being are compromised when reproductive health is ignored.

“Women are placed in bondage to reproduction and biology if only ‘natural family planning’ is tolerated,” the group stressed.

Right to Choose

“The RH Bill makes it the responsibility of the state to protect the right to choose, not to make decisions for individuals. Women’s right to choose is a basic part of exercising control over their lives. The Bill provides for women to be informed and to services that will ensure women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights,” the women’s group said.

However, reproductive rights are only likely to be exercised effectively and responsibly by women when certain other economic and social rights and entitlements have been realized, it said.

“The conditions under which choices are made are as important as the actual content of women’s choices: the right to choose is a meaningless abstraction if women are powerless to choose,” the group explained.

Recognizing health complications

The group supports the RH Bill because it “recognizes the catastrophic health consequences of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.”

“Poverty is not only implicated in these deaths, it is also often its direct cause. The RH Bill acknowledges the reproductive health needs of vulnerable young and poor women and the removal of legal as well as attitudinal punitive measures against those who have undergone poorly managed abortions,” it said.

Integral to social and economic health

The RH Bill acknowledges that reproductive and sexual health is integral to social and economic health, the group said.

“Fertility control must be part of a broader program which seeks to: improve women’s health and education; provide women with productive work; promote gender equity, especially by placing equal responsibility for reproduction and child-rearing on men; and, reorient structural social, economic and development processes towards an equitable distribution of the nation’s, and the world’s, productive assets,” it said.

Exercising reproductive options

The group believes that the RH Bill affirms that human sexuality and gender relations are closely interrelated and together affect the ability of men and women to achieve and maintain sexual health and manage their reproductive lives.

“The differential power between men and women in general, and husbands and wives in particular, is a major factor in women’s ability to exercise reproductive options. Those who have most at stake in every pregnancy should be allowed a decisive voice and choice on their own behalf,” it said.

Welga ng Kababaihan

Aside from FDC Women’s Committee, members of the Welga ng Kababaihan include: AKBAYAN, Alab Katipunan, Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), ANAWIM, Bagong Kamalayan, BUDYONG – PLKP, BUKLOD, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) – Kababaihan, Center for Empowerment and Resource Development (CERD), Center for Migrants Advocacy (CMA), Centro Saka Inc. (CSI), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Confederation of Independent Unions (CIU), Damayan ng mga Pilipinong Api (DAMPA), Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD), Integrated Rural Development Foundation (IRDF), International Gender and Trade Network- Asia (IGTN).

Jubilee South, Kaalagad, KABAPA, KAKAMMPI, Kalayaan – Housing, Kalayaan – Madza, KASAMA-PILIPINAS, Katipunan para sa Pagpapalaya ng Sambayanan (KALAYAAN!) – Women, Kilusang Kababaihang Mangingisda, KPML, Labor Education Research Institute (LEARN), LAKAMBINI – PAKISAMA. MAKALAYA, NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR), PADAYON, PAKISAMA, Pambansang Kongreso ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan(PKKK), Pambansang Tagapag-ugnay ng mga Manggagawa sa Bahay (PATAMABA) PANGISDA-KKM.

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), Philippine Ecumenical Action for Community Empowerment (PEACE), Foundation, Inc., Philippine Network of Rural Development Initiatives (Philnet-RDI), Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) – Gender Desk, PIGLAS Kababaihan, PKKK-K!, Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), SANLAKAS Women, SARILAYA, SDK, Social Watch, Ugnayan ng Kababaihan sa Pulitika (UKP), WomanHealth Philippines, Inc., Women’s Crisis Center (WCC), Women’s Education Development Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Womenspace, and Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO).