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).

Around 70 members of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), World March of Women – Pilipinas, and Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) marched this morning in front of the Chinese Embassy in Makati to protest the ongoing crackdown against the Tibetan protesters.

Holding pictures of Tibetan victims of the killings, the groups denounced the restriction against international media coverage by China, preventing the world to see the real victims and perpetrators in the violence that followed the groundswell of protests last March. China has blamed the Tibetans for the violence, which pushed the Dalai Lama to threaten resignation. According to Tibetan groups, China precisely wanted that to happen towards removing moral authority from the Tibetan struggle and declaring them as terrorists.

“Numerous evidences have come out proving that Chinese police have dressed themselves up as monks and as ordinary Tibetans, held knives, robbed and set shops in Lhasa into fire,” according to the statement of the groups. Already, at least 140 Tibetans were killed and 1000 imprisoned, most of them monks and nuns.

Speakers underscored the strategic interest of China in Tibet, which has deepened in the recent years. “As China built roads, railways, bridges in and through Tibet, the exploitation of their resources by Canadian, Australian and Chinese corporations left the Tibetan population as among the poorest in the world. Too, China’s primary weapon research and design facility is located in the northeastern Tibetan province of Amdo,” said Jing Geaga, Coordinator of the World March of Women in the Philippines.

Marlene Sindayen of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) criticized the discrimination against Tibetan workers by the Chinese employers. “Many Tibetans cannot find employment unless they speak Chinese,” according to Sindayen. Moreover, “virginity testing” is one of the most disturbing discriminatory practices against Tibetan women looking for employment. The purpose of the virginity test is to determine a job applicant’s “fitness” for employment. This is done by putting a hand inside a woman to check her virginity.

Cases of violence against Tibetan women, especially torture and prostitution in the hands of Chinese authorities, were denounced. According to Jean Enriquez, Executive Director of CATW-AP,

“Sexual torture, is applied to women political prisoners, including the nuns. These include use of dogs, use of lighted cigarettes, stripping prisoners naked, and penetration of the women’s orifices with electrical batons.”

“Prostitution has staggeringly increased in the face of economic hardship and discrimination against Tibetan women. But the most important factor is probably the influx of Chinese soldiers,” added Enriquez.

The Tibetan government in exile says there are 300,000 Chinese soldiers stationed in the autonomous region alone Tibetan victims of prostitution are as young as 13 or 14.

The groups made parallels between China’s complicity in the recent killings and imprisonment of numerous monks, nuns, women, students and workers by the Military Junta in Burma, and China’s complicity in the same acts in Tibet. Jun Bans of the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) called on the world to look intently into the incidents in Lhasa, and beyond that, understand the roots of the Tibetan people’s struggle. “Stop the violence against the Tibetans! Let the Olympic torch light the way toward restoring freedoms to the Tibetans,” Bans concluded.

A torch, parodying the Olympic symbol, is carried by the group. It was labeled “torch of freedom for the Tibetans.”

At least 140 were reported killed among the Tibetan protesters in the wake of recent groundswell in the run up to the Beijing Olympics. More than 1,000, most of them monks and nuns, were jailed. The entire picture is being denied of the world by the Chinese government through censorship and propaganda portraying violence as coming from the Tibetans.

Numerous evidences have come out proving that Chinese police have dressed themselves up as monks and as ordinary Tibetans, held knives, robbed and set shops in Lhasa into fire. But before such evidences came out, the Chinese authorities blamed the Tibetans for the death of five young women (which includes a Tibetan) in a clothing shop. Staging of riots as coming from dissenters has been done by Chinese authorities in the past – in March 1989, a group of young men in their twenties acted in a similarly organized way. They first shouted slogans, burnt some vehicles near the Ramoche Monastery, then broke into nearby stores, robbed them, and finally burnt scores of the stores. Chief Commander of Armed Police, Mr. Li Lianxiu has been reported by the media to have ordered earlier thus, “the Special Squad should immediately assign 300 members to be disguised as ordinary citizens and Tibetan monks, entering the Eight-Corner Street and other riot spots in Lhasa, to support plain-clothes police to complete the task. Burn the Scripture Pagoda at the northeast of Dazhao Temple. Smash the rice store in the business district, incite citizens to rob rice and food, attack the Tibet-Gansu Trading Company.”

After the Tiananmen Square massacre of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students in June 1989, the Chinese government similarly turned the Chinese public’s sentiments against the students. It did so by showing staged immolation by Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen and by claiming that the students attacked the soldiers.

We call on the world to look intently into the incidents in Lhasa, and beyond that, understand the roots of the Tibetan people’s struggle. The upcoming Beijing Olympics is a rare opportunity that they are taking to call attention to their 50-decade struggle against an illegal occupation. This occupation has led to the brutal oppression of Tibetans, the destruction of their culture and the draining of their environmental resources — especially of its forests, minerals, grasslands. As China built roads, railways, bridges in and through Tibet, the exploitation of their resources by Canadian, Australian and Chinese corporations left the Tibetan population as among the poorest in the world.

Tibet’s strategic importance to China is further illustrated by the presence of China’s primary weapon research and design facility, known as the “Ninth Academy”, in the northeastern Tibetan province of Amdo. The facility is the most secret organization in China’s entire nuclear program and remains today an important and high security military weapons plant.

Tibetan women have historically been subjected to a wide range of violence including torture, rape and reproductive rights’ violations. Sexual torture is applied to women political prisoners. These include use of dogs, use of lighted cigarettes, stripping prisoners naked, and penetration of the women’s orifices with electrical batons. The torture perpetrated against nuns carries another destructive layer: they are forced to suffer the abuse of their religious vows. Most recently, the monks and nuns were forced to sign papers denouncing the Dalai Lama. The raping of nuns is common. Forcing nuns and monks to have sex with each other has also been reported.

Methods of enforcement of Chinese family planning policies in Tibet have been coercive. For those who do not comply with official policies, there are penalties in the form of fines, loss of jobs or reduction of pay, and loss of housing. Women are given the “option” of paying a fine or terminating a pregnancy. The fines imposed are often the equivalent of more than a month’s wages.

Many Tibetans cannot find employment unless they speak Chinese. Tibetan women (and men) have lost jobs because they, or their relatives, have been associated with political activities that the Chinese authorities call “separatist activities”.

“Virginity testing” is a most disturbing discriminatory practice against Tibetan women looking for employment. The purpose of the virginity test is to determine a job applicant’s “fitness” for employment. Women who pass the virginity test have to sign a contract promising that they will not get married or engage in sexual activity for three years.

Prostitution has staggeringly increased in the face of economic hardship, discrimination and lack of opportunities for Tibetan women. Tibetan victims of prostitution are as young as 13 or 14. The London-based Free Tibet Campaign estimates 1,000 brothels in Lhasa. But the single most important factor is probably the large inflow of Chinese soldiers. Lots of brothels are near military areas and camps, as everywhere in the world. The Tibetan government in exile says there are 300,000 Chinese soldiers stationed in the autonomous region alone.

The entire picture of the Tibetan women’s and people’s sufferings cannot be captured in this statement. But their reports to United Nations bodies bear hard statistics on their sufferings. Our sisters among the Tibetan nuns, our brothers among the exiles, our friends among the activists are calling for international action, until China heeds their call.

Stop the violence against the Tibetans! Restore their freedoms as a people! Free Tibet now!

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP)
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
World March of Women – Pilipinas
Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)

Civil Society Groups call on their Trade Ministers to build a multilateral trade system that is just, sustainable and democratic

Responding to the release of new negotiating texts at the WTO, civil society groups from all over the world sent letters to their Trade Ministers, calling on them to acknowledge the failure of the Doha Round.

“We believe that the time has come to officially declare the Doha Round of the WTO negotiations dead and to provide the necessary space to re-think the kind of multilateral trade rules that are needed to create employment and achieve sustainable development,” the letter states. It was signed by over 90 civil society organizations from more than 35 countries, both developed and developing.

Ever since the launch of the Round in 2001, people all over the world, including farmers, fisherfolk, workers and trade unionists, environmentalists, faith-based groups and other civil society organizations, have been denouncing the Doha talks as paying little attention to peoples’ rights and needs. “Doha was supposed to be the ‘development’ round. But what has transpired over the intervening six years has been quite the opposite”, the letter states.

The civil society groups say that it is becoming clear that the current model of trade cannot deliver on the alleged goal of the Doha Round – to promote development and lift millions of people out of poverty – and that WTO Members will never be able to agree on a deal within the current parameters. The groups ask Trade Ministers to:

• Acknowledge the failure of the Doha Round

• Institute a two year moratorium to provide the time and space necessary to re-think the model and process of global trade negotiations.

• Stimulate public discussion and debate with governments and civil society about creating alternative trade regimes

A number of groups from the Philippines signed the letter: the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Focus on the Global South, Global Network Asia, IBON Foundation, Inc., Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN), PAKISAMA, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and Tebtebba.