Militant Action Denounces Provocations of Philippine State Agents in Canada
Some 70 people, mostly youth, took part in a militant action against two Philippine state agents speaking at a "by invitation only" meeting at the Korean Canadian Institute in Toronto on August 16.
Eric Celiz and Trixie Cruz-Angeles are vocal supporters of the U.S.-sponsored governments in the Philippines, those of the broadly reviled Rodrigo Duterte and his successor and current president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They were in Toronto to drum up support amongst Filipinos before next year's mid-term election in the Philippines. Canadians who also hold Filipino citizenship can vote in the election. Celiz and Cruz-Angeles are well-known enemies of the Filipino people and have engaged in "red-tagging," the labeling of progressive forces as communists, subversives or terrorists to justify their arrest, imprisonment, torture and often death.
The demonstrators stood outside the venue where the meeting was held as invitees arrived. They chanted slogans in English and Filipino denouncing the two speakers. Alexia, the spokesperson for Anak Bayan Canada, the organization of progressive and patriotic Filipino youth, denounced the two speakers for coming to Canada to provoke the Filipino community. She detailed their crimes and denounced the Canadian government for allowing such individuals who violate the human rights of the Filipino people to come to Canada on their anti-people mission.
Philip Fernandez, speaking on behalf of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) expressed the strong support of the Party and the Canadian people for the struggle of the Filipino people for national liberation led by the Communist Party of the Philippines. He expressed confidence that the U.S. and its allies like Canada will not be able to suppress the just struggle of the Filipino people, in the same way as they have been unable to crush the Palestinian Resistance. He pointed out that the Canadian state trots out the bogey man of "foreign interference" in Canadian affairs in a self-serving way to serve narrow private interests, but clearly supports "foreign interference" if it disrupts the unity of the Canadian people who vigorously oppose the criminal actions of the U.S.-backed Marcos-Duterte government and of Canadian mining companies pillaging the natural resources of the Philippines.
Several speakers denounced the role of the Canadian state in allowing agents of the Philippine state to operate with a free hand in Canada, including threatening reprisals against activists in the Filipino community and against their families in the Philippines, for their stands in defence of their rights in Canada and their support for the struggle for independence and democracy in the Philippines. A youth from Anak Bayan Scarborough noted that their organization has been "red tagged" in the media.
A spokesperson from the Toronto Chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines stated that carrying out actions for what is just is a duty and a right and that the red-tagging of political activists must stop. She said that people like Celiz and Cruz-Angeles should be held to account for their crimes.
The participants chanted many slogans such as Ang tao, ang bayan ngayon ay lumalaban! (The People United Will Never Be Defeated!), Celiz, Celiz, Is a Plague! and others, drawing the attention of many motorists passing by.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 9 - September 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M5400912.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca