Protests demand justice for farmers killed by police death squads in the Philippines

A protest outside the Philippine Consulate on New York City’s Fifth Avenue on April 10 demanded justice for 14 farmers killed on March 30. The massacre by the Philippine National Police was in Negros Oriental province.

The NYC action was part of a Global Day of Action against this atrocity.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s death squads have killed thousands of peasants, workers and pro-democracy activists. As the Campaign For Human Rights Philippines wrote in their statement:  

“More than 60 peasant leaders in Negros alone, 205 from across the country, have already been killed under the Duterte regime. Must those who till the land to feed a nation be slaughtered in the night like sick cows? Must those who have suffered from long years of neglect and who struggle for land and lasting peace be meted with death like the worst criminals?

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines says no!”

Behind Duterte is U.S. imperialism, which killed at least a million Filippinos in the dirty war following the U.S. invasion in 1898. Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo — a virtual employee of the billionaire Koch brothers — conferred with Duterte in February.

There’s a revolution developing in the Philippines. Peasants want the land that they’ve tilled for generations. Workers are demanding jobs and union rights.

Millions of people in the Philippines want an end to the U.S.-backed Duterte regime. The U.S. labor movement and all progressive people should support this just struggle.