Political Killings in the Philippines, Film Screening at UC Santa Cruz (11/9)

In response to the rapidly increasing number of political killings perpetrated by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime, the Critical Filipina/o Studies Cluster of UCSC will be holding a special event at 6:30pm, Thursday, November 9th at Oakes Learning Center. Come and learn about what’s going in a country severely affected by U.S. imperialist interests.

The event will include a rare screening of the documentary film “Echo of Bullets,” produced by Southern Tagalog Exposure, a progressive media organization in the Philippines. Filmed between 1998-2003, the film documents the Philippine Army’s efforts to put an end to progressive political organizing by assassinating and “disappearing” scores of peasants, women, and indigenous activists in the southern part of Luzon, Philippines.

There will be an introduction to the film by a filmmaker who recently spent several months with Southern Tagalog Exposure. Also, there will be a guest speaker from Gabnet, a women’s organization that advocates for the national democratic struggle in the Philippines, concerning the current political situation of the Philippines.

Since the Arroyo regime took power in 2001, there have been over 760 extra-judicial killings of political activists, labor organizers, women, indigenous people, peasants, and youth. In addition, there have been thousands of human rights violations committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines under her command.

This summer, Arroyo declared an all-out war against the revolutionary forces and allocated 2 billion pesos to allegedly wipe out the revolutionary movement within three years. However, this governmental policy has lead to the murder of hundreds of unarmed activists who are legally organizing the people for self-determination.

For more info, please visit www.criticalfilipinas.org