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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 38 October 26 - November 1, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 38 October 26 - November 1, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Protests,
Jeers Mar Bush’s Asia Swing
Never
since Richard Nixon was pelted with eggs and tomatoes in Latin America some 30
years ago has a U.S. president been greeted by storms of anti-war protests while
on a foreign trip. In his recent nine-day whirlwind visit to six Asian
countries, George W. Bush was met by big rallies and demonstrations in Thailand,
Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Also visited was Singapore. By
Bulatlat.com
Protests in Bangkok (Above, left) and Tokyo (Above, right) Bush’s visit was also marred by an unprecedented legislators’ walkout in the Philippines Congress where Bush spoke Oct. 18 and by a similar protest inside the Australian parliament in Canberra. The
Asia-wide protests focused on Bush’s “war on terror,” growing armed
interventionism and neocolonialism in the region as well as U.S.-initiated
economic impositions to push global free trade and free foreign investment
despite international resistance. In all, security was tight, some arrests were
made and even anti-war legislators were threatened with penalties. Philippines
Government
tried to organize a pro-Bush rally but even the 200 rallyists who were mobilized
for a fee were also dispersed, it was reported. In
an Oct. 20 news release, the Ban Bush media center said “Bush encountered the
most militant, most anti-imperialist protests in Manila and various cities in
the Philippines, a sight unseen in any of the countries he recently went to.” Rallies
and protest marches were staged in the southern Philippine cities of General
Santos, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Bislig and Tandag; in the Visayas towns and
cities of Catarman, Ormoc, Iloilo, Roxas, Cebu and Tagbilaran; as well as in
Albay, Masbate, Camarines Sur and Norte, Sorsogon, Angeles City, Baguio City,
Isabela and Cagayan in Luzon island. Australia
Outside
parliament, at least 2,000 demonstrators held protests against the Bush visit
amid tight police security and crowd control barriers. Just
like in the Philippines and other countries he visited, Bush was escorted to his
20-hour visit in Australia by armed air force jets, helicopters and hordes of
secret service men. Indonesia
Bush
flew to Bangkok, Thailand after his Manila visit to attend the Oct. 19-21
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. About 1,000 activists took to
the streets in the heart of Bangkok to protest against Bush’s war in
Afghanistan and Iraq and globalization. Another 3,000 protesters failed to join
the rally after they were blocked on their way to Bangkok from the provinces. Bush, who is facing political isolation at home on account of the war in Iraq and the economic recession, went to Asia to rally more support for his war on terror, in the rebuilding of Iraq and free trade agreements. He was also criticized for using the Apec summit as a forum on security and his war on terror, sidetracking the main agenda of regional trade. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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Never
since Richard Nixon was pelted with eggs and tomatoes in Latin America some 30
years ago has a U.S. president been greeted by storms of anti-war protests while
on a foreign trip. In his recent nine-day whirlwind visit to six Asian
countries, George W. Bush was met by big rallies and demonstrations in Thailand,
Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Also visited was Singapore.
In
the Philippines, Bush’s eight-hour itinerary in Metro-Manila was delayed a few
times as the U.S. president’s secret service men struggled over security
measures in light of a 10,000-strong rally led by the Ban Bush! movement that
had the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan – New Patriotic Alliance) as one of
the organizers. In all, anti-war protesters totaled some 100,000 given parallel
protest actions held in the country’s major cities nationwide.
In
Canberra, Bush was interrupted twice by heckling from two opposition MPs in a
speech to parliament. One of the MPs, Green Party Sen. Kerry Nettle, shouted
protests against the U.S. war in Iraq. Meanwhile, the 18-year-old son of Mamdouh
Habib, one of two Australians being held at a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo
without charged after the Afghan invasion, was hauled out after yelling, “Hey
Bush, what about my Dad?”