GABRIELA USA condemns the horrific genocide against Palestinians and demands for an end to the US-Israeli occupation of Palestine!
Written October 30, 2023
The struggles of Filipinos and Palestinians are intrinsically linked. As Filipino women fighting for genuine liberation and national sovereignty in the Philippines, we share the same goal with Palestinian people. Our lands continue to be devastated due to US-led war, costing the lives of women and children. Resistance to colonialism is justified, and we must take every step possible towards our collective liberation.
The US-backed state of Israel has killed over 7,326 Palestinans and wounded over 18,000 in less than 20 days. Millions of our tax-paying dollars are sent to fund Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including the 500 people killed in the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital bombing. This is in stark contrast to the neglect of our very own hospitals and healthcare workers in the US.
According to Palestine’s Health Ministry, the US-backed Israeli occupation has massacred at least 1873 children, 1023 women, and 187 elderly individuals since October 7, 2023. This militarization of occupied Palestinian land will only lead to more atrocities that disproportionately impact women and children. As Filipinos, we know from our own struggle that where there is militarization by colonial powers, there is violence against women and children. The US-imperialist state perpetuates violence committed against women and children in our homeland - through military exercises, unequal military agreements, and the presence of US troops in the Philippines.
Many Filipino overseas migrants work as caretakers in “Israel”, and are killed in the line of fire during this genocide. At least 30,000 Filipinos live and work in Israel, mainly as caregivers. If the Filipino people were not exploited by their own US-backed government, they would not have to leave their homes in search of a better life elsewhere. Migrant Filipino women are forced to leave their own families to work overseas in a foreign land unknown to them because there is a policy in place that pushes Filipino people out of the Philippines for economic survival. In 1974, martial law dictator and former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos enacted the Labor Export Policy (LEP) in an effort to quell social unrest due to widespread joblessness and poverty in the country while simultaneously reaping economic benefits from the dollar remittances of exploited migrant workers. The LEP is an inherently exploitative policy that separates Filipino families, outsources and commodifies the Filipino people’s labor, and is the reason why Filipino caregivers are in “Israel” in the first place.
It is no surprise that the US-backed puppet president, President Bongbong Marcos, supports the Israeli occupation of Palestine, beholden to US imperialist ambitions in the Middle East. as opposed to the Filipino masses who see their struggle as linked to the struggle of the colonized Palestinian people. By supporting the Israeli occupation so resolutely, the Bongbong Marcos regime is also complicit in the massacre of Palestinian and Filipino people in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli colonizers.
During this genocide, President Bongbong Marcos completed a self proclaimed “successful” trip to Saudi Arabia, in which plans were discussed to increase labor exports; the plan to erect a facility to train Filipinos in construction related crafts hopes to eventually send out 2,000 people to Saudi to work on their projects. Despite the deadly cost of increasing labor exports, Marcos continues to empathize with the Israeli military, with no planned efforts to support the OFWs in Palestine. It is clear that Marcos and this current government prioritizes the profits of the country’s labor exports over the safety of our OFWs.
In our own history of resistance against foreign and local oppressors, Filipino women in the struggle know that our own liberation requires participation in the fight for self-determination and national liberation. We urge all Filipino women to stand up against the US-Israeli occupation of Palestine!