Young Filipinos call for boycott of Israel and join global student movement for Palestine
MANILA: Student organizers on campuses across the Philippines are calling for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel and Zionists as they join the global movement in support of the Palestinians.
Pro-Palestinian student leaders and activists from various Philippine universities have been mobilizing their fellow students for months to raise awareness about Israel's war against Gaza and organize rallies in solidarity with Palestine.
Young Filipinos are drawing attention to the liberation struggle in Palestine and its similarities to the Philippines' history and experience under occupation and colonialism, hoping to engage more people and inspire further collective action in their community.
“Filipino youth and students are aware that the struggle (of the Palestinians) against settler colonialism is similar to that of the colonial history of the Philippines and that today we perceive a common struggle with the Palestinians, namely US imperialism,” student organizer Raphael Jourvy Gavino told Arab News.
Filipinos suffered more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, from 1565 to 1898, and nearly five decades of American colonization, from 1898 to 1946. Despite independence, activists say the Philippines remains a “semi-colony” of the United States to this day, citing the Southeast Asian country's economic and military dependence on the United States.
Gavino, who attends the state-run Polytechnic University of the Philippines, is one of the organizers of the PUP for Palestine initiative. His school is known for its student activism and is the largest university in the country in terms of population.
“Thousands of PUP students participated virtually, expressing their support for the Palestinians in their struggle against genocide and apartheid in Israel and demanding justice,” he said.
“As students, and especially as Filipinos, it is important to show solidarity and support for the Palestinians, simply because we cannot just stand by and watch while thousands of fellow students, children and women are slaughtered right before our eyes.”
Official estimates say that over 39,000 Palestinian citizens have been killed by Israel's ground and air strikes in the Gaza Strip over the past nine months, but a study published this month in the journal Lancet suggests the true death toll could be over 186,000.
In addition, Israeli forces have destroyed schools, universities and hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.
“No educational institution in the country should have close contact with a state that disregards the future of children by bombing their schools and universities,” Gavino added.
For students at Ateneo de Manila University, one of the country's top universities, showing support for Palestine is crucial.
“It is important for us, especially as students, to join the global call for liberation and an immediate end to genocide in pursuit of a just and lasting peace, because this is the world we will inherit,” A4P said in a statement to Arab News.
The group said it was inspired by the courage and determination of students abroad who had set up camp at their respective universities and demanded divestment from “agents of genocide.”
“Our aim is to expose the entanglements of our own university, if any, and demand their immediate end,” A4P said.
“We would also like to call for a cultural and academic boycott of our universities from Israel and Zionist sources and instead maintain and support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions and work for a just and lasting peace by unconditionally supporting the cause of national liberation.”
The Ateneo group, which has over 5,000 followers on Facebook, also condemned the Philippine government for passing on “billions of pesos worth of defense deals” to Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems, Rafael Advance Defense Systems and Israel Shipyards, as well as to the Israeli government.
“These weapons of mass destruction are also used to inflict violence against indigenous communities in the Philippines and to carry out extreme acts of state repression against its own people,” A4P said.
At the Far Eastern University in Manila, student leaders founded the “Tamaraws for Palestine” initiative in June, which has so far organized rallies and fundraisers and held lectures and discussions on campus.
“For us Filipinos, terrorism in Palestine is nothing new because we ourselves have been colonized and threatened by several nations, including Spain, America and Japan. And now even by China because of its aggressive actions in the (South China Sea),” Kyla Mae Alzado, vice-chair of Tamaraws for Palestine, told Arab News.
“We are still oppressed by other nations and face threats in our own country. Palestine is currently in this situation and as a nation that understands and is currently in this situation, we must stand with them in solidarity.”
One of its main focuses is to raise awareness of the violence in the Gaza Strip among the Filipino society at large.
“We hope to expand our organization and achieve more collective actions that could amplify the voices of the oppressed,” Alzado said.
“Most importantly, we hope that our demands for Palestinian rights can help support their liberation.”
