Philly rally demands: U.S. out of the Philippines!

Anakbayan Philadelphia held a rally on April 19 to demand the U.S. end its military presence in the Philippines.

Part of the national days of action against the military Balikatan Exercises, Filipino community members and solidarity organizations called out U.S. imperialism for its exploitation of Filipino and migrant workers. Washington was condemned for treating the lives of millions of people in the Philippines and Korea as nothing less than collateral damage in its coming war of aggression against China.

The 2025 Balikatan Exercises include over 17,000 soldiers and marines from the U.S., Philippines, Australia and, for the first time, Japan. In addition, 16 European and Asian countries are participating as observers: Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of (south) Korea, Singapore, Thailand, England and Vietnam. The military exercises encompass training events and engagement throughout the Philippines.

Speakers at the rally, held at City Hall, included Ket of Anakbayan Philadelphia; Sunhee, from Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – Philadelphia; Lee representing Koreans4Decolonization; Joe Piette of the Philly Alliance Against Imperialism and Workers World Party; and Nina from BAYAN USA.

Exercises prepare for war against China

Piette’s talk centered on the dangers of war from an imperialist state in demise: “Today, U.S. imperialism is in a crisis. The U.S. dollar is in danger of collapse. U.S. billionaires no longer control the world economy and they are trying desperately to get global hegemony back. Hegemony is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states.

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He continued: The U.S. ruling class doesn’t want to accept the loss of their social, cultural and ideological control of the world. One of their many problems is that Palestinian resistance has exposed them as genocidal monsters … they’re now using repression and deportation here at home to silence us — that ain’t gonna work, is it? 

“The biggest danger is that the Pentagon is preparing for a new war against China to reassert U.S. hegemony.” 

Piette explained: “The issue behind all this is whether the nations of the world can decide their own fate in a multipolar future or whether they have to accept poverty and war under US imperialist control … The billionaires think the collapse of capitalism is the end of the world, and they are scared! The challenge to the world’s vast majority of people, especially those of us in the U.S., is to organize a resistance movement capable of replacing their war-driven, profit-focused system of inequality with a human-focused socialist society that can put an end to vast poverty, endless wars and climate crisis.

“The only real answer has to be the defeat of U.S. imperialism! From the Philippines to Philadelphia, the people need housing, health care, food and education — not more war!”