Uncle Sam’s Playbook
by The Editorial Board
Under the picturesque façade of the land farmers and indigenous people have called home, the United States’ (U.S.) intricate machinery is at play. Uncle Sam pulls his trickery in connivance with the Philippine government to attain global hegemony through massive occupation of lands.
The Philippines is no stranger to land-grabbing in its generational struggle against foreign aggressors. The Spanish curse of private land ownership disenfranchised the country’s native inhabitants and enabled the country’s elites to accumulate their wealth. The subsequent declarations of Philippine independence obscured the persisting problem of land-grabbing that transformed the Philippines’ economic and socio-political landscape.
Beneath the cloak of “friendship” through military agreements, the U.S. has maintained its foothold in the “agreed locations” of Philippine military bases even after a mass movement has already wiped them out of the country. This was made clear by the collaboration between the U.S. and the Philippines last February to add four new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites to the existing five in the country.
The swarm of U.S. big business and transnational corporations in the country has been embraced for their promises of economic growth, fostering dependence and inhibiting the Philippines’ self-autonomy to develop its own capabilities. These foreign interventions have been permitted by the government, attacking anyone who dares to defy.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas reported distressing attacks on peasant communities at the peak of the pandemic. In March 2020, 42 families were forcibly evicted from their 33-hectare land in Bataan. In Bulacan, farmers continue to fight for their 75.5-hectare land, with theft charges filed against them in January 2021, despite their homes and livelihoods being destroyed. Meanwhile, in Laguna, threats to peasants persist as Ayala Land Inc. and San Cristobal Realty push for land acquisition. In Cagayan, four villages have been reportedly shelled out by the military, which forced farmers and indigenous peoples to flee. These alarming incidents illustrate a disturbing pattern of powerful interests exploiting vulnerable communities.
The Filipino struggle against land grabbing is entrenched in the country’s economic and socio-political system, a system that favors the interests of the few. In a political arena where a major number of policymakers are landlords and business owners themselves, it is no surprise when the laws they pass are based on their interests — maintaining or expanding their land ownership or favoring multi-million corporations in neglect of social services.
The U.S. military presence in the Philippines exacerbates this issue. The military agreements not only reinforce existing power structures, but they also offer big corporations a security framework to ensure total alignment of their interests. The protection secured to corporations by the Philippine government emboldens them to commit atrocities at the expense of Filipino welfare and sovereignty.
The fight for Palestinian liberation is no different.
Israel’s long-standing apartheid against Palestine began in 1948 when the former was established as an independent state with the support of Zionist-settler colonialism. Although Palestinians comprised the vast majority of land, Israel still relentlessly enforced a policy of establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic majority where it has committed genocide and displaced around 800,000 Palestinians out of their ancestral lands. Today, millions of Palestinians are living in an open-air prison under the control of Israeli forces. With ethnic cleansing, restrictions on natural resources, denial of the right to political participation, and land-grabbing woven into the state’s laws, Israel continues to maintain its foothold over Palestine through its apartheid system, institutionalizing oppression.
The U.S. has also acted as a prominent player in the situation, providing Israel with more than $263 billion of military aid in the past seven decades, highlighting how geopolitically significant Israel is for the U.S. Uncle Sam maintains its foothold in the Middle East by allying with Israel, offering intelligence cooperation and military support, given the strategic location of Israel in the region.
Strongly backing Israel in its genocidal war against Palestine, the U.S. vetoed a United Nations General Assembly Resolution calling for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in the conflict, despite the majority of the assembly supporting the resolution. The Philippines, the only Southeast Asian country that abstained, echoed this stance.
The Philippine government’s decision to abstain underscores its neocolonial relationship with the U.S., whose actions reflect its self-serving interests as it prioritizes its relationship with Israel over the humanitarian concerns in the Israel-perpetrated genocide against Palestine.
Separated by seas and lands but united in struggle, the Philippines and Palestine find themselves thrust into a distorted game of monopoly where the U.S. holds most of the cards. The U.S. exploits these nations to accumulate wealth further and establish itself as a global superpower, leaving both countries scrambling for survival.
When the imperialist’s grip tightens, and the oppressed are left with no choice, the question of resistance is not merely an option but a reluctant imperative. Taking up arms becomes a justified response to not just a threat but to outright mass murder and genocide.
The struggle for sovereignty transcends national boundaries; it becomes a collective outcry against those responsible for crimes against humanity. The resistance against the theft of lands or chains of imperialism serves as a stark reminder that reclaiming what rightfully belongs to the people is justified. In a world where sovereignty is sacrosanct, resistance is defending the essence of humanity. Until every acre of land seized is reclaimed and attacks come to a halt, the fight for justice and emancipation must persist.
