Filipino children call for boycott of Israel as they join Global Students' Movement for Palestine
MANILA: Student organizers at universities in the Philippines are calling for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel and Zionist groups over their involvement in a global movement in support of Palestine.
Pro-Palestinian student leaders and activists from universities in the Philippines have been mobilizing their peers for months to raise awareness of Israel's war in Gaza and organize rallies in solidarity with Palestine.
Young Filipinos are drawing attention to the struggle for Palestine's liberation and its parallels with the history and experience of the Philippine occupation and colonization, as they hope to engage more people and inspire further collective action within their communities.
“Filipino youth and students are aware that the Palestinian struggle against colonialism is similar to the colonial history in the Philippines, and we feel the common struggle with Palestinians today, which is US imperialism,” student organizer Rafael Jorvi Gavino told Arab News.
Filipinos suffered under more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule from 1565 to 1898 and nearly five decades of American colonization from 1898 to 1946. Despite gaining independence, activists say the Philippines remains a “semi-colony” of the United States to this day, citing the Southeast Asian nation’s economic and military dependence on the United States.
Gavino, who studies at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, a public university, is one of the organizers of PUP for Palestine. His school is known for its student activism and is the country's largest college.
“Thousands of PUP students joined online and expressed their support for the Palestinian people in their fight against Israeli genocide and apartheid, and demanded justice,” he said.
“It is important for students and especially Filipinos to show solidarity and support for Palestine because we cannot stand by idly by while thousands of our fellow students, children and women, are being killed before our eyes,”
Israeli ground and air strikes over the past nine months have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to official estimates, although a study published this month in The Lancet estimated the real death toll could be higher than 186,000.
Israeli forces have also destroyed schools, universities and hospitals across the Gaza Strip.
“The country’s educational institutions should not have close contact with a state that disregards the future of children by attacking their schools and universities,” Gavino added.
For students at Ateneo de Manila University, one of the country's top colleges, showing support for Palestine is important.
“It is important for us, especially as students, to join the global call for immediate liberation and an end to genocide, in order to seek a just and lasting peace, because this is the world we will inherit,” A4P told Arab News in a statement.
The group said it was inspired by the bravery and determination of international students who set up camp at their universities and called for divestment from “agents of genocide.”
“We aim to clearly identify our own universities’ connections, if any, and demand an immediate halt to such activities,” A4P said.
“We call on Israeli universities and our Zionist campuses to boycott cultural and academic institutions and instead support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions and support a just and lasting peace by unequivocally supporting the cause of national liberation.”
The Ateneo group, which has more than 5,000 followers on Facebook, also condemned the Philippine government for sending “billions of pesos in arms payments” to Israeli companies, including Elbit Systems, Rafael Advance Defense Systems and Israel Shipyards, as well as the Israeli government.
“These weapons of mass destruction are also being used to perpetrate violence against indigenous communities in the Philippines and to perpetrate violent state crackdowns on its own citizens,” A4P said.
At Far Eastern University in Manila, student leaders founded Tamaraws for Palestine in June, which has so far organized rallies, fundraisers, educational conferences and discussions on campus.
“As Filipinos, terrorism in Palestine is not new to us, as we were colonized and threatened by countries like Spain, America and Japan. Even now, we are threatened by China because of its aggressive actions in the South China Sea,” Kaila Mae Alzado, vice president of Tamaraw for Palestine, told Arab News.
“We are still oppressed by other countries and are facing threats at home. Palestine is in this situation and as a country that understands and is in this situation, we must stand with them.”
One of their main focuses is to raise awareness among the Filipino society as a whole about the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip.
“What we hope to achieve with our organization is more scale and collective action, which can amplify the voices of the oppressed,” Alzado said.
“Most importantly, we hope that our advocacy for Palestinian rights will help support their liberation,”
