Filipino youth urge Israel boycott as they join global student movement for Palestine
MANILA: Student organizers on campuses in the Philippines are calling for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel and Zionists as they joined the global movement to support the Palestinians.
Pro-Palestinian student leaders and activists from various Philippine universities have been mobilizing their colleagues for months to raise awareness about Israel's war on Gaza and hold rallies in solidarity with Palestine.
Young Filipinos are drawing attention to the Palestinian liberation struggle and its similarities to the Philippines' history and experience of occupation and colonialism as they hope to engage more people and inspire further collective action in their community.
“Filipino youth and students are aware that (Palestinians') struggle against settler colonialism is similar to that of colonial history in the Philippines and that we perceive a common struggle with Palestinians today, which is American 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 is still a “semi-colony” of the US. , citing the Southeast Asian country's dependence on the US for its economy and military.
Gavino, who attends the Philippine State Polytechnic University, is one of the conveners of the PUP Palestine initiative. Its school is known for student activism and is the largest college in the country in terms of population.
“Thousands of PUP students participated virtually and expressed their support for the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel's genocide and apartheid and demanded justice,” he said.
“Showing solidarity and support to the Palestinians is important as students and especially as Filipinos, simply because we cannot stand still while thousands of fellow students, children and women are being slaughtered right before our eyes.”
Israel's ground and air strikes over the past nine months have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to official estimates, although a study published in the Lancet journal this month estimated the actual death toll could be more than 186,000.
Israeli forces also destroyed schools, universities and hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.
“No educational institution in the country should be in close contact with a state that ignores the future of children by bombing their schools and universities,” Gavino added.
For students at Ateneo de Manila University, one of the top colleges in the country, showing support for Palestine is crucial.
“It is important for us, especially as students, to join the global call for liberation and an immediate halt to the genocide in search of 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 courage and determination of students abroad, who organized encampments at their universities and demanded divestment from “agents of genocide”.
“We aim to identify our own university's links, if any, and demand its immediate termination,” A4P said.
“We would also like to call for a cultural and academic boycott of our Israeli universities and Zionist sources and instead support and support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions and advocate for a just and lasting peace by unequivocal support for the cause of national liberation.”
The Ateneo Group, which has more than 5,000 followers on Facebook, also condemned the Philippine government for funneling “billions of pesos in arms deals” to Israeli companies, including Elbit Systems, Rafael Advance Defense Systems and Israel Shipyards, as well as the Israeli government . .
“These weapons of destruction are also used to enact violence against indigenous communities in the Philippines and extreme acts of state repression against its own citizens,” A4P said.
At the Far Eastern University in Manila, student leaders founded the Tamaraws for Palestine initiative in June, which has so far held rallies, fundraisers and held educational sessions and discussions on campus.
“As Filipinos, the terrorism happening in Palestine is not new to us because we have also experienced being colonized and threatened by several nations such as Spain, America and Japan. Even now, by China because of their aggressive actions in the (South China Sea),” Kyla Mae Alzado, Tamaraws vice president for Palestine, told Arab News.
“We are still oppressed by other nations and face the threat in our own home. Palestine is currently in this situation, and as a nation that understands and is currently in this situation, we must stand in solidarity with them.”
One of their main goals is to raise awareness among the wider Filipino society about the violence taking place in Gaza.
“What we're hoping to accomplish with our organization is to expand and get more collective action that could amplify the voices of the oppressed,” Alzado said.
“Most importantly, we hope that our calls for Palestinian rights can help support their liberation.”
