[asia-apec 1081] Peasants dare Estrada to junk WTO, reopen peace talks

[Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas]

KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
e-mail: kmp at info.com.ph

Peasants dare Estrada to junk WTO, reopen peace talks with NDF

PEASANTS led by KMP marched to the US Embassy on April 16, to highlight a
global campaign by farmers and agricultural workers worldwide against the
World Trade Organization (WTO) and imperialist globalization.

KMP chair Rafael Mariano said simultaneous pickets in Manila, Brasilia,
Mexico, Honduras, Brussels and other capitals are demanding the pullout of
agriculture agreements from WTO. They  blame WTO impositions for, among
others, the dumping of farm surpluses from corporate giants in
industrialized countries resulting in the bankruptcy and further
landlessness of 800 million peasants worldwide. 

KMP said Filipino peasants commemorate the International Day of Farmers'
Struggle for Land by likewise pressing the Estrada administration to stop
state violence against the rural folk, resume peace talks with the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) and honor the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian
Law (CAHRIHL) which it signed with the NDF.

The peasant alliance also seeks justice for the 22 members of the Movimento
Dos Trabahadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Peasant Movement, MST) murdered
by the police in Parado, Brazil. Every year since then, the date of their
arrest has been commemorated by La Via Campesina, a global assembly of
farmers to which KMP and MST are affiliated.

Satur Ocampo, former spokesperson of the People's Campaign Against
Imperialist Globalization, called on Estrada to release the more than 150
political prisoners and NPA guerilla Jelyn Dayong as a reciprocal goodwill
gesture to the NDF's release of Gen. Victor Obillo and Capt. Eduardo
Montealto whom the New People's Army (NPA) captured a few months ago. "The
political prisoners are mostly peasants who struggle against landlessness,
injustice and continuing intrusion by foreign mining and agribusiness that
destroy their sources of livelihood," Ocampo said.

AMIHAN, a national federation of peasant women, blames the Estrada
government for the growing human rights violations by the police and the
military especially against women and children. Amihan also demands the
dismantling of the "corporative farming scheme" being peddled by the
Estrada government and big landowners like Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco
to get around a genuine land reform program.#