Memorial Meetings for Ka Bel to be Held US-Wide (tags)
Whenever death may surprise us, it will be welcomed provided that our battle cry reaches some receptive ear, that another hand stretches out to take up the weapon, and that other men come forward to intone our funeral dirge with the staccato of machine gun and new cries of battle and victory." ~ Ernesto "Che" Guevarra Los Angeles - Nationwide memorial meetings to mourn and honor Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran will be held in different cities in the United States from May 21 to June 9, 2008. Ka Bel was an ANAKPAWIS Representative, Chair Emeritus of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement), and former Chair of the International League for People’s Struggle (ILPS). Mario Santos, Alliance Philippines National Coordinator, made this announcement in San Francisco after the meeting with representative from International ANSWER on May 22. According to Santos, the memorials for Ka Bel will be held on May 27 in Queens, New York, May 28 in Los Angeles at Remy's on Temple Art Gallery in Historic Filipinotown and San Francisco, and on June 9 in Seattle. Progressive Filipino forces in Chicago will hold a memorial on May 24.
Progressive FIlipinos Welcomes US Senate Spending Bill (tags)
Progressive Filipino groups from whose ranks most of the victims of extrajudicial killings have come welcomed the action of the United States Senate appropriations committee prohibiting the use of US military aid against Filipino civilians. The U.S Senate in its version of the Foreign Operations Spending Bill it approved last week, the committee instructed the US Secretary of State to monitor US military assistance to the Philippines so that they won’t be “misused by units of the security forces…against civilians, including civilians who are members of political opposition parties and human rights groups.”