INDEX OF WINTER 2001 VOL 4. NO. 1 | FIGHT BACK! / ¡LUCHA Y RESISTE! HOME PAGE

Estrada Must Go

By Philippine Forum

New York - The NY Estrada RESIGN! Movement continued to brave the cold weather in its fourth Saturday outside the Philippine Consulate. The early December protest is was a part of a worldwide movement of the Philipino people and their supporters to remove the corrupt, U.S.-backed President Estrada.

"It's important that we don't solely rely on the impeachment process," said Robert Roy, coordinator of the NY Estrada RESIGN! Movement, about the process that begins this week in the Philippine Senate.

Amanda Vender of the Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines said of her experience at the picket, "Some passers-by asked why we should be concerned about what's going on in the Philippines. I told them that the U.S. has a long history of involvement in the Philippines. Our tax dollars have supported this corrupt and abusive regime in the Philippines and we have the duty to stand and support Filipinos who are struggling to bring justice to the Filipino people."

Estrada Falls

By Staff

As Fight Back! goes to press, we have learned that President Estrada has been forced from power in a wave of mass protests. We have received a statement from Jose Maria Sison, a leader of the anti-Estrada movement , and National Democratic Front of the Philippines Chief Political Consultant.

The statement says: "Joseph Ejercito Estrada, alias Jose Velarde, was finished yesterday as president of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (G.R.P.) as a result of the overwhelming mass actions of the Filipino people in Metro Manila and nationwide.

"Terrified by the anticipated siege on the palace by at least a million people, key cabinet members and the top brass of the military and police have withdrawn support from him."

Sison states that the "forces of the national-democratic movement may continue its critical alliance with the new president" if she meets a number of key demands advanced by the national-democratic movement.

The statement also notes: "The new G.R.P. president should be mindful that the socioeconomic and political crisis of the ruling system shall continue to worsen even after the fall of Estrada and to provide the fertile conditions for armed revolution.

"The crisis is not due simply to the corruption and repressiveness of the Estrada ruling clique. These are in fact the consequences of imperialist domination. The crisis is due to the fundamentally oppressive and exploitative workings of the ruling system of big compradors and landlords who are servile to foreign monopoly capitalism."