#Marawi city

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

Women And Peace

A United Nations study of 31 major peace processes between 1992 and 2011 revealed that only 9% of negotiators were women and when women are part of the peace process, peace lasts longer.

Lynette de Silvia Co-director Water Conflict Management and Transformation Oregon State University

[ricisidro]

#Prayers for those killed and wounded in the #Marawi City bombing in the #Philippines. 🙏

ISIS on a Telegram post claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing at a mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi City, Philippines on Dec 3 Sunday that killed at least 4 people and injured 50 others. Law enforcement authorities have recovered fragments of a 16-mm mortar at the scene.

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[pannaginip]

Since 2021, such attacks have been documented by human rights groups, who stressed that these put marginalized communities in danger. As such, Karapatan said these incidents constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).

From 2021 to 2024, Karapatan documented 9,163 individuals or about 1,953 families who were affected by aerial bombing and indiscriminate strafing in the province of Cagayan. Human rights groups attribute these attacks to the Philippine Air Force.

During this time, a total of 17 incidents were recorded in Cagayan: 11 bombings and strafing, 2 bombardment, and 4 strafing attacks. Six occurred under the Duterte administration while 11 happened during the Marcos Jr. administration. This is part of the 13 regions in the Philippines subjected to aerial bombings where Karapatan documented 378,203 victims.

“One of the emblematic cases under the Duterte administration was the bombing of Marawi City, when the President declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017 that lasted until December 31, 2019.“ said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

In the first year of Marcos Jr., there were 6,931 victims of bombings documented as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign, Karapatan said.

In May, an international people’s tribunal issued a guilty verdict to Marcos Jr. and the US government for violating the international humanitarian law.

In the initial verdict furnished to the media, the five-member jurors of the [International Peoples Tribunal or] IPT revisited the US government’s role in the counterinsurgency program that allowed such war crimes to happen, saying that the “heavy bombardment and forced displacement of communities, and the killing of civilians and hors de combat of state forces would not have been possible without the direction, arms, and training provided by the US government.

2024 Aug. 12

[littlestpersimmon]

Right wing media are using the attacks on Marawi to spread islamophobic rhetoric. For context, the southernmost part of the Philippines, Mindanao, is a conflict zone. Many of the people residing in Mindanao are Muslims. 94% of the Philippines' Muslims live there- Now, much of the philippines' government power is centralized in the north- where there is a cultural Christian hegemony.

There have been several sieges and genocides in Mindanao, in places like Marawi and Palembang- many of the atrocities that have happened there have been catalysts for past presidents to declare dictatorship, or martial law.

You may know that the president who carried out these past genocides- his son is now the current president.

The point is. Mindanao has received the brunt of Northern philippine fascism and brutality, and today, an explosion in a university in Marawi, aforementioned city in Mindanao, killed four students during a Christian mass. There is no information on who has done this, and why this happened, but because most of the populace are Muslims, islamophobes and right wing news outlets are going to town. Zionists on twitter already got their hands on this piece of news and creating more "anti-terror" propaganda. Our president is blaming "foreign terrorists" after accepting palestinian refugees. Please be vigilant.

[queenie-says-free-palestine]

do you think the jim crow laws wouldve been abolished if protestors didnt take to the streets? if people didnt boycott the montgomery buses?

those marches, sit ins, speeches—they are what led to racial equality in america. if yall had stayed silent, things wouldnt have changed.

and now youre doing the same for palestine. not just in america, but all over the world. marches in washington, london, amman, madrid, istanbul, cairo, tokyo, delhi, kuwait city, kuala lumpur, algiers, beirut, copenhagen, amsterdam, dublin, jakarta, helinski, buenos aires, lagos, marawi, seoul. everwhere, people are marching the streets demanding freedom for the people of palestine.

do you not understand how insane this is?? that many people, united on an international level against a common enemy???? you think that wont bring about change?

i am sorry, but if you think that these protests aren’t working then you’re dead wrong. they are working. never let anyone tell you this isnt working.

however minimal they may seem, these are changes that do matter. the un has put israel on a list with isis and al qaeda. big brands are responding to boycotts. the us is being shaken up by your noise. change is coming. the world is waking up. do not be silenced.

[thozhar]

The story, which was developed by both Eve and Gogu since October 2023, is partly rooted in the childhood of Eve, a Mindanao native who had grown up with the violence of the Marawi conflict. As the daughter of a Filipino army man, Eve had been exposed to the conflict from a different perspective. Although she too grew up with the intimate and brutal reality of violence, her circumstances did not allow her to view the occupation from the perspective of the oppressed Muslims. Her reality was one that shielded her from understanding the conflict more complexly; thus, in her childhood, she viewed Muslims as aggressors without realising what prompted them to initiate the struggle for an independent state. Through visualising the displacement of the Maranao Muslims in Walay Balay, Eve expresses the inter-connectivity between their alienation to the larger alienation of the many peoples of the Philippines, who have been uprooted from their indigenous consciousness by the violence of colonialism.

“It is clear and important to me to see the story of the Muslim refugees because the Philippines was not a Christian country before the Spanish colonisation. Our ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity so they cannot be seen as enemies of the colonisers. Our ancestors who once owned the land and their identity eventually became lost in their own land stripped away of their own name. In a way, this is my way of telling that tragic, part of our history through our characters who lost their home and are in  search of their identities.” – Eve Baswel

The siege of Marawi, one of the oldest Islamic cities in Mindanao, happened in 2017 when ISIS collapsed the local government, occupied the city, and was warring against the Filipino government for nearly 5 months. Due to the violent conflict, many of the city’s residents had to evacuate, displacing nearly 300,000 people from their ancestral soil. Even after the reclamation of Marawi by the government, the Maranao Muslim refugees who had returned to their native land had been met with many bureaucratic difficulties. Till today, nearly 7 years after the conflict, many Maranao Muslims have not been properly relocated by the government. Due to the strong anti-colonial history that the Mindanao region has in fighting against the imperial subjugations of the Spanish, the Maranao people also refuse to bow to the hegemonic reign of the Catholic-dominated Filipino government, which is aggressively trying to centralise the Filipino landscape against the will of the masses. A way in which the government tries to claim power over the land is by demanding registered land permits from the residents of Marawi, who, in defiance of this neocolonial bureaucracy, refuse to abide by the self-made rules that the puppet government imposes on their rightful native land, a revolutionary spirit they have critically carried on since struggling against the violence of Spanish and American colonialism.

“Displacement is not new to us,” says Gogu, referring to how, as a descant of indentured Tamils who at first faced uprooting from their ancestral land in Tamil Nadu, and once again during the aftermath of colonialism, from the plantations, he too can understand the struggles of displacement, but he states that to him, the uprooting that Maranao Muslims have faced is far worse than the displacement of Plantation Tamils, for the Maranao Muslims had been made landless in their own land while the Plantation Tamils had been made landless on alien soil.

— Gogularaajan Rajendran on Co-directing Walay Balay, Filipino Cinema, and His Cannes Debut

[milkboydotnet]

Untold toll of military bombardment in the Philippines An Altermidya special report (October 5, 2024)

"Throughout the country, the Philippine government has been conducting a devastating, all-out war against the armed insurgency. But civilian communities -- and the environment -- have been bearing the brunt of the attacks. Altermidya has documented and verified at least 173 cases of aerial bombardment, artillery fire, and strafing since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016 until today under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (This documentation did not include the sustained aerial bombardment of the city of Marawi against purported ISIS-inspired terrorists in May-October 2017.) The war has so far displaced over 17,000 families in provinces across the country. Disturbingly, our findings show that only 17.4 percent of these military strikes hit actual rebel positions. The vast majority, it turns out, devastated communities of farmers, fisherfolk, workers, and indigenous peoples."

[southeastasianists]

In the days since Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has not made a formal statement about the crisis. This is not surprising, given that each ASEAN member sees the conflict differently. The language adopted and positions taken by individual ASEAN members reflect the interplay of historical or domestic dynamics in their foreign policy. ASEAN is a grouping – but on this issue, not a bloc.

Let’s look at the diverse response from the ASEAN members – where at one end of the spectrum, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia have expressed unity with the Palestinians. None of them has diplomatic relations with Israel and all have remained steadfast in their criticism of Israel despite Western pressure. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim spoke to Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of Hamas, and expressed support for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

In each of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, religion is significant in domestic politics. With Muslim majority populations, there is widespread public solidarity with the Palestinian struggles.

The significance of religion in Indonesian domestic politics was compelling enough for Ganjar Pranowo, one of the candidates for next year’s presidential election, to appear during an Islamic prayer call on a private TV station as part of his campaign. Furthermore, recent public demonstrations in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur against Israel and the United States reflect sentiment on the street about the latest fighting, which governments cannot ignore.

Conversely, Singapore took a firm position against Hamas and strongly condemned the “terror attacks”. The small island-state has close defence relations with Israel, with Israeli military advisers assisting the Singapore Armed Forces since Singapore’s independence in 1965. Defence relations remain strong, as reflected in the joint development and production of surface-to-surface Blue Spear missiles.

Singapore’s strong stance against Hamas leaves it out of step with its larger Muslim-majority neighbours. Bilahari Kausikan, an influential former Singaporean diplomat, made clear the difference by frankly labelling as “bullshit” a view he attributed to a Malaysian ex-diplomat for the “root cause of the current violence” to be addressed, instead supporting a robust Israeli military response against Hamas.

Nevertheless, Singapore is concerned the crisis could lead to domestic division along religious lines as there is a sizable Muslim minority in the island-state. The government has banned events and public assemblies concerning the current Israel-Hamas conflict, citing rising tension as a reason. And to avoid a view that the Singapore position was one-sided, a government minister later said it was possible to be concerned regarding the Palestinian plights while condemning Hamas’ action. The Singaporean President and Prime Minister sent letters to Palestinian leaders, expressing condolences for the mounting casualties in the Gaza Strip, and pledging a $300,000 donation in humanitarian aid.  

Two other ASEAN members, the Philippines and Thailand, have large numbers of nationals working in Israel and have suffered casualties in the current crisis. Yet each responded differently. The Philippines condemned Hamas’ actions, while Thailand initially expressed neutrality, stating that “we do not know the truth about the political climate between the two nations [Palestine and Israel].” Manila’s response could be attributed to its experience battling militant groups in the southern Philippines over decades. As recently as 2017, militant groups professing alignment with the Islamic State seized control of Marawi, a city in the south of the Philippines, which led to a months-long campaign by the Philippines military with regional support to drive the militants out.

Across mainland Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam issued softer statements, expressing concern about the crisis without assigning blame to any party. The military junta in Myanmar is more focused on regime survival, launching an air strike against domestic insurgents, killing 29 people a few days after the Hamas attack on Israel.

These historical and domestic dynamics inform the policy of individual ASEAN states and provide some perspective in their reading of and response to the current crisis in the Middle East. It demonstrates a lack of unity among the Southeast Asian grouping that some observers argue dilutes its relevance. Yet despite the diverse responses by individual ASEAN members, there has been no official criticism by one member against another. This is consistent with ASEAN’s norms of non-interference in each other’s affairs, which aims to ensure the stability of Southeast Asia, a region that is still experiencing the threat of terrorism, internal rebellions, and inter-state territorial disputes.

Perhaps the silent acceptance of diverse positions is a strategy for ASEAN to cope in the more volatile world that we live in today.

[thetruearchmagos]

The Commonwealth Calls

An Excerpt: Steel Clad Coffins, Remastered

Hey folks, Arch here! The first few days at Junior College have been kicking my ass, but I've been able to put some words to text. Here's a brief excerpt from my current Prose mini-project, released in advance to give me some motivation to finish the rest of it at some point.

Tagging @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina @hessdalen-globe @nerdexer @avrablake @caxycreations @thatndginger

Smoke plumes rising against grey skies blanketed the landscape as far as eye or optical sight could see. It was a darkness only lit by the fires of burning machinery and rubble, trophies of this sudden war. Under the clouds echoed the rumbles of far off howitzers and the crashes of their sent-off greetings, the staccato of small arms fire, and above all the growls of the great machines sallying forth into battle.

But for now at least, all that was far enough away. For the commanding officers of the 2nd Hafji Rifles Task Group, assembled under a dozen metres of concrete in the belly of a factory complex turned assembly area, all eyes were on their boss. 

“Alright, folks, we’ve been flashed a message from Regiment; tomorrow, the 51st fights back.”

Lieutenant Colonel Farouk Shah put a smile on his words, injecting them with a confidence he lacked the energy to back up.  Sitting on an empty crate of machine gun ammunition, the battalion commander gestured with a grease pen at a laminated grid map laid out in front of him on the wet concrete as he spoke. If his first words weren’t doing much to stir confidence, his next wouldn’t help.

“Colonel Meier reckons the Ocri’s on our sector of the front are taking a breather after yesterday’s bloody nose, while their main body diverts its strength up north for another crack at Marawi. If that is the case, it’ll leave the southern flank of that thrust hanging in the wind, which gives us an opportunity to hit ‘em where it hurts. Intel puts the attacking strength at half a division, and once they’ve got themselves stuck in east of the city, we’ll swing northwest and cut them off on the other side of the Sosprin.”

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

Water And Nations

Water separates and connects states. By serving as a boundary or flowing across man-made borders, surface and ground waters require states to interact. With issues including navigation, the quantity and quality of water flowing from one country to another, or the environmental, economic and social impacts of infrastructure like dams or vast irrigation schemes beyond borders, such topics often become part of diplomatic interactions between countries. Results of such diplomatic interactions have yielded numerous bilateral and basin-wide agreements in recent decades, such as the '1964 Lake Chad Convention', the '1972 Senegal Agreement', the '1994 Danube River Protection Convention', or the '1995 Mekong Agreement', aiming at institutionalizing cooperative relations over time. Moreover, diplomatic efforts at the global level have led to two global conventions1 that codify generally accepted principles of international water law. At the same time, the role of water as trigger, amplifier or cause for interstate hostilities or even violent interaction has been widely discussed in academia and has placed it on the agenda of global actors. Historical records and contemporary experiences show that shared water resources can be both a source of conflict and of cooperation.

In spite of significant progress made on cooperation over shared water resources, they (similar to other environmental issues) pose some peculiar challenges to diplomats and diplomatic processes: First, water is mobile. Water flows, evaporates, and precipitates. It can be stored, but only in limited quantities and not permanently. Flows of surface and groundwater therefore often transcend borders while also maintaining a physical presence in different territories which challenges traditional claims of sovereignty. Water cannot be “owned” by one country as can coal reserves, oil, or forests.

Second, water is variable and the volume of water in a transboundary river, lake, wetland, or aquifer varies from year to year depending on precipitation and weather patterns, increasingly impacted by climate change. Exact measurements of water availability and forecasts are difficult and expensive to conduct, even with modern technologies. All planning and negotiations therefore take place with some, and sometimes high, uncertainty over the object of negotiation.

Third, humans and nature depend on water as the basis of life. This does not only concern survival of the individual, but also of the social fabric and the way economic and political systems have developed. In addition, water has a substantive spiritual significance for many people and societies, for example related to its holy status in many religions or indigenous cultures. Thus, governments making decisions about water have to consider many stakeholders, needs, interests, and values.

As a consequence, those responsible for addressing transboundary water problems have and still do struggle in addressing the complexity of shared water resources in an equitable, effective, and sustainable way. Likewise, research that analyzes these attempts has faced challenges in adequately addressing the multi-disciplinarity of the problem.

Jenniver Sehring, Susanne Schemeir, Rozemarijn ter Horst, Alyssa Offutt, and Bota Sharipova Diving into Water Diplomacy - Exploring the Emergence of a Concept

[mevil]

Filipino muslims protest for the freedom of Palestine in Marawi City.

[ricisidro]

Prayers for the victims and families of an explosion during mass in a gym of Philippines’ Mindanao State University (MSU) 🙏

#PrayersForMindanao #Mindanao #Marawi

At least 4 people were killed while at least 42 others mostly students were hurt as an explosion ripped through Dimaporo Gym at the state-run MSU in Dimalna, Marawi City, during the 7 am Mass on December 3, the First Sunday of Advent, the start of the traditional 4-week preparation for Christmas.

Marawi City was besieged by Islamist militants ISIL (ISIS)-inspired 5-month siege that killed more than 1,000 people in 2017.

The Philippine military said on Saturday they had killed 11 militants, including members of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Philippines, a pro-Islamic State group, in a military operation the day before in Maguindanao del Sur province.

📸 Provincial Government of Lanao Del Sur/ Facebook

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[arkipelagic]

The flag of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

Green (top side) reflects the Islamic teachings and principles that majority of the population subscribe to.

White (middle) signifies peace, sakina (tranquility) and righteousness.

Red (bottom side) symbolizes the blood of the fallen mujahideen who fought for the recognition of identity and self-determination of the Bangsamoro.

Crescent symbolizes the principles that guided the Bangsamoro who struggled for self-determination.

7-Rayed Star represents the five (5) provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur including the City of Marawi, Basilan including the City of Lamitan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, the City of Cotabato, and the 63 barangays erstwhile part of North Cotabato that compose the Bangsamoro territory.

Kris symbolizes the protection and resistance of the Bangsamoro and other Indigenous People in the Bangsamoro territory against oppression, tyranny and injustice.

— Atty. Laisa Alamia, Bangsamoro Transition Authority

January 21, 2019 marks the creation plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. The only autonomous region in the Republic of the Philippines, this came after decades of violence from militant Bangsamoro groups in response to waves of dispossession, massacres, discrimination, and other ill treatment at the hands of the Philippine state throughout the 20th century.

[mariacallous]

MANILA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing at a Catholic Mass in the Philippines on Sunday that killed at least four people and injured 50 others.

The attack was carried out in a university gymnasium in Marawi, a city in the south of the country besieged by Islamist militants for five months in 2017.

The Islamic State group, which wields influence in the country's south, said on Telegram its members had detonated the bomb.

Earlier on Sunday, before Islamic State's claim, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr condemned "the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists". Police and the military strengthened security in the country's south and around the capital Manila.

In Rome, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims during his Sunday address, and, in a separate written message, appealed to "Christ the prince of peace (to) grant to all the strength to turn from violence and overcome every evil with good".

Law enforcement operations to bring to justice the perpetrators of the "terrorist activity" will "continue unabated", Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told a press conference.

There were "strong indications of a foreign element" in the bombing, Teodoro said, refusing to elaborate so as not to compromise ongoing investigation.

Fragments of a 16-mm mortar were recovered at the scene, senior police official Emmanuel Peralta told the press conference.

HIGH ALERT

The blast in Marawi, capital of Lanao del Sur province, followed a series of military operations against local pro-Islamic State groups in the southern Philippines, the military chief said.

One on Sunday in Lanao del Sur led to the killing of a leader of the Dawlah Islamiya-Maute group.

"It is possible that what happened this morning was a retaliatory attack," Armed Forces Chief Romeo Brawner told the press conference.

The Islamic State-linked Maute seized Marawi on May 2017, seeking to make it a Southeast Asian "wilayat" – or governorate - for Islamic State.

In the ensuing five-month battle, Islamist fighters and Philippine forces killed more than a thousand people, including civilians.

Images shared by the Lanao del Sur government on Facebook showed military officials surveying the gym at the Mindanao State University where the blast occurred, which appeared intact except for burn marks in the centre.

Videos posted by DZBB radio on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, showed rescuers carrying injured people out of the gym on plastic chairs.

Police offices in Mindanao and the capital region were placed on high alert and police checkpoints tightened "to prevent possible follow-up incidents", police official Peralta said.

The coast guard directed its districts to intensify pre-departure inspections at ports.

Mindanao State University said in a Facebook post it was "deeply saddened and appalled by the act of violence that occurred during a religious gathering". "We unequivocally condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless and horrific act."

The university said it was suspending classes until further notice.

[cits-ocs]

I don't use this acc very often but it's 3 AM rn, I want to ramble about my characters. No pinned post about each of them yet, so I'll use this as an opportunity to get people to know my fellas.

We'll start off with Andres and Indah, my two OCs who I've been focusing on a lot, since a lot happens in their story. I'm going to start from how they were conceived and how they are now.

Back in June 2021, I was reading Legs That Won't Walk, a Korean BL that involved gang members and stuff. I was getting angry from it, because man was it just so toxic but I was like, "I'll make characters that aren't as toxic as them!"

Lo and behold, my 2021 design of Indah and Andres, respectively. (Fun fact I designed Andres off of a picrew I made of him. Indah's hair was just bullshitted.)

Indah back then was just cold, not necessarily apathetic. Like the kinda mean sort of bad boy. Andres stayed the same-ish, he's just a mean goober.

So, we got the designs and personality. Now it's backstory time...

In 2021, I was also sort of interested in human trafficking? It will come into play later, but basically I decided their backstories will be darker than the usual. Like, besides domestic abuse, there's going to be actual crimes.

Their backstories were ROUGH, the worst part is I didn't even have a solid story. Just a stupid vague one and nothing ever stuck, it was just a mist. Since I didn't have a story when developing their backstories, the backstories were more fleshed out than the actual story.

Anyways, let's talk about their original awful backstories, starting with...

Andres P. Matay!

(I removed "Cris" in his name since I ended up having a character whose nickname is Cris.)

He's a Filipino, grew up in the Mindanao part of the Philippines. He had a twin sister, but his dad and mom separated and the mom left to go somewhere and took the sister. So now, it's just him and his dad. They're poor, so his dad had to do multiple jobs to keep them going.

One day, when he was like 13 or so, he came home and saw the police outside his house. Turns out, his dad's been murdering people and using their meat for food. Like, the food Andres ate that contained meat? Yeah, human meat. Now his dad is in jail and he doesn't want to eat meat because he's afraid it's gonna be human meat. So he has no dad now, he's gonna be in the care of social workers.

He was put in an orphanage (or was just a squatter kid. I don't know, I had 2 ideas for this part) and ran away, but then he meets his uncle, who he thought was going to help him. Nah, his uncle kidnaps him. Now here's where my interest in human trafficking came in! He's sent out to be a child soldier.

For some context, in 2017, there was actually this thing called the Marawi war. I was pretty young at the time so I didn't care for it, but the basic gist is there were ISIS terrorists so there was a war in that city.

Andres was supposed to be a child soldier in that war, sent out by ISIS. (There were actually reports of child soldiers in the war) and yeah, long story short, shit horrified him. After the war was over, he had nothing, because the city he lived in is in ruins and he has no relatives to help him. He's skilled with guns so he becomes a criminal, ends up as a hitman. That was his bsckstory.

I made drastic changes lol, because it was just too edgy.

Now it's time for...

Mohammed Indah Monanandara!

(I actually thought "Mohd" was legit just the name but it's just a short version of Mohammed... He wasn't even muslim anymore when he changed his name.)

Okay, this one is like, edgy for the sake of edgy. I'll keep it short because I didn't even think of his backstory as much as Andres.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF RAPE OR SEXUAL ASSAULT

Indah is half-Thai, half-Indonesian. Why? I was active in this server during 2021, and one of the people there was Thai and I was watching Nanno too, so I was like "hm Thailand seems cool" but I forgot where the Indonesia part came from, but the Thai part came after Indonesia. Also that friend made me his surname (I just checked now and it's actually spelled "Monanandra" but ehhh...). Anyways he grew up in Indonesia, in Jakarta. He was also born a girl, this comes into play later.

He had a normal family and was a smart student. Until when he was in highschool, his father suddenly got into debt with like a gang. They lost money. I forgot how this ties into the next part, but the next part is one day, Indah gets confessed to by a male classmate of his. He declines. After school, the classmate and his friends found him alone on the school campus and... SA'd him. Then he got pregnant. Then he gave birth to a child (he kept her).

I was inspired by the first episode of Nanno season 2. Spoilers for Nanno, but first ep, Nanno curses this playboy guy to get pregnant. When I saw the stuff, the idea just popped in.

After that part of his backstory, it was really just empty stuff? I had the vague idea wherein he gets trafficked too or something, and then meets this gang leader who helps him out, etc. etc. Now he's a high ranking gang member.

In his revamp, I only kept the first few parts, then just filled in the rest of the empty spots. Why did I keep the SA part even though it kind of felt... weird? Because I have a friend who likes Indah and relates to him because of that. So, I felt obligated to just keep it in.

Ok this post is like very long and took me almost an hour to write.

Fun fact, Monanandara is spelled as "มรอนันตรา" and means "eternal death" which is very cool

Part 2 will be the next

Part 2, I'll mainly talk about how I revamped them and how they are currently compared to their 2021 versions. And I'm going to start tagging my posts with my characters' names

[whatisonthemoon]

The CIA Engineers "Islamic Terrorism" in the Philippines, Forming Abu Sayyaf

Background on Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan

Abu Sayyaf is an Islamist militant group based in the Philippines. Established in the early 1990s, the group is known for its terrorist acts, including kidnappings, bombings, and beheadings. 

Today Abu Sayyaf likely has around 20 members. Maute or the Islamic State of Lanao, another Jihadist organization targeted by the Philippine government, has less than 50 members. That said, in 2017, the Philippine government led a 5-month long bombing campaign of Marawi City targeting these groups, with support from the U.S. military, including weaponry/equipment as well as advising and offering strategic guidance, and support from the UK, Australia, China, Russia, Israel, and Singapore. 95% of the structures within the 4 square kilometers of the battle were heavily damaged, with 3,152 buildings completely destroyed. This so-called "battle" left over 200,000 civilians homeless to this day. 

Though these groups had a presence in Marawi City, they were never a popular movement or recognized as integrated among the masses, and lacked the numbers to effectively wage political struggle in Marawi City, let alone in Mindanao.

Abu Sayyaf also has its own organizational origins in the CIA-funded/organized mujahideen in Afghanistan. By 1978, when the "People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan" took power through a military coup with Soviet support, establishing a "Marxist-Leninist" Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Maoists had effectively organized popular support throughout Afghanistan. The new government sought to crush these organizations and murdered thousands of Maoists during its existence.

A year after the establishment of the "revisionist" government of Afghanistan, the muhajideen were forming as scattered armed Islamist organizations.

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan following Nur Muhammad Taraki, the pro-Soviet leader, being deposed and assasinated. By the end of 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

Though some Maoists and Communists joined the mujahideen over time, most did not and instead waged struggle against both Soviets and mujahideen. Hundreds of prominent Maoist leaders were murdered from 1978 through the 1980s, leaving the revolutionary movement often without leaders.

Through the 1980s, the United States, through the CIA, provided support to the mujahideen in Afghanistan. This assistance included funding, training, and weaponry. Many from all over the Arab Middle East, including Osama bin Laden, joined the mujahideen to combat the invading Soviet forces. 

Abu Sayyaf's origins can be traced back to some members of the mujahideen who returned to their home countries, including the Philippines, after the Soviet-Afghan war. 

While the U.S. government and its allies/lackeys have made it difficult to establish direct links between the CIA and Abu Sayyaf, figures like Senator Aquilino Pimentel have fought tooth and nail for the truth around Abu Sayyaf’s origins in the CIA. In 2001, Pimentel led an inquiry into the links between the CIA and Abu Sayyaf which shed light on the group's origins, funding, and training. While the inquiry did not conclusively establish direct CIA involvement, it highlighted the complexities of the situation and the need for further investigation. 

Jihadists prey on the oppressed people of the world, convincing devastated and desperate people that it is through their dead-end, metaphysical ideology that the evils of U.S. imperialism can be destroyed, instead of the tools of revolutionary ideology and organization, which can genuinely, materially liberate and emancipate the people. 

For generations, revolutionary women have been organizing in Afghanistan, running schools, advocating for those abused, trafficked, enslaved, etc., even taking up the gun to defend their people from the U.S. and/or Taliban, and yet women in Afghanistan continue to endure horrendous violence and human rights abuses from the patriarchal political system.  In fact, there have been generations of revolutionaries from all over Afghanistan, initiating and advancing peoples’ struggles and joining the armed struggle, taking the place of martyrs who came before them, because they believe that it is worth seeking an Afghanistan free from fascism and imperialism, even if it costs them their lives and even if it is not their generation who sees it.

And yet, the U.S. has continued to repress the Afghanistan at all costs, ensuring that women remain powerless in Afghan society, ensuring that progressive movements are terrorized and destroyed, believing it can somehow stamp out the people’s resilient and undying struggle for justice and liberation, through supporting of the mujahideen to their occupation and horrendous war crimes in Afghanistan.

It makes sense why people both in Afghanistan and the Philippines link up with these struggles, as their people have endured mass violence and even genocides under U.S. rule. As pointed out in another WIOTM post, “A recent study shows that, apart from the million direct casualties of the War(s) on Terror, over 3,000,000 people died from the conditions created by those wars.”

Jihadism has never led to the people being liberated, but has only led to further oppression and the post-Cold War bloating of the US and its allies’ Military Industrial Complex. In a very big way, Jihadism has been engineered by the U.S. government and the CIA.

Below are three articles that reveal the CIA origins of Abu Sayyaf. These articles come from varying sources, though they include information that can be easily verified and researched. One article is from the bourgeois, reactionary PhilStar, one from the progressive, pro-people Bulatlat, and one from the US-based The Socialist Worker, a newspaper of the International Socialist Organization’s, a now disbanded Trotskyist organization known for a number of abuse scandals.

These articles establish real connections, figures, and history that validate the long-held beliefs of the Filipino people in struggle, who have known of Abu Sayyaf’s imperialistic origins since near its inception. 

The Philippines "terrorists" created by CIA - Eduardo Capulong -  January 4, 2002 - The Socialist Worker

The 26 U.S. military advisers who were sent to the Philippines last year to "fight terrorism" will be targeting a group that the U.S. government helped to create.

According to various sources, Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic fundamentalist organization notorious for kidnapping tourists in southern Philippines and Malaysia, was formed and trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Philippine military.

Philippine Senator Aquilino Pimentel called for an inquiry into the link between the CIA and Abu Sayyaf--which he called a "CIA monster"--as early as May of last year. "There are now emerging bits of information that Abu Sayyaf was indeed the creation of probably the CIA in connivance with or with the support of some select military officers," he said at the time.

Meanwhile, the links between Abu Sayyaf and military and police authorities are well documented. In the recent book Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao, journalists Marites Dañguilan Vitug and Glenda Gloria document the bloody collaboration--which is also corroborated by former hostages.

Last September, a number of former hostages charged that Abu Sayyaf was a front--a "creation of the military's 'dirty tricks' department." They testified that army checkpoints would allow their captors to pass unmolested repeatedly.

This is the real story behind the talk of the "fight against terrorism" in the Philippines.

Pimentel: CIA may be behind creation of Sayyaf - May 9, 2000 - PhilStar

Is the Abu Sayyaf a creation of the Central Intelligence Agency?

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel yesterday sought a Senate inquiry to answer the question.

Pimentel, who is from Mindanao, told a press conference that "bits of information" have been reaching his office indicating that the American spy agency had a hand in forming the Abu Sayyaf -- ironically, in cahoots with covert units in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

He said he had been cautious in discussing the possibility, not wanting to indiscriminately implicate the CIA in the country's political upheavals.

"Piecing bits of information together makes out a case, at least pro tanto, that the Abu Sayyaf might indeed be a creation of the CIA and had been covertly supported by select military officers during the administration of President (Fidel) Ramos," Pimentel said.

In the early 1990s, the CIA recruited members for the Abu Sayyaf, Pimentel claimed, who were then trained in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi by an elite Philippine military unit.

The Abu Sayyaf was later sent as mujahideen (holy warriors) to fight in America's proxy war against the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan. Weapons for the Abu Sayyaf came from Saudi financier Osama bin Laden, now wanted in the US for allegedly funding terrorism.

An elite Philippine military unit now operating outside the AFP's chain of command is a conduit between the CIA and the Abu Sayyaf.

For some unknown reason, CIA funding for the Abu Sayyaf was later cut off, prompting the rebels to resort to banditry, kidnapping and other crimes.

One of these criminal acts, Pimentel said, was the April 1995 Abu Sayyaf raid on the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur.

If the Senate does conduct an investigation, Pimentel said they will ask former President Ramos and top military officials to testify. Although he believed that the Abu Sayyaf had already lost contact with their CIA benefactors, Pimentel said the truth must be ferreted out.

"Parenthetically, there is a new book, Browback by Chaimers Johnson, that may justify a deeper study into the affairs of the CIA in our country that have a direct relevance to the problems that the Abu Sayyaf is causing us today," Pimentel said.

Abu Sayyaf: The CIA’s Monster Gone Berserk - EDMUNDO SANTUARIO III - Bulatlat

The Philippines is under watch by America’s “anti-terrorism” network. This is so not only because of the presence of active Moro and Marxist guerrillas but also because of its special concern on the Abu Sayyaf. In the ���80s, just as it was waging its last surrogate wars against the Soviet Union, the U.S. was also engaged in new forms of covert operations -- the training of Islamic militants to fight the Russians in Afghanistan and elsewhere. A product of this war – the Abu Sayyaf – was once hailed by American presidents as a group of “freedom fighters.” It was an exaltation that would haunt them for years.

To those who have been following the Abu Sayyaf’s exploits, the offer of military assistance by the United States government in tracking down the extremists in Mindanao (southern Philippines) has sent a chilling effect particularly among the patriotic sectors.

Related to this, similar concerns have been raised as to why despite government’s “total war” policy on the small group of bandits – whose hostage-taking spree is a purely police matter - not one of its active ringleaders has been caught. Previous suspicions that the Abu Sayyaf enjoys the protection of some top Armed Forces officials have surfaced again.

In a surprise operation last May 27, Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipinos from the world-class Dos Palmas resort just off Arracellis in Palawan. It was not immediately known where the new hostages were taken but the gunmen reportedly operate from the southernmost islands of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya on Saturday said they also took 10 fishermen hostage on their way to Basilan. The kidnapping was pulled off just barely two months after their last hostage – American Jeffrey Schilling – was freed after nine months of captivity.

In declaring a “no ransom, no negotiations” policy to the Abu Sayyaf, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered military assaults on the group’s suspected lairs and offered a P100 million (US$2 million) reward on the ring leaders’ capture, dead or alive.

Meeting Arroyo in Malacañang on May 30, U.S. Rep. Robert Underwood offered military assistance to the Philippine government’s pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf. Underwood, who was accompanied in his visit by U.S. Charge D’Affaires Michael Malinowski, is a member of the powerful House Armed Services Committee and was in the country to explore how military relations between the two countries can be enhanced. Malinowski had earlier pledged continued American military support to the Arroyo administration.

On the same day, U.S. State Department spokesman Phil Reeker demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, particularly Americans Guillermo Sobrero and missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham. Among the 17 Filipino hostages is construction magnate Reghis Romero, said to be the front man of former Estrada crony Mark Jimenez in the purchase of The Manila Times. The latter, who has just been elected Manila congressman, is himself wanted by U.S. authorities.

Warplanes

Since the Dos Palmas abduction, at least 12 American warplanes had been seen hovering over Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. Then on March 31, two U.S. destroyers – the USS Curts and the USS Wadsworth -- and the landing ship USS Rushmore arrived in the country with 1,200 American troops. Philippine armed forces officials squelched speculations of U.S. intervention in the hostage crisis, claiming that the American troops’ presence was in connection with ongoing war games in Palawan and Cavite.

Efforts to downplay reports that U.S. military assistance has indeed come into play in the latest hostage crisis were of no effect, however, when Press Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao himself revealed that military contacts between the two governments are ongoing. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – whose agents have been in and out of the country in connection with “terrorist” cases – was also placed on alert. Former Philippine Ambassador to Washington Ernesto Maceda also revealed that in last year’s Sipadan hostage crisis where 20 tourists were held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf, the Americans backed military and police operations through the use of high-powered satellite surveillance equipment.

‘CIA monster’

U.S. military efforts to intervene in the Abu Sayyaf hostage crisis appears to be a turnaround from their reported links to the Mindanao extremists several years ago.  In May last year, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. described the Abu Sayyaf (“Bearer [or Father] of the Sword” in Arabic) as a “CIA monster.”

Abu Sayyaf members, Pimentel said, were initially recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency as mujahideens to fight the U.S. proxy war in Afghanistan in the ‘80s. Before their deployment, they were trained by AFP officers in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and other remote areas in Mindanao. But the arms and funds came from U.S. covert operations connected with the CIA, Pimentel said.

The mujahideens returned to Mindanao after the Afghan war to constitute the core of the Abu Sayyaf, the Senate president added.

In his revelations, Pimentel cited the book, Blowback by Chalmers Johnson. But it was American writer John K. Cooley in his book, Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, American and International Terrorism, who made “the most direct statement regarding the training and funding of the (Abu Sayyaf) by the CIA,” he said. Cooley was the Middle East correspondent for the reputable Christian Science Monitor and ABC News.

In his “Ghosts of the Past” report for ABC News in August last year, Cooley said the Abu Sayyaf, like many “international terrorists,” has its origins in the 1979-89 jihad or “holy war” to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan. Wanting to tie down the Soviets to their own little Vietnam war, the CIA recruited and trained thousands of Islamic militants to support the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invasion forces. The American quarterly Foreign Affairs reported that some 35,000 Muslim militants from 40 countries -- including the Philippines -- took part in the Afghan jihad. Related historical accounts said among the recruits was Osama bin Laden, now the U.S.’s No. 1 “terrorist enemy.”

‘Freedom Fighters’

“The CIA orchestrated massive arms shipments via Pakistan, including state-of-the-art Stinger surface-to-air missiles,” Cooley said. Three American presidents – Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush -- hailed the mujahideens as “freedom fighters,” he said.

The Abu Sayyaf, Cooley said, was the last of the seven Afghan guerrilla groups to be organized late in the war – in 1986 or three years before the Soviets withdrew. It was founded by an Afghan professor named Abdul Rasul Abu Sayyaf. And like Osama bin Laden, the group was financed by Saudi Arabia’s wealthy elite and influenced by Wahabism, an ultra-conservative form of Islam that dates back to the mid-18th century and is espoused by the Saudi royal family.

“Some of the original veterans of the Afghan jihad, and their sons and grandsons and those trained by them, have been operating with destructive effect since the 1980s from Egypt and the Philippines to Algeria and New York,” Cooley wrote.

With the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the CIA’s powerful Pakistani partner, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), lost control of the Afghan fighting groups. The Abu Sayyaf had established a training camp north of Peshawar, Pakistan, “to train terrorists in the methods taught by the CIA and ISI,” Cooley reported. Some 20,000 volunteers were trained in the “Peshawar university” to “look for other wars to fight” including in the Middle East, North Africa, New York and the Philippines.

The Abu Sayyaf moved its operations to the Philippines ostensibly to support the war for a separate Islamic state. Emerging from these operations were two leaders – the brothers Abdurajak Janjalani, who was an Afghan war veteran, and Khaddafi Janjalani.

Early Operations

In a privilege speech in July last year, Pimentel named former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan and then Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Ruiz as knowing about the group’s early operations in Mindanao. He also asked the Senate to summon former President Fidel V. Ramos and ex-Defense Secretary Renato de Villa to shed light on the matter.

Pimentel also cited revelations by a police asset, Edwin Angeles, who has since died mysteriously, that the military equipped the Abu Sayyaf with vehicles, mortars and assorted firearms for its raid of Ipil in April 1995. In the raid – the group’s first large-scale action – 70 people died while 50 teachers and schoolchildren were kidnapped.

Following its “split” with the MNLF in 1991, the Abu Sayyaf resorted to illegal logging, kidnapping, bombing, looting, burning, killing and other criminal activities for its logistics and operations. So far, they have kidnapped at least 32 foreigners, including five Americans, Europeans and Asians. This does not included hundreds of other Filipino hostages, a number of whom were Catholic and Protestant priests and nuns. Some of them, including priests, were killed.

The metamorphosis of the Abu Sayyaf from “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan to sheer bandits in the Philippines is a new dark spot in the U.S.’s covert dirty tricks operations throughout the world. The CIA has created not just one Frankenstein’s monster in the mold of the Abu Sayyaf but hundreds of others who are now wreaking havoc in other parts of the world – including right in the belly of the United States itself.

But in war and in modern “counter-terrorism warfare” – which the U.S. now is eager to wage in the Philippines – there is at least one advantage that can be drawn. The anti-Soviet Afghan “resistance movement” promoted the U.S. arms industry. The U.S. may as well be doing the same thing as it embarks on a new crusade to destroy one of the “monsters” it created.

More related notes and links below about U.S. imperialist counterinsurgency in the Philippines and Afghanistan, as well as the role of the Unification Church’s network

The occupation of Afghanistan: terror without end - Dem Volke Dienen

Contrary to the regular invocations that the Afghan puppet government should be able to cope without foreign soldiers in the future, the German Armed Forces are investing another 50 million in their local infrastructure.

Minister of defence Kramp-Karrenbauer and foreign minister Maas are simultaneously criticizing Yankee imperialism for ordering its troops out of the country too quickly. The so called parlamentary opposition is again in complete agreement with the governement. "A headless, uncoordinated withdrawal of the troops would cause severe political and military damage," says FDP's Bijan Djir-Sarai. While the government is still attempting to further conceal the crushing defeat of imperialism in Afghanistan, it has recently admitted quite openly in state television. In this worthwhile report, an ARD reporter travels to Taliban areas and, to his surprise, shows girls' schools and Taliban who are not out to kill him.

The fact that the face of this occupation is not girls' schools and well-drilling has been illustrated in the twenty years of its existence by ongoing war crimes. Most recently, the Australian army had to admit that one of its special units murdered at least 39 prisoners and civilians. In this unit, the murder of a prisoner was a rite of passage for new members. According to australian officials the families of the victims are to be compensated in cooperation with the "Afghan government". However, since this government only rules over a small part of the country and corruption is commonplace, it is extremely doubtful that this money will reach victim families in Taliban areas.

Afghanistan Maoists Unite in a Single Party - a history of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan

The new communist movement of Afghanistan initially was inspired by the formation of RIM in 1984. The Committee for MLM Propaganda and Agitation (at that time understood as Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought, MLMTT) was formed in 1985 and started publishing Shola. Another group of comrades split from SAMA and obtained, read and discussed the RIM Declaration. They went on to call themselves the Revolutionary Nucleus and adopted the RIM line. These developments were a slap in the face to SAMA's leadership, who accused the newly organising Maoist forces of being a "KGB front". RIM used these forces to make some initial efforts to deepen its understanding of the situation in Afghanistan and begin to bring together the genuine Maoist forces.

The anti-terrorism act in the Philippines in relation to the CPP and the revolutionary movement -  a 2020 piece from Jose Maria Sison

In the course of political rivalry for global hegemony, the imperialist powers themselves accuse each other of terrorism and expose each other’s acts of terrorism. States are presumed to be responsible for respecting human rights in their own countries. Thus, quite a number of them have in fact been the proper target of criticisms and appeals by UN human rights agencies regarding people’s complaints of systematic human rights violations by state or state-sponsored forces, which amount to state terrorism. The only instances when the UN comes out strongly against “state terrorism” is when the US and its allies in the UN Security Council succeed in making resolutions against states denounced as “rogue states” chiefly by the US, such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein or Libya under Muamar Qaddafi. Otherwise the US and its imperialist allies and client-states wish to limit the label of terrorism to revolutionary movements that they oppose. They make it a point to conceal US culpability for creating terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, Salafi, Al Nusra and the Islamic state in the Middle East and the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines and other Southeast-Asia-based groups like Jemaah Islamiyah that also operate in the Philippines.

Denounce arrest of Moro women “potential suicide bombers”  - 2020 statement from Marco Valbuena, Chief Information Officer of the CPP

The claim by the military that bombs and bomb-making material were discovered in the homes of the arrested women flies in the face of military and police standard operating procedure of planting evidence against supposed terror suspects. Observers are incredulous that the women would keep explosive materials in their homes with their children.

The attacks were clearly carried out with Islamophobic prejudice where people are stereotyped by the military as “suicide bombers” or in this case “potential.” The women were targeted for arrest and suppression by the AFP on the mere basis that they are wives, sisters or daughters of leaders of the Abu Sayaff.

Two excerpts from 'Drugs and death squads: The CIA connection' from the Freeedom Socialist Power / Robert Crisman - published June 1989

The ideological tie binding all these high-level arms smugglers and dope dealers together, of course, is anti-communism.

John Singlaub is head of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), the world’s premier neo-fascist lobby. WACL’s membership ranges from U.S. reactionaries, Taiwanese drug magnates, and Latin American death squad leaders to Afghani mujahideen and unreconstructed old-line Nazis scattered in exile throughout Europe and the Americas.

WACL is the most sophisticated political expression to date of fascism’s global agenda and methods, and is the mask under which the face of U.S. ambition increasingly shows itself. WACL’s history vividly reveals the fascist essence of empire-and pinpoints the source of the Empire’s addiction to drugrunning.

Founded in Taiwan in 1967 by CIA and Taiwanese intelligence personnel, WACL has roots in the old China Lobby, which urged the unleashing of Chiang Kai-shek against revolutionary China in the ’50s. The Lobby’s leading lights — E. Howard Hunt and William Pawley to name two — were instrumental in stitching together the CIA’s Cuban exile and Kuomintang networks.

China Lobby/WACL bigwigs and their associates — Hunt, Pawley, Secord, Singlaub, Shackley, et al. — lodged themselves tightly in the postwar U.S. intelligence, military, government, and business establishments. They were the drumbeaters and spear-carriers for stepped-up anti-Castro warfare and the Vietnam war. They were responsible for coups, counterrevolutions, and the formation of death squads from Mexico to Brazil; CIA/DEA “anti-drug” torture and counterinsurgency; the Chilean slaughter; support for the Shah and rightwing Afghani “freedom fighters”; and the contra war.

The WACL and CAUSA’s Role in the Ruthless Violence of US-Philippines Counterinsurgency

Covert Operations and the CIA’s Hidden History in the Philippines

Cardinal Sin, the Catholic Church, & the Unification Church: Partners in Organized Anti-Communist Violence

Death Squads in the Philippines by Doug Cunningham

How has the Moon network played a role in the post-9/11 U.S. Imperialist strategy?

Kishi Nobusuke’s Bandung of the right

The US is complicit in war crimes in the Philippines

Grapple with Imperialism. Come to Terms with Yourself

Those Spared in Duterte’s “War on Drugs” May Go to Moonie Rehabilitation

Ideology without Leadership: The Rise and Decline of Maoism in Afghanistan - Afghanistan Analysts Network

Some words on the Moonies’/Hak Ja Han’s Relationship to the “Revisionist” Maoists of Nepal

The Complex, Dynamic, and Opportunistic Relationship of Moon and the DPRK’s Kim Family

UPF Played Major Role in Republic of Korea-Nepal Relations

Stop US and Chinese aggression in the Philippines! Turn imperialist wars into wars against imperialism!

Neil Salonen on the Freedom Leadership Foundation’s influence on society (1971)

Suggested books: Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War by Kyle Burke, Philippine Society & Revolution by Amado Guerrero (Jose Maria Sison), Soldiering through Empire: Race and the Making of the Decolonizing Pacific by Simeon Man, Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire by Jonathan M. Katz, The Bullet and the Ballot Box: The Story of Nepal's Maoist Revolution by Aditya Adhikari