Amerikan imperialism outlives its lease at Clark Air Base

ANGELES CITY, THE PHILIPPINES - The u.$. military officially left 
Clark Air Base almost a decade ago, but the base still oppresses 
the people of the Philippines. "There are a lot of effects of the 
toxic wastes by the U.S. bases, like sickness, leukemia, and 
cancer," says a member of the Workers' Alliance in Region 3 
(WAR3). "Many people are dying, mostly children, because of the 
effects of toxic wastes during the pregnancies of their mothers."

Clark was the largest Amerikan military base outside of u.$. 
borders. The Philippine senate, under pressure from an anti-base 
mass movement, cancelled its lease in 1992. The united $tates 
refuses to help clean up the mess it left behind in Clark and its 
other former military bases in the Philippines, like Subic Bay 
Naval Station. "The Philippine government is not insisting that 
the U.S. government should clean up their toxic wastes. But the 
people who are affected are insisting that the U.S. should clean 
up the wastes," according to WAR3. 

Furthermore, with the passage of the Visiting Forces Agreement 
(VFA) in 1999, u.$. military personnel have returned to Angeles 
and other Philippine provinces. Under the VFA, u.$. troops 
actually have greater access to Philippine territory than when 
they had permanent bases. Joint exercises between u.$. troops and 
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have provoked large 
demonstrations against the u.$. military and the VFA.

The deadly environmental devastation left behind at Clark and the 
... are just two examples of the violence imperialism inflicts 
daily on the Filipino people. This violence drives more and more 
Filipinos to organize against the semi-fuedal and semi-colonial 
system -- by any means necessary.

Toxic legacy

Families made homeless by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo 
settled on the grounds of Clark Air Base. By 1997, over 60,000 
people lived in the Clark Air Base Command (CABCOM) compound 
alone.

According to a study by the Amerikan environmental firm Weston 
International, much of the soil in areas settled by the Pinatubo 
evacuees is contaminated by toxic wastes, including jet fuel, 
benzene, pesticides, and PCBs. The water contains mercury, 
nitrate, fuel by-products, and insecticides. These contaminants 
can cause health problems like nervous system disorders, kidney 
disease, and the potentially fatal "blue baby syndrome."(2) 
Residents of CABCOM had used local wells for drinking and cleaning 
for years before they were warned of any potential harm.

Currently, residents in contaminated areas have been told not to 
drink the water or to boil it for 20 minutes first. Still, they 
complain of rashes, itches, and stomach aches when they use the 
water to wash. Some say their fingernails turn black from the 
diesel-fuel contaminated water. Local bourgeois politicians ignore 
residents' complaints.

Residents and former residents of CABCOM now suffer from more 
serious, sometimes lethal illnesses brought on by the Amerikan 
waste. In one village made up mostly of former CABCOM residents, 
volunteers have documented some 300 of cases of serious diseases, 
including liver disease and cancer. Over 100 have died since 
1995.(3) One girl, conceived at CABCOM, was born with serious 
heart defects which required two major surgeries before she was 3 
years old. Her grandmother, an active, healthy non-smoker before 
she lived at CABCOM, died in the last year of lung cancer at age 
50. Another man -- again a previously vigorous, non-smoker and 
non-drinker -- died of liver disease after living for several 
years at CABCOM. There is reason to believe that the incidence of 
disease among CABCOM residents will increase as time goes on, due 
to the latency period between exposure and disease onset.

This kind of ecological violence provokes hundred-million dollar 
lawsuits, books, and blockbuster movies when it happens in the 
united $tates (see for example, "A Civil Action"(9)). But 
Amerikans rarely hear of the devastation wrought by Amerikan 
military bases in places like the Philippines, Korea (see article 
this issue), Okinawa, Panama, Turkey, etc. etc.(10) And the people 
in these place almost never have the resources to take on uncle 
sam in court and win a meaningful settlement. This is another perk 
the Amerikan military enjoys when it sets up shop abroad. It's 
cheaper to pollute abroad, both in terms of money and political 
consequences. This is why one of our main tasks is to build public 
awareness of the crimes of the Amerikan military abroad and teach 
people why they should be outraged. We must raise the cost for the 
imperialists.

VFA: Two steps back

The return of u.$. troops to the Philippines under the auspices of 
the VFA dealt a severe blow to the Filipino people's struggle for 
true self-determination and just and lasting peace. Activists 
opposed to the VFA argue that Amerikan troops will escalate crime, 
prostitution, and violence. Already hundreds of thousands of 
Filipinos have been displaced by the u.$.-Estrada regime's "all 
out war" against several groups, including the Maoist New People's 
Army. Activists also point out that the united $tates needs the 
Philippines to preserve its military hegemony in Asia and beyond . 
The Philippines was a major staging area during the Vietnam war 
and a refueling station during the 1991 Gulf War.

In February, when u.$. troops participated in a joint military 
exercise with the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Clark, people 
from around the Philippines came to the former air base for a two-
day protest. 

Several recent incidents illustrate the inevitable effects of the 
VFA. Drunk Amerikan servicemen killed a taxi driver in Cebu. Two 
children were killed by unexploded ordinance left behind by joint 
u.$.-AFP exercises. Clark-area residents are also worried that the 
gunshots they hear at night are from unannounced u.$. drills . 
Don't worry, says the Philippine government, that's just the AFP 
undergoing "counter-terrorism" training.(4)

Of course, one of the main goals of joint exercises is to train 
the AFP in anti-guerrilla tactics. U.$. troops or not, AFP 
"counter-terrorism" training is bad news for the majority of 
Filipinos. The strategy employed against guerrillas in the New 
People's Army involves brutalizing the civilian population, trying 
to intimidate them into dropping their support for the NPA. In 
general, the AFP is a tool of the reactionary classes, which uses 
violence to preserve exploitation and oppression.

A new round of joint exercises between u.$. green berets and 
Philippine special forces began on September 14. The green berets 
earned a brutal reputation for their anti-guerrilla activities in 
Korea and Vietnam. Two days after the green berets arrived, the 
AFP launched attacks against the Abu Sayaaf kidnapping gang in 
Jolo. Several white soldiers believed to be u.$. green berets were 
reportedly seen in Jolo on September 18.(5) The French government 
and the French hostages themselves (who managed to escape on their 
own) have criticized the u.$.-Estrada regime for its gung-ho 
approach to the Abu Sayaaf. The AFP's offensive has largely 
consisted of long range bombardments, which endangers hostages and 
the civilian population. Already over 10,000 civilians have been 
evacuated.(6) The AFP admits to killing four civilians. Refugees 
fleeing the offensive say 100s have been killed, including 10 who 
were bombed while attending a wedding.(7)

Special exploitation zone?

Clark is not just an example of how Amerikan militarism oppresses 
the Filipino people -- it is now a direct example of how Amerikan 
imperialism economically exploits Filipinos. After u.$. troops 
left Clark, the Philippine government turned it into a so-called 
Special Economic Zone, aimed at attracting foreign investors. 
These foreign capitalists are given substantial tax holidays and 
cheap labor. 

"The economic zones like Clark are, according to the capitalists, 
heaven for the Filipino workers," says the WAR3 member. "But many 
of the investors in the Clark economic zone are violating [the 
workers'] democratic rights, like the minimum wage law, labor 
standards, the condition in the working area, the right to form a 
union and strike. For example, last June of this year, a strike 
was held in Clark by garment factory workers and they were banned 
from working for the other companies."(1) 

The striking workers only earned 120 pesos ($2.67) for a 12 hour 
day. One womyn interviewed by MIM Notes was paid 80 pesos ($1.78) 
for 12 hours work in a hotel; she was happy to have that job, due 
to high unemployment.

The Clark Special Economic Zone also exacerbates problems of 
landlessness and homelessness. The government is expanding the 
Zone, driving farmers and indigenous peoples off of their land. 
The Zone currently covers 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres or about 
230 square miles), most of which stands idle.

More than half of the Pinatubo evacuees settled at Clark have been 
moved again to make way for foreign enterprises. After evicting 
the evacuees, the government then makes them buy the materials to 
build new houses. Many of the evacuees have yet to recover their 
livelihood and cannot afford even these cheap tin roof houses. 
They sell the materials instead.

No accident

Clark is a microcosm of the problems created by u.$. imperialism 
in the Philippines and around the world. According to the United 
Nations, over 500 million people in Asia are "chronically 
malnourished," and this number is rising.(8) Seventy percent of 
the population of the Philippines is malnourished. This is despite 
the fact that the Philippines and other Asian countries have the 
natural and humyn resources to feed themselves. What prevents them 
from doing so is the political and economic system of imperialism, 
which places the interests of a few nations -- led by the united 
$tates -- ahead of the interests of the majority of humynity.

For example, pressure from imperialist agribusiness has forced 
Filipinos to grow fruits and vegetables for export rather than 
food for local consumption. The Philippine rice crop used to 
exceed local demand. Now, because of economic policies dictated by 
imperialist-controlled organizations like International Monetary 
Fund and World Bank, the country has to import rice. Many farmers 
cannot afford to buy rice with the income they get from selling 
their cash crops.

But oppression breeds resistance. Many join legal mass movements 
like WAR3, which is explicitly anti-imperialist. Many others go 
even farther, and join the New People's Army to liberate 
themselves from imperialism, which uses force of arms to keep them 
down. The New People's Army, led by the Communist Party of the 
Philippines, is fighting a protracted people's war to win national 
liberation and establish self-reliant socialism in the 
Philippines. 

The Communist Party of the Philippines' success in applying Maoist 
principles to the concrete reality in the Philippines shows that 
socialism is still the hope of the majority of humynity for 
freedom from starvation, disease, exploitation, and the threat of 
war. 

Notes:

1. Interview, 8 Sep 2000.

2. "A Toxic Legacy Abroad," The Boston Globe, 15 Nov 1999, 
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/pollution/day2.htm.

3. Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), 20 Aug 2000.

4. PDI, 22 Aug 2000.

5. PDI, 18 Sep 2000.

6. PDI, 19 Sep 2000.

7. PDI, 21 Sep 1000.

8. "RP, 42 other countries face 'continent of hunger'," PDI, 27 
Aug 2000.

9. Reviewed in MIM Theory 12. See also the "Reviewed Films" 
section of the MIM Bookstore, 
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bookstore/offbooks.html

10. "US presence on foreign soil is tainted," The Boston Globe, 15 
Nov 1999, 
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/pollution/day2bar1.htm
.