Sept. 15 Solidarity Demonstration in Support of Rape Victim

PRESS ADVISORY
September 11, 2006
For more information, please contact Christina Leaño (510) 541-4685


Women Protest for Justice for Victim Raped by US Marines:
A Silent Demonstration in Solidarity with Philippine Women’s Organizations

September 15, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Dewey Statue, Union Square in San Francisco, CA
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US Marines Brutally Rape Filipina
On November 1, 2005, US Marines brutally raped Nicole, a 22 year-old Filipina woman, at the former Subic Naval Base in Olongapo, Philippines. Currently, the Marines face trial in the Philippines.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the US allows the entry and mobilization of forces anywhere in the Philippines and limits trial duration. The US military presence as a result of the VFA has undermined the sovereignty of the Philippines and spawned many violations and injustices, such as violence against women and environmental degradation.

About the Demonstration
On September 15, 2006, members of Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES) and Women for Genuine Security (WGS) and their supporters will silently lay in symbolic protest beside the Dewey Statue demonstrating the victimization of women internationally and the disrespect for the Philippines propagated by current US foreign policy.

This demonstration will be in solidarity with the Taskforce for Subic Rape Case, a coalition of women's organizations in the Philippines that has been working with Nicole to seek justice for this crime. The Taskforce will be holding a mobilization in the Philippines on Sept 16, the 14th anniversary of the US military pullout from the Philippines. The site of the demonstration, the Dewey Statue, was chosen because it inaccurately commemorates Admiral Dewey’s success in “liberating” the Filipinos during the Spanish American War, which set the stage for US entry into the Philippines in the 1800s and the ongoing oppression and violation that the US military presence continues to perpetuate.

The bay area women who organized the demonstration hope to raise awareness about this and the many other US violations against women, human rights, environmental justice, and Philippine sovereignty.

FACES is an intergenerational organization that works for environmental justice within communities in the United States and in the Philippines, and builds partnerships through advocacy, education, service, and organizing.

For More Information
Christina Leaño
Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity
1808 Fifth St
Berkeley, CA 94170
(510) 549-1808
info [at] facessolidarity.org
http://www.facessolidarity.org