A reflection on Mangkhut, Florence and the state of the Philippines

Canada must provide humanitarian assistance without conditions to the people of the Philippines | TONY SEED

My thoughts have been with all my friends and the fraternal peoples of the Philippines and South Asia threatened from super typhoon Mangkhut. My aim in this reflection is to analyze the news coverage of both Florence and Mangkhut and to inform Canadians about the reality facing the Filipino people.

(September 15) – Mangkhut is the 15th and strongest storm this year to batter the Philippines.

Mangkhut (also known as Ompong) has brought ferocious winds of up to 130mph and a storm surge of up to 23ft. The Category 5 typhoon greatly surpasses the strength of Hurricane Florence now striking the US Atlantic coast.

132 countries walk out in disgust from UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

On November 21 we posted a report from the London Guardian on the UN climate change talks in Warsaw, Poland and a report by Stephen Leahy about the specific role played by the Harper government in scuttling the climate talks. This report gives a more comprehensive overview of the conference.

Non-governmental participants in the UN climate change conference in Warsaw, Poland, join in walk-out of proceedings.

TML Daily – THE United Nations held its 19th Conference of the Parties (COP 19) on its Framework Convention on Climate Change in Warsaw, Poland, from November 11 to 22. Discussions at the meeting highlight the contradictions between rich and poor countries; and big and small, as well as the attempts by governments of so-called developed countries in service of the monopolies to dictate global priorities to other countries and how to proceed with development and industrialization.

Halifax International Security Forum: US officially integrates Harper war government into Asia pivot strategy

Dangerous new military agreement with U.S. announced

EVEN before the US and NATO generals, admirals, think tank gurus, opinion makers and media pundits open the Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) aka the Halifax War Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia this afternoon, a dangerous new military agreement was announced this morning by the United States and Canada.

Rob Nicholson, Minister of National Defence, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, met on the margins of the HISF to discuss the “Canada-U.S. defence relationship”, and signed a new Canada-U.S. Asia-Pacific Defense Policy Cooperation Framework. The agreement revises the “relationship” and formally incorporates Canada deeper into Obama’s aggressive Asia Pivot strategy, also called “rebalancing,” which is aimed not only against China and Korea but against all peoples of the region.

Philippines: An appeal for immediate assistance and support

Migrante Canada, November 12, 2013

To Family, Friends and Supporters of the Filipino People:

Greetings!

Migrante Canada is humbled to witness the generous outpouring of sympathy and solidarity to the Filipino people as reports, photos and videos of actual devastation continue to unfold in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. According to reports, as many as 10,000 people are feared dead in the province of Leyte alone. Typhoon Haiyan came three weeks after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake devastated that same Central Visayan region.

Harper government hopes to profit from human misery

Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) – “a program that has been condemned by Canadians because it is a form of modern slavery which binds mostly Filipino women to contracts that require them to work two out of three years with one employer or risk losing their status.”

TML Daily (Nov. 19) – ON NOVEMBER 14, the Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander announced that in the wake of the hardship in the Philippines caused by Typhoon Haiyan, Canada was going to fast-track applications for Filipinos who wish to immigrate to Canada, apply for tourist visas, or come to the country under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program on humanitarian grounds. As well, he announced that Filipinos now in Canada on a temporary basis can apply to extend their stay and their cases will be “assessed in a compassionate and flexible manner.”

Oppose the militarization of aid in the name of the Canadian people!

TML Daily (Nov. 19) – ON NOVEMBER 16, the Harper government’s Department of National Defence announced that two Royal Canadian Air Force CH-146 Griffon helicopters will be leaving from CFB Trenton aboard a military transport plane bound for the Philippines, to buttress the military’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) which is already in the Philippines. A third helicopter will soon follow. According to the government, the military is there to provide “emergency relief” in the form of clearing roads, providing clean water and so on for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Philippines: People need food, meds, not U.S. war arsenal

Demonstration against the Philippine government’s slow and militarized relief efforts, outside the Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Quezon City, Metro Manila, November 13, 2013. (KMU)

– Kilusang Mayo Uno*, November 17, 2013 –

“How could the US help us rebuild, if it sent destroyers?”

This was the question of national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) as it accused the US government of exploiting the humanitarian crisis caused by super typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) and the Philippine government’s snail-paced relief efforts in order to increase US military presence in the country.

The Philippines needs help – not aircraft carriers, marines or weapons!

Demonstrations in the Philippines on November 13, 2013 demand “Relief, not police and soldiers.”

TML Daily (Nov. 19) – TML Daily sends its deepest condolences to the people of the Philippines and in the diaspora, including the close to 800,000 estimated Canadians and residents of the Filipino national minority living in Canada, for the loss of life and destruction resulting from Typhoon Haiyan. Across Canada and around the world, ordinary people are finding ways to work together and are taking concrete actions to support the victims of the massive typhoon which struck the Philippines on November 8. Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines) struck the eastern seaboard of the central region of the Philippine archipelago (the Visayas), and travelled westward. The 7,106 islands that make up the Philippines are populated by some 98.6 million people. Typhoon Haiyan has caused massive destruction, made worse by the fact that the government of the Philippines does not uphold the rights of the Filipino people, especially those of the peasantry, the vast majority of which lives near a coastline and are extremely vulnerable.