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Organised by Stop the War Coalition

More info here

GDAMS actions by Stop the War! Coalition and Zoto (Zone One Tondo).
On April 27 they released the GDAMS Statement to media friends in the region and in the country, as well as through Mailing Lists.  

This poster/ FB cover was made from artworks done by young people from urban poor communities here in Manila. All planned activities in communities had to be postponed, so organizers decided to wait until it’s possible to gather physically.  

Stop the War Coalition is trying to oppose the Philippine government’s purchase of 2 billion USD worth of attack helicopters, ammunitions, surveillance equipment, etc.  Read more about it here and sign this petition to stop the sale:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdi5v4k8N5ZEopKWsDQe8W0mLjat3rbdbzImQmTO1T7KF5EzQ/viewform

On May 21, Corazon Fabros participated in representation of Stop the War Coalition on the webinar “Peace and the Pandemic” with participants from Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kashmir and India and focused on military spending, using GCOMS resource materials and also presenting IPB’s petition to support the UN Call for global ceasefire and to stop military exercises.

Stop the War Coalition – Philippines also participated in the #MoveTheMoney selfie campaign:

Activist Amabella Carumba, from Mindanao People’s Peace Movement, endorsed the Global Campaign on Military Spending via video.

Selfies from Stop the War Coalition. Look at the photo here!

Mural action in Manila: To reclaim people’s wealth – Look at the photo here!

Poem lecture and Street dance in Tondo, Manila: “A government who prioritizes Militarism / don’t you think got a very poor mentalism? / the poverty, lack of education and hunger / all of these issues and you’d still focus on your own built danger? / … They be screamin’ take care of our health /How can we do that if you had emptied our wealth? / Embrace the essence of proper governing, change your ways / Recoup the wealth of society for the better days / Jocelle Ann U.Cañadido – Watch at the photos here, and also read the whole poem!

18th of April 2017
– April 18 – Street play production in an urban community setting with youth and students culminating the event with jamming with alternative artists. A VTR will be produced. It will be used by other groups during focus group discussions in other communities and schools during the GDAMS days.

– Two public actions in the Mindanao area: in a farming community of women and with urban youth and students group.

– Photo streaming and selfies by young people with their own version of messages on military spending

– Media blast during the GDAMS days.

Contact: Corazon Valdes: corafabros@gmail.com

The Stop the War! Coalition Philippines organized a kite-flying event in northern Philippines. It was such a success that it attracted television news coverage.

Stop the War! Coalition Philippines and ZOTO, co-organized the ‘Youth Leaders’ Forum-workshop on military spending’ and a mural painting  for youth and students in an urban poor community. Watch the activity video.

GDAMS with urban poor women & youth participants in the ‘Food and jobs, not (U.S.) military bases’ workshop in Manila, Philippines on 05 April 2014.

To commemorate the Global Day of Action on Military Spending in the Philippines, the Stop the War Coalition-Philippines (STWC), Peace Women Partners (PWP), and Samahan ng Mamamayan-Zone One Tondo Inc (SM-ZOTO Inc) brought together children, young people and women who conducted simultaneous workshops on art, music and theater to interpret what GDAMS means to them last April 13.

Ten children and young people designed posters on the theme: Pagkain, Trabaho at Edukasyon, Hindi Bala,Hindi Kanyon, (Food, Jobs and Education, Not Bullets, Not Cannons) which has been selected as the Philippine Call for the GDAMS campaign. The winning poster was created by Mary Joy Suarez, an SM-ZOTO volunteer who had to drop out of college. The group also made a streamer with the GDAMS slogan, which they paraded in the streets of Dagatdagatan before it was set up in the GDAMS forum held at an evacuation center in Pescadores, Navotas, Philippines. Here is the news article  for the events co-organised by Stop the War Coalition Philippines and the Peace Women Partners.

Watch the video Food, Jobs, Education. Not bullets, arms and cannons. 

Press: Opinion: Summertime blues by Bernard Karganilla (Malaya)

Peace Boat

“Peace Boat’s voyage docked in Manila, the Philippines on April 13 where a series of events in connection to the GDAMS were held with local partners. Featured in this photo are 9 Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), travelling as part of the “Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World: Peace Boat Hibakusha Project.” In coordination with
Mindanao-based NGO Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), the Hibakusha visited the Office of the Presidential Advisor to the Peace Process (OPAPP). Members of all groups present highlighted the human cost of war, as seen by the ongoing armed conflicts in the Philippines and the experiences of the Hibakusha themselves. Under secretary Louie Montalbo of OPAPP acknowledged that conflict cannot be resolved through force, and the need to invest more in efforts for peace. This was echoed by Peace Boat’s appeal for the need for further investment in human security, ever so important considering the humanitarian crisis Japan is now facing following the triple disaster of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant accidents. During their stay in the Philippines coinciding with the day after the GDAMS, the Hibakusha also met with local students and organisers of other GDAMS events in Manila, confirming together the need for a reduction in military spending and an increase in joint efforts for peace. These events were organised in coordination with IID as part of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – a network of civil society organisations working on peacebuilding and conflict prevention, whose secretariat in Northeast Asia is hosted by Peace Boat and Southeast Asia by IID.”