Protest Trump’s attendance at Asean summit and condemn US imperialism

The Sekretariat Bantah Trump (Oppose Trump Secretariat), a coalition of grassroots movements, citizen-led initiatives, student groups and civil society, will hold a People’s Assembly on 26 October at 17:00, beginning at Ampang Park, Kuala Lumpur.

In protest against the attendance of US President Donald Trump at the Asean summit, the coalition aims to stage a People’s Tribunal to put US imperialism on trial.

The people will pass judgment on Donald Trump and other war criminals for militarism, economic domination, environmental destruction and genocide –particularly the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

This People’s Assembly is the culmination of an entire month of mobiliaations, including a memorandum to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, thousand-strong convoys through the heart of Kuala Lumpur that burnt effigies of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, and a teach-in about how the histories of Palestine and Malaysia are connected in an ongoing struggle of decolonisation.

The demands of the Sekretariat Bantah Trump have been laid out in a joint statement which identifies the US as the primary antagonist of our world today.

Demands to the US government

Military

• End support for the Zionist settler-colonisation of Palestine.
• Cease military aggression in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Venezuela and elsewhere.
• Withdraw US military presence in Southeast Asia.
• Halt interference in regional conflicts such as the South China Sea dispute.
• Stop the use of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the National Endowment for Democracy and military exercises as tools of intervention.

Economic

• Lift unilateral sanctions against Global South countries.
• Stop the use of tariff wars and trade deals that enforce economic dependency.
• End neoliberal policies that dismantle workers’ rights and public services.

Environmental

• Pay climate debt to countries in the Global South
• Address historical and current emissions caused by war, extraction and corporate exploitation.

Demands to the Malaysian government

• End normalisation with the US, including joint military exercises.
• Apply pressure on the US to halt its aggression in Gaza, Yemen and elsewhere.
• Nationalise key industries and reduce dependence on foreign direct investments and foreign loans from Western imperialist institutions.
• Sanction genocide-enabling companies such as Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and BlackRock.
• Close the US Embassy until the US sanctions Israel. Interrogate US Ambassador Nick Adam over US war crimes.
• Accelerate a Just Energy Transition, limiting fossil fuel trade with imperialist states and attracting only sustainable ‘green’ foreign investments.

This statement is endorsed by 52 groups from Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Palestine, Australia and the US, including the Resist US-Led War Movement, International Peace Bureau, Friends of Palestine Network, Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, and the Tariq el-Tahrir Youth and Student Network (Palestine).

Uniting voices across the Global South and beyond, the Sekretariat Bantah Trump condemns the US for its direct involvement in the genocide in Gaza, worldwide military build-ups, and economic subjugation of Global South countries from Congo to Cuba to Iran.

As a resource-rich region, Asean nations have been a prime target for economic ‘alliances’ for the US, with neoliberal policies that expose developing economies to the adverse effects of globalisation, including land-grabbing, environmental destruction, low wages and labour exploitation – especially for women.

And when diplomatic visits, aid conditionality and trade negotiations are not enough to secure imperialist interests, the US has resorted to wars of aggression.

Whether through bombs or tariffs, through military bases or multinational companies, it is always the working classes and the marginalised of the Global South whose bodies fall at the hand of this bloodthirsty empire.

As a coalition fighting against systems of injustice that view the Global South as disposable, to be sacrificed by racist, capitalist1 and colonial systems of exploitation and domination, the struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation is part of our collective struggle for climate, racial, gender, economic and political justice, and for a world where everyone has the right to live with dignity, free from oppression.

Event details:

Location: Ampang Park, Kuala Lumpur

Time: 17:00, 26 October

Purpose: Protest US imperialism, demand justice for Palestine, reject Trump’s presence at Asean summit

This assembly is a unified declaration that genocide enablers and war criminals are not welcome – not here, not anywhere.

It is high time that Asean nations take a firmer stance in avoiding all forms of normalisation to weaken US hegemony in the region. As such, the Sekretariat Bantah Trump calls upon the masses to stand together in opposition to the greatest threat to humanity in our time. Solidarity to all oppressed people in the Global South. Down with US hegemony!

Sekretariat Bantah Trump

• Angkatan Kesatuan Siswa Sosialis (AKSI)
• Basirah Malaysia
• Gerakan Gabungan Anti-Imperalis (Gegar)
• Liga Mahasiswa
• Malaysia Protest 4 Palestine
• Mandiri
• Sekolah Merdeka
• Students Against Genocide Malaysia (SAGM)
• Sosialis Alternatif
• South East Asia Artivist Network (SEAarta)

Endorsements for the joint statement by international organisations against Trump’s attendance at the Asean summit

Malaysia:

• Gerakan Gabungan Anti-Imperialis (Gegar)
• Students Against Genocide Malaysia (SAGM)
• Angkatan Siswa Sosialis Malaysia (Aksi)
• Sekolah Merdeka
• SEA Artivist Network
• Malaysia Protest 4 Palestine
• Jentayu
• Suaram
• BDS Malaysia
• Suara Siswa UITM
• Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam – Kuasa
• Pemuda Sosialis
• Parti Sosialis Malaysia

International and regional networks:

• Resist US-Led War Movement
• International Peace Bureau (IPB)
• Friends of Palestine Network
• Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia (Forsea)

Palestine:

• Palestinian Communist Youth Union
• Tariq el-Tahrir Youth and Student Network

Papua:

• Lao-Lao Papua

Indonesia:

• Front Mahasiswa Nasional (FMN)
• Perserikatan Sosialis
• Lingkar Keadilan Ruang
• Yappika-Action Aid
• Ruas Indonesia
• Beranda Migran
• Indonesia Development Circle
• Islam Bergerak
• Indonesian Student for Justice in Palestine
• Graphic Victims
• Taring Padi

Philippines:

• Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean People’s Forum Philippine Process
• Alternative Development
• Moro Consensus Group
• Partido Sosyalista
• Stop the War Coalition Philippines
• Workers for People’s Liberation
• Young Workers League (YWL-WPL)

Thailand:

• Solidarity Collective TH
• Socialist Workers Thailand
• Socialgaze
• Nonbinary Thailand

Singapore:

• BDS Movement in Singapore
• Students for Palestine Singapore
• Workers Make Possible
• Singapore Climate Rally

Timor-Leste:

• Frente Resurreisaun Maubere (FRM)

Brunei:

• Palestine Poppies

Australia:

• DEEP Network
• Climate Justice Alliance
• Renters and Housing Union Australia (Rahu)

United States:

• Resist US-Led War PDX

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