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Though better known for his brutal war on drugs at home, the Philippine leader's volatile, one-man diplomacy could up-end 70 years of U.S. dominance in East Asia.

Verizon workers went on strike one week before a competitive New York state primary in which a socialist is running. You had a credible national candidate for president on a nationally-televised debate calling out the CEO of a big corporation. That just does not happen very often. Given the current climate, Hillary Clinton made a big point of coming to our picket line the first day of the strike, Bill went to a picket line in Buffalo.

A tribunal this year uncovered grave violations against the human, economic, and cultural rights of Filipinos by Washington and their own leaders.

Postwar U.S. authorities helped rehabilitate erstwhile collaborators with the Japanese occupation in the name of fighting communism. Generations later, it’s led to the grandson of a despised Philippine collaborator endorsing the re-militarization of his country’s former occupiers — by the grandson of a war criminal, no less.

People and groups have been labeled terrorists by the Philippine government, the U.S. government and other countries at the behest of the U.S. government. The Philippine government engages in - red tagging - political vilification. Targets are frequently human rights activists and advocates, political opponents, community organizers or groups struggling for national liberation. Those targeted for assassination are placed on the order of battle list.

Although Islamic State regularly captures global headlines, the so-called fight against ''terrorism'' is not just confined to the Middle East. The United States quietly maintains other fronts in the War on Terror - including the Philippines.

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Unlike Spanish evangelism, US colonial machinery was geared to using the Philippines for thorough exploitation of the newly acquired territory, envisaging the eventual expansion of multinational corporations and ultimate global hegemony. This brief historical outline provides a background for global context and working class analysis of the Philippines and Filipino mass movements.

NXP Semiconductors is one of the world’s top 20 electronics manufacturers and supplies microchips and other parts for high-tech companies like Apple and Asus. In the Philippines, it employs over 1,600 regular workers and 1,700 contract employees. Workers organized collective actions on April 9, 17, 19, and May 1 – which are all government-declared holidays – but the management described these activities as ‘illegal strikes’ and dismissed 24 union leaders on May 5, 2014.