07/10/2026
It was never on October 07, 2023.
๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ ๐ฐ ๐ฃ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐น-๐๐น๐พ๐ฎ ๐๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
The Mindanao State University For Palestine stands unwavering in solidarity with the Palestinian People and joins Bangsamoro and Filipino people who continue to refuse occupation, oppression, and imperialism.
October 07, 2023 did not mark the beginning of the Palestinian struggle. It did not begin with that day, nor can the history of Palestine be reduced to what happened on that day. For decades, Palestinians have lived under occupation, dispossession, displacement, apartheid, and systemic violence. The Nakba of 1948, the continuing occupation, the expansion of settlements, the blockade of Gaza, and the repeated bombardment of Palestinian communities are part of a much longer history of injustice.
What happened on October 7 must therefore be understood within this history. Acknowledging the violence committed against civilians does not require us to erase the decades of violence and dispossession that preceded it. Neither should October 7 be used to justify the collective punishment of an entire people.
Several ceasefires have been brokered since then, yet the violence and devastation have continued. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, families have been displaced, homes and essential infrastructure have been destroyed, and the Palestinian land continues to be fragmented by occupation and settlement expansion.
For us in the Bangsamoro, the Palestinian struggle is not distant. We see in their fight for freedom and self-determination echoes of our own history. We know what it means for communities to be displaced from their homes, for land to become a site of conflict, and for generations to carry the consequences of violence and militarization. Our solidarity is therefore not merely symbolic. It comes from a shared understanding that peace without justice is not peace.
The Philippine government has pursued partnerships with Israeli-linked technology and defense companies and has promoted participation in the US-led Pax Silica initiative.
We reject the portrayal of these arrangements as neutral projects of โdevelopment.โ Development cannot be built upon militarization, displacement, extraction, and the sacrifice of Indigenous communities. We cannot speak of progress while Aeta communities face threats to their ancestral lands and while our natural resources are opened further to extraction.
Trade partnerships, cybersecurity deals, military cooperation, government-sponsored visits, and other symbolic gestures must not become instruments for normalizing or whitewashing the violence committed against Palestinians.
We stand with Palestine not because solidarity is convenient, but because we believe that oppression anywhere concerns us everywhere. We stand against occupation, apartheid, militarism, and imperialism. We stand with the right of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland, to live with dignity, and to determine their own future.
We also stand with the Bangsamoro, Indigenous peoples, and all communities whose lands and lives are threatened by militarization and corporate extraction.
Three years after October 7, the question remains: how long must Palestinians endure before the world recognizes that there can be no genuine peace without justice?
From Marawi to Gaza, from the Bangsamoro to Palestineโour struggles are connected.
Free Palestine.
