He's this guy-
Why is Thomas van Beersum in the Philippines?
"I am tired of the extrajudicial killings, the illegal arrests, the forced demolitions, the land-grabbings, the puppetry to US imperialism, tired of all the oppression and exploitation of the workers, farmers, students, women, indigenous, urban poor, LGBTs, and all other oppressed groups."
The activist is here for the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace and joined the protest rally at the President's SONA. Oh and he's pals with Joma Sison.
After the crying cop photo went viral, Thomas wrote a letter for PO1 Sevilla:
I write this letter because unlike the other police at the protest, you did not act violently like your mates and you did not attack us. You did what you thought was right. You were confronted with the repressive character of the police and did not follow the orders of your superiors... I hope to see you again next year, during the SONA protest of 2014. But then I hope that we will be on the same side. Together against the crimes of the state and against the violent forces that exist purely to defend that state. Together in upholding the interests of the Filipino people.
Can I, a Dutch who spent years in the Philippines, (region 9 Mindanao, Leyte, Manila, and not the least bit interested in hookers) please not be compared with him? I know lots of bad Filipinos (good ones too) but you don’t see me harassing pinoys just for their nationality. There is also a misunderstanding about sex trafficking and prostitution in Holland so I suggest to the Filipinos who use that as criticism that they educate themselves a bit before they start ranting: I know both countries well and the fact is that there is much more prostitution in the Philippines than in Holland. The famous red light district of Amsterdam, (frequently visited by Filipino sailors and tourist who go to that specific spot just to have there biases proven) is smaller than Greenbelt, Makati, it has less prostitutes too. The Filipino government is doing less to stop it than the Dutch. Everyone can point out where you can find such practises so why is nothing happening? The only reason that we legalised prostitution in Holland is because this way we can protect the women, if you make it illegal and actually take action it goes underground. For the sake of protecting the women the Dutch legislators have sacrified our name in front of more hypocrate societies such as the Filipino one. (pride versus reality) From my humble opinion, I don’t think that foreigners should intervene in Filipino politics (note that Holland as similar issues with muslims who want to implement Sharia law). But I don’t see joining a rally in the street as part of that. It is called expressing your opinion, which is and should be legal also for foreigners. What I do find wrong is A: that he went out against a friendly police officer and not a bad one. He should have been more lion and less vulture. I really feel sorry for the police officer. 2: he must understand that this police officer has a family to support, it is a job. If you want him to change sides than he also should have offered to pay his bills and support his family.
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