lardheppus (5/8/2011)

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Happy MILF day!

With every media outfit expressing its opinion on the events in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden, I don’t need to add my take on the event. Instead let’s focus on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) statement that it has abandoned its bid for an independent state and it will seek a “state sub-state” arrangement with the government. This plan was revealed by the MILF peace panel headed by Mohagher Iqbal. He allayad fears about the possibility that Mindanao will be separated from the Philippines.

The MILF’s new proposal is intended to replace the old proposal of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) which was the subject of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). The MOA was declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional since it granted several rights which would impinge on the sovereignty of the Republic. The new proposal, according to Iqbal, is that “the Moro people will have control over all aspects of governance, except National Defense, Foreign Affairs, Currency and Coinage and Postal Services. The “sub-state” does not necessarily mean independence. It can mean less than independence. The “sub-state” will be controlled by the national government.” What is this MILF “sub-state?” According to Iqbal, “It is an asymetrical state substitute relationship which is clearly not secession but a formula of unity with the Philippine state.” He said that though independence is out of the question in the proposal, “we will not give up the right to self-determination of the Bangsamoro. No one can foreclose or deny the right to our people. It is a natural right under international law.”

Now we have at least in broad strokes what the MILF means by “sub-state.” Let’s go to the basics: There is only one Republic of the Philippines whose government exercises sovereignty over one undivided territory and one people including all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities....

Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870
Mother's Peace Day

The first person to fight for an official Mother's Day celebration in the United States was Julia Ward Howe. You may be more familiar with her name as the writer who wrote the words to the Civil War song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic:

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

Howe was born in New York City on May 27, 1819. Her family was well respected and wealthy. She was a published poet and abolitionist. She and her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, co-published the anti-slavery newspaper The Commonwealth. She was active in the peace movement and the women's suffrage movement. In 1870 she penned the Mother's Day Proclamation. In 1872 the Mothers' Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June was held and the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted, but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday. The Mothers' Peace Day was the beginning of the Mothers' Day holiday in the United States now celebrated in May....

Genie (5/9/2011)

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What does the independence of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have to do with this thread?