I know firsthand that the backdoor trade deals handled by APEC will not benefit the people; they only benefit the corporations and imperialist countries like the United States. That is why the United States sends its military around the world, finance schools, support fascist governments – to open up industries.

In fact, I have no doubt that the bullets lodged in my body today are paid by our taxpayer dollars.

Although I am paralyzed physically, they have failed to shut me up.

Today, I am proud to be standing with you, metaphorically speaking, in fighting back against APEC. Against state and political repression. Against corporate greed and power. Against the wealthy elite. Against the plunder of our planet. Against foreign domination of our peoples.

In 2019, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines attempted to assassinate me in response to my efforts to defend Indigenous Philippine lands from environmental and governmental degradation. Bullet fragments from the attack are still lodged in my body, and I am paralyzed from the chest down.

But it was not only those specific soldiers who were responsible for my near-murder. It wasn’t even only the Philippine government. The global neoliberal economic model that prioritizes endless profiteering and exploitation over peace, equality, and environmental stewardship helped load the gun.

Now, four years later, and back in my hometown of San Francisco, I am surrounded by the leading symbols of that global order—because my city has been chosen as the site of this year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. For the first time in 12 years, the United States is hosting the APEC Heads of State meeting, a gathering of national leaders from 21 member economies—including Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., all of whom have arrived in San Francisco—and the business executives of some of the largest multinational corporations in the world.

Brandon Lee knows all too well that when communities resist the kind of neoliberal policies that APEC and IPEF promote, they face escalating surveillance, harassment, violence, and repression.

In August 2019, I survived an assassination attempt by the 54th Infantry Battalion state security forces, or elements of the Armed Forces, of the Philippines for my advocacy work with Indigenous communities in the Cordillera region of the Philippines. I was shot in front of my home in the presence of my daughter and family. The attack has left me scarred, nearly dying from eight cardiac arrests, and now permanently paralyzed without the use of my legs or my hands. After being medically evacuated back to the United States, it horrifies me to think that the bullet fragments still lodged in my body have been funded through American tax dollars.

Until now, there has been no accountability for this brazen attack against an American, sanctioned by the Philippine government in an atmosphere of total disregard for human rights and the lives of its people. Such attacks are not simply human rights violations but are war crimes.

US military assistance is aiding the Philippine government in its war crimes against its own people.

August marks three years since I was targeted for assassination by military agents in the Philippines under the Duterte administration. I was shot in front of my home in the presence of my daughter and family. The attack has left me scarred, nearly dying from eight cardiac arrests, and now permanently paralyzed without the use of my legs or my hands.

After being medically evacuated back to the U.S., it horrifies me to think that the bullet fragments still lodged in my body have been funded through American tax dollars. Until now, there has been no investigation or accountability for this brazen attack, sanctioned by the Philippine government in an atmosphere of total disregard for human rights and the lives of its people.

Under Duterte, the de facto policy has been to kill the poor by the thousands in the guise of a war on drugs. Official numbers report over 6,000 Filipinos were killed in police operations, not including victims of vigilante-style killings estimated at around 30,000 by human rights groups. This brutal record has led to the international watchdog Global Witness declaring the Philippines under Duterte the deadliest in the world for defenders of human rights, the environment, and natural resources.