Events & Updates
Learn more about Brandon, his work and what he is up to through his writings, speeches and interviews.
For media inquiries, please contact Justice4BrandonLee@gmail.com
Rage! Payt Latta! The fight continues
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.
The forces that nearly murdered me are meeting in San Francisco today
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.
The US Is Complicit In War Crimes in the Philippines
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.
Journey for Justice: It’s Been Three Years Since the Assassination Attempt on My Life
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.
Tribute to Chad Booc and the New Bataan 5
Some of you may know my story. I am one of the lucky few who survived an assassination attempt by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Persecuted and targeted for serving indigenous peoples, my story is not so different from that of the New Bataan 5.
One of the victims was Chad Booc. He graduated cum laude in computer science in the top university in the Philippines. He could have had a lucrative career anywhere, but he chose to serve the marginalized and neglected indigenous Lumad communities.
Like Chad, I became involved with a youth organization in college and learned about the plight of the Filipino people. I deplored how the indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands are exploited by their own government in the name of profit-driven development. This is manifested in the non-recognition of ancestral land rights, development aggression, government neglect, institutionalized discrimination, militarization and ethnocide, among others.
My fight is their fight: Stand with human rights defenders under attack
your support and concern for me must now help others like me in the Philippines who continue to face state attacks. The fight for justice, and for human rights in the Philippines, continues. I fight not only for myself, but for my fellow human rights defenders targeted by the Duterte government for no other reason than advocating for the voiceless and criticizing the failed policies of the government in alleviating the Filipino people, especially those in rural areas, from the daily crisis of crushing poverty and hunger.