Mike Legaspi
Overview
Mike Legaspi [Miguel Makata] has called for Israel’s destruction, glorified violence, and spread hatred of Israel and America as a speaker at rallies organized by the pro-terror group Within Our Lifetime (WOL). Legaspi also expressed support for a terrorist as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).Legaspi is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In 2021, Legaspi was an activist with the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS). The group describes itself as “an anti-imperialist and democratic formation. It promotes, supports and develops the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the peoples of the world against imperialism and all reaction.”
In 2018, Legaspi was an activist with BAYAN U.S.A., an activist group which says that it comprises “basic sectors and progressive forces of Filipinos in the U.S. to struggle against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism.”
From 2014 to 2016, Legaspi was an activist with the SJP chapter at Hunter College (Hunter SJP). Hunter is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is located in New York, New York.
In 2014-2015, Legaspi was reportedly a member of the Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee (RSCC), a group that aimed to “advance the struggle to liberate CUNY for the people, and transform it into a base area for revolutionary struggles for liberation.”
As of May 2024, Legaspi’s LinkedIn profile said he had worked as a microcleaner from April 2016 to February 2019.
Also as of May 2024, Legaspi’s Instagram said he was an activist, writer and language teacher.
As of the same date, Legaspi’s LinkedIn said he graduated from Hunter with a bachelor’s degree in history in 2017.
As of the same date, Legaspi’s LinkedIn said he was located in the New York City metropolitan area.
As of May 2024, Legaspi used the handle “MiguelMakata” on Facebook and “@makibakawithmike” on Instagram.
7/31/2021 - Calling for Israel’s Destruction at a WOL Rally
On July 31, 2021, Legaspi was featured as a speaker at a WOL rally honoring “the martyrs of Palestine,” where he promoted hatred of Israel and America. The protest took place in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.In his speech, Legaspi said [00:27:48]: “We know that the true democracy and genuine liberation does not lie in the ruling classes of the United States and other fearless powers, because they are the same ones that continue to fund and continue to support settler states like Israel.”
Legaspi ended his speech by chanting [00:29:32]: “1, 2, 3, 4! Defeat U.S. imperialist war! 5, 6, 7, 8! Smash the settler Zionist state!”
At the same rally, WOL founder Nerdeen Kiswani spoke to the crowd after some fireworks were lit. She said [01:02:43]: “I hope that a pop-pop is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime!”
The WOL activists responded with loud cheers and applause.
Kiswani also led [00:00:26] Arabic chants, which translated as: “The Gate of Al-Aqsa is made of iron, it can be opened only by martyrs,” and [00:00:54]: “Either we liberate [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] or we die!”
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Later at the rally, Kiswani translated [00:55:55] the chants into English, saying that “the Palestinian community and the people who stand with and support Palestine are 100% behind our martyrs. We are 100% behind our resistance…We know that our liberation will only come through resistance by any means necessary.”
Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti- Semitic violence.
6/8/2018 - Glorifying Violence & Spreading Hatred of America
On June 8, 2018, Legaspi was featured as a speaker at an anti-Israel rally celebrating Al Quds Day. The protest was organized by WOL and took place in Times Square in New York City.The Iranian government initiated International Quds Day in 1979, as an annual protest against Israel’s existence. The protest has historically been a platform for anti-Semitism.
At the rally, Legaspi led [00:06:04] the crowd in chanting: “It is right to rebel, Israel go to hell!...Today is Al Quds Day…It is a day also to assert and celebrate the right of the Palestinian people to fight back by any means necessary!”
Anti-Israel activists use the phrase “by any means necessary,” as one of multiple euphemisms for terrorist violence, including “resistance.”
Legaspi continued [00:07:54]: “We understand that the main source of unrest, the main source of conflict, the main source of pain in the Middle East is actually the Zionist state of Israel and the dirty meddling of U.S. imperialism…So, how can there be peace in the region, when Israel is addicted to genocide, violence and war?! How can there be peace when the main source of funds for Israel is the billions of dollars pouring in from the genocide of maniacs we call the U.S. government?!”
Legaspi then said [00:08:47]: “Peace anywhere must be based on justice and the only justice there can be is the complete defeat of Israel and total victory of the Palestinian people against Zionism and against imperialism!”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
Legaspi concluded [00:11:22]: “In the great march of history, Israel is just a temporary setback! Palestine, on the other hand, Palestine is a promise! The sooner we get this, the sooner we can organize to fight and to win!This is for all the martyrs, our heroes who became immortal in the Great March of Return!”
6/23/2017 - Hatred of Israel and America at a WOL Rally
On June 23, 2017, Legaspi was featured as a speaker at an anti-Israel rally celebrating Al Quds Day. The protest was organized by WOL and took place in New York City.At the rally, referring to Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Legaspi said [00:03:10]: “Is it Palestinians who take and steal money from the American working class to bomb the crap out of the Middle East? Was it Palestinians? Who is it?! Israel!...It’s imperialism and the Zionist…like the IDF!”
Legaspi further said [00:03:39]: “Zionism is terrorism. So, if you’re against war and you’re for peace, you would be against Zionism! And if you are against Zionism, you are against its ultimate lifeline here! The best way that we over here can help the people struggle all over the world is by demanding that U.S. imperialism stop funding Israel!...The U.S. flag and the Israeli flag are together in oppressing the world’s people.”
Support for a Terrorist
On November 4, 2014, Legaspi appeared in a Facebook group photo with text that read: “Hunter college students in solidarity with and spreading awareness about Rasmea Odeh!”Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.
Anti-Israel Activism (SJP, BDS)
On October 22, 2016, Legaspi was tagged in a Facebook post from Kiswani. In the post, Kiswani wrote: “So grateful to be a part of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine who are working together to push the movement for Palestine solidarity in the U.S. even farther, from the belly of the beast of Zionism and imperialism in New York City. Posting a couple of highlights of our work over the past year to remind all those involved in NYC SJP of our work…”In the same post, Legaspi appeared in a group photo with his fist raised next to a red banner with text that read: “NYC Students for Justice in Palestine.”
On February 3, 2016, Legaspi appeared in a Facebook group photo posted by SJP Hunter along with other SJP members with text that read: “Outreach for our joint event next week! Long live solidarity between the Filipino and Palestinian people!”
On May 3, 2015, Legaspi appeared in a Facebook photo posted by SJP Hunter, while giving a presentation to other SJP activists. In a different photo from the same event, Legaspi can be seen speaking on a range of anti-Israel topics, including: “BDS Strategies” and “Zionist Myths.”
On May 1, 2015, Legaspi appeared on Facebook in a group photo posted by SJP Hunter alongside other activists. Some of the activists carried Palestinian flags.
On November 4, 2014, Legaspi updated his Facebook profile picture to one that showed him promoting SJP Hunter on the college campus. In the post, Legaspi wrote: “‘Arouse, Organize, and Mobilize and Unite the Broad Massed of the People’ with Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College.”
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MiguelMakataInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/makibakawithmike/
Instagram 2:https://www.instagram.com/3rdworldsonpoetry/
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@si_mike_ako
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-legaspi-b77326186/
Keywiki:http://keywiki.org/Miguel_Makata
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@c0detalker
Linktr.ee:https://linktr.ee/makibakawithmike
