Pacific Northwest Delegates to Join Thousands for NATO Protest and Historic Gatherings

For Immediate Release

May 16, 2012

 

Contact: Chel Cendana

Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator, BAYAN-USA

bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com | 360.990.9424

 

Pacific Northwest Delegates to Join Thousands for NATO Protest and Historic Gatherings

 

Seattle, WA – Thirty-two Pacific Northwest activists will be traveling to Chicago this weekend to join thousands in a nationwide protest against the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit. Just a few days prior to the national mobilization, these same activists, as well as others from around the nation will be convening a series of historic national gatherings and founding assemblies. 

 

On Friday, May 18, international Filipina women’s progressive organization GABRIELA USA will hold its second National Congress in Chicago.  Acclaimed Philippine Congresswoman Emmi de Jesus of the Gabriela Women’s Partylist will be on hand to deliver the keynote address.  On that same Friday, Anakbayan USA will be holding its official founding congress.  Anakbayan is a progressive youth and student organization established almost 15 years ago in the Philippines. Since then, its reach has stretched all the way to the US.  Its first overseas chapter formed in Seattle 10 years ago.  Anakbayan chapters can now be found across the US, from California to New York. 

 

Later that same Friday, the US chapter of BAYAN-USA, an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the US, will hold its fourth congress.  Founded in 2005 in San Francisco, BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 Filipino community organizations across the US that has actively campaigned on issues of human rights, immigrant reform, workers’ rights, racial and gender discrimination, environmental justice, as well as US economic and military intervention and counter-insurgency in the Philippines. GABRIELA and Anakbayan are both member organizations of BAYAN-USA.

 

The weekend of landmark events continues. On Saturday May 19, the global activist coalition International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) will convene for the founding assembly of its first US chapter.  ILPS has over 350 member organizations from over 40 countries, and across six continents.  The ILPS is an international alliance that supports grassroots anti-imperialist struggles all over the world.  This alliance began as an idea that grew out of the grassroots resistance to the Seattle World Trade Organization meetings in 1999, during the counter summit, known as the People’s Assembly.  The ILPS was founded in the Netherlands in 2001 to form global unity against imperialist policies and agendas.

All events will take place at Centro Autonomo located at 3460 West Lawrence Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago.  Following the ILPS US Chapter founding ceremony will be cultural show titled Road to Resistance, a celebration of movement building victories in the US and across the globe.  Event organizers wanted to hold these historic assemblies in Chicago to mobilize all member organizations and allies to participate in the major protest demonstrations against the NATO Summit set to take place on Sunday, May 20.  BAYAN and ILPS members join the NATO Summit protest organizers Coalition Against NATO and G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANG8) in showing a united action against the global militarism that NATO represents.

 

“NATO began as a European fighting force against the Soviet Union. A world police pushing US and European interests all over the world is not needed.”  Says Pinay sa Seattle Education Chair Donna Denina. “We not only call for an end to such obsolete armies, but also an end to the tensions between China and the Philippines over the disputed borders in the South China Sea, worsened by the US’s involvement.”

 

The Northwest groups in attendance this weekend have scheduled a community report back on Friday, June 1, 6:30pm at the Peter Claver House, 7101 38th Ave South Seattle, 98118.  This is a free event. ###

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 progressive Filipino organizations in the US representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates.  As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the US.  For more information, visitwww.bayanusa.org

 

The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of BAYAN-USA includes Alay ng Kultura, Anakbayan Seattle, Pinay sa Seattle, as well as including the participation of the Philippine US Solidarity Organization.  Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines also falls under the Pacific Northwest Region of BAYAN-USA.

APIs at 12th Annual Seattle May Day March and Rally

 

On International Worker’s Day, local BAYAN-USA organizations and allies stand together with the international community to defend the rights of workers. Here in the U.S. and across the globe, middle class laborers fall victim to exploitative conditions. Management all over stop at nothing to squeeze out profits at the cost of basic rights, whether it is Foxconn in Shenzhen, China; the coal mines of Appalachia; or a Nestle factory in the Philippines.  This 12thAnnual May Day March and Rally, we celebrate and stand in solidarity with workers worldwide.   As the on-going economic crisis continues to devastate working families, especially immigrant communities, the fight to protect their rights is ever more crucial as scapegoating and deportations threaten our families and livelihood. As an example, domestic workers and caregivers here in the Northwest have taken unprecedented steps to ensure equal protection and recognition for their work.   In the Philippines, workers are not as fortunate. The government’s Labor Export Program currently herds nearly 4,000 Filipinos to leave their country everyday, 70% of whom are women.    Defend and advance the rights of im/migrants and refugees! Bail out the people, not the banks and big corporations! Stop the militarization of our communities!   If you are a conscientious Filipino American or ally who wants to join a growing international movement of progressive activists, find us. We’ve been waiting for you. Happy May Day!   Chel Cendana, Regional Coordinator, BAYAN-USA bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com

Local Filipino Progressives Support Airport Worker’s Struggle on the Eve of May Day

April 29, 2012

Contact: Chel Cendana, Chairperson

Pinay sa Seattle – Gabriela USA

pinayinfo@gmail.com

Seattle, WA – On April 28, 2012, Pin@y Sa Seattle, a member organization of Bayan USA and Gabriela USA, stands in solidarity with the airport workers, many of whom are immigrants who come to this country to make a living and support their families, but are being exploited by corporations who benefit from their cheap labor.  There is a great need for support of the airport worker community as their grievances are silenced by corporate management and their efforts to spread the word about the rally have been intercepted by removing leaflets and posters

There are 4,000 Filipinos who leave the Philippines daily due to worsening socio-economic conditions, two-thirds of which are are women.  There are 4000 airport employees at Sea-Tac International Airport, 400 of which are Filipino, who have worked for years, and some even decades, but are only paid poverty wages.   Meanwhile, corporate executives for major airlines are receiving increased bonuses, and the concentration of wealth continues to multiply within the top 1%, while the majority is left with empty pockets.

Pin@y firmly supports the demand of these workers to earn fare and livable wages and be offered affordable benefits as most earn at or below minimum wage.  With their jobs being contracted out to the lowest bidder, these workers risk lower pay and even risk losing their jobs.  Not only are they subjected to unfair wages, but also are exposed to unsafe and dangerous working conditions and experience racist discrimination.  Donna Denina, Vice Chair of Education spoke at the rally in support of the airport workers struggle and states “Let’s bring humanity back to our labor force, and treat all workers with the dignity and respect they deserve, a just and fair livable wage.”

Pin@y  will continue to support the airport employees for their fight to fair wages, safe working environment, and the right to retain their jobs.  On Tuesday May 1^st, Pin@y will join forces with local progressive API organizations, friends and allies to continue the fight for all workers’ rights, and to demand an end to the criminalization of working class immigrants and their families.  For more information about Pin@y, contact pinayinfo@gmail.com.  ###

Junk VFA, Stop Balikatan Exercises!

 

News Statement

April 16, 2012

Reference: Bernadette Ellorin, Chairperson, BAYAN USA, email: chair@bayanusa.org

US Intervention, NOT CHINA, is the Greatest Threat to Peace & Security in the Philippines– BAYAN USA

Filipino-American Alliance Calls Aquino Gov’t to Junk the VFA, Stop Balikatan Exercises

As today marks the formal opening of the 28th US-Philippine Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) Exercises in Palawan, Filipino-Americans across the US, under the banner of BAYAN USA, are joined by their American allies in condemning intensifying US military intervention in the Philippines as the greatest threat to peace and security in the country and the Asia-Pacific region.

US is the Real Bully

Contrary to Washington’s line, the Chinese government is not flexing its military might to bully other countries in the region in order to expand its economic interests. It is the US government that fits said description, as US military’s so-called “rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region” is motivated by the Obama administration campaign to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new free trade agreement akin to NAFTA that would ensure US economic and political domination in the region, as well as contain super rival China’s emerging economic power and growth.

Decades of US military presence in the Philippines in the name of peace-keeping and anti-terrorism have proven that it is the US troops, not China, that are guilty of pointing their own guns at Filipino civilians, raping Filipino women and children, patronizing and encouraging sex tours and increased prostitution, polluting and destroying the environment, requiring the massive displacement of rural communities in order to accommodate their military operations, advising and training the same Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) documented and denounced by international human rights organizations as perpetrating gross human rights abuses in the country, not to the least of which is the blatant violation and disrespect to Philippine national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Under Obama, the Philippines is now being used as testing grounds for US drone air strikes, in line with its historical role as a strategic launching pad and fueling station for US military offensives in nearly all of its wars of aggression. The US is also hyping up anti-China sentiment in the region by intervening in regional territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, of which China is a stakeholder, clearly aimed at provoking military aggression with the Philippines at the crosshairs. 

Hearts and Minds Campaign

Characteristic of this year’s Balikatan Exercises is the so-called focus on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HA/DR), including a Civil-Military Operations (CMO) component that started in March 12 with an engineering program to construct schools and facilities in the most marginalized areas of Palawan. Reminiscent of the same tactics used by the US military campaign to “win the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people and gather popular support for direct US military intervention during the Vietnam War, the HA/DR focus of the Balikatan Exercises is actually in line with the 2009 US State Department’s Counter-Insurgency (US COIN) Guide. The said US COIN guide purports the need for a population-centric approach, or low-intensity conflict (LIC),  wherein “the margin of victory will be measured in far different terms than the wars of our past. The allegiance, trust, and confidence of populations will be the final arbiters” as stated by US Army General William B. Caldwell IV in the US Army Field Manual on population-centric COIN.

With a strong Philippine movement for sovereignty and democracy gaining ground, including an armed revolutionary movement popular with the country’s poor and explicit in its aim to fundamentally change the current failing system in favor of a self-sufficient system implementing genuine land reform and national industrialization, the US government is driven to apply LIC tactics to win support away from the cause national liberation and keep the Philippines as its most reliable hub for power projection in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The US government, and its ruling financial oligarchy, is also driven to maintain the Philippines as a valuable export position for vast natural resources and cheap human labor power in the midst of a worsening global economic crisis it is grappling, but failing, to overcome. 

NoyNoy’s Bankruptcy Exposed

The US-Aquino regime is becoming increasingly isolated as its promise of change is exposing itself as bankrupt through Aquino’s inaction and “NoyNoying” over crucial domestic matters of public interest requiring attention. At the same time Aquino unflinchingly steps to the plate to bat for Uncle Sam’s quest to rattle his saber in the region under the deceptive line of defending the region against China.

It is obvious that Aquino is desperate to keep enjoying the spoils of US puppetry by continuing US-funded state repression against civilians who criticize his policies and championing the US government’s initial steps toward direct US military intervention in the country in the face of a raging civil war between those wanting to maintain the status quo, and those wanting to change the system and build a brighter future. 

It is in this regard that BAYAN USA calls on all in the US who are burdened by the effects of the economic crisis to hold the Obama administration accountable for its maneuvers to invest billions in beefing up it military presence in the Asia-Pacific region through expanding its network of military bases, facilities, operations, and agreements in the region when it could be investing in jobs, education, healthcare, housing, and social services for the American people. We call on all who are against US wars of aggression to demand the Obama administration withdraw its military presence in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region. We call on all in the US who have been victimized by US counter-insurgency, including COINTELPRO, and the onslaught of repressive legislation criminalizing dissent and curtailing democratic rights to condemn US counter-insurgency in the Philippines, home to the world’s longest-running armed revolution against US imperialism. Lastly, we call on all who are for freedom to stand in solidarity with the Filipino people’s struggle for genuine national sovereignty and democracy, a mass movement so widespread and historical in its challenge to US imperialist power projection in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

US TROOPS OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES 

JUNK THE VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT

STOP THE BALIKATAN EXERCISES

UPHOLD PHILIPPINE SOVEREIGNTY

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

—————————–

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org

Please read and distribute widely!

5 reasons to oppose US militarization

Pin@y Celebrates ‘Kamay’

March 27, 2012

Contact: Chel Cendana, Chairperson
Pinay sa Seattle – Gabriela USA
pinayinfo@gmail.com

Seattle, WA – On Saturday March 10, 2012, Pin@y Sa Seattle celebrated the 101^st Anniversary of International Working Women’s Day with ‘Kamay,’ a showcase honoring Filipina migrant workers.  With close to 100 people in attendance at Southside Commons in Columbia City, the members of Pin@y and their family
There are 4,000 Filipinos who leave the Philippines daily due to worsening socio-economic conditions, and two-thirds of those migrants are women. Through personal story sharing, poetry, movement, theater and song, KAMAY was an interactive, multimedia showcase that celebrated the struggles and triumphs of migrant women in our community and around the world. Audience members opened up and participated in dialogue about their experiences as migrants.members dedicated their performance to all of the Philippine migrant workers around the world.

Locally, Pin@y has been working closely with Filipina migrant workers in the caregiver industry.  There has been nationwide momentum to enforce fair labor practices, provide legal protection, and to empower care givers to fight for their rights and dignity.  The home care workers excluded from basic protections are

part of a growing $70 billion industry which has doubled in size in the past decade. About 4 in 10 full time home care workers fall below the federal poverty line. These care providers do the work of supporting people with disabilities and America’s rapidly growing aging population.  Local organizers are pushing to have Seattle be the first city in WA state to pass a bill that would provide more legal protections for care givers.

Proceeds from Kamay will go towards supporting Gabriela USA’s 2nd National Assembly in Chicago this May.  Pin@y sa Seattle is a member organization of Gabriela and took part nationally coordinated International Women’s Day celebrations happening around the nation.  For more information about Pin@y, contact pinayinfo@gmail.com.  ###

Community Organizations Coming Together for Fund Drive and Vigil for Typhoon Victims in Southern Philippines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2011
Contact: Freedom Siyam
free.bayan@gmail.com | 206.659.1130

Bayanihan Relief
Community Organizations Coming Together for Benefit Concert &

Vigil for Typhoon Victims in Southern Philippines
When: Thursday, December 29th
Where: Filipino Community Center
(5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Seattle 98118)
Time: 6pm-9pm
Refreshments will be provided

Local grassroots network Bayan-NW, the Filipino Community of Seattle, and Ihaw Ihaw Band are organizing a vigil & benefit concert to raise funds to help those hit hardest by Typhoon Washi. We extend this invitation to Filipinos & Filipino Americans as well as our greater Seattle community who wish to support and join us in this community effort to provide relief to our kababayans (fellow countrymen) in the Philippines.

***
On December 17, tropical storm Sendong (aka Typhoon Washi) struck the Philippines deeply impacting the Southern Islands of Mindanao. The cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were amongst the worst hit by flash floods and landslides leaving 1,080 people confirmed dead. More fatalities are expected, and more than 100,000 survivors are left homeless.

 “It has been a difficult Christmas for the local Filipino community,” according to BAYAN-USA Regional Coordinator Rachel Cendana. “First, the brutal murder of our beloved Danny Vega. Now, Typhoon Sendong displacing so many of our overseas friends and loved ones.”  Despite the recent calamities, Cendana and other benefit organizers remain inspired. “The Seattle community always comes together to help one another in such adverse times.” People interested to find out more information, can email: bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com or contact the Filipino Community Center at (206) 722-9372.

All proceeds raised at the event will help the destroyed areas within the Cagayan de Oro region. Individuals can contribute tax deductible monetary donations at the event.
If you are not able to make the event and still want to contribute, you have options:

(1) You can make checks payable to the “Filipino Community of Seattle” with Pinay sa Seattle – Sendong and your email address if you would like updates on the status of the relief process. Checks can be mailed to:

Filipino Community of Seattle
5740 MLK Jr Way
Seattle, WA 98118

(2) Donate to the relief efforts ONLINE HERE.

(3)  You can also wire money directly to the “BALSA Mindanao” or Bulig Alang Sa Mindanao/Help Mindanao:  Panday Bulig, Inc., RCBC Velez Branch, Cagayan de Oro City. You will need to tell them the account number is 1095029776 and the swift code is RCBCPHMM. Please make these payments out to “BALSA Mindanao.”

ILPS Conveys Condolences to Korean People over Demise of Kim Jong Il

Korea Committee for Solidarity with the World People, Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Dear Comrades,

On behalf of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), its International Coordinating Committee and its nearly 400 member-organizations throughout the world, I wish to convey through your Committee the most heartfelt condolences to the family of the beloved leader Comrade Kim Jong Il and to the Korean people, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and the Workers’ Party of Korea over his passing away.

We share the grief of the Korean people and their desire to turn this into further strength.

Comrade Kim Jong Il leaves a legacy that is always inspiring to his people and to the people of the world. Emulating his great father Comrade Kim Il Sung, he has rendered great service to the Korean people and has won great achievements in leading and mobilizing them in the spirit of patriotism and self-reliance against imperialism, especially that of the U.S.

We salute Comrade Kim Jong Il for his accomplishments in asserting the national independence and socialist aspirations of the Korean people, in seeking the peaceful reunification of the north and south, in carrying out economic construction and overcoming natural calamities, in developing a strong defense against imperialist war provocations, economic sanctions and military encirclement, in demanding the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and in contributing to the cause of world peace and the solidarity of the people of the world.

Because of the ever shining legacy of Comrade Kim Jong Il, we are confident that the Korean people and DPRK under the new leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un will continue to take the revolutionary path and serve as a bulwark against imperialism and all reaction, especially at this time that the world capitalist system is in severe crisis and U.S. imperialism is more aggressive and more overbearing than ever before in East Asia and elsewhere.

We of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle will always stand in solidarity with the Korean people and the DPRK along the anti-imperialist and democratic line. We are firmly and vigorously committed to the struggle for greater freedom, democracy, social justice, all-round development and world peace.

Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson

International League of Peoples’ Struggle

December 20, 2011