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

Progressive Filipino American Organizations Seek Justice for the Violent Death of Danny Vega

For Immediate Release

December 9, 2011

Media Contact:  Chel Cendana

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest Regional Council

bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com

Seattle, WA – The members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of BAYAN-USA express our deepest condolences to the family of the late Danny Vega. On November 27, we lost a valuable member of our Filipino community to a senseless murder. “Our membership has been deeply impacted by this tragic event, and joins the community in its quest for justice for the death of a respected member,” states Chel Cendana, BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator. 

Seattle’s 98118 has been identified as the most diverse zip code in these United States with almost 60 dialects spoken and even more ethnicities. Here in the Southside, where Vega’s salon was located, we’ve been hit with displacement of working class people of color and immigrants through gentrification, the razing of public housing, and one of the highest concentrations of home foreclosures in Martin Luther King County.

On 15 November 2011 Vega, an openly gay salon owner, was violently beaten by who he could only describe as three African American men before he fell into a coma he would never wake up from. “Uncle Danny’s salon did not flourish, but did survive through economically depressing times, and it’s disheartening that suspects of this act of brutality are other folks of color, whose families also struggle in these economically trying times” Freedom Siyam said. “It’s about to get real cold out here,” referring to the difficulties in the socio-economic climate “and we need inter-ethnic solidarity and support for each other; we have more in common than we do in difference.”

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest regional organizations seek justice for the death of Danny Vega but are cautious about the implications this may have in policing a predominately non-white and immigrant community. We call for improved and strengthened community ties in the 98118 and will help lead community education around queer issues, shared migrant stories, and perhaps more importantly, call for community action against the economic depression hitting Seattle’s south side.

“We don’t know if this was a hate crime; we don’t know if Danny Vega was targeted for being openly gay. What we do know is that he was a beloved member of our community. And what we do know is that this was part of a string of other violent robberies that can only be linked to the economy. We know that Danny Vega’s life and trials as an immigrant probably looked more like the private lives of his assailants, than they think,” says Cendana. “We know that crimes increase when people become desperate, but the real crime is that people, especially the poor and people of color are being forced into desperation. In addition to community education around queer issues and our histories as immigrant workers to this country, we need to find some real economic solutions real quick or we will see more Danny Vegas.” ###

Alay ng Kultura | AnakBayan Seattle | Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization | Pinay sa Seattle

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest: bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. As the only international 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.

International Human Rights Day 2011 with Marie Hilao-Enriquez

 

 

Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of the Philippines-based human rights coalition Karapatan will be in Seattle on December 10 to commemorate International Human Rights Day.She is a leading advocate for human rights in the Philippines. When Ferdinand Marcos declared Mar…tial Law in 1972, his regime specifically targeted youth activists for their role in questioning the unjust policies of the U.S.-supported Philippine dictator. Marie was a political prisoner and was able to escape. However, authorities captured, tortured, and killed her sister, Liliosa. Her sister’s unjust death steered Marie in the ongoing struggle for human rights and to seek justice for the families and victims of state-sponsored torture and extrajudicial killings. As chairperson of Karapatan (which translates to “justice” in the Filipino language), Marie helps document cases of human rights violations perpetrated by the armed forces and paramilitary units, assists the victims and their relatives in seeking justice, and exposes the present government for the more than 1,000 victims of extra-judicial killings.Marie will be speaking about Karapatan’s annual human rights report under the current Philippine presidency and sharing her unique perspective on the Occupy movements sweeping the nation and the world.Her talk is meant to commemorate International Human Rights Day. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights. Every year on December 10, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration. Governments and nonprofit organizations all over the world celebrate this day’s declaration that “All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Admission: Sliding scale donation $5-$12. No one turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds support political prisoners and the struggle for human rights in the Philippines.
Extras: Cultural performance, childcare, and light snacks provided

PUSO (Philippine-U.S. Solidarity Organization) translates as “heart” in Filipino is a grassroots organization based in Seattle. We organize to improve the human rights situation and to support lasting peace in the Philippines. To this end, PUSO builds solidarity between the people of the Philippines and the U.S.