A professor recently posed several questions to members of the progressive Filipino American youth organization I am part of, KmB (Kabataang maka-Bayan, Pro-People Youth), about the nature of and philosophies behind our educational and organizing work here in the United States.
In particular, he wondered about the role of Jose Maria Sison (JoMa), the defacto philosophical leader of the National Democratic struggle in the Philippines who is currently in exile in the Netherlands and how we see ourselves connected to the movement in the Philippines.
He actually phrased his inquiry like this:
“[...] I’m actually interested in the contradiction you mentioned – the use of an analysis based on a semi-feudal, neo-colonial society in(post)industrial, urban settings among Filipinos whose experiences of the Philippines are often as symbolic transnationals. How does the PSR resonate in the US? In what ways do you/KmB adapt JoMa’s philosophy to make it relevant to those in the US? And what do folks make of JoMa in light of his multi-decade exile and arguably his declining significance in the ND movement in the Philippines?”
Wow, that’s a toughey.
But, I wanted to share with all of you, my humble stab at attempting to answer his questions, or at least one specific part of his question, about the role of Filipino American youth and our connection to the movement in the Philippines.
My answer here is just the beginning in trying to understand that issue, not just so we have a response to questions when posed by those outside of the organization, but so that KmB as a collective and as a group of individuals seek to find an understanding internally. And so that other individuals and organizations facing the same dilemmas also do the same.
In 2004, I returned to the Philippines. And even though I was born here in the States, I use the term “returned” because that is exactly how I felt, as if I had come home, even though it was to a place I had never been before. It was not for an exposure or integration trip with an organization there, but rather, a personal one due to the death of my grandmother. I was, however, because of their hospitality, able to stay with members of Southern Tagalog Exposure (STEX), a grassroots media organization comprised mostly of youth and based out of Manila. Their motto is “Film the struggle. Serve the people.”
There had just been a serious storm in the countryside and STEX, along with other groups, had gathered money, food and supplies to be sent there to help the survivors. A tragedy occurred when the person responsible to meet the convoy was killed in the storm. They had to scramble to figure out what to do to get the much needed supplies to where they were needed, while at the same time, mourning the loss of this individual.
Within hours, they were able to figure out a solution and they did it as if they handled these kind of things all the time, because, well, they do. That’s the context in which they organize and mobilize over there. Even as a group composed mainly of young artists and students, they were accomplishing not only significant cultural education and political work, but engaged in real mass work for the people.
That was their reality, set in the backdrop of almost constant emergencies and lack of resources, financial or otherwise. It’s a reality I couldn’t even imagine having to deal with here in the United States.
It was in this context that one of them, a female student about my age, asked me, “Why do youth from the States keep coming here? Or care what happens here? You do not feel the hunger that we do here.”
I was taken aback that she would ask me something like that outright, that I cried then and there. Here I was thinking I would be welcomed with open arms into the movement and it was not turning out as I had expected at all. I was being called out for my privilege, and essentially, my otherness. I felt deep and profound alienation from her, from the movement there, even from myself, or at least my identity as a progressive Filipino youth.
I was so taken aback in fact that I think all I could manage to say was, “We just care.” And, we do. We truly do.
If I was given another chance to speak with her again today, years later, I would add a lot more.
I would say that we may not feel the same hunger that you do in the Philippines, but we definitely feel a hunger. A deep and profound hunger. It may not be a hunger caused from lack of food, but it is a hunger that you can feel, not just in the pit of your stomach, but in your heart and spirit as well.
We are deprived and as much landless in the Untied States as immigrant youth dispossessed from adequate employment and education, culture and community as the peasants are displaced from their land in the Philippine countryside. Our parents forced to flee a land wrought with conflict in search of a better life. And us? We barely exist here in a country that considers us second class citizens, if it consider citizens at all. In limbo, caught in the webs of the Filipino diaspora.
And, I would have to say, our struggles stem from the same problems. Imperialism, (re)Feudalism and Capitalism , at their most corrupt states.
So, there’s an indigenous saying as expressed by Australian Aboriginal Elder Lilla Watson that goes, “If you’ve come here to help me, you’re wasting your time. But if you’ve come because your liberation is bound up with mine,then let us work together.”
These sentiments resonate strongly with me for many reasons, but mainly because I realize that our struggle here in the states is intrinsically tied to the struggle in the Philippines.
And the question that I hope they ask me or tell me the next time i see them in the Philippines isnt’ “Why do you come here….you don’t feel the hunger…”
I hope they respond more like this:
“Now that i know you care, on the most basic intuitive level, you know what is happening here is wrong, and you care because you feel it connects to you somehow, then now, what can we do together?”
I would say, “I am not here to give you a hand out, but rather, extending my hands and heart so we can rise together.”
I also think the question the professor posed about the arguably declining significance of JoMa in the Philippines, attributed to many factors, but mainly due to his decades long exile was very interesting. I would make the argument that just like JoMa, we ourselves as children of displaced parents and as young progressives that care what happens in the Philippines but are separated from the movement there by time, space and circumstance, are also exiles from our motherland. I hadn’t thought of us in that way before.
Ok, that is all for now. A little lengthy and a little dramatic and maybe even a little naive, but it’s honest.
There is so much more to say. So regardless of what line you toe, or what side of the Pacific you live on, or even what organization you are in, I hope we can speak to and listen to each other as we attempt to find answers to our questions, here in our collective and family of ours.
I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to share., whether it is through an email thread or an educational discussion or a conversation over a hot meal.
Forward Always,
Michele Gutierrez
Hi Michele, I don’t think you should take it personal. It’s a people’s movement, so it has all kinds of people. You know how everybody has different personalities, even amongst our friends. It’s the same kind of thing over there.
Some people are hella young and still have to learn some things. Some people really don’t care that you’re there.
But some people will tell you that you being there has an impact and let’s them know that they are not alone, to find that people outside of the country care about what’s going on in our homeland and are spreading the movement, helping to shape public opinion in other countries.
If only you’d had more time to integrate. But don’t worry, they appreciate you
If I were asked the question, “Why do youth from the States keep coming here? Or care what happens here? You do not feel the hunger that we do here (in the Philippines)” I would say, “Because we don’t have the same conditions in the US, that is exactly why it is important for us to come here, join in the struggle, and live in the conditions of the most oppressed and exploited. By seeing and living it for ourselves, we can better understand why this society and this world needs to be completely changed.”
I would say, “I’ve learned about our history and the basic problems of Philippine society and I know that my family would have never had to leave this country in the first place if things were all good over here. I want to do my part so that families in the future won’t be forced to leave the country in order to provide for their children.
I know that the US is the main reason why the Philippine economy can’t stand on its own feet and provide decent jobs for its own people. I know that corrupt politicians and families exploit and manage their political offices as businesses to enrich their own wealth. And I know that the majority of the people are landless and still living in feudal conditions, working for landlords who prevent national industrialization and the building of a genuinely stable economy by keeping all the profits from the harvests.
I came here to see and feel it for myself, to learn from the people, in order to gain a better understanding and more effectively spread awareness of our people’s struggle to the people in America and across the world.”
I would also ask the question, “Have you read ‘In Memory of Norman Bethune’?'”
As you may recall, Norman Bethune was a white Canadian doctor who was a genuine example of an internationalist.
In 1938, he decided to move to China during the thick of their revolutionary struggle and performed emergency battlefield surgical operations for the Red Army during the war of national liberation against Japan.
Two years prior to that, he moved to Spain and helped develop mobile medical units during the Spanish Civil War.
Although he hailed from a first world country, he chose to participate directly in the life-and-death struggle for the freedom of the Chinese people. And it was a choice that he was willing to, and did, die for.
What were his motivations?
I think that’s a natural question to ask. One would probably ask out of sincerely wanting to know the answer.
Actually, Mao asked, “What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people’s liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism…”
In essence, this speaks the same message of international solidarity as the indigenous saying you quoted from Australian Aboriginal Elder Lilla Watson, “If you’ve come here to help me, you’re wasting your time. But if you’ve come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
This spirit of internationalism is the reason that people across the world have in common. It is based on shared political principles, understanding, common commitment, and accountability to a greater cause.
Norman Bethune realized that the struggle in one country against imperialism and fascism was part of the whole international struggle for people’s liberation.
He wanted to contribute his skills and abilities to the revolutionary struggle of China because he wanted to advance the struggles for genuine freedom and democracy of all oppressed and exploited people across the world. He knew that the struggles in all countries were interconnected and he wanted to make the most of his life and do his part to attain victory.
It reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a new member of Anakbayan Los Angeles, who sincerely wanted to know, “What can we really do here?”
What I said, more or less was:
1) Well first of all, we need to understand that the primary struggle for liberation is being waged inside the Philippines and whatever we do out here in other countries plays a secondary, supportive role towards achieving that.
2) But we have a special opportunity, living in the US, to reach out and spread awareness of the Philippine struggle to people from so many different backgrounds and countries since we live in a more diverse society than in the Philippines.
It’s our duty to not just keep to ourselves as a Filipino community, but to really reach out and connect our struggle to the struggles of people from all countries. We gotta do our best to spread awareness of the fact that we are all being oppressed and exploited by a common enemy – imperialism.
The imperialists (big business & the richest governments) are united against us and all the working people of the world. That’s why they have instruments like the G20, World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and all those institutions and conferences. It’s where they set policies to further exploit us for their own profit.
That is why it’s so important for us to UNITE and advance the worldwide struggle to defeat imperialism and gain national independence and genuine democracy in all oppressed countries.
It’s for this reason that AB is a member of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), an alliance of more than 200 organizations from 40 countries that strives to realize the unity, cooperation, and coordination of anti-imperialist and democratic struggles throughout the world.
3) But as we are living here, we also have our own problems that people in our local communities face every day. If we really are for the people, then we need to help out and take part in the struggles of people in our own backyard who are fighting for better working conditions, living conditions, and basic human rights.
For example, right here in Downtown Long Beach, Filipino and Mexican hotel workers at the Hyatt and Hilton are being overworked, underpaid, disrespected, and intimidated by the management.
In the Hyatt, over 80% are Filipino, and they’re being pushed to clean 30 hotel rooms in an 8 hour shift. Despite that being impossible to complete, they aren’t even provided with the basic equipment such as long handle mops so they have to get down on their knees with rags.
Many have suffered injuries and some have had to undergo multiple surgeries on their shoulders and other parts of their body. It’s completely exploitative and unjust. Any person with a heart who knew about it would want to do their part to fight for better conditions alongside them.
That’s why AB has been working with the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community for over a year and a half, since they really address problems that are affecting real people who live in Long Beach.
But it’s important to help the community understand that these local struggles are connected with the international struggles going on around the world, since those in power are enacting the same kind of policies all over.
For Filipinos in America, it’s also important to understand the connection between our local issues with the 3 basic problems in the Philippines (U.S. Imperialism, Bureaucrat Capitalism, and Feudalism). Basically, we wouldn’t have had to move here in the first place if those problems did not exist.
4) And through organizing people here in our communities, we’re working together to help each other out and remold from our old ways to become better people who continually develop a greater capacity to serve the people (work for the betterment of everybody more than our own personal interests). And that in itself is tangible social change that is happening right now.
5) But as far as a tangible thing we can do for the struggle in the Philippines? I think the most substantial impact we can have is to cut off the money flow from the US government to the Philippine military & government. In essence, we need to control where OUR own tax dollars are being spent. We need to make Congress stop sending foreign aid which funds assassinations, abductions, tortures, and massacres of people who are merely working for a better future in the Philippines.
6) Also, we need to educate and build more support from the greater American public for the people’s struggle in the Philippines. This is important because we need to recognize that the US will not easily let go of its control of our country, because it desperately needs to keep exploiting the Philippines’ resources and people in order to keep making profits.
With that, we can foresee that as the people’s struggle in the Philippines gains strength and advances towards victory, the US will plan to directly intervene and invade the Philippines just like Vietnam.
We, as Filipinos in the US, need to expose their oppressive intentions and gain mass support amongst the greater American public to prevent this imperialist war of aggression.
So as time goes on, our role here in the US will become even more important, but still be secondary to the primary form of struggle being waged in the Philippines.
7) Then, especially after the victory of the struggle for freedom in the Philippines, we will have an increased responsibility to go back and offer our various skills, talents, and abilities to help to rebuild the country and bring to reality a more just, peaceful, and humane society of the future.
As far as your professor friend’s questions, these points I just raised are an example of how the PSR (Philippine Society & Revolution, written by Jose Maria Sison, aka Amado Guerrero) is applied to our work here in the US. His argument of the “declining significance” of Joma is quite frankly, misinformed and unfounded.
It may be enlightening for him to read the 4 new volumes of Joma’s writings, which we recently launched at our AB LA & SD anniversary. They feature articles and analysis written by him over the past 20 years, dealing with issues such as the current world financial crisis, the US wars of aggression in the Middle East, and the continuing steady advance of the Philippine struggle for national liberation and democracy.
Despite over 20 years in exile, he continues to struggle intensely and put in hella work every day, constantly studying the current world situation and Philippine situation, and providing political analysis through his public writings. His writings help people all over the world to analyze current conditions, continue fighting for national democracy in the Philippines, and advance the international struggle against imperialism to bring about a more just society.
According to Mong Palatino of Kabataan Partylist, very few political figures in the Philippines have stayed significant enough to make news headlines continually for the past 4 decades. As you can see in recent headlines, Joma still plays an important role as chief political consultant of the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) in the peace negotiations with the Philippine government.
The mere fact that the Philippine government is engaging in peace negotiations speaks to the fact that the national democratic struggle continues to be a significant political force in the country. And until genuine change is achieved, its significance will continue to increase.
*By the way, here’s Joma’s recent audio message concerning his new books and the current world situation
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Michele. I hope this helps you in some way
Hi Michelle
Your heart is in the right place. Your journey is a long one and you will meet many more like yourself along the way. Your questions will most certainly lead to more questions… much more than answers. ET’s reply seems to cover a lot of ground and that’s a good start. Meanwhile, just keep doing what you’re doing now. You are in good company.
STP/STR,
jun