Bayan USA Organizer at the Oakland General Strike

Bayan USA Organizer Kiwi at the Oakland General Strike explains in verse, the plight of working class Filipinos in the U.S. and how their struggle is part of the 99% movement.

Congratulations to BAYAN-USA on the occasion of your sixth anniversary! We are proud to be a part of a truly patriotic alliance committed to fighting for social change for the Filipino masses.

Mabuhay ang BAYAN-USA! Mabuhay ang pambansang demokratikong kilusan!

News Statement
January 31, 2011

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

Filipino-Americans Stand with the Egyptian People in Calling for Mubarak to Step Down

BAYAN USA Statement of Solidarity with the Egyptian People's Struggle

Filipino-Americans under the banner of BAYAN USA are joining rallies across the United States in support of the Egyptian people's courageous resistance and calling for an end to the US-backed dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. BAYAN USA is equally inspired by the national protest movements unfolding across North Africa and the Middle East, beginning with Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, and now Egypt.

Despite mainstream media's attempts to distort the protesters as Islamic extremists, the protests in Egypt clearly represent a broad, united front of various classes and sectors of Egyptian society that have grown sick and tired over deep, longstanding socio-economic problems including rising unemployment, food prices, widespread poverty, and government corruption. These are all exacerbated under the current global economic crisis coupled with over 30 years of Mubarak's allegiance to US foreign policy--which stresses economic liberalization and privatization in the region-- over the Egyptian people's national interests.

The Filipino people are all too familiar with how the US hegemonic hand at the root of the Egyptian people's misery is able to be sustained through puppet leaders such as Mubarak treating government as a private business rather than as a public service, otherwise known as bureaucrat capitalism. This was the case with the former US-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, whose Iron Fist regime was no match for the popular people's uprising known as People Power that ousted him from office in 1986. Unfortunately, this has also been the case with all the succeeding regimes in the Philippines.

The valuable lesson the Filipino people have learned from ousting two US puppet presidents through popular upsurge is that a change in leadership does not eradicate bureaucrat capitalism, domestic feudalism, nor foreign dictates. This must come from continuous struggle for structural change by way of a revolutionary mass movement.

We are endlessly inspired by the Egyptian people's fighting spirit and self-determination, and we demand the US government to withdraw all forms of support for Hosni Mubarak, who is now heavily-isolated. This especially includes all forms of US economic and military aid to Egypt. Considered one of the closes allies to the US government in the Middle East, Mubarak's Egypt has enjoyed being the second largest beneficiary of US military aid in the world, receiving $1.3 billion in US tax dollars annually. We also call on the US government to respect and recognize Egyptian sovereignty by not interfering with Egyptian domestic affairs.

Lastly, we call on the people in the US to show their solidarity with the Egyptian people's struggle by holding the Obama government and US ruling elite accountable for the burdensome economic crisis they have passed on to our backs, in forms such as skyrocketing unemployment and homelessness, critical cuts to education and health care, overbearing privatization of the social services, the prison industrial complex, and the rising costs of consumer goods. We call on the people in the US to strengthen and expand our unity against the US war machine waging costly imperialist wars of aggression abroad in the bogus name of democracy and freedom. This is amongst our best acts of solidarity for the Egyptian people and all other oppressed peoples of the world.

LONG LIVE THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE!
MUBARAK STEP DOWN NOW!
US OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!
US OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES!
LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!

Filipinos in San Francisco, California marching in solidarity with the people of Egypt, Tunisia, and all people's fighting for genuine democracy. UP, UP, EGYPTIAN PEOPLE. DOWN, DOWN, MUBARAK OUT!

Golda and the Guns (Acoustic Rock)

If ever you feel as though there is just time enough to get this shit right, welcome.

The beautiful, savage sound of full grown adolescence, GOLDA SUPERNOVA arrive in splendid new-millennium rock fashion - 3rd World born, 1st World bred, with new wave appetites, fed on old school hair rock, perverted by punk, a lil' bit of funk, and completely addicted to majestic chaos. LAVA, their first LP, is the product of struggle, stubborn individuality and torturous dedication. Tracks like "FALL," "DIAMOND," and "FALSE," are all arsenic and ear candy, full of fast-paced new wave bass, classic rock riffs and the drama of a good novel.

Golda Supernova - new rock fables for a new world.

Allan Manalo (Comedy) is a writer/director/standup comic who has mastered the art of delusional
artistic ambition for over 45 years, after bravely escaping his mother’s womb. He is the
former and current Artistic Director of Bindlestiff Studio and a future client at the Mandaluyong
Mental Institute. He will gladly accepts gifts of pants.

Paul Bolick and Tina Schauf (Acoustic)

Paul Bolick-Mausisa plays bass and guitar as a member of Diskarte Namin, a band of kultural guerrillas who uses music as a weapon to reclaim Filipino pride, and to declare that, even after 400 years of colonization, "we are still here."  San Francisco-born, but bred on resistance music from all over the world, Diskarte mixes rock guitar with Latin and hip-hop beats, reggae, and funk basslines,  folk and soul vocals, and indigenous influences from the Philippines.

Tina Shauf was born in the Philippines, raised in L.A., and spent the last 10 years in the Bay. Tina is a women’s community organizer through Babae of GABRIELA-USA.

Erica Nalani Benton (Acoustic) has sung all over the Bay Area, from San Francisco Pride, to Chamorro self-determination conferences, to youth empowerment summits and local open mics. From her bedroom to the stage, she uses music and creativity to inspire hearts and minds towards love, healing, self-determination, and freedom.

Sam González (Poetry)

Erica Nalani Benton performing her original song. Erica will be performing on February 12 at Bayanihan Community Center for 'Ignite the Flame', a fundraiser for SF-CHRP's upcoming exposure trip to the Philippines.

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Friends and Allies,

I have a personal favor to ask of you.

A grassroots organization that I stand behind fully and that I have been an active member with for several years now, San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (SF-CHRP), is busy preparing for an exposure trip to the Philippines. The trip will be a three-week integration with different marginalized sectors in urban and rural communities throughout the country.  In addition to logistical planning, internal education, cultural and physical conditioning, we are also fundraising to cover airfare, domestic travel, conference fees, lodging, food, and stipends for host families and organizations.

On February 12th, SF-CHRP is hosting a benefit at Bayanihan Community Center called 'Ignite the Flame: Love and Compassion' and we’d be honored for you to join us. Tickets are only $20, including a three-course Filipino dinner (meat and vegan options), live music, stand-up comedy, a DJ, dancing, artwork, and more! Whether you’re single, dating, or in a committed relationship, I guarantee you’ll have a memorable time at this alternate Valentine’s Day event enjoying food, entertainment, and the company of good people. More than that, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting the advancement of social justice through the development of young political activists.

Your purchase of two tickets will go a long way in helping us achieve our goal of filling 112 seats to raise $2,240. Can I count on your pledge of support? To reserve your tickets or to make a donation, please send an email to sfchrp@yahoo.com or simply leave a comment below. Please keep in mind that this event is advance ticket sales only.

On behalf of SF-CHRP, thank you for your generous consideration of this request. We hope to see you on February 12th for 'Ignite the Flame: Love and Compassion!'

In solidarity,
TJ Basa, Campaigns Officer
SF-CHRP
 
P.S. Even if you can’t make it on February 12th, you can still sponsor a deserving young person or low-income adult to attend in your stead. Please consider a donation of $20 or more today!