Nov 30 HAPPY ANNIV!
Press Statement
30 November 2007
Reference: Christina Hilo, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, anakbayan_ny@yahoo.com
FILIPINO-AMERICANS COMMEMORATE BONIFACIO DAY IN VIGILANCE
NEW YORK -- This November 30, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey celebrates its third anniversary, coinciding with the 9th of its mother chapter in the Philippines and with other chapters in the United States.
As migrant and Filipino American youths, we are not separate from the problems that the Filipino youths in the Philippines are experiencing today. Poverty, high cost of education, lack of jobs -- these are only some of the reasons why most of us left. We have been forced to move overseas to seek for a better future. Some of us came with our families and there were also those who had been separated.
While some of our kababayans (fellow Filipinos) might think that we have already found the good life that we sought for, stories of oppression still do not end when one steps on a plane bound for a foreign land. Predicaments on immigration status, racism, cultural identity crisis are only some of those that beleaguer the Filipino youths here abroad.
And while most of us are experiencing these miles away from the mother land, the news of rampant corruption in Philippine government, the extrajudicial killings and abductions of people from the ranks of the youth still reach us and are meant not to be passed up. One only has to look to see that the diaspora of the Filipinos to the US and other countries can be rooted from the government's lack of sincerity in carrying out its duties: That instead of addressing the basic needs and demands of its people, the administration of the de-facto Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been stealing from the taxes and remittances that we and our families pay; that instead of giving us proper education and jobs right at the homeland, the Arroyo administration itself pushes its people to take up studies abroad and provide cheap labor to the first world countries; and that instead of protecting its people and the youth, the Arroyo administration protects the interests of the US imperialist and plays puppet to the powers that be.
In light of the recent happenings in the Philippines, with the latest mutiny of the military and the national police led by now-Senator Antonio Trillanes from the Opposition ticket and Brigadier General Danilo Lim, coupled with the imposition of the curfew by the Arroyo regime and the arrests of media crew, it is now more visible than ever: Martial Law is once again in full swing and the freedom of the Filipino people is once again at stake in the hands of a dictator.
30 November 2007
Reference: Christina Hilo, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, anakbayan_ny@yahoo.com
FILIPINO-AMERICANS COMMEMORATE BONIFACIO DAY IN VIGILANCE
NEW YORK -- This November 30, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey celebrates its third anniversary, coinciding with the 9th of its mother chapter in the Philippines and with other chapters in the United States.
As migrant and Filipino American youths, we are not separate from the problems that the Filipino youths in the Philippines are experiencing today. Poverty, high cost of education, lack of jobs -- these are only some of the reasons why most of us left. We have been forced to move overseas to seek for a better future. Some of us came with our families and there were also those who had been separated.
While some of our kababayans (fellow Filipinos) might think that we have already found the good life that we sought for, stories of oppression still do not end when one steps on a plane bound for a foreign land. Predicaments on immigration status, racism, cultural identity crisis are only some of those that beleaguer the Filipino youths here abroad.
And while most of us are experiencing these miles away from the mother land, the news of rampant corruption in Philippine government, the extrajudicial killings and abductions of people from the ranks of the youth still reach us and are meant not to be passed up. One only has to look to see that the diaspora of the Filipinos to the US and other countries can be rooted from the government's lack of sincerity in carrying out its duties: That instead of addressing the basic needs and demands of its people, the administration of the de-facto Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been stealing from the taxes and remittances that we and our families pay; that instead of giving us proper education and jobs right at the homeland, the Arroyo administration itself pushes its people to take up studies abroad and provide cheap labor to the first world countries; and that instead of protecting its people and the youth, the Arroyo administration protects the interests of the US imperialist and plays puppet to the powers that be.
In light of the recent happenings in the Philippines, with the latest mutiny of the military and the national police led by now-Senator Antonio Trillanes from the Opposition ticket and Brigadier General Danilo Lim, coupled with the imposition of the curfew by the Arroyo regime and the arrests of media crew, it is now more visible than ever: Martial Law is once again in full swing and the freedom of the Filipino people is once again at stake in the hands of a dictator.
With all these and with great perspicuity, we call on the youth to be more vigilant than ever. We join all Anakbayan chapters, as we celebrate our anniversary, in denouncing the wrongdoings of the Arroyo administration. ANAKBAYAN New York/New Jersey expresses solidarity in fighting for justice for all victims of oppression, especially for that of the youth of the country.
In the name of Andres Bonifacio's revolutionary spirit, of whose birth we celebrate foremost on this day, we -- the youth of the Filipino nation in New York/New Jersey -- remain firm in our call for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to hear the voice of the people for her to step down.
For freedom and national democracy, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey continues the fight. Right here, in the belly of the beast. No more, no less.
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