AJLPP Update

January 7, 2009

AJLPP Year-End Report, 2008

Major Victories in All Fronts

The year 2008 started with a flurry of activities with the anti-war movement marking the 5th year of the US-occupation of Iraq and the War Against Terror and ended with a militant rallies at the Israeli Consulate against the siege and bombing of Gaza on Dec. 30,2008.

As an opening salvo, the AJLPP participated in the first ever Women’s March Against the War in Los Angeles led by the GABNET of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE that drew more than 800 people. The AJLPP also supported the militant Screen Actors Guild Strike in Hollywood.

The AJLPP mobilized its forces together with its allies against the successive visits of US prime puppet Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in July in the East Coast and November on the West Coast

The last visit was cancelled and the president just passed by and gave a lunch reception to her captive audience,proving once again how she feared the Filipino American community in Los Angeles.

The AJLPP had organized,mobilized and educated the Filipino American community in a myriad of issues affecting the community from racism and community empowerment and from socialism and rights and welfare and most of all issues in the Philippines that affects the community like the War in Mindanao.

AS the bourgeois Presidential Elections of 2008 took center stage with the Democrats on the advantage. In the Filipino American community, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards were ahead and were favored but in the end, Barack Obama became the democrats choice and won over MacCain in the last elections.

The Filipino American community rejoiced with the Obama victory but with guarded optimism, the progressive forces will take Obama into tasks for his promises to the electorate and to the Filipino American community.The Obama victory broke the myth that the Republicans hold sway over the Filipino American community that has a conservative sway. There are more opportunities being opened for progressives in the field.

The AJLPP as a whole, maintained its mobilizing and educative capacity. It developed and heightened to a certain stage its creativity in applying activities in all occasions.

It ended the year with an active participation in the Fight Back and Socialism Conference from Dec 6-7. That drew 400 participants. Up to the end of the year, the fight against the war and racism- the veterans recognition equity rights and the fight against bigotry against Prop 8 were the AJLPP’s major activities.

Education Work

The AJLPP and its mass organizations continued to do good educational work in 2008.

It continues to conduct forums,discussions, educational sessions,health fairs, free clinics,immigration workshops on different issues on different sectors on the Filipino World War II veterans,environmental problems and community empowerment issues.

AJLPP organizations and their allies conducted different cultural events on many red-lettered dates such as fund raisers,parties,concerts and the like in major cities.

The AJLPP provided speakers, resource persons and participants in almost all community events. We represented the Filipino American community in mainstream, solidarity and media events in television, radio and media outlets in every opportunity we can manage.

We continued to write, publish, put-out and post in the on different media outlets creatively our stand on different issues. We made maximum use of the internet, our blogspots and websites, emails, written statements and periodicals and the AJLPP views on issues that affects the Philippines and the United States were well ventilated.

We can say that the biggest difference and that draws the glaring gap between the “so called duly authorized national democratic groups in the US” and the AJLPP is in our educational work and advocacy.

We do not just mimic or ride on the Philippine issues but capitalize on it, make it more creative and profound for the Filipinos and the Americans in the United States.

The AJLPP see to it that its issues and stand very clearly understood and do not just merely echo the issues of the home front but apply them according to concrete conditions in the community.

The AJLPP does not waste its time mudslinging and character assassination but stand on solid issues while it does work. AJLPP mass organizations work for the Filipinos in the Philippines and our community here in the United States. We do it creatively, passionately and through patient and persistent hard work.

Political Work

The AJLPP maintained the crux of its political work in the United States. Building an empowered Filipino-American community and a very strong solidarity with all oppressed communities while supporting the struggle at our home front.

We were able to maintain our alliances and worked with different coalitions,nationality groups, major alliances and organizations in the trade unions, non-profits and other types of organizations in the whole area.

We have supported all major struggles like the Palestinian Issue,Immigrant Rights struggle ,The War Against Iraq and Afghanistan, Political prisoners and even racism during the elections.

At the same time we made sure that the Philippine issues are well amflified like the impeachment cases against GMA, the ZTE Scandals and the continued detention of Ka Bel and other political prisoners in the Philippines.

We continue to exert influence on major student campuses and organizations especially in California where majority of the Filipinos stay. On other hand Filipino American organizations that are closed to us, were actively mobilized for our activities.

In fact, we can honestly say that our influence is greater than the organizational work that results from it. We really need to balance our propaganda work and organizational work and do more organizing in different areas.

We were able to fully ventilate the issues of immigration, domestic workers abuse like the Marichu Baoanan case in New York. The Marichu Baoanan case against a Filipino diplomat Lauro Baja of the United nations highlighted the plight of Filipino domestic workers that gained national prominence.

Meanwhile, the exclusion of the Filipino World Wart II veterans in the SB 1315 that passed the US Congress again underscores the issue of racism that our veterans suffers. We raised the issue of recognition and veterans benefits into a higher plane- that of systemic racism in the nation.

Our immigrant right coalition-the CDIR was able to help stay the deportation of the prominent Filipino doctor –of the Servano Family in the Philadelphia and California by mounting a nationwide petition campaign. A minor victory but a very fruitful one.

On the same vein, we continue to exert influence on some major alliances and groups like the trade unions and non-profit service providers organizations and even the laity and religious groups in some areas.

An example of this is pivotal activity in propagating Filipino Culture is the continuation of the Festival of Arts and Culture (FPAC) and local festivities that get the community together. Its activities draw large crowds and endear itself to the community and the people its served.

Worth mentioning- as an opening salvo for the year 2008, we helped the Gabnet of the MARIPOSA Alliance to successfully hold the First Women’s March in Los Angeles that drew more than 800 participants on March 8,2008. The first of its kind in the West Coast and the United States.

We have to mention two important activities that we focused. One is the ongoing war in Mindanao that escalated after the non-signing of the MOA on Ancestral Domain last August 2008. The AJLPP exerted all efforts to ventilate the issue despite the continued news blackout in the American media.

Another is the immigrant rights issue where in April and May we continued to mobilize and educate the community in the condition that more than 1.5 million Filipinos are undocumented.

The interesting fact is that a new group emerged in LA- the Filipino Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR) closely allied to PWC and JFAV.

We continued to mobilize at least a sizeable number of participants for the FilAm contingent every May 1 for the 3rd year in a row right after the Great Immigrant Rights Upsurge of 2006 in the different major cities of the United States.

We are looking forward for the immigrant rights advocacy to take center stage this coming year and also the resolution of the Filipino World War II struggle coming into an end.

Organizational Work

We were able to consolidate our forces all over the nation. We were able to maximize our strengths and minimize our losses. We can proudly say that we have gone past the tide of pessimism and against vulgar threats and have learned to work according to our resources and activities.

We have worked closely with our allies and friends who stuck with us in the crucible of struggle. We continue to enjoy the trust and confidence of our community and compatriots in the homeland who never abandoned us and believe in us and the justness of our cause.

As usual, there were adjustments in the forces as a number of old activists fell out and laid low due to the complications in our struggle. But this was cancelled out by the emergence of new forces and new activist who are eager to come forward and take on new tasks.

Our main youth groups in different major cities continue to grow steadily although not by leaps and bounds. They consolidate as they expand and are boldly forging new grounds. Their core are maintained and are expecting to do more next year.

They continued to sum-up their experiences and learn form their mistakes and gather strength and worth lessons from their different activities. They have shaken the lethargy of staying within their own confines and comfort zones and are actively exchanging experiences in different fields of work.

The largest mobilizations during the 8th Annual Veterans Day and the last May Day Mobilization in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles is a testament to this fact.

The crowd drawing capacities of our cultural activities and other political activities must be assessed and lessons must be drawn to make these activities better,committed and more militant.

The phenomenal growth of the Damayan Migrant Workers Association in New York and their role in building a national alliance of domestic workers is a very important milestone in our organizing work. They were able to make the mass organization truly an immigrant people’s organization.

The biggest organizational victory this year is the building of JFAV as a national organization. We were able to build chapters in some cities with veterans organizations and youth groups in tow.

We were also able to form women’s organizations in two major cities under JFAV for the first time. The growth of AFIRE thru the efforts of our youth organizations and other immigrant groups is also a cornerstone in our organizing work.

As we continue to consolidate JFAV chapters everywhere we are able to make the make the issues clear to the people- that recognition, justice and equity must be priority.

Likewise we are very confident and hopeful in the building of the MARIPOSA Alliance that will enhance the women’s organizing in the United States and North America.

With the flurry of activities next year, we confident that we will consolidate further the AJLPP as a truly national organization and its mass organizations.

Updated

For the National Executive Committee

AJLPP

Political Secretariat

January 7, 2009

As an opening salvo, the AJLPP participated in the first ever Women’s March Against the War in Los Angeles led by the GABNET of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE that drew more than 800 people. The AJLPP also supported the militant Screen Actors Guild Strike in Hollywood.

The AJLPP mobilized its forces together with its allies against the successive visits of US prime puppet Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in July in the East Coast and November on the West Coast

The last visit was cancelled and the president just passed by and gave a lunch reception to her captive audience,proving once again how she feared the Filipino American community in Los Angeles.

The AJLPP had organized,mobilized and educated the Filipino American community in a myriad of issues affecting the community from racism and community empowerment and from socialism and rights and welfare and most of all issues in the Philippines that affects the community like the War in Mindanao.