Anakbayan USA’s 2024 First Quarter Storm
From January to March 2024, Anakbayan-USA continues the legacy of the First quarter storm by linking arms with our kababayan overseas to fight for justice and expose state neglect.
In 1970, At the time, the Filipino people were suffering due to record-high inflation and economic crisis under Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who pushed the country deeper into debt to prioritize foreign investment. Unequal economic and military agreements led to increased presence of American corporations and U.S. military bases, allowing for U.S. imperialist control over the Philippines.
Under these conditions, Kabataan Makabayan (KM) emerged to oppose the Marcos Sr. regime and U.S. monopoly control over the economy, military, and education system in the Philippines.
KM was at the forefront of the First Quarter Storm, linking the issues of the youth and students to the larger struggle of the toiling masses of workers and peasants demanding change under the Marcos Sr. regime. KM imparts the lesson to unite the Filipino people across all sectors to struggle for national freedom and true democracy in the Philippines.
Anakbayan-USA Carries on the Fight
Today, we see parallel conditions in the Philippines under the fascist US-Marcos II regime. The country is experiencing an even worse economic crisis, widespread land-grabbing and displacement, increased U.S. militarism, and the violation of people’s democratic rights. Now, Marcos Jr. is attempting to enact a Charter Change, which would open up the country to 100% foreign ownership and spell the possibility of extended presidential term limits, similar to what his father Marcos Sr. did in the 70s.
As the national democratic mass organization of youth and students, Anakbayan USA applies the lessons of Kabataang Makabayan and the First Quarter Storm to continue the fight for national sovereignty and genuine democracy in the Philippines.
In the first quarter of 2024, Anakbayan chapters across the nation boldly waged struggles with the exploited and oppressed masses to expose the rampant neglect of the government, particularly the US-Marcos II regime.
Justice for the United 6
At the end of 2023, dozens of Filipino fishermen were abandoned in Westport, Washington without adequate communication from their employers, US-based McAdams Fish and Philippines-based Pescadores recruiting agency. They were not legally allowed to leave the ships without U.S. visas, and were forced to accrue debt to meet their basic needs while living in isolation and unsanitary conditions. Six fishermen bravely chose to take action against the illegal practices of McAdams Fish and Pescadores.
Anakbayan Seattle, South Seattle, and UW have taken up the call to link arms with migrant workers and are actively waging the campaign alongside the fishermen to fight for justice. They have successfully hosted a basketball fundraiser and have supported the fishermen in raising their demands to the Philippine Consulate.
Take Back Our Education
Campus-based Anakbayan chapters across the nation are actively waging university divestment campaigns, such as UC Divest (University of California). In coalition with anti-imperialist youth and student organizations such as SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) and PYM (Palestinian Youth), divest campaigns demand universities to divest their from weapons and war, particularly the settler-colonialism and genocide of Palestinians, but also imperial violence in the Philippines and across the world, and reinvest that money in university students and workers.
Chapters in California, such as LFS-SFSU and AB Long Beach have been integral in the fight against tuition hikes in the CSU system, asserting our right to a free and people-oriented education. Anakbayan members also stood in solidarity with Filipino faculty in their fight for better pay and working conditions amidst the constant cuts to education spending.
Housing for Juanita
In Los Angeles, over 20 unhoused Filipinos were living in a street encampment located in Historic Filipinotown. Many of them were low-wage healthcare workers who were priced out and lost their housing during the pandemic. Currently, a majority of them are enrolled in an LA city program that claims to provide a path to permanent housing. But five months into the program, little has actually been done to support them in securing work or permanent housing.
Members of Anakbayan LA have been working side by side with the residents, conducting education about the housing crisis and the Philippines’ policy of forced migration, providing a space to come together to take action. The residents recently raised their demands to local city councilmembers and are planning to escalate their fight for housing as a basic human right.
Justice for Jollibee Workers
The Justice for Jollibee Workers campaign scored a major win with the nine workers who were wrongfully terminated for organizing for fairer wages in Jersey City, New Jersey, last year. After months of pressure from organizers and the community, workers were able to receive all their demands: reinstatement, back pay, and a public apology. Now, Jollibee workers in Wheaton, Maryland demand double pay for crew members who work holidays.
Anakbayan chapters in the Northeast stand in solidarity with the exploited workers at Jollibee and continue to uplift their demands for holiday pay. Chapters hosted educational discussions in the community to raise awareness of the situation, and are working to grow and strengthen the campaign through volunteer outreach.
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The legacy of Kabataang Makabayan and the First Quarter Storm reminds us that youth and students cannot achieve revolutionary change alone:
“Students who truly stand for revolutionary change should always strive for integration with a larger and even more dynamic, social force, that is to say, the exploited masses of the people.”
- Jose Maria Sison, co-founder of Kabataang Makabayan
